Way back in 1991, when my organizing business was already 8 years old, I
spotted an offer for a free copy of a booklet called "117 Ideas For Better
Business Presentations". Well, because I do business presentations, and
because the price was right, I sent for it. My first reaction was, 'geez, I
could knock something like this out about organizing tips.' Then I threw it
in a drawer.
Six months later I was sitting in my office, bored, baffled and beaten down
by the difficulty of selling my consulting services and workshops in a slow
economy. I had no money. I mean no money!
I remembered that little booklet. I had no idea how I was going to do it,
but something hit me, and I knew I had to produce a booklet on organizing
tips.
I started dumping all those ideas I ever had about getting organized onto a
file on my computer. These were all pearls that came out of my mouth when I
was with clients or when I did a speaking engagement or a seminar. I could
do one booklet on business organizing tips and another on household
organizing tips. Two 16-page tips booklets, each fitting into a Number 10
size envelope. The first one was '110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business
Life' and the second one '111 Ideas for Organizing Your Household'.
My first run was 250 copies. That was the most expensive per-unit run I
made, but I had to get samples to distribute to start making money. It took
a few months to pay the printer only $300.
The only way I could think of selling the booklets was by sending a copy to
magazines and newspapers, asking them to use excerpts and put an invitation
at the bottom for readers to send $3 plus a self-addressed stamped
envelope. I had no money to advertise. Then the orders started dribbling
in, envelopes with $3 checks in them or 3 one-dollar bills. This was great
stuff. I remember the day the first one arrived. It was like manna from
heaven:$3! Of course, the fact that it took about 6 months from first
starting to write the booklet until the first $3 arrived somehow didn't
matter at that moment.
I cast seeds all over the place, hoping that some would sprout. I found
directories of publications at the library and started building my list.
Finally, February of 1992 'the big one' hit. A 12-page biweekly newsletter
with 1.6 million readers ran nine lines of copy ABOUT my booklet. They
didn't even use excerpts!! That sold 5000 copies of my booklet. I
distinctly remember the day I went to my P.O. box and found a little yellow
slip in my box. It said, 'see clerk'.
There was a TUB of envelopes that had arrived that day, about 250 envelopes
as I recall, all with $3 in them.
In April, that same biweekly newsletter ran a similar nine lines about my
household booklet, starting all over again. This time I sold 3000 copies.
Round about June, I stopped and assessed what had happened. Was I making
any money? By then, I had sold about 15,000 copies of the business and the
household organizing tips booklets one copy at a time for $3. When I
checked my financial records, I realized I had tediously generated not a
ton of money.
And some of the lessons I had learned along the way were expensive ones. I
didn't realize my bank was charging me $.12 for each item deposited until I
got my first bank statement with a service charge of $191.
Some very wonderful things happened while selling those 15,000 copies
though.
A public seminar company ordered a review copy to consider building
another product from my booklet. They did, and I recorded an audio program
based on the booklet. I can sell that tape to my clients as well and it led
to a 20-minute interview on a major airline's inflight audio programming
during November and December one year.
I was sorting through the envelopes,...$3, $3, ,$1000, $3,..... wait a
minute. Well, a manufacturer's rep decided to send my booklets to his
customers that year instead of an imprinted calendar.
A company asked me to write a booklet that was more specific to their
product line.
I got paid speaking engagements from people who bought the booklet.
I found out that the list of people who bought my booklet was a saleable
product.
Things were starting to pick up. So, back to June and taking stock of where
I was. You know those advertising card decks in the mail? Well, that day in
June I was so bored, I opened one. Glancing through it, I said, 'jeez,
here's a company that oughta see my booklet. And here's another one, and
another one.' I sent booklets to each.
Less than a week later, a woman called. At first, it sounded like a
prospecting call. Fortunately, I wasn't too abrupt with her. She was
calling to ask me the cost of 5000 customized copies of my booklet for an
upcoming trade show. She wanted to know if I could match a certain price.
I slightly underbid her price, she was thrilled and the sale was a
done-deal. I thought, 'oh, this will be easy to sell large quantities now'.
Wrong. It was another three-four months until the next large-quantity sale.
But, the trade show they were attending was an organization I had contacted
about getting my booklet into their catalog. They rejected it because I
wasn't in their industry. So, my buyer had bought 5000 copies of my
booklet, with my company information in it, to distribute at that trade
show. I loved it!
One day, a guy I know from a major consumer mail- order catalog company
said, 'Why don't you license us reprint rights to your booklet. We can buy
print cheaper than you, so if you charged us a few cents a unit, you
wouldn't have to do production.'Well, 18 months later after lots of zigging
and zagging that sale happened: a non-exclusive agreement for them to print
250,000 copies.We exchanged a ten-page contract for a five-digit check.
They provided the booklet free with any purchase in one issue of their
catalog and made a 13% increase in sales in that issue.They were happy. I
was happy.
I looked for other licensing prospects (even though it took eighteen months
for this sale to happen, and the five-digit check was low five-digits, not
enough to sustain me).
Round about spring 1993, I designed a class on how to write and market
booklets and wrote an 80-page manual. The class was small and mostly people
I knew. They paid me money, and I had a chance to test-run the class. So
now, I had another new product, an 80-page manual, a blueprint of how I had
then sold more than 50,000 copies of my booklet without spending a penny on
advertising.
I like teaching and now I had a new topic besides the organizing I had been
presenting. I also like traveling. So I took the 3-hour class on the road
and had great fun doing it.
I toured the country for about 2 years, 6-8 classes a year. Many people
have written interesting booklets on all kinds of topics. Some have hired
me to write a customized marketing plan for their booklet or to coach them
by phone to develop their booklet business.
Midway through that year (August 1994), I discovered Compuserve. My sole
purpose for getting online was to market my business. The third day I was
online, I saw a forum message from a guy from Italy who had a marketing
company there. He told me his client base was small businesses and
companies who served small businesses. I told him I had a booklet he might
find useful. I sent it to him, he liked it and we struck a deal. He
translated, produced and marketed it, and paid me royalties on all sales.
That January he wired several thousand dollars to my checking account from
Italy. He made the first sale of 105,000 copies to a magazine that bundled
a copy of my booklet with one issue of their publication.
That meant I have sold more than 500,000 copies of my booklet, in three
languages, without spending a penny on advertising. One slow week, I posted
a message on some Compuserve forums about the story of the Italian booklet
as an example of an online success story. Even though blatant selling is
not allowed, creating mutually beneficial relationships is. I had received
money from someone I had never spoken to and had only communicated with
online, by fax, earth mail and EFT.
Folks who read those postings replied that they would be interested in
doing the same thing with my booklet, but in French and in Japanese. This
never even dawned on me.
I've also discovered licensing opportunities for my booklet content in
other formats.
Two different companies who produce laminated guides (one hinged, the
other spiral bound) licensed my content. They are also interested in other
content so I expect to broker the content of booklet writers.
I created a company called Tips Products International.
I write tips booklets for clients based on their raw print materials.
I've been writing customized marketing plans for people's booklets for a
while now, which fits into the menu of services for this company.
I've developed two home study packages, How To Write and Market Booklets
for Ca$h, and How to Promote Your Business With Booklets. Both courses are
now being distributed by resellers around the world.
I've been invited to speak nationally and internationally about how to
write and market booklets.
I never could have written a business plan for how this has all unfolded.
Clients of mine are now surpassing my own sales results, learning from all
that has gone on since the original organizing booklet was written in 1991.
About the Author
Paulette Ensign has never taken a business course in her life. She taught
string instruments in public elementary schools for eleven years. Visit her
web site at www.tipsbooklets.com to see the menu of products and services
to support your booklet success.