A 50,000 Print Run? It’s the Age of Jim Blasingame

Independent publishers are by nature outliers, but one in particular stands out: Jim Blasingame.

The self-made, multi-media personality has a lot to say about the publishing industry, the crux of which is this: Write books. Publish them yourself. Keep the money.

But for Blasingame, there’s a twist. He writes, he publishes, but he also entices corporations to use his books.

Tens of thousands of them.

In a multi-pronged approach, Blasingame folds his books into other services he offers, such as speaking engagements or consulting contracts with companies.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal to sell 2,000 books,” said Blasingame, whose latest, The Age of the Customer, is a multiple award-winning book with more than 60,000 copies sold. “Most people want to sell the books, but I show companies how to use my books. There’s a difference.”

Although he won’t reveal who his customers are, the industries he sells to run the gamut from insurance, to technology, to online sellers.

For Blasingame, it’s not about dropping a pallet of books off at the dock. He’s all about adding value.

“I say to them, how many customers you got? Prospects? Salespeople? I will show them how to use the book to reach those customers,” said the syndicated radio host, whose three books have sold more than 150,000 copies to date.

Beyond the corporate sales, Blasingame has also used his books as a value-add tool for his speaking engagements.

“To speak and then be in the back, selling books? That’s not who I am,” he said. “Instead, I’ll include the book’s price in my fee and give everyone in the audience a free copy. Then I’ll stay and autograph them. I’ve sold a lot of books that way.”

While he’s not afraid of Amazon and sells a lot of books “onesie, twosie,” Blasingame says one of the biggest mistakes authors make is equating success with being published by a major house.

“There are people who are publishing house snobs who don’t think they are successful unless their book is chosen by a publisher,” he said. “A sale is a sale. That’s what I tell people.”

Jim Blasingame is one of the world’s leading experts on small business and entrepreneurship. He is the creator and award-wining host of the syndicated radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, now in its 19^th year; syndicated columnist; and award-winning author of The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance (SBN Books). For more, visit www.smallbusinessadvocate.com and www.ageofthecustomer.com.

Books Help Deliver Even the Most Difficult Content

In the last days of life, heart-to-heart conversations come easy for some, not so much for others.  Lynn Devlin witnessed firsthand the fear that kept patients and their families from talking honestly about their illness, death, and the days after. 

After losing her husband to stage four cancer, nurse practitioner Lynn Devlin became hospice and palliative care certified.

To document her experience for others, Devlin wrote a book called Cancer Widow.  But Devlin soon found she had more to share. In her work as a palliative nurse practitioner, she noticed that end-of-life conversations emerged with common themes even across clinical settings.

In response, she published a three-book series: The Caregiver’s Journal, The Last Days and Hours of Life, and The Seven Stages of Alzheimer’s.

Using her publications as marketing tools has not only taken her career down new roads, but it has also paved the way for families to dive deep into difficult, end-of-life conversations.

  

Why are books important to your particular business?  

The original book that I self published was Cancer Widow in 2012. This book led to numerous speaking engagements, including a television interview at Mayo Clinic.  

Professionally, the success of that book encouraged me to write the three-book series of end-of-life ‘conversation starter’ booklets. This in turn launched a speaking career to colleagues and healthcare professionals across the state and at national conferences.   

How do you use your books as marketing tools?  

The booklets have never had an official ‘launch’ and all the copies so far have been sold through word of mouth. The booklets are a terrific way to reinforce the presentations.

How did you choose the topics that you wrote about?   

I have written about topics that essentially chose me!  I had been a family nurse practitioner for many years when my husband was diagnosed with stage four cancer. This experience prompted me to become hospice and palliative care certified. 

The end-of-life conversations that I have every day, with families have a great deal of similarity across clinical settings. There are only so many consults I can do every day and the booklets are a great way to share the information. 

Has self-publishing been worth it? Why or why not? 

SO worth it! My life has changed because of the book and booklets in every possible good way. It’s been overwhelmingly positive, with people buying one for themselves and one for a friend.

If you could do it again, would you do anything differently? 

I would have done it earlier! I also would have a marketing/distribution plan in place. That is still a work in progress.

Lynn Kelly Devlin is a nationally board-certified hospice and palliative care nurse practitioner who lives and works in New Hampshire. She often speaks to health care professionals, corporate audiences, students, and small groups about end-of-life issues.

How Books Help Sales

Books are powerful messengers for your customers. The written word is one obvious way, but the packaging of words subconsciously tells your buyer much more about you and your company. 

It’s not just making your words pretty. Packaging is a sophisticated design process that is often passed over in favor of saving money.

That is a critical error. Prospects might open the book, but the design horror show inside will turn off even your most interested sales lead.

The before/after you see below is a great example of how design can send critical subconscious messages about content.

The cover on the left used an amateurish color palette with flat text on the front and back covers.

A professional redesign used richer colors and a sophisticated font. It obliterated the unwritten “shlock consultant” message in favor of a sophisticated and professional impression.

When you’re weighing costs, remember this: Lower cost production solutions most readily found on the web can be very inexpensive, but you also end up with something that doesn’t present your product/business/service well.

Those months you spent writing and editing? Wasted.

You don’t paint your own car. You didn’t make your golf clubs. Your precious content deserves the very best presentation possible. Invest in good design and watch your content sell itself and your business.

The Joy of Engineering

The dearth of fresh, engaging engineers has American manufacturers sweating bullets. Two men believe it is high time for a higher ed engineering revolution.

In their book, A Whole New Engineer: The Coming Revolution in Engineering Education, David E. Goldberg and Mark Somerville say a lack of creativity, imagination, and people skills are putting today’s engineering grads at a huge disadvantage.

Elevated to rock star status at some companies (Apple, anyone?) today’s engineers are seen as mission critical to manufacturers across the spectrum.

Traditional engineering schools, however, reward students with a fixed mind-set, emphasizing logic and rote memorization, say Goldberg and Somerville.

This archaic combination – in the Age of Ubiquitous Information – is completely useless in today’s team-oriented culture of personality.

Combine a slate of fear-inspiring “weed-out” courses with the traditional dry approach, and voila … an uninspiring program is born.

Engineering, it seemed, was ripe for a revolution.

In 2008, two colleges – the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign – partnered to inspire its engineering students with positive emotions.

The authors write:

“Despite vast differences in size, age, governance, location and mission, the two very different schools found that the difference between a challenging education and an environment that only fosters positive emotion rests on five pillars: joy, trust, courage, openness and connection. To help change from an operating system of fear to one of joy and trust, [there are] five technologies of trust: wholeness, intrinsic motivation, coaching, culture and change management.

Has the new approach worked? Indeed, say Goldberg and Somerville:

“Old-style engineering education shut engineering practitioners and employers out of the education process. This revolution demands a more active engagement between practitioners and educators, both to help drive out the old style and bring in a new, welcoming yet rigorous culture in engineering education.”

If ever there were a student body that needed joy in their lives, engineering majors would be it. Here’s to the next revolution … and may it come equipped with mechanical pencils, hugs, and the next Great Idea.

Marketing the Engineering Revolution

David E. Goldberg and Mark Somerville, both with deep roots in the higher education system, wrote A Whole New Engineer to promote a holistic approach within traditional engineering programs. 

After resigning his tenure and professorship at the University of Illinois to work full time for the transformation of engineering education, Goldberg now works with individuals, organizations, and networks around the world to collaboratively disrupt the status quo.

Mark Somerville, PhD is the associate dean for Faculty Affairs and Research at Olin College and professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics.

Somerville and Goldberg have used A Whole New Engineer to promote conversation about the evolving engineer and how to change engineering education.  

Because its program is featured widely in the book, Olin College uses the book to promote itself and to promote change in engineering education.  

A campaign is underway to send the book to thought leaders, college deans, and engineering leaders around the world.

A Whole New Engineer is available on Amazon.

On Jerry's Bookshelf: The Prosperity Track

James R. Peters takes the title Financial Expert to a new level. How does he do so? He holds impressive degrees in financial services and managerial finance, as well as the titles CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and CFP (Certified Financial Planner). He boasts over ten years of managing financial portfolios and advising both individuals and corporations. He offers his expertise as a speaker, the platform so crucial to being a recognized expert on any given subject.

Certainly these credentials make James Peters a Financial Expert, but do they significantly set him apart from every other financial advisor claiming that title? Perhaps not, but Peters has one thing that does set him apart, that validates his financial expertise – a book.

Peters’ book, The Prosperity Track: Energize, Enable, Empower, offers cohesive and relevant advice on reorganizing your life to be truly prosperous. By recognizing that prosperity means something different to everyone, Peters opens his audience up to include not just individuals and families, but businesses and corporations as well. In addition to being genuinely informative and helpful, the book effectively functions as the marketing boost that sets Peters above other financial advisors. Authoring The Prosperity Track enables Peters to showcase his insight into financial management in a respected and powerful medium: the book. It also beautifully showcases the empowering, encouraging attitude Peters brings into a subject that can seem incredibly daunting to many; the book includes sections on motivation, goal-setting, and overcoming excuses. With this book, Peters establishes himself as a cut above the competition.

Peters’ book, The Prosperity Track: Energize, Enable, Empower, is available on Amazon.