Jeanette, Author at Jeanette Cates

Jan
16

Pinterest Pain

by Jeanette

If you look at the recommended number and frequency of pins suggested by the Pinterest gurus, you may panic! I know I did.

Coming out of a five year retirement – and an even longer period of a Pinterest Diet, I found that things had changed – a LOT! So I began to refresh my knowledge of this fun tool. After all, it’s a great marketing tool that is totally painless to use.

Not surprisingly, however, I found that EVERYTHING I remembered had changed! In fact, as I began to research I found that everything had changed multiple times – use keywords, don’t use keywords; use hashtags, don’t use hashtags. It felt like every time I learned a new technique the next blog post said it was no longer valid!

Most importantly, like most of the web, Pinterest has gone so much more visual! It’s always been a visual platform, but now it’s relying even more on visual content. And frankly, visual is not my strong point!

So I began researching tools that would help me. But before I can share the “secret” tool, I need to tell you:

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Whew! Now that that’s done…I found Tailwind.

Initially, I’m like you. I thought “who needs a new tool to pin on Pinterest?” And you’re right – you don’t! BUT what you do need is an easy-to-use system that you will use consistently. Those two words – easy and consistent – are what drew me to Tailwind.

A couple of highlights – you can SCHEDULE pins. That means that you sit down ONE time per week and find a bunch of pins you like. Rather than flooding your boards with some great stuff all at once, you can trickle it out with the schedule you set up in Tailwind. Bonus: They set up the schedule FOR you, based on your pinning history. Naturally you can add and change days and times – but you don’t have to!

You have access to GROUPS (they call them communities or tribes). You can choose those, based on interests. So if you’re into knitting, you can find a tribe all about knitting. You add pins to the group and you can repin their contributions.

They offer an integrated creation tool – so that you don’t need to create a pin, download it, then upload it before you can pin it. True time-saver!

And I could go on – but you want to take a look yourself. It’s totally free to look – and start using it. In fact, you can use it for up to 100 pins (no credit card required).

Check out Tailwind now. (You’re welcome!)

1 Categories : Pinterest

Jun
19

Kindle Unlimited Update

by Jeanette

It’s June 2015 and about a year after the Kindle Unlimited program was introduced. When it was introduced it caused quite a stir among authors selling on Amazon – some in favor, and others strongly opposed.

Numerous updates have been made to the program in the past year, including opening Kindle Unlimited in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Brazil, France, Mexico, Canada, and Germany. With the rapid growth of the KU program, the amount paid into the “fund” that pays authors royalties on their books borrowed through the program has increased from $2M per month to over $10M per month. Obviously, it’s been successful!

Large and small publishers railed against it when it was introduced and most have continued to opt out of the program. However, independent authors have embraced it and continued to renew their books in the KDP Select program (95% renewal rate, according to Amazon) in order to remain eligible for the Kindle Unlimited program.

However, like almost every other income opportunity, some marketers have jumped on the opportunity and promoted “shortcuts” to making more from the Kindle Unlimited program. After all, an author earns the same amount for a KU 20-page book as for a 200-page book.

For example, since authors are paid when a reader reads 10% of the book, some have recommended stuffing the front pages with images, offers, and generally light information so that readers need to read past the first 10% to get the beginning information they wanted. That triggers payment for the author.

Others have recommended churning out a series of “short” books of 10-15 pages, so that readers will read the required 10% within a page or two.

Both tactics have worked until now, earning the same amount as a New York Times 500-page bestseller offered under the Kindle Unlimited program.

However, Amazon is very smart when it comes to these work-arounds. As of July 1, they are changing the way that the Kindle Unlimited bonuses are paid. Like any other change, it’s good for some and not so good for others.

Winners and Losers

The Change: Authors will now be paid on the basis of the number of pages that consumers read. This is measured through the Kindle reading apps, available on all platforms.

With the start of the changes, each of your Kindle books will show a new number – the Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC). This is the basis for the count of the number of pages read. However, this number will only appear on your Bookshelf in your KDP account, not on the book’s sales page. Non-text items, such as images, charts, and graphs will count toward a book’s KENPC.

As an author, you will also be able to see the pages read in your Sales Dashboard report – by marketplace and by title.

Likewise, authors will be paid on a percentage of total pages read across all Amazon books enrolled in the KU program. As an author, you have no way of knowing what that number is, so you must rely on Amazon’s calculations.

Winners: Authors with quality books that readers actually read all the way through.

Winners: Authors with longer books that keep readers moving forward through the book. This will be particularly good for those who write series of books.

Losers: Authors with poor quality books that readers may start but never finish.

Losers: Authors who write shorter books. It will take a larger number of books offered to maintain earnings at current rates.

Examples

Here are a couple of examples, based on rounded, easily understood numbers. For these examples, let’s assume that under the current program, an author is paid $1 per borrow (it’s actually more). Let’s also assume there were 100 million total pages read in the month, with a payout of $10 million.

Short Book Author – 20 page book
Current program: 500 qualified borrows (read 10% or more)
Current payout: $500

New program: 20 page book x 500 borrows = 10,000 pages read
New payout: (10,000/100 million) * $10 million = $1000

Note that this depends on someone reading ALL of the book, not just 10%.

Long Book Author – 500 page book
Current program: 500 qualified borrows (read 10% or more)
Current payout: $500

New program: 500 page book x 500 borrows (all pages read)
New payout: (250,000/100 million) * $10 million = $25,000

Clearly the longer book author stands to profit in a big way under the new program – as long as readers read the entire book!

What You Need To Do Now

Keep writing! If you don’t write and publish your book, none of this matters to you. So your first step is to keep writing.

If you have one book, write another.

If you are writing quality books that garner good reviews, then keep doing what you’ve been doing. Just write ANOTHER book to offer your readers.

If you’ve been “shortcuting” the process by some of the tricks that have been introduced, be prepared for a potential drop in your income. Now is a good time to improve the quality of your books and introduce new editions for your readers.

The wonderful thing about writing books is that you control the quality, length and number of books you offer. You are truly in control. Everything else is a bonus!

10 Categories : eBooks

May
12

An Old Model Made New

by Jeanette

When you have been running an online business for nearly two decades, you have the opportunity to observe and try a lot of business models. Of course, if there is one thing we know about business on the Internet, it’s that it never stays the same.

But if you watch carefully you see the same trends repeating. They may come with a different name, but at their core they are still the same.

Recently Carmax come out with a series of commercials talking about the way cars are sold – and why they aren’t sold like groceries or meals at your local restaurant.

And that got me thinking about my very first site. In 1996 I saw the need for an easy source of information about all of the things that were changing on the internet. A place you could go to find information, when you needed it. Not a search engine, but a source of short information products to teach you how to take the next step.

Nowadays the model is more about product launches, creating scarcity, and cutting off sales at a specific time. And frankly, it reminds me of the car dealership model.

In recent years I’ve become less enchanted with internet marketing and I think one of the reasons is “launch exhaustion.” It seems every week there is a new product that I MUST have – or I will not be current. Multiple emails per day tell me how uncool I will be if I miss this particular launch.

In fact, it’s gotten to the point where I considered quitting the business just from exhaustion. But then I remembered all of the information I had invested in, all of the products I had created, and all of the people I know who share my feeling about “launch exhaustion” – and decided to find a new way.

So I went back to my original concept of an information store and am proud to announce…

OnlineSuccessBasics.com

On this new (aka re-invented) site I will be releasing 3 to 5 new products per week. Some of those products are original products or reports that I have created myself. But many come from other sources – including private label rights products, licensed products, white label products, and multiple other sources. I am personally reviewing each product before I add it to be sure it meets my standards of solid information that is currently valuable to your business.

And best of all – all of these products will be available when YOU need them, at the SAME price, all the time. So don’t feel rushed to buy them just because they are there. They won’t be disappearing. They won’t be increasing in price. They will be there as ready references for you, when you are ready to add them to your business.

Welcome to the New Model for Online Information Products!

0 Categories : Online Success

Feb
26

Hot In Brazil

by Jeanette

Today Amazon Brazil is promoting my books. Last time they did this I saw a marvelous spike in book sales – like 5 times the average sales day!

So I’m expecting the same type of spike today. Essentially – my books are the “hot” thing in Brazil today.

So I know you have a couple of questions…

1. Do the books have to be in Portuguese or Spanish?

No, they are promoting the English versions, even though one of the titles IS available in Spanish. So no need for translation.

2. How did you get Amazon Brazil to promote your books for you – free of charge!

Actually, I’m not sure, but this is the third time they have done this for me. I know that my books have sold well over the past 18 months, so I doubt they contact brand new authors. They contacted me the first time when my books had been in the program for a year.

3. Do you get paid less for sales during the promotion?

I still get my 70% royalty, but it’s on the sales price. So yes, I get less net. But keep in mind – if you write non-fiction, you should have backend offers in your book. That means regardless of the royalty you receive up front, you still get business. So every book sold is a potential bigger sale for you.

4. How can I get MY book promoted by Amazon?

While I assume you could submit your book to Amazon via a customer service request, I’m not sure it will help. My best advice would be to write a good book, keep it at the top of the charts for as long as possible – and keep writing! Experience says that Amazon loves prolific authors.

Here are some books that will help you market your books – and keep them at the top of the charts:

0 Categories : eBooks

Feb
10

When To Use A Pen Name

by Jeanette

If you have considered writing a book, you have probably encountered the question of what name you should use as your “author name.” For some people, the decision is easy – they use their “real name.” But for others, it may not be a straight forward decision. Here are five reasons you may want to use a pen name.

1. You have a conflict of interest.

Sometimes you are working in a field that frowns upon outside activities, such as writing books. Or you are a teacher who wants to write adult novels. In those cases, you don’t want your “real” name to appear as the author. So of course, this is the perfect time to use a pen name.

2. You don’t want your own name to appear.

If you are concerned about your privacy or safety, it’s a good idea to use a pen name. It makes finding you more difficult and may be the safer option in your case.

3. Your name is hard to spell or easily confused.

Let’s face it. Your parents weren’t envisioning you as an author when they named you. So your name may have an unusual spelling that won’t show easily in search engines. Likewise, it could be difficult to pronounce, so word of mouth marketing for your books will be a challenge.

In this case, make it easier to find you with a pen name.

4. You want to write in specific genres that suffer from gender stereotyping.

There are certain prejudices in the book market that assume that certain types of books are written by one gender or another. A good example, is Nora Roberts, who also writes under the pen name J.D. Robb. Her romance novels use the Nora name, while her other books use the Robb name.

Likewise there are some men who believe their romance novels sell better when they use a female name as the author. It lets them more easily fit the mold, particularly when they first begin to publish in that area.

5. You want to avoid confusion in the marketplace

If you are a prolific writer, you may find it easier to publish under multiple names. For example, I write business books under my own name. That’s what I’m known for. But I write cookbooks and personal development books under pen names. While I’m not a celebrity in those arenas, I do have a following for the pen names as well.

Summary

This gives you five good reasons for using a pen name – beyond just for fun! If you can think of other reasons to use a pen name, please share them in the comments below.

In the next article, I will discuss how to manage pen names. Meanwhile, here are more resources to explore on this topic:

Here is a related blog post that offers other considerations before deciding to use a pen name: http://penandmuse.com/when-you-should-and-shouldnt-use-a-pen-name/

Here are seveal self-published authors talking about why they use pen names: http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/writing-should-the-self-published-author-use-a-pen-name-pseudonym/

And if you’re wondering how to choose a pen name, here’s a good place to start: http://www.smallbluedog.com/how-to-choose-a-pen-name.html

Or you can use the Random Name Generator at http://www.behindthename.com/random/

Share your experiences with pen names below.

0 Categories : eBooks

Jan
27

How To Close Your Online Business

by Jeanette

It seems inconceivable now, but there may come a time that you want to close your online business. It may be for health reasons. It could be because you’re just tired of doing it. Maybe you’ve changed direction in your life and don’t want to continue any of your online activities. There are a variety of reasons.

One of the challenges we face with Online Business is that it’s been around such a short time, that there are not a lot of good models to follow when it comes to closing one. That was my challenge as I decided whether or not I wanted to retire. As a consequence, the amount of time and effort I put into researching the options has been documented here.

If you have decided it’s time to close your online business, here’s a list of steps you need to take.

Domains

1. List all of the domains you own. You can easily do this by pulling a report from your registrar (the place where you register and renew your domain names).

2. Determine the fate of each domain name. Will you sell this one? Will you keep it? (I always recommend you keep yourname.com, if you already own it. There is only one of those in the world and it may have future value for you.) Will you just let it expire?

Note your decision next to each domain name.

If you own a keyword-rich domain name, it may be worth it to sell it. You can determine the “value” by getting a domain appraisal at your registrar’s site. If they don’t offer one, you can always use TechTamersDomains.com (Choose it from the Domains menu.)

Once you have determined the potential value of a domain, you can

Offer it to your list
Point social media posts pointing to your list of domains for sale
Sell it on Sedo.com (they are the best known site seller, but they also charge more) or GoDaddy Auctions (more affordable fees, but less traffic).

Payments

3. List all sites where you are making payments. The easiest way to get a list of these is to look at your credit card statements, your PayPal account, and your bookkeeping system. You may easily have:

Hosting
Automatic renewals at your registrar
A shopping cart
An autoresponder system
Monthly sites you pay for, such as memberships
Backup sites you maintain, such as Amazon S3

Next to each payment, list whether or not it is recurring. If so, be sure to cancel those. The biggest culprits will be those annual licenses you pay for things like backups, software licenses, etc. So these may take some digging.

4. With your list of payments, plan when to turn them off.

Timing is key here. For example, you cannot turn off your hosting account as long as you have active sites on it. So that may be one of the last accounts to close.

On the other hand, you can turn off all of the recurring payments you have for content immediately, since you won’t be needing it any more.

So look at each payment carefully. Better to let it go one more payment than to cancel in haste and decide you really needed that site one more month.

Intellectual Property

5. Focus on your intellectual assets. If, for example, you’ve created courses or written articles or books, decide 1) if each item has any value and 2) do you want to sell it to someone else?

A. You can sell your business as a whole. There are business brokers who will find a buyer for your business. However, recognize that there is a lot of work that you need to put in before you are prepared to sell it. For example, you will need to document each site, each product, number of copies sold, when content was last updated, conversion rate for the site, etc. If you are willing to put in that effort or already have those numbers at hand, this may be a good option for you. Just be prepared to wait for the right buyer, all the time either continuing your business or watching it deteriorate around you, with no guarantee it will sell.

B. You can sell your content. Again, there are multiple choices for how to do this.

1. You can sell your domains with content on them. If the domain has good content on it, such as a sales letter, product, or blog, you can sell it with the content, adding value to the buyer. Naturally you want to be sure you have all rights to the content. If you do, look into selling the site “as is” on Flippa.com or a similar site.

2. You can sell just the content. You could easily package the product or blog articles, for example, and sell a limited number of copies of it. Include Private Label Rights and the masters (such as the slides, Word documents, etc.) so that the buyer(s) can modify and update the content. As a bonus include a copy of your salesletter. Include training on how to repurpose PLR materials.

3. Sell turnkey sites that are clones of your original site. This is particularly effective if you have a product that newer marketers could sell, without specialized knowledge. You can even go one step further and use software like Backup Creator to clone your site and set up a duplicate on their URL. Providing this type of “service” goes beyond just PLR rights to the content. You are now selling a “turnkey business” at a much higher price point. You can charge even more by limiting the number of packages you sell. You could easily record a how-to webinar where you show them how to modify the site to make it unique.

6. You may have some assets that continue to generate revenue, with no additional work on your part. These will include affiliate revenues for recurring products – those will continue to flow into your account, so keep your PayPal account open. Likewise, books you’re selling on Amazon and other sites will continue to generate revenue. You may want to change the bank account where you receive your payments, but there’s no point in getting rid of these, unless you feel you can make more from them by selling the title or rights to the books.

Related Issues

7. You have a variety of social media accounts. Will you keep these or stop using them when your business closes? Make a list of them and determine the fate of each.

8. Email subscriptions. Start now to unsubscribe from everything. If you have decide to close your business, you no longer need multiple emails tempting you to buy things you don’t need. You no longer need to track what other marketers are doing. Just unsubscribe.

9. Multiple email accounts. If you are not in business, you probably don’t need multiple email accounts. Close them.

10. Decide whether or not you want to tell anyone you are retiring or quitting. Since there are so few high-profile Online Businesses that have quit or closed, there are few models to follow. Of those who have announced their “retirement”, 100% have resurfaced online within 5 years. So you may or may not decide to share the news with your customers, subscribers, and online friends.

11. Notify your customers. If people have purchased products from you, you need to let them know you are selling the product site or that you are closing it. Give them an opportunity to log in and pick up what they need before the site closes.

12. Consider your customers. If you are selling the site, you may or may not include the list of customers with the sale. It depends on the terms under which people subscribed to your site and whether or not you trust the new owner to take good care of your people. If in doubt on either item, don’t give them the customer list.

Take Action

If you’ve gotten to this point, following each of the prior steps, it’s time to go ahead and take action. Every day you delay, it’s costing you money.

Summary

Closing a business is not an easy decision, nor is it a quick process, unless you just turn out the lights and walk away. Even then, if you have not documented your assets and how you will dispose of them, unexpected charges will come back to bite you. So take the time to do it right.

Naturally I would love to hear your ideas of what else you can think of – or what questions you have about the process.

7 Categories : Online Success

Dec
8

An Organized Christmas

by Jeanette

As the holiday busy season builds to its climax, I wanted to share my tips for remaining calm and profitable with an organized Christmas approach. While it may be too late for you to adopt all of these ideas this year, mark this article and revisit it in September of next year. Here’s what’s working for me…

1. Use a shopping app on your smart phone.

This has literally changed the way I shop and budget for the holidays! I use The Christmas List, an app for my iphone. It’s under $2 and so worth it! Here’s how it works.

I list all of the family and friends I plan to buy gifts for. Under their names I list what I want to buy or am considering. I also add the approximate price of the item, as well as where I plan to look for it.

This does two thing for me. First, it generates a list of stores (online and offline) that I need to visit and what I need to look for at each of these stores. Second, it generates the amount I’m spending on each person.

As I buy something, I move it from possible to purchased and now I can see a running total as I shop. There’s also check boxes for what’s wrapped, shipped, and received, so that I can track my hundreds of boxes from Amazon. 🙂

As a final goodie, you can archive your shopping and buying lists from one year to the next, so it’s super fast to reorder or look again for what they wanted before.

The only thing I would change about this app is adding the clothing sizes to each person’s name. But that function may be in there but I just haven’t discovered it yet!

Regardless of whether or not you use this particular app (I look at a lot before settling on this one last year), I definitely recommend you use one. It takes you a long way to a more organized Christmas.

2. Use standard menus and shopping lists.

Our family fixes the same meal each year as our traditional holiday feast. And while it may be turkey or ham, both have the same side dishes, with possibly one or two new additions each year. (This year my granddaughers fixed Monkey Bread as their first contribution to the family meal.)

With the same menu, it’s super simple to generate the shopping list. We’ve had to update it over the years as we’ve added more family members and little appetites have transitioned into teenage hunger monsters. However, we keep the latest shopping list in a Word document. Whoever last hosted the meal has the master and passes it on to the next person who will be shopping. It saves a lot of time!

3. Set up a wrapping station.

We have an adjustable height table that is the same height as the kitchen counter, so we add it next to the breakfast bar, starting about December 10th. On the table you’ll find scissors, tape, and nametags. Other than that, we try to keep the table clear. Under the table you’ll find rolls of paper, bags of gift bags, an assortment of boxes, and boxes of recycled bows (can’t remember the last time we bought bows!)

As gifts arrive in the house, you can go directly to the wrapping table and everything you need is there. For the marathon wrapping session the last day before everyone arrives, the height of the table saves your back! This has definitely been a worthwhile investment. (We used a table top from one of my favorite restaurants and added adjustable height legs from ikea.) And as the party begins, the table stays in place for added serving and preparation space in the kitchen!

4. Shop online.

Before the Internet (yes, there was such a time), I spent most late evenings at stores, trying to get all the shopping done – after working a full day as a college administrator and a full evening attending graduate school. By the time Christmas arrived, I was exhausted!

Now with my shopping app next to me, I shop online. That also means I can take advantage of great deals, like those currently happening on Amazon. For example, this week they are featuring flash discounts on Disney items on December 11, with sports discounts on December 12. Every day there is a different discount category, plus plenty of other special deals!

It’s also a good idea to sign up for Amazon Prime. You can start with a trial if you like. Personally it saves me tons on shipping costs year-round, plus there are books and movies all year long, too!

While I may still take a trip or two to the mall (it’s 3 minutes away), I’m no longer stressed about HAVING to find that special something. Now mall shopping is just for the little fun things you see.

5. Automate your work.

Because we are all in business online, we can’t ignore our own business while we are shopping and cooking and enjoying family and friends. But you also don’t want to be tied to your computer during this time of year. So batch your work and schedule it for automated profits.

Write a series of emails to your list, then go ahead and load and schedule them to go out while you’re baking cookies.

Schedule basic social media posts to go out without you present, so that when you do have time to check in on social media, you can relax and respond to others’ posts.

Use this time for thinking and jotting down notes (use your audio app) about what you want to do – after the holidays.

But for now – enjoy yourself and your loved ones!

Share YOUR tips for an organized holiday in the comments below. I’d love to hear how you manage it all!

1 Categories : Productivity, Technology Tips

Connie Ragen Green: So much excellent and actionable information here, Jeanette! Thank you for sharing.
admin: Stacy I understand. It’s always easier to write in the way you are comfortable. So I would recommend...
Stacy: I am writing book which is my autobiography. My daughter think it would be better to write on my first...
Darrell Williams: What formatting company do you use for your ebooks? I love your books and the way it’s...
Janet Wahl: Hi Jeanette, Thanks for your response. My books are “textbooks” or books that will be used...

Author Archive for Jeanette

Pinterest Pain

Kindle Unlimited Update

Winners and Losers

Examples

What You Need To Do Now

An Old Model Made New

Hot In Brazil

When To Use A Pen Name

How To Close Your Online Business

Domains

Payments

Intellectual Property

Related Issues

Take Action

Summary

An Organized Christmas

Look Who's Talking

Topics

How Can I Help?

Best-Selling Book