Peterka

Prologue - with the advent of the Middle Ages and onto the Renaissance, progress had come to Europe, and important men took the seat of familiarity, it was the time of: William Tell (1306 AD), Edward the III of England, Louis the IV of Bavaria (1333 AD); Othman Empire founded 1299 AD, the first clock, 1348 AD; the French used the cannon in 1308 AD; the Compass, 1320 AD. Window glass was introduced in around 1300, the Dark Ages was over, and on came Martin Luther, 1521 AD; William Shakespeare, 1546, ended up reading his plays to Queen Elisabeth. And then there was growing legends in Kulmbach, and its Castle called Plassenburg.

The Ghost of Plassenburg

Perhaps the ghost did it, so many have said in the past,
or perhaps its been bad luck or poor leadership, whatever
Plassenburg Castle was ill-fated for much of its past.

I have myself heard many a ghost stories in Germany,
heard their footsteps in an old Babenhausen, fortress (1973);
a World War II story, someone was thrown out a window
four stories high, those were those footsteps, still alive.

But the White Lady, of legend, of Plassenburg,
still haunts its dark corridors; I saw her one morn.
Ive heard her called by many names, Agnes is one,
but all are the same, the White Lady of Kulmbach.

The legend goesshe killed her two children cold,
for the love of a fashionable young count;
and when he washed his hands clean of her, suicide,
but with her dying breath, she left a curse, for her ghost.

In 1553, Kulmbach and its castle were under siege;
and the thirty-year war was also extended to thee.
Napoleon besieged it in 1806, blew it to bits.
You see: ill-fatedbad luck, or the White Lady!

Notes: This writer has lived and traveled in West Germany for five-years, in the 1970s, and traveled it extensively, and seen many of its castles, rivers, Abbeys or Monasteries and the spirit of its land still haunts me, its legends and lore still have moisten my spirit to were I seem to crave more of its spectator design. 7-22-2007 (No: 1914)

See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

In PART ONE we learned to ONLY, ONLY, ONLY write on something we've earned the right to write about . . . that's a paraphrase from Dale Carnegie, who wrote: "ONLY, ONLY, ONLY speak on something you've earned the right to speak about."

And in PART TWO Write About It! How many ways are there to write a book, concluding with the latest technology called Voice Recognition. No more yellow pads (unless that's your style).

Now for the most important part of the process.

SELL IT! Here's the PROFITABLE STEP (let's make money). If you've completed Steps One and Two properly, the third step will fall right into place. Get ready to make the bank deposits and process the credit card orders.

Of course, we're assuming that you've followed the guidelines in either the Ross's Complete Guide to Self Publishing or Poynter's Self Publishing Manual to get your book into print.

Whether you've chosen to print 250 copies or 2,000 copies depends on your ultimate goal. For example, CIPA member Gordon Miller printed 250 copies of his Quit Your Job Often and Get Big Raises. His goal? To get the attention of a New York publisher, and he did: a two-book contract.

Back to Sell It! Most authors/publishers immediately think: bookstores, distributors and libraries. These are ALL valid avenues to sell books.

But what is the BEST and the MOST PROFITABLE way to sell books? Let's be honest. Unless you've printed more than 10,000 copies, you won't have enough to stock the 10,000 libraries in the U.S. Unless you're willing to wait 104 days for bookstores and/or distributors to pay your invoices, you may want to consider these other avenues.

#1 Back of the Room Sales: This works well for many authors who are also speakers. You get to keep the profits (around 86 percent). Consider the type of audiences you want to speak with. There are over 23,000 associations in the United States ... and each of them needs speakers for their events.

#2 Schools and Churches: Like #1 these two venues are constantly looking for speakers for their assemblies, teacher training sessions, and even Parent-Teacher meetings. Acres of diamonds in your own back yard. Simply start with the school or church that you and your family attend, and then branch out.

#3 Radio Talk Shows: Of course, you'd be disappointed if I didn't mention this avenue, wouldn't you? There are now 970 talk shows across America that are constantly looking for guests for EVERY program, EVERY day. I've been blessed to have been interviewed on 650 shows, ALL without leaving home.

Results: more than 23,750 book sales all at FULL RETAIL, generating $376,500.

This idea works and works very well. Remember, your only uniform is your bathrobe. When it's 8 a.m. in NY or Miami, its only 6 a.m. in Denver.

I'd prefer to save the rest of this story until I present my Radio Talk Show program for CIPA's College on April 7th. Hope to see you there.

#4 Niche marketing to gift shops and catalog companies are covered in both Ross's and Poynter's books.

#5 Lastly, for now, writing articles (based on your book) for magazines. Get paid for the article and then include your name/800# and www at the end of the article.

#6 Get creative! I'm sure all the ideas have not been covered here or elsewhere. Get a MasterMind group started and think of new ways to get your books out of the garage or basement and into the hands of buyers/readers.

Here's hoping that this series of three articles has lit the fire of determination for you to:

*DO SOMETHING! *WRITE ABOUT IT! *AND SELL IT!

See you at the bank!

Joe Sabah is a nationally recognized speaker, trainer, consultant, author and publisher. He is based in Denver, Colorado where he operates a speaking/publishing/consulting business.

As a member of the National Speakers Association, in 1982 Joe served as co-founder and first president of the Colorado Speakers Association (a chapter of the National Speakers Association, now with over 150 members. He is also a member of the Publishers Marketing Association and the Small Publishers Association of North America.

Joe served as the president of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association for 2 1/2 years, increasing its membership from 90 to 310.

Joe served the American Motivational Association as Regional Vice President in Northern California, Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado. His Sales Congresses traditionally exceeded 1,200 seminar attendees. He sponsored and promoted congresses that included: Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Cavett Robert, Og Mandino, Ira Hayes, Marilyn Van Derbur and Dr. Morris Massey.

Traveling is fun and for the travelers at heart, this is one activity they would give their right hand for. And therefore they brave all sorts of weather and all kinds of terrain for the love of exploring the unexplored and re-discovering the discovered. And in their endeavor, they often compromise on the freedom of going anywhere they wish to or at any pace they feel like.

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There are many web based suppliers of campervans. You can log on to their site and get your campervan hire without any hassles. They offer friendly assistance to familiarize you with the campervan and its facilities. And it is left to you to take it to anywhere you wish to.

Allan Elvin is an MBA in Finance and has a rich experience of writing on topics related to finance. He professes special interest and expertise in compervan and in guiding you on its various details.