What's new
By:
Filters

The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

Status
Not open for further replies.
CarmeloOrchards

CarmeloOrchards

Crusader
SweetnessandLight said:
You know, when Ted first started this, I thought, we have a sort of a virtual salon right here on this thread! :coolwink: Thanks for those great Paris pics, Hatty! I can smell the absinthe by just looking at that Hell Cafe! :hyper:

O.K. Ted, I watched the vids and I'm primed and ready for our assignment! :)

I am going to up the ante by adding this vid, a TED talk featuring Tony Robbins, who people like to joke about and make fun of, but who is a GREAT public speaker, and knows his stuff about what makes people tick. Much of what he says in this vid has relevance for us here on this thread :D

No psychiatry is involved :D, so I double-dog dare everybody to watch it!!! :happydance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpc-t-Uwv1I&feature=related
Click to expand...

rumor has it that that in the last year or two he has had counseling at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, FL.
 
Last edited:
SweetnessandLight

SweetnessandLight

Crusader
Watch the vid, honey, then we'll talk! :D Many, many people have dipped a toe into Scientology counselling and then gone their own way and done their own thing! :blush: I iz a happy squirrel! :thumbsup:

Love Tommy's tamales with chili and lots of ketchup to cool the fire~~~yummy! Great with a Coke (so bad for you!) :D

Sorry to hear about your wife's current challenges Carmelo, give her my love and best wishes for good health and healing. :)

Ted...could she do a short series of home-made youtube talks or interviews, (characters attract!) illustrating a brief concept or short story from the book that would drive people to buy it, either online or in real life?
 
Ted

Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
CarmeloOrchards said:
start with an e book format and sales on ebay, i tunes and Amazon.

redo the first words that a reader sees. Do a book jacket if necessary.

It is the front and back cover that sells a book that isn't by Tom Clancy or J. K. Rowling or hyped by Oprah.

Give it a PUNCH!

Have a quote about her kid dying, and the gut punch that was. Have ACW's stinging words about her right there. Show some of the adversity. Don't pussy foot around. Hit the reader in the solar plexus. Like Cassius Clay, show what she can take and give in the first glance.

Don't call her an old lady. Grandma Moses was no old lady. Colonel Sanders was no old man. (both didn't hit until late in life) Age has nothing to do with the topic. You are selling a story that should be inspiring and educational.

make the introduction more of a "Give'm Hell, Harry!" and less a reasoned treatise.
Click to expand...


Good comments.

Different strokes for different folks. I have a feeling that the hard-hitting, direct punch-to-the-privates approach would not have the emotional connection to some people that it would have with you or me.

For some time I have perceived the need to "tell all" in a take-no-prisoners style. It means filling in the blanks, answering questions in detail, and taking a hero or two down to flawed, human status. It would be interesting. But I am not certain about the broad appeal.

For a clue as to where this might lead, Google "Wanda Durnil."

There is certainly a story there to be told, even if the audience might be limited.
 
Ted

Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
SweetnessandLight said:
Watch the vid, honey, then we'll talk! :D Many, many people have dipped a toe into Scientology counselling and then gone their own way and done their own thing! :blush: I iz a happy squirrel! :thumbsup:

Love Tommy's tamales with chili and lots of ketchup to cool the fire~~~yummy! Great with a Coke (so bad for you!) :D

Sorry to hear about your wife's current challenges Carmelo, give her my love and best wishes for good health and healing. :)

Ted...could she do a short series of home-made youtube talks or interviews, (characters attract!) illustrating a brief concept or short story from the book that would drive people to buy it, either online or in real life?
Click to expand...

Videos are in the works. Her first ones are on her web site. We have to drill and fine tune, but thank you.
 
CarmeloOrchards

CarmeloOrchards

Crusader
Ted said:
Videos are in the works. Her first ones are on her web site. We have to drill and fine tune, but thank you.
Click to expand...

partner with Tommy's.

Fade in:

Wanda is standing by the trunk of her Rolls Royce, chowing down on a Tommy's burger.

Wanda: I used to eat here on the trunk of my Pinto, my, times have changed.
 
O

olska

Silver Meritorious Patron
Ted said:
<snip>

Sales/marketing is but one area where Wanda can be of assistance to the right people. She was a single mom. She would like to speak to groups of single moms to help them make more money and live better. And the desire to get out and about takes other forms as well. This week she is on an ocean cruise where she will speak and promote her book with like-minded people. She had done a half dozen radio talk shows. Still we don't have the traction we need to get rolling.

We have come a long way from simply thinking about writing a book, yet we are spinning our wheels. Self-help seems, at times, to be way more difficult than helping someone else. We are not trying to protect any aspect of this project, but maybe we have been protective out of old habit. There's no big money to be made here--or maybe there is. Enough money to keep on keeping on is the primary target. I want to help an old lady close out her life doing exactly what she feels she needs to be doing.

<snip>

This is where I seek your connectivity and assistance because we are somewhat stalled and in need of an accelerant: How do we take this project to the next level? What is the next level? That sort of thing lingers stagnant in the mind.

<snip>

Wanda is presently in Florida designing her next book and planning a lecture tour around this one. Wanda’s activities are now about, as she says, “Giving back.” Among the things she would like to talk about are the “9 Incredible Tools Smart People Use to Get What They Want.” The nine “tools” are introduced herein.

I hope this introduction gives sufficient reason to read the book, and we hope the book gives compelling reason to lend an ear when Wonderful Wanda comes to your area.
Click to expand...

If I understand you correctly in last paragraph above, you are hoping to sell the book, and that readers of the book will then be inspired to go hear this lady speak. Try it the other way around.

Focus on the lecture/public speaking tour first -- make that the top priority. Then bring boxes of the book to sign and sell AFTER the lecture is over, while the attendees are having coffee and visiting.

Schedule speaking engagements wherever you can get them -- probably the "big name" and high-paying engagements will come only after you've done enough small, local engagements for free -- like the Lions Club, Rotary Club, Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW, Library Club, etc. in small cities around the country to build some momentum.

Small cities and towns in the High Plains area of this country are hungry for such stories as this lady has to tell -- local color, local gal made good, value of the rural work ethic, etc. so you shouldn't have any trouble booking a fairly full schedule of speaking engagements if you start in Texas and work north through her home country of Nebraska and upward. (I know that area)

The book will sell AFTER the lecture because people have met and heard the lady speak, and because a) they liked what they heard, were inspired, need the book to continue in that vein; b) they want a memento of the occasion; c) they feel an obligation to buy it the way women feel obligated to buy when they attend a Tupperware party.

You can get free publicity in the little local papers by sending in a press pack with photo, blurb about Wanda and her book, and announcement of when/ where she will be speaking. Big city newspapers would bury it on page 26; but the little newspapers out in flyover country are hungry for stuff like that, it could make the front page. And the people who live there are hungry for something new and different to go and see and do.

Eventually you may build enough momentum that she will get "invited" to speak by people who contact YOU (and who offer a good fee); and a major publisher might pick up the book.

Good luck.
 
Ted

Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
A Boon to the Economy

NASA spinoffs have long contributed to private industry: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/facts/nasaspinoff.html

NASA Spinoffs Fact Sheet
Whether you walk into your home, drive your car, visit your doctor or hospital, or indulge in recreation, you will likely come in contact with a product that is the result of technology first developed by NASA. NASA missions produce scientific and technical challenges that result in many technological developments. Since 1976, more than 1,300 documented NASA technologies have benefited U.S. industry, improved our quality of life and created jobs for Americans. They are called "spinoffs" as industry has taken the concept and applied it to commercial products. The Space Shuttle Program alone has generated more than 100 technology spinoffs, utilized by medical, environmental, automotive, sports, computer and refrigeration markets.


Automotive Insulation; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR); Parking Garage Automation System; Built-In Plant Nutrient; NASA Medical-Related Spinoffs; Laser Angioplasty; Digital Cardiac Imaging (DCI) System; Digital Imaging Breast Biopsy System; Artificial Heart; Diagnostic Instrument; Bioreactor; Infrared Thermometer; Lifesaving Light; Prosthesis Material; Insulation Pumps; Other Spinoffs; Infrared Camera; Rescue Tool; Jewelry Design Equipment

It Began with the Apollo Program

Kidney Dialysis; Physical Rehabilitation; Water Purification; Vacuum Metallizing Techniques; Cordless Power Tools

Now that Obummer has retasked NASA as a good-will, PR tool to help Muslims feel good about themselves, I wonder what new innovation we will be seeing?
 
SweetnessandLight

SweetnessandLight

Crusader
Carmelo!!! :p

Here you go Ted, just stream of consciousness ideas:

O.K. I suggest doing a little research in the field of life coaches and personal growth, which is big business here. They have conferences and sales and marketing conventions, etc... maybe you can tap into that field a little more.

See if you can get her book to some of the big guns in this industry.

See if you can get her a slot on the Joy Behar show or on Oprah's network!

Get some more review quotes from other well-known people in the personal growth field, which means sending out more review copies and requests.

I have a sense her vids will help to sell her book, as personality is what people connect to...so make getting those done a top priority, especially for the website, etc.

Link up with women's groups and social service agencies and non-profits that serve her target audience, which seems to be single Moms...make a targeted list and send a brochure to the Executive Director, or President of the group...she can't go and talk to everybody, so plan on putting her talks on CD's, or DVD's that you can sell along with the book as a package deal, for groups and agencies, schools, etc..to use as training or as fundraisers.

Find her another woman of a certain age who is a licensed or certified financial advisor who also has a product to sell, or just promote her own business, and have them partner together as a package deal of speakers, and/or workshop presenters.

We just had U.N. International Woman's Day...it's being celebrated by groups this entire month...have her write a press release tying to that, celebrating women's caring creativity and survival skills and giving a few tips for surviving the recession, and mentioning her book and speaking tours, etc. Then send it everywhere!

Book clubs are huge for women~~package a group special price and have her write a leaders guide for book clubs (do you know what those are Ted?) Other publishers sometimes cater to these with special editions with questions for discussion at the end by the author.

Believe it or not~~Red hat lady Clubs are also big...do some research and start marketing directly to these. Some have their own travel, conventions and cruises...they will love your red bracelets. Make them in purple also, and they will be a big hit! (Also with the spiritual seeker crowd~purple is BIG there!)

That's all for now! :)
 
Ted

Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
SweetnessandLight said:
Carmelo!!! :p

Here you go Ted, just stream of consciousness ideas: [...]
Click to expand...

Thank you!

Just so you know, at least half the people who have read the book on review have come back to us to say the story needs to be told on Oprah and/or the Hallmark network.
 
Ted

Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
olska said:
If I understand you correctly in last paragraph above, you are hoping to sell the book, and that readers of the book will then be inspired to go hear this lady speak. Try it the other way around.

Focus on the lecture/public speaking tour first -- make that the top priority. Then bring boxes of the book to sign and sell AFTER the lecture is over, while the attendees are having coffee and visiting.

Schedule speaking engagements wherever you can get them -- probably the "big name" and high-paying engagements will come only after you've done enough small, local engagements for free -- like the Lions Club, Rotary Club, Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW, Library Club, etc. in small cities around the country to build some momentum.

Small cities and towns in the High Plains area of this country are hungry for such stories as this lady has to tell -- local color, local gal made good, value of the rural work ethic, etc. so you shouldn't have any trouble booking a fairly full schedule of speaking engagements if you start in Texas and work north through her home country of Nebraska and upward. (I know that area)

The book will sell AFTER the lecture because people have met and heard the lady speak, and because a) they liked what they heard, were inspired, need the book to continue in that vein; b) they want a memento of the occasion; c) they feel an obligation to buy it the way women feel obligated to buy when they attend a Tupperware party.

You can get free publicity in the little local papers by sending in a press pack with photo, blurb about Wanda and her book, and announcement of when/ where she will be speaking. Big city newspapers would bury it on page 26; but the little newspapers out in flyover country are hungry for stuff like that, it could make the front page. And the people who live there are hungry for something new and different to go and see and do.

Eventually you may build enough momentum that she will get "invited" to speak by people who contact YOU (and who offer a good fee); and a major publisher might pick up the book.

Good luck.
Click to expand...



Okay. Thanks for the input.

:thumbsup:
 
RogerB

RogerB

Crusader
CarmeloOrchards said:
Snipped . . . . .

Have a quote about her kid dying, and the gut punch that was. Have ACW's stinging words about her right there. Show some of the adversity. Don't pussy foot around. Hit the reader in the solar plexus. Like Cassius Clay, show what she can take and give in the first glance.
Click to expand...

Where are the "stinging words from ACW"? I couldn't find any/it in what Ted posted.

Rog
 
Ted

Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
Ted said:
How does a Briefing Course student of old know when he's hungry?

The indigestion from his last Tommy Burger has subsided. :dieslaughing::dieslaughing::dieslaughing:
Click to expand...


How does that Briefing Course student of old know when he is STARVING?

His asshole quits burning! :dieslaughing::dieslaughing::dieslaughing:
 
RogerB

RogerB

Crusader
Ted.

On the book project . . . I note you referred to Wanda's book as her "calling card" . . . . :yes:

That raises the issue of how you and Wanda intend to use, or make use of, the book.

Many folks who've made a success in Wanda's game that I've personally interfaced with say this: The book is my calling card. It gives me the credentials to, and is my introduction to, my main source of income and for my main activity.

They readily admit their main source of income is not the book . . . they never expected to get rich from book sales.

But having the book set their real career into the big league!

Also, this book is suitable for bulk sales to women's institutions and some parts of universities . . . by bulk, I mean sales in lots of thousands. The institution buys the book and gives it away as an incentive to help members. You can do special editions, carry the institution's logo, etc., sell at cost plus a nice margin . . . far more than the royalty margin % you get from any publisher.

I have a friend who sold that idea to a Texas College . . . his book was on "how to get a job" :duh: Amazing.

The book and it's title also are naturals to position Wanda as a keynote speaker . . . . I am in touch with coaches on this caper . . . and there is stuff to know on how to pitch yourself as such and to whom and how much to charge . . . . you might be surprised at the $$$### folks in Wanda's genre are pulling down for speaking gigs!!!! And also surprised at the types of organizations who want the Wanda's of the world come talk to them :yes:

So, in short, being an author is not the "real deal" . . . . being the authority who wrote the book is! That's where the career and big bucks are!

It's a change of perspective: don't be an "author" (there's little or no money in book sales); be an authority--you get paid big $$$ for being an authority . . . . and the book positions you as that authority.

This is enough for this post . . . more later.

Rog
 
Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut

Crusader
CarmeloOrchards said:
start with an e book format and sales on ebay, i tunes and Amazon.

redo the first words that a reader sees. Do a book jacket if necessary.

It is the front and back cover that sells a book that isn't by Tom Clancy or J. K. Rowling or hyped by Oprah.

Give it a PUNCH!

Have a quote about her kid dying, and the gut punch that was. Have ACW's stinging words about her right there. Show some of the adversity. Don't pussy foot around. Hit the reader in the solar plexus. Like Cassius Clay, show what she can take and give in the first glance.

Don't call her an old lady. Grandma Moses was no old lady. Colonel Sanders was no old man. (both didn't hit until late in life) Age has nothing to do with the topic. You are selling a story that should be inspiring and educational.

make the introduction more of a "Give'm Hell, Harry!" and less a reasoned treatise.
Click to expand...

I cannot believe how similar our responses were. I chose 'Rocky' as an analogy instead of Cassius Clay. I got stuck on the death of the child too wanting to co-experience viscerally her emotions, as well as getting some strong identification with our protagonist in the first chapters. I also wanted to know some exact details of what went on at the ACW ranch. Great minds think alike. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top