Many self-publishing authors plan on eventually selling their
book to a large publisher at a good price. The fast track way to
achieve this goal is to push up the market value of a book with a
push v. pull strategy. This article shows you how to do exactly
that, using a simple Internet strategy that any self-publisher
can afford.
PUSH v. PULL EXPLAINED
Books with push like Harry Potter push customers through the
doors, and the registers go kachink, kachink. With self-
published titles, booksellers must pull customers through the
door and that costs money. Put yourself in their shoes. Giving
preference to books with built-in push makes sense.
Remember this formula: push stacks chips on your side of the
bargaining table and pull sweeps them away. With a transferable
Internet presence strategy, you can stack chips to the ceiling
just like the big boys do.
WHAT THE BIG BOYS ARE DOING
The push is on with major publishers to build market value for
their intellectual properties with the Digital Object Identifier
(DOI) system.
A DOI is a permanent Internet address for your book. No matter
how many times ownership of a book changes hands, the DOI
Internet address is permanently bound to the book, just as
tightly as the binding. This is why hundreds of big publishers
have registered over 16 million intellectual properties with the
DOI system with millions more on the way.
Who fueled the creation of the DOI system? Computer experts?
No. From a market asset valuation standpoint, that makes as much
as sense as going to a Sushi Chef for a vasectomy. (Better idea
? get the Sushi afterwards!)
Rather, it was senior publishing executives and their financial
gurus who pushed for the creation of the DOI system. When you
sit down at the bargaining table with a DOI, you'll be talking
their language.
PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS
The Internet is like an elephant, it remembers everything and it
can remember a lot! You can always include your email address or
your web site address but these things point to a business
identity ? not the work, itself.
Use the same DOI on every web page, ezine article, review, blog
post, etc. and it becomes a 24/7 market value builder that
follows the work. If something changes, like your email or web
site address, one simple update is all it takes. No more
annoying "page not found" or "no such e-mail recipient" errors.
Use your DOI the right way, and every little stitch of web
presence marketing you've done becomes one more chip on
bargaining table. Remember, the big guys speak DOI.
DOI BENEFITS ARE IMMEDIATE
Getting good book reviews is so miserably hard these days,
especially for self-published authors. What if your book finally
gets that fabulous review you've hoped for long after
publication? Will it be orphaned from the book marketing
information you've already published on the Internet? No.
One quick update of your DOI and everything that it references on
the Internet will immediately begin broadcasting your fabulous
review to the online world.
START ADDING MARKET VALUE TODAY
Each day, try to add more market value to your book. A blog post
here, an ezine article there. These things cost nothing, and yet
they can push huge amounts of sales-generating traffic at your
book.
As a self-published author, you've got to keep your eyes on what
the big guys are doing, and when you can emulate them on the
cheap, you do it!
WHEN TO GET YOUR DOI
The best time to register your DOI is after your books are
available for purchase on Amazon.com and other online bookseller
sites. This way, you can create menu options in your DOI that
link to online bookseller pages for immediate sales results.
Be sure to ask your publisher or vanity press if they offer a DOI
service. One that does is Your Own World Books (Yowbooks.com).
Their Author Advantage program includes a transferable DOI.
If your publisher does not offer a DOI service, that's OK. As
the copyright holder, you can register your DOI with an
independent DOI hosting service like DOIeasylink.NET. The annual
cost of a DOI is comparable to one-month web site hosting fee.
Plus, you get a 1-page Internet response page and descriptive
menus with multiple Internet links.
USE A DOI TO HIT CRITICAL MASS
If you remember only one thing from this article, let it be this.
Think like the big boys. Use this strategy to add more market
value by continually broadcasting information on the Internet
with your DOI. Eventually, you'll hit critical mass. People
will buy your book, and large publishers will see this and be
impressed!
Free Publishing Guidelines: You have permission to publish this
article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as
the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication
would be appreciated.
DOIeasylink.NET: We Add Value to Your Book
- Learn More: http://doieasylink.net
- http://dx.doi.org/10.2122/doieasylink
- Marshall Masters, President
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1572/marshall.masters
Marshall Masters is a publisher, self-published author, radio
personality and Internet technologist. His published titles
include Godschild Covenant: Return of Nibiru, Gold Fever, Indigo-
E.T. Connection, and Orange Blossom. He founded DOIeasylink.NET
to make the DOI system available to self-publishers and small
presses. Drawing upon his decades of consulting experience with
notable firms such as AT&T, Oracle, HP, Lockheed and Sun
Microsystems, he created a simple, affordable DOI solution for
self-publishers and small presses.