Your Business My Business

                                     written by Czar Richards for Ari Communications

There is a saying that goes: “No battle plan survives engagement with the enemy.” This is also true regarding business plans. When I started my business a few years ago, it was because my book publisher went bust. I was disappointed but not surprised. The Great Recession left no business unscathed. The government, of course, downplayed it to avoid a panic but to many of us it was clear we were teetering toward another Great Depression.

Confident in my abilities as a writer, I decided to create a publishing company of my own rather than seek another publishing contract and so I created Ari Publishing.

Since I had established a pretty good readership, I figured my followers would simply transfer their allegiance to Ari Publishing, but there was a problem. They didn’t know aripublishing.com existed! What’s worse, I didn’t know how to tell them, because  I didn’t know anything about marketing or website building or back links or any of the essential skills necessary to create a successful online business.

So I had to learn. And frankly it was a tedious, exhausting, time-consuming process.

Because I was spending so much time researching and learning the fine points about online business, I didn’t have time to write. And if there is one thing you learn quickly as a writer, it’s that your readership wants product.

And a steady stream of it.

And another fact is that the Great Recession took a lot of people away from their regular purchases. For example. Before the recession hit I had the entire TV programming package. Cost something like 175 dollars a month. Same with my mobile phone set up. Another 120 a month.  Now I just have the standard packages because I discovered I really didn’t need those expensive upgrades

But not only did I cut back on my regular purchases, my book buyers cut back as well.

So I adapted. I started advertising to professionals. Doctors, lawyers, financial planners, real estate brokers etc. and offered them a way to increase their professional reputation by having a book published.

It is an established fact that those who have a book published in their field of expertise are considered the experts. People like Suze Orman, Wolfgang Puck, Dr. Phil and Donald Trump became household names following the publication of their books.

But that brought about the need to acquire another set of skills. It came to my attention that professional people had no idea how to promote themselves on the internet. Their websites were clinical and off-putting. Their content was bland and their templates all looked the same.

So my team and I learned website design and construction, started creating logos, edited videos, had spokesperson presentations created. Hired voice-over professionals to give product pitches and turned those bland sites into sites worth a second look. In a short period of time we became the “go to” company for internet marketing needs.

And apparently the marketplace began to notice because my business was changing again. As the internet continues to become a more powerful marketplace, brick and mortar businesses are seeing the need to get their businesses online whether they sell anything online or not. This also goes for social media. Because if your business doesn’t have a Facebook page, it isn’t likely to be taken seriously.

So now the majority of my income doesn’t come from writing books (although they continue to sell quite well) the majority of my business comes from improving or simply building online businesses for my clients. So now I have a successful business.

It’s just not just the one I thought I would have.

And that’s the take away from my experience. Many people start an online business and quit because they don’t have instant success right away. Online business is no get rich quick scheme. It’s a real business that can make you a good amount of money. You just have to discover what business people want to be in with you, not what business you want to be in with them.

I thought I was building a publishing business, what I was actually building was a communication business. And so Ari Publishing grew into aricommunications.com

People look at  www.aricommunications.com website’s design and say WOW! I want something like that. Or watch its video presentation and say, I can use that too! And the more they peruse our site, the more products and services they find that can benefit their business.

And that’s the point because our motto is: Our Business Is To Make Your Business, Better.

 So stop by aricommunications.comand see what products and services can best benefit your business.

Why Your Books Aren’t Selling and How to Fix That

Why Your Books Aren’t Selling and How to Fix That

I belong to a writer’s group and last night we had a new member, a talented and intelligent young woman, who appeared to be wholly devoted to the craft. She was putting the finishing touches on yet another novel and was preparing to send it to agents and publishers.

This one, she was convinced, would be the one that would garner her a writing contract and launch her career as a best-selling novelist.

 Out of respect I did not laugh out loud. 

Afterward however, when the usual group met for drinks at the local watering hole, she chose to join us.

When she said that the first thing she was going to do when her book was published and the royalties started pouring in was to buy a horse…

I just had to speak up. As a writer and publisher I have seen too many aspiring writers fritter away a large portion of their lives writing books and hoping THAT one will launch their writing career.

It doesn’t happen that way anymore. And please don’t point out the very small exceptions to that rule. If you read their stories you will see they were ASTOUNDINGLY lucky and had they not gotten a writing contract they would have most certainly won the lottery. And yes they were very talented but talent is a dime a dozen and over the years I’ve met many extremely talented individuals who, if talent was the only prerequisite, they would have become house-hold names. But it didn’t happen.

So consider the famous Clint Eastwood line: “Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?”

Ever see one of those people who are constantly buying lottery tickets, their eyes wide with the overwhelming belief that any day now, they are going to win the jackpot.

Silly, aren’t they?

Believe it or not, the odds of you getting that writing contract are the exact same as those playing the lottery. The only difference is that the lottery winners get to keep the money. Much of a novelist royalties go to their agents, publicists, lawyers, taxes and paying back advances.

So here’s what you need to ask yourself: Do you want to be a writer? OR do you just want to be rich and famous? Any nit-wit with a sex tape and become rich and famous. But if you want to become a writer, then you need to make some serious changes in your approach.

First, lose the ego. All writers have enormous egos that have convinced them that they only need write a great novel to become a famous writer. Not true. There are a number of truly awful books that have become best sellers because the writer understood the marketing concept that made success possible.

I address this concept in my book The Best Book on How to Write, Publish and MarketYour Novel into a Best Seller. I also show you how many so-called best- selling writers, who have never written a word, collect thousands of dollars each month in royalties without having to pay a dime to publishers, agents, publicists, etc. To get a copy, CLICK HERE

But it all boils down to one thing. If you are genuinely serious about becoming a successful author, YOU MUST LEARN MARKETING.

Believe me, I know you don’t want to hear that BUT publishing is a business and to quote Dan Kennedy, this country’s most successful marketer, “All businesses are the same.”

The ugly truth is when it comes to getting people to buy your work of art, your genius tale, your literary masterpiece, the market strategy is the same as selling a bag of cement, women’s make-up, bicycles, lawn care products, computers and every other marketable product.

So here is the reality and the choice you need to make. You can either spend countless hours writing books that no one, other than friends and family, will read or you will learn the basics of marketing. And the truth is once you understand how book marketing works, you won’t need to get a publishing contract, you’ll know how and where to promote your books and keep all the profits for yourself.  And believe me, once the publishing houses see your success they’ll be lining up at your door looking to sign you to a contract.

So what’s in this for me?

Reasonable question. If you download my book I’ll get a commission. To have a look CLICKHERE.

But I’m going to go one step better. I’m going to give you access to a free video marketing course. It’s the same one I learned from. And simply put, this is a MUST if you’re serious about making writing your career.

Here’s all you have to do. Click on the link below, type in your name and e-mail address in the box and download the FREE course. That’s it. No credit card or obligation involved. Once downloaded an icon will appear on your desktop, click on it and the tutorials will begin. It will start with the basics-how to create a website, domain names and webs hosting, which you likely already know how to do but then comes the tutorials where you learn exactly how marketing works and how to get your book out in front of people looking to buy it.

Think about it. If your books aren’t selling the answer is NOT to write more books. The answer is to learn how to SELL more books

So download the FREE marketing tutorials HERE and let's get started
Sponsored by ARI