A NOTE TO AUTHORS
Hello Everybody!
A few moments before the world went crazy—who ever heard of being told to stay in your houses until further notice and we all actually did it—I came up with a brilliant idea. Like a sudden flash of light, I could see the whole thing. I couldn’t quit thinking about it and for lack of a better name, I began to refer to it as “reverse marketing.” Like most such inspirations, I thought I invented it all by myself and was pretty sure nothing like this had ever been done before. I admit I became obsessed with it. Something that can happen when people have too much time time on their hands.
Looking back, I think I persuaded myself that this particular idea was nothing short of divine inspiration. Which is an author trait and why all craft books on the writing trade generally agree that you should put your masterpieces aside for at least two weeks before sending them off to publishers. But by that time I WAS the publisher (not only of my own books but for other authors as well). Not to mention a small cadre of creatives that consisted of illustrators, actors, musicians and graphic designers. Most of them had been working with me for years and I felt particularly responsible for them. Which is why—after hearing the absurd announcement from Amazon that they would not be selling anything but essentials related to the pandemic for the duration—I said the first thing that popped into my mind...
That we should all ignore the hysterics and keep writing the kind of books readers would be starving for by the time this disaster passed. A declaration I could make with complete confidence because history had already proven that all disasters eventually do end. What I wasn’t counting on were the 120 books we ended up with by the time we got there. The thing is, when I finally poked my head out to survey the market again...it looked mostly dead out there. As if some huge tornado had torn through, leaving a path of debris and destruction in its wake.
The way things are now.
A lot of businesses had gone under, including some of the largest most distinguished publishing houses that had existed for generations. Many had been absorbed by bigger competitors and some were even grabbed up by investors from other countries. In short, it was a mess out there. But what could we do about it? Old fashioned book tours were out of the question because so many bookstores on our circuit had gone out of business or discovered themselves to no longer be in a location that readers would care much to visit anymore. It might take years to clean up such a mess!
What should we do until then? The Internet was booming but it was like the old-time oil fields before regulations were set in place. Brigands and looters were roaming in bands through the murky waters like sharks who could smell blood from miles away. Our “mysteriously different books for children” could get killed out there and very nearly did. Which weighed heavily on me since I was the administrator of the company and the one who had to ultimately decide what we should do. The general consensus of the board was leaning toward either quitting or selling out. Because it was a different world now and things might never be the same again. To which I could only reply, “Not until I try my… my Reverse Marketing Plan.”
Talking my way out of it.
“How long will that take?” someone asked.
“Until next Friday,” I replied.
“How much will it cost?” (always the next question)
“Nothing,” I promised. “Instead, I’m going to give something extremely valuable away.”
Time and space limits me from telling you what went on in the rest of that meeting. Except to say I had serious thoughts of following in the footsteps of Igor Sikorsky, who famously locked the office door so that no one could get out before they agreed to back him on some hair-brained idea to build something nobody ever heard of... called a helicopter. Which didn’t need expensive runways to land or take off from: they would simply raise themselves up into the air. A lot harder sell than “mysteriously different books for children” but look what we all got out of it.
Is it possible to raise oneself up into the air? It is if we know how. But to go against what seems like the natural order of things takes a lot of persuasion. Not to mention a great deal of courage. More often than not, it also takes a lot of people working together to actually get things done. So, I have put together a one-shot deal here, that I can share with other authors instead of just our own company. And since I have to hit my mark by Friday, I’ve added quite a bit more than I probably should to it. I’m calling it our “Golden Marketing Plan,” and here’s what it includes:
A Book Funnel for you Price until Friday: $400
(Custom designed, fully/Advanced Funnels typically sell for ($1,500–$5,000+) and include email marketing automation, upsells/downsells, and strategy.
It will be a professionally designed, fully automated BOOK FUNNEL (we have a fabulous design team) that is yours to keep forever without further obligation and use wherever you choose. For those of you who don’t know what a book funnel is, it’s like the goose that lays golden eggs: she will keep on providing them as long as you don’t cook her. It comes with a free lifetime maintenance plan (no subscription necessary) in case of a force majeure, such as your computer blowing up or being invaded by aliens. How cool is that? Nobody covers those—it’s the universal get-out-of-jail-free-card in every contract you sign. We do and we will. If you pay for it, we take care of it. Guaranteed.
Talking too much?
Included FREE until Friday:
A custom designed, fully automated NEWSLETTER to match your brand. Comes with 1 year of email delivery service, contact list updates, and professional copy editing. (Usually sells for: Custom Design + Coding: $500–$2,000. TFull monthly management services to go along with it can cost: $2,500+)
Included FREE until Friday:
Automated follow-up email service for your funnel, including updates for necessary changes as needed. (This service usually requires a third-party email service. We will do it for you in-house, Free for 1 year).
Included FREE until Friday:
Digital workbook on how to set up my brilliant “Reverse Marketing Plan” to sell your own books.(normally sells for $20)
Why am I doing all this this at such a ridiculously low price? Because somebody gave me a too-good-to-be-true deal last week that will allow me to implement my own Reverse Marketing Plan with all of the state-of-the-art software to run it. So that I can lift our much-loved nonprofit company back into the air again, now that the disaster is mostly over. And the fact that I have to make my first payment (and it’s a big one) by Friday. So I decided to offer a BIG DEAL to any fellow authors that also need a boost up into this crazy new world out there. But I don’t mind saying these last few days have been some of the most intense in my life.
I might hold off another board meeting until after Friday…
Email me at: Lilly@lillymaytree.com for more info and a buy link!
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