Is there enough you in your newsletter?Written by Jessica Albon
Is there enough you in your newsletter? By Jessica Albon Copyright 2004, The Write ExposureFor last two months, I've been taking Izzy (my five-month old yellow lab puppy) to puppy class. He's learned a lot about how to behave in public. And I've learned a lot about him in comparison to his classmates. There's sedate Maggie, an English bulldog who loves to play, so long as she can stay in one place. There's shy Zeus, a rottweiler who takes awhile to warm up to new situations. There's obedient Levi, a Weimaraner who'll do absolutely anything you ask him to. And then there's Izzy. He's entertainment--teasing other puppies, talking to everyone who stops to watch play sessions, and just being an all-around playful, clownish lab. Just as instructor's learned what to expect from each of puppies, your readers have learned to expect something from you. Whether out of all newsletters they get in their inbox yours is "enthusiastic one," or "serious one," or "informative one," your readers have defined you in comparison to other newsletters they read. ...................................... Readers label, like it or not ...................................... Maybe you hate idea of being labeled. Because, if your newsletter is "smart" newsletter, it can't also be "funny" one. But, this one ingredient is actually behind more successful newsletters than any other. That's because it's what makes your newsletter more memorable. It's what helps your readers begin to trust you--because every month they see same dimension of your personality and begin to see you as reliable. Your readers get way too much email not to make some generalizations. It's what helps them prioritize their email. And it's what'll get your newsletter read first, last, or not at all. ...................................... You can choose your label ...................................... Now, here's good news. Your label is up to you. You're a three-dimensional, multi-faceted person and have lots of great personality points to choose from. Depending on your subject, it might be appropriate to position yourself as "outdoorsy type" even though you also love to relax at spa. Or maybe you'll focus on your love of black and white movies even though you also love today's high tech special effects.
| | THE MILLIONAIRE'S FAVORITE AUTHORWritten by Expat World
YOU WON'T FIND W.G. HILL ON ANY BEST SELLER LISTS, BUT IT'S HARD TO FIND A MILLIONAIRE WHO HASN'T READ MOST OF HIS $100 "SPECIAL REPORTS". Hill's Low Profile -- The name W.G. Hill isn't bandied around much in book-publishing world. No literary society has ever discussed any of two dozen or so volumes this author has produced. But over last thirty years, in world of bankers, accountants, high net worth investors and financiers with offshore interests, Hill has been a seminal influence. His most famous book is P.T., or "Perpetual Tourist." Though this title might convey idea that it's a book about traveling, it isn't. The subject is, how wealthy people can - with proper paperwork - enjoy life more. Its "How to have a good time with your money, but at same time avoid unwelcome attentions that conspicuous consumption and high profile wealth always bring." These negatives include unwelcome intrusions of tax collectors, insurance salesman, contingent fee plaintiff's lawyers, alimony seeking ex-wives, kidnappers, burglars. Not to mention every description of con-man. Do these matters concern millionaires? Judging from Hill's book sales, they do, indeed. The original Hill (who could not be found for an interview - EW hears he's in Patagonia doing hands-on research on female female gaucho wranglers - was back in 1970's a self-publisher who advertised his books as "Special Reports" in London based Economist and International Herald Tribune. One of his early fans was newsletter guru, Sir Harry Schultz, who must have made enough beforehand or sold enough books to live well. Sir Harry writes in PT, "I spent my first few years as a tax exile at Monte Carlo Beach Hotel, interacting with hard-bodied, high maintenance cost divorced women who in their topless bikinis populated Riviera pool sides like motes in sunshine." Hill's books always offered his personal services to assist any reader to accomplish goals set out. For instance, his 1975 Lloyd's Report promised reader would "make serious money without any investment, work or risk." This was two decades before many Lloyd's names did in fact suffer substantial losses. But Hill wrote later, "If people handled their Lloyd's relationships as I suggested (with stop loss insurance) they came out way ahead." Hill charged a hefty fee to introduce new names and get them into Lloyd's as insurance underwriters. Eventually, around 1985 Hill's maneuvers were picked up and thereafter published by Nicholas Pine. Pine was then operating as Milestone Press of Plymouth, England. He was a very minor publisher of books for collectors of ceramics. Their typical press run in pre-Hill days was a thousand copies. With Hill's books for millionaires soon selling like hot cakes, Milestone hit pay dirt. Pine changed his company's name to Scope International. An ex-employee revealed that at time he quit, sales of well over 100,000 copies of each Hill book would have been "a low ballpark figure." With ten books being major sellers and a direct mail price of £60 / $100 per book, that means that gross sales of Hill's books passed 100 million dollar mark some years ago. As marketers who sell direct via advertising and junk-mail that means most revenues go direct to bottom line. Although book sales figures are not available to public (through bookstores), this could mean that little known Scope, by publishing works of a mystery man who disappeared ten years ago, is far and away, world's most profitable book publisher. But The Profits Just Start With Book Sales -- Each Hill report describes a certain product or lifestyle. If reader wants to make it a reality, he hires Hill (or more recently a Hill clone at fees up to $10,000 per consultation) to get him up and running. Our informant suggests that twenty per cent of all book buyers sign up for consulting services. Then there are international seminars at $2000, plus residence and passport programs costing up to $350,000. The Hill books suggest other ways that millionaires can enjoy their money more - by spending it with Scope on "lifestyle enhancing" products and services. The basic premise of PT and all of Hill's books, is that any wealthy person will enjoy life more and protect his assets better by using what Hill calls "five flags." THE FIVE FLAG THEORY The First flag for instance, is Passport of a country that doesn't try to tax or control you once you have left. According to Hill, any passport will serve this purpose except those of USA. Their citizens have to renounce and get another one. Why? The USA is only country that taxes worldwide income of nonresidents. It is also only country that polices it's citizens morals and conduct abroad by making certain conduct of its citizens outside country, criminal acts punishable by jail sentences back home. These include traveling to forbidden places, paying minor bribes, or having sex of a forbidden kind. Each "Flag" of Hill's is supported by at least one other book. For instance: The suggestion that every PT should have a suitable passport, good for visa-free traveling and not costing holder a substantial portion of one's income is supported by Hill's most popular book. This is PASSPORT REPORT, a hefty, nearly 400 page reference manual that explores opportunities "in over 125 countries and political subdivisions."
|