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Writing and Selling Specialized Information Using Mail Order and Homemade BookletsHi, my name is Johnny Wooley and I have been writing and selling information through the mail since 1986. I'd like to share a few ideas with you. If you flip through the classified advertising section of Popular Mechanics and most other successful magazines you will find many adds that have been running year after year.They include: Recycle metals; no, not beer cans. . . Drug raid seizures! Buy cheap. . . $200 a day in your pickup. . . . Sailing ship models from scraps. . . These adds have been running year after year because they have been making money for the person running the ad. When you answer these adds you will get a sales letter offering a booklet telling you "how to" do whatever was advertised. These people are selling "specialized information". What is really surprising is how easy it is to get into the information selling business. All you have to do is write a booklet about something you know, advertise it, and you're in business. I know it's easy. I did it. You can too. WHY BOOKLETS?With booklets, you are in charge. Booklets won't spoil, they don't break, you don't need a warehouse. You can make booklets on an as-needed schedule and avoid inventory costs. They are the ideal product.WHY NOT BUY AND RESELL A PRODUCT?There are lots of catalog houses willing to let you mail out their catalog. There are also lots of people willing to sell you "distribution rights" to booklets or reports that will "put you in the information selling business." The problems with these offers is that you end up competing with hundreds of others selling the same stuff. Writing and selling original specialized information in booklet form puts you in total command of the operation. It is a business you can literally operate from the proverbial "kitchen table." If you agree with me so far, you probably have a few questions.
1. What can I write about?My first booklet was called "Taxidermy; Art, Not Mystery." I knew almost nothing about taxidermy. Most of the old booklets on the subject did not mention the new technology. So, I wrote one that did. The whole thing too a week. I ran off a few copies and a cover at a local copy shop and stapled it all together. Twenty two pages. I sold two hundred of them in one year for $15 apiece through only one magazine. We're not talking about the great american novel here. Just basic technical, almost conversational, writing about some unique aspect of a subject you know a little about.There are a few pitfalls to watch for. Most people won't buy preaching, negative opinions, political commentary or similar "soap box" subjects through a classified ad. The subject of a profitable mail order booklet has to benefit your potential market. The best, and most popular, benefits offered in booklets involve making money or doing something easier than it's being done now. My taxidermy booklet made what looked very complicated very easy. "Easier" and "money making" are good subjects for a first time effort in mail order. Ask yourself these questions: What do I do best? What has made me curious lately? What problems have I solved? How have I made money? Once you have decided on a subject, just start writing. Don't worry about style or format. Just get ideas on paper, you, or someone else, can straighten it out later. You'll be surprised how quickly an idea can fill a few pages. While you are doing this, buy a Popular Mechanics or money centered magazine and answer all the adds that offer information on "how to" do something or indicate you will make money with their information. CAUTION-you will probably end up on junk mail lists, but even that information is a learning experience. Mostly learning what not to do. You will also get a few chain letters. Do no, repeat, do not get involved in chain letters. 2. How do you make a booklet?Once you have twenty, or forty, or whatever it took to tell your news, pages you are ready to make the booklet. I'll assume you have read a book somewhere along the way about proof reading, grammar etc. With that established, we can now assume you have your typewritten pages ready to go. Type style is another subject better covered elsewhere. I use True Type Times Roman simply because that's what I've got. You'll have to decide. Even courier looks good on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Suite yourself on this one. Designing a cover is easy. Mail order buyers do not expect multi color covers. A graphic is OK but just a neat title in a nice size type is perfectly acceptable.Take the whole thing to a copy shop or office supply chain. Get about 25 copies made. The cover is copied onto card stock in a light color. Nothing too challenging. Remember, this is mail order. The customer has already bought the thing, there is no need to sell him with an expensive cover. Many office supply stores will bind the booklet in plastic rings. Some will even let you do it on their machine if you buy the rings. Those ring bindings are good but it can be even cheaper to buy a heavy duty stapler and just put three staples along one edge. A little trim tape to cover the staples and you have a booklet. If you really hit it big, you can send the thing off to a booklet printer, but do not start that way. 3. How do I write a sales letter that sells?By now you should have received responses to letters you sent to the classified adds we mentioned earlier. Read the responses. What catches your eye? What sells you?Copy the characteristics of the letters you liked. Did they offer a bonus. Can you do the same (you should). Did they tell you haw you will benefit? How will your booklet benefit your prospect? There are no hard and fast rules, and there are exceptions to the few rules there are. Just sell yourself. When you are done, put the letter away for a week and then read it again. Does it still sell you? If so, you have written a good letter. 4. Where do I advertise?Look through every magazine in your field. Stand in the super market and copy the address from the classified page. It's always there with instruction on how to submit an ad. Forget the instructions. Write to all the magazines and ask for a "rate card." Create a letterhead and make it look like a business. You will get a rate card and, in many cases, a discount on your first ad.In the meantime try: Mother Earth News Spare Time Money Making Oppty. P.O.Box 801 5801 W. Oklahoma P.O.Box Z
Arden, NC 28704 Milwaukee,
5. How do I write a good ad?You write a good ad the same way you wrote a good sales letter. Don't reinvent the wheel. Some of the adds I mentioned have been running without change for ten years. Watch your word count. At up to $13 each, they can be expensive. Pare away the superlatives, don't use Street or Ave.6. Is it legal?Legality rests with the post office. If you offer a legitimate product, deliver promptly, return money if requested (very promptly) and avoid questionable subjects like making bombs, jumping bail, insurrection etc., you will do alright. A little application of the golden rule goes a long way. Did I make it sound too easy? That's really all there is to it.Here are a few secrets:
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