Yesterday, I sent out an email, “Maybe I can help you publish a book fast.”
At the end of 600-odd words where I talked about Spider-Man, my old IT job, and a recent podcast appearance I made, my offer was that if you have a business, or better yet a business plus a bunch of good content sitting around, then maybe I can help you shape that content into a book that can go on Amazon and turn you into the David Copperfield of your niche.
I had no idea whether anybody would reply.
I certainly had no idea whether anybody qualified would reply.
But I did get a number of qualified replies, more than I even hoped for, much less expected.
There’s clearly interest and demand there. That should have been obvious up front, when you think of the fact that ghostwriting has been a thing since Confucius, and that plenty of successful businesses, offering various done-for-you book services for bizowners, have sprung up over the past decade or two.
Still, the unexpected number of qualified replies reminded me of an ancient fairy tale.
Maybe you’ve heard this fairy tale before. But maybe not, at least not the full details:
Once upon a time, a young prince named Gary lost his Social Security card.
Gary went into the Social Security office. He was shocked to discover that the office was packed with elderly villagers, waiting in huge lines, treated like cattle, bossed around, or sent away to come back and plead their case another day.
A few days later, young prince Gary shared this experience with someone at the local newspaper.
The newspaper guy told Gary how, as a public service, the newspaper used to run a Social Security info form, hidden at the bottom of page 74.
Readers could clip out that form and send it back to newspaper to find out what level of Social Security they are entitled to. The newspaper would then forward that form to the Social Security Administration.
But the newspaper stopped offering this public service — it became too much of a pain in the ass. Because even though the ad was buried deep in the newspaper, it got replies from 17% of the circulation.
Young prince Gary’s ears perked up. He thought for a moment. The outcome was his magical “How To Collect From Social Security At Any Age” ad.
The ad coupon offered the same Social Security form, which Gary would forward to the SSA. Plus it sold a $3 booklet, with the same title as the headline of the ad.
Result? $800,000 in 1970s profit, or about $5 million in 2023 money.
The point, in Gary Halbert’s own words:
“Think About Looking For ‘Set-Ups’ Instead Of Challenges!”
Yes, it’s possible to take a poor offer, tweak it, add to it, rename it, reposition it, and hype it up with A-list copy. It can sometimes turn a loser into a winner.
But it’s a challenge. And as Gary says, you don’t want any challenges.
You want to make an offer that sells itself in spite of bad marketing, or with no marketing at all.
You might scoff and throw your arms up in frustration at that. But Gary’s fairy tale above, and my email from yesterday, show that such set-up offers are out there, if you only keep your antennae up.
And now here’s my offer:
If you have a business, or better yet a business plus a bunch of good content sitting around, then maybe I can help you turn that content into a book that can go on Amazon and turn you into the David Copperfield of your niche.
In case you’re interested, hit reply and we can start a conversation about where you’re at and how I might be able to help you.