Recently, I was listening to a podcast and heard one of the hosts talk about a webinar coming up to help writers make their lives more efficient. This sort of thing is not new. In fact, more and more authors are creating products, webinars, and training items than ever before. It is a little concerning to me because I have always heard “those who can, do – and those who can’t, teach how to do”.

(this post contains links to things that explain what I am saying-follow the links to get a better understanding)

I worry that these authors are not making enough money with writing books, e-books, and audio-books, so they are moving on to set themselves up as authorities in particular subsets of the writing industry and creating training items (ie. products) to augment their finances. Well, to say they are setting themselves up is a little negative, and I don’t mean it that way at all. They ARE authorities, obviously. But isn’t writing what they really do?

At any rate, I ain’t mad at them. I would create a product too, if I could figure out something that I am that good at. You know, being a writer takes a lot of talent also. But no one wants to watch me type out a manuscript via video. Although I did see one author who did that.

 

The problem with products

The problem with these training “products”, (whether webinar or book or something else), in my opinion, is the price.

Now, I have not ever been good with math, but – hey, even I can figure out that the target audience for these things is all wrong. Writers are poor. Even more poor than artists. We are literary paupers. In the voice of my sidekick character, Dwayne Brown, “We ain’t got no dough.”

The good thing about buyers

Nevertheless, I have always said, if you want something badly enough, you will find a way. There always seems to be income for the things we really want. Buyers will lay out the cash if it is something that they perceive they really can benefit from.

So, if you want to create a product, a webinar, a series of training videos on how to do something, here are a few things that you should focus on NOW.

BUILD AN AUDIENCE

I have been trying to do this since starting this blog way back in August of 2013. I have had podcasts, videos, and blog posts in order to give readers variety. Check out the podcast on its own site here. That is a pre-requisite for building a product. Build your audience first. Get some folks interested in what you do, who you are.

MAKE FRIENDS, INFLUENCE THEM

Every time you make a relationship with a reader/viewer/listener you are building on the trust factor that is needed for them to ever want to buy something that you produce. You have to give a lot of info and free stuff to your readership in order to ask for a paid response at some point.

BE A MASTER OF YOUR DESTINY

It sort of goes without saying that you have to be a student before you can be a teacher. If you are going to be teaching something about social media for instance, you need to master social media in advance of launching that product. Be a product of your product.

EMAIL LIST ANYONE?

Yes, this one is talked about a lot and I guess it is important. I STILL haven’t mastered it yet, so yeah, talking about building an email list sounds a little silly coming from me. But the official gurus on the subject say DO THIS NOW! Don’t wait until you are trying to launch something to build an email list. It is the best way to stay in touch with your potential product purchasers.

I hope this post has made you think a little harder about what you can do to build up your authority ranking before you put out a product to augment your bankroll.