Roy Rasmussen – Publishing for Publicity

Judging a Book by Its Cover

Post category:Book Cover Design
Post author:Roy Rasmussen

4 Keys to Covers That Sell You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can certainly sell one, publishers have long known. In 1951 DC Comics, publishers of Superman, published an issue which sold well. It happened to have an ape on the cover against a yellow background. After the sales figures came in, the editors decided to start experimenting with featuring similar covers. The results led DC and other comic book publishers to begin regularly commissioning covers featuring apes on yellow backgrounds. Eventually DC’s publisher felt compelled to declare that no more than one cover per month could feature an ape. This policy was subsequently ignored. To this day, you will see comic books with apes on covers.Why do publishers care so much about covers? Research has shown that in bookstores, browsers make crucial decisions during the first few seconds of looking at the front and back…

The Power of the Pen

Post category:Sales
Post author:Roy Rasmussen

Using Books, Reports, and Scripts as Sales Tools The old adage about the pen being mightier than the sword was put to the test in a GEICO commercial. A ninja armed with a samurai sword faces down a man wielding only a pen. The pen holder signs a delivery slip, opens a package, and pulls out a taser. Zap! Point: pen. When it comes to sales, there are many less dramatic but more practical applications of the power of the pen. Written or scripted infoproducts like books, short reports (often called “special reports” or “white papers”), and scripts for live or recorded presentations can serve as powerful weapons in your sales arsenal. Here are seven ways you can use writing to empower your sales presentations. Generating Leads Generating leads is the first step in the sales process, and it is one of the most important sales functions of books, reports,…

The Most Important Decision in Advertising

Post category:Advertising
Post author:Roy Rasmussen

Advertising that Sells In 1972 the agency of advertising pioneer David Ogilvy, which had then generated over $1.48 billion for clients such as Rolls-Royce, attracted new business by placing a full-page ad titled “How to create advertising that sells,” summarizing the results of nearly $5 million in research. At the top of the list of 38 guidelines was what Ogilvy stressed was the most important decision in advertising: 1. The most important decision. We have learned that the effect of your advertising on your sales depends more on this decision than on any other: How should you position your product?Should you position SCHWEPPES as a soft drink–or as a mixer?Should you position DOVE as a product for dry skin or as a product which gets hands really clean?The results of your campaign depend less on how we write your advertising than how your product is positioned. It follows that positioning…