Assertiveness Coffee Cards

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MHamed

BELGIUM – BookSurge announces the publication of Assertiveness Coffee Cards, by Sarah & M’Hamed Cherif. ISBN: 1-4196-1761-3

I have just published a book with BookSurge Publishing on assertiveness and wondering how to promote it. I intend to publish the same on many topics of personal development and business management. I would very much appreciate comments and suggestions. Many thanks in advance.

M'Hamed CHERIF
 

MHamed

Cofffee Cards

Hi and thanks for asking !

Cutesolutions is delivering training on personal development and business management. We have already prepared decks of cards on various topics (leadership, communication, speaking with impact, etc.). Each card contains three parts: How, why and example. We believe cards offer a lot of advantages with respect to books and other tools, such as play and picking one or two appropriate cards. This could be done while sipping some coffee ! The idea came from there. Then, we thought that books and CDROMs could be a good addition. Up to now, we have prepared 5 decks, which will be published soon (I hope) and the first book is out. Many thanks in advance !

PS: Sorry for lat reply. I took some days off.

M'Hamed
 

Mike Coombes

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Uh... you deliver training on business management, yet you never gave any thought to marketing your book until AFTER publication.

What message am I picking up from this?
 

MHamed

Book promotion

Hi Mike,

You're right to highlight the issue of planning. Of course, I had thought about promotion and put aside a budget for it. I had opted for (a) press releases through various distribution services; (b) advertizing on booksurge website; (c) sending postcards; (d) driving internet traffic to my website where the book is on display; and (e) writing articles on assertiveness. But, I am really looking for advice from people who have hands on experience. I admit this is my first experience in publishing. Thanks,

M'Hamed
 

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MHamed said:
Hi Mike,

You're right to highlight the issue of planning. Of course, I had thought about promotion and put aside a budget for it. I had opted for (a) press releases through various distribution services; (b) advertizing on booksurge website; (c) sending postcards; (d) driving internet traffic to my website where the book is on display; and (e) writing articles on assertiveness. But, I am really looking for advice from people who have hands on experience. I admit this is my first experience in publishing. Thanks,

M'Hamed

Hi M'Hamed,
I'm sorry to be so thick, but I'm still not sure I understand what coffee cards are used for: do they support a book you've already written, your business management programs, or are they the actual product you are trying to promote-- like the "52 relaxation techniques" or "52 ways to say 'I love you'" kinds of cards done by companies like Chronicle? If you could be more specific we might be able to think of ways to help.

Lauri
 

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MHamed said:
I admit this is my first experience in publishing. Thanks,

M'Hamed

First experience in publishing, maybe, but in sales? It's a business. You claim to lecture on business. I'm sorry but I still fail to grasp how you can manufacture a product (your book) without any thought given to marketing and sales. Forgive me for sounding unkind, but on the basis of this thread I wouldn't buy your book, and I certainly wouldn't want any form of business training from you.

However, you're in luck - Belgium's just a short hop from here. I also on occasion conduct training sessions and seminars for business. For $500 a day plus expenses I'm sure I can put you on track. Let me know.
 

MHamed

Assertiveness Techniques

Dear lauri,

The cards dispaly 32 assertiveness techniques, with a brief explaination of why and how, as well as an example. These techniques fall under one of four categories in accordance to major concern (results, people, etc.). The package contains a booklet of instructions that explains how to use the cards. We are still looking for an illustrator and a publisher for these cards. Meanwhile, I have published a book where these techniques are presented along with theoretical underpinning and analytical background. Both products (book and package of cards) are selfstanding and serve different purposes.
 

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MHamed said:
Dear lauri,

The cards dispaly 32 assertiveness techniques, with a brief explaination of why and how, as well as an example. These techniques fall under one of four categories in accordance to major concern (results, people, etc.). The package contains a booklet of instructions that explains how to use the cards. We are still looking for an illustrator and a publisher for these cards. Meanwhile, I have published a book where these techniques are presented along with theoretical underpinning and analytical background. Both products (book and package of cards) are selfstanding and serve different purposes.

Oh, okay. Are the cards and books sold together as a set, or individually? From your explanation above, you could sell them separately, but they are most effective as a package, yes?

Do you have any kind of distribution? What does your distributor recommend? The reason I ask is I think cards are considered a gift item rather than a book, and usually fall into a different market--my distributor doesn't do any gift item distribution, for example, so we'd have to find a different distributor for the gift trade if we wanted to do supplemental add ons like cards.

If you are distributing these yourselves, I'd suggest bundling the two products together and offering the cards as a value-added. It sounds like the cards aren't going to be as useful without the underpinnings of the book content. I assume you attend conventions, conferences, etc.--your best bet would probably be to sell on site, and promote to the members of the professional organizations to which you belong, the clients you have (corporations, I would imagine?) and leave the booktrade out of it for now.
 
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