As you’ll learn from the article, the ROI an author can earn from self-publishing on Kindle is becoming more streamline than ever.

It’s great to see the mainstream finally catching on to all the advantages of the digital publishing model.  It empowers business owners and authors who have a target and share  valuable content.    Those who don’t will have trouble making millions.

I am excited to share the launch of a new program that eliminates the problem you’ll read in the article and in the below excerpt.

The program is designed specifically for the business professional who wants to grow revenue through publishing a book

If you or an entrepreneur you know is one of them send an email over to john@authoritypublishing.com…

“As for publicity, publishers do have in-house publicists, but unless you’re well known (or on a reality TV show) you aren’t going to be your publisher’s first priority—or even its middle priority. As for editing, it’s pretty standard now that your book needs to go to the publisher in as close to final form as it can possibly be or it doesn’t get bought. For this reason, many authors pay for outside editing even before submitting material to agents. The days of a dedicated in-house editor such as Maxwell Perkins, who scoured over all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books (as well as consistently loaning him money), are over.

In fact, going with a traditional publisher can be extremely expensive. Authors are generally expected to pick up costs for their book’s website, a book’s outside publicist, marketing materials like postcards, and any costs associated with readings or tours. All of this can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.”

FonerBooks has been one of my favorite reads over the years for print on demand insights. Morris Rosenthal wrote the book on Print On Demand Publishing and is excellent at analyzing the industry as a whole, breaking down trends and much more. He effectively uses video on his blog to demonstrate his points as well

Aaaron Shepard’s (Author of Aiming at Amazon and many other books on the subject) site does not take on as much of a blog format but has excellent info condensed and organized so that you can learn about the latest in the world of self-publishing, intricacies of Amazon Marketing and how to best leverage your work
I believe he runs the Yahoo Self-Publishing Group mentioned in Erik Marcus’s post.

Stephanie Chandler’s Blog has also been excellent insight into effective ways to market your business with content publishing-book, e-book, etc. She helps business owners and companies leverage new publishing models to grow their revenue. Books include from Entrepreneur to Infopreneur, Authors Guide to Building an Online Platform and many more.

JA Konthrah’s is more suited for helping you learn about ways to sell fiction effectively. He has been especially successful leveraging Kindle and provides strategies there.

I am little biased towards the CreateSpace community-it is very helpful to get answers to questions quickly on the many details involved in the publishing process. It has grown immensely in member size and knowledge base.

Finally Dan Poynter’s blog is filled with great insights. Its hard to leave him out of any discussion when it comes to self-publishing resources.

“Boost is Google’s program aimed at smaller businesses who want a “set it and forget it” approach to advertising” the author mentioned.

I have heard horror stories from local businesses mismanaging their budgets on Google Adwords and most have been flat out terrified of what could happen if they made a costly mistake. One business owner shared that a friend of his woke up with a $20,000 mistake on his card in the morning. OUCH!

There is no doubt that Adwords can be extremely risky and is a whole different ballgame. If you wanted to buy your way onto page 1 you have to pay a pretty penny everytime someone clicks on your link.

This is why I have loved focusing on organic search that generates free traffic for clients overtime(even though it doesn’t have the instant gratification that Adwords provides).

I will only implement an adwords campaigns to complement a strategy or throw fuel on the fire that is already kindling.

With added functionality and different mediums to test with the new Google Boost feature through Places and Maps it will certainly be interesting to test once it rolls around to Charleston.

Advertising on Google has always been here today and gone tomorrow setup but it looks like Big G is trying to really improve on their service.

As I have shared in past posts and talks at networking groups locally in Charleston-Google has stepped up big time in the way they are looking out for the small guy. This new program and the way they are rolling it out showcases the innovation constantly happening at Google.

As always thank you SearchEngineLand for the great reporting!

I have edited and copied my answer below:

This is a tough one for sure because of how much they are working together. You have Groupon offering the most perceived value because they are immediately putting dollars in the local business owners pocket. Tom Williams makes a great point that those dollars also come with growth challenges for these merchants that they are not accustomed to handling.

While Groupon does bring them customers they would have never had as well as the much greater opportunity for a repeat customer, those customers will always be expecting a deal moving forward. Ive begun reading that devaluing your brand to offer these deals may hurt you in the long run but I think its too early to tell. Clients I have worked with on Groupon campaigns have felt it was great value but again were overwhelmed with it. It was free money for the business owner when customers never cashed in their groupon as well.

I agree a key to Groupon’s success is what happens on Facebook for those who miss the deal in their inbox.

I am not as savvy with running major campaigns on Facebook for small businesses just more for Author branding but hope to learn more. Clients I have worked with have experienced steady fan growth and use Facebook as a valuable tool.

Ive seen some local businesses gather tons of fans but never see a dime. They then struggle to manage their fan pages and feel they are wasting their time if they don’t have someone working on it for them.

From my experience they are not really as familiar with the functionality of Facebook Places yet but as mobile growth continues at a staggering rate it should be interesting to judge the value.

On Facebook they have their friends and family at their disposal but not sure how much buying is occurring from that.

As Facebook adds more functionality and simplifies things for small businesses their value grows exponentially because they have the strong social bond already in place and much more personal data about the interests of the consumer.

Google in my eyes is the winner today. They give a local business owner the most targeted customer-the one who has intent to search for an immediate solution to their problem. Consumers with an issue they want to fix are very motivated to purchase.

They also give a business owner the greatest ability to dominate their market versus other competitors.

Lets say there are 7 or 8 major keyword phrases with local modifiers for a local business niche and in aggregate 5000 searches per month.

In this case take a plumber and 3 potential phrases he might try to dominate for:

plumber charleston
plumber in charleston
emergency plumber charleston

(how google is localizing for the searcher from their IP address and generic keyword phrases like “hot water heater” or “plumber” is a whole nother story of value for the local business)

There are 12-15 spots available on the first page for each keyword with the recent algorithm change in local search.

There might be 200 plumbers in Charleston.

If a plumber has a good reputation online, updated business information, and 100% completes his Google Places page with the content they ask of him (pictures, videos, coupons, categories, etc) he has the opportunity to be on page one overnight if he is not in a major metropolitan city or highly competitive area. While the other 200 plumbers are unaware of Google Places his value from Google is through the roof for now. His Google Places ranking will continue to grow as he receives traffic.

Google makes him aware of the number of impressions his place is getting, people clicking through to his site, terms being searched, coupon functionality tags to promote, where people are requesting driving directions from and more.

In addition to his Google Places listing, if he does any of the following he has the chance to come up multiple times on page one next to his free Google Places listing and establish himself as the authority in his market:

-optimize his website with proper SEO according to google standards.
-distribute videos described and tagged properly on youtube that end up in Google Search and Video results
-write a “what to know before you hire a plumber in charleston” article that google displays prominently for him on long tail searches.
-runs a small adwords campaign

-…and so many other content marketing strategies he could employ to keep gaining value while separating himself from his competitors who are following simple google places tips.

You have Google pulling all the reviews from other sites into there feed as they try to add the social element with Hotpot (even last week coming out with a Google Places iphone app to help that accelerate even more)

And now they are coming up with their own Groupon:

http://searchengineland.com/google-readies-groupon-clone-report-61930

It will be interesting to see who ends up giving a local business owner the most value but all three are surely on the cutting edge and providing more value than the yellow pages they are used to paying for.

Which one do you think is most valuable? If you visit the post on Quora.com you will find the discussion is heating up…

No it is not.    Yes I have advocated blogging to clients for years while working in corporate America(where I wasn’t allowed to blog). I would share the importance, ways blogging could establish their authority status in their niche, build relationships with their potential readers and get them targeted traffic from the search engines.

I was surprised at my authors when they told me they just couldn’t find time to blog in addition to running their publishing ventures and businesses full time. Now I am eating crow understanding I’ve fallen guilty myself!

With your support and feedback I am aiming to remedy this situation for good however.  I feel blessed to share that business has been booming in the new year challenging me on levels outside of my comfort zone. I also feel humbled by the roadblocks and issues I’ve fought through since leaving the comforts of the Amazon.com family. Entrepreneurship truly is a journey and roller coaster ride.

After spending quality time with my own family over the holidays, I’ve realized that instead of being stressed out by a duty to blog on top of things I’m working on—- a book launch, a new site launch, and a product launch (in addition to doing this on behalf of clients) —- I should embrace the stress, have more fun with it and share it here.

I’ve scoped out tons of new content for the coming months and learned really cool stuff that business owners, authors and companies need to know. My passion for staying up on the latest trends sometimes blinds me on what I have learned in this process. Look for it to come out of my brain and onto your screen much more consistently in 2011!

If there are any questions you want me to cover about internet marketing, content marketing, publishing, mobile, etc simply shoot me an email john@askrizzo.com or comment below.

Now its back to business!

But I sure am glad I read an article about the now famous goal setting website (StickK.com )before trying to set my new business and personal objectives going into the new year.

As I look at my goal list I see many familiar things still lingering and I am sure you share my pain.

I’ll ask myself “why haven’t I accomplished this? Or what could be more important than focusing on this goal specifically?  How could this have slipped away from my focus?”   We all set out to do things that for some reason get put on hold to satisfy our short term needs and wants.     Some goals we just plain lose sight of as moods change.

Will power and motivation can be derailed quickly with the many types of issues we face throughout the year.

Its been easy to settle on not achieving our goals quicker because of lack of incentive.   Goals scribbled on notepads or hidden in desk drawers. No money on the line or people holding us accountable.

Until now!  Go check out this awesome website if you are looking to combat  that familiar problem with goal setting before New Years Eve sneaks up.

Here is what they say about their unique model and why its been wildly successful the past few years:

“Everyone has a goal. For some, it’s losing weight, for others it’s exercising regularly. Maybe you’d just like to grow a ponytail.

But if it’s still just a goal, it means you haven’t reached it…yet.

If you’re ready to turn that goal into an accomplishment, you’re ready for stickK.

stickK was founded on the principle that creating incentives and assigning accountability are the two most important keys to achieving a goal. Thus, the “Commitment Contract” was born.

stickK empowers you to better your lifestyle. We offer you the opportunity, through ‘Commitment Contracts’, to show to yourself and others the value you put on achieving your goals.

Entirely unique to each person, a Commitment Contract obliges you to achieve your goal within a particular time-frame. Not only are you challenging yourself by saying “Hey, I can do this,” you’re also putting your reputation at stake. If you are unsuccessful, we’ll let your friends know about it.

Oh but wait, there’s more…

Sometimes losing face with your friends might not be enough to keep you on track. So, what is the one thing no one can stand to part with? You guessed it! Cold hard cash.“

Yep I posted all that in case you got lazy and didn’t go check out their website!   The really smart people at stickK have built a website that makes you put your money where your mouth is and built the social aspect into goal setting that has never existed on this type of scale.

I set my first contract through the site to exercise 5 times a week over the next 20 weeks.   I assigned a referee who is a personal friend of mine.  If I don’t deliver on the promise they will be coming after me every week for the $100 I pledged.  Its not thousands of dollars or big shot money by any means.  Its just the incentive knowing they can ding my credit card if I fall off course.

I’m excited to add my other goals which I will share with you soon.

Let me know your thoughts on the site and if you find it useful!   I am going to giveaway a surprise gift just in time for Christmas to a randomly selected commenter below.

Just read a press release from ComScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, who reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 29 days of the November….

“For the holiday season-to-date, $13.55 billion has been spent online, marking a 13-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. Cyber Monday reached $1.028 billion in online spending, up 16 percent versus year ago, representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the first to surpass the billion-dollar threshold.”

Not bad for all the doom and gloom we here about the economy and consumer confidence on the news.

It is just another great example of all the opportunities with digital distribution.   The e-book world has come a long way since I bought my first generation Kindle a few years back.   Between that, my second Kindle, and my iphone I have amassed close to a hundred books that travel with me everywhere I go.

I’ve watched the Kindle Store grow from a few thousand titles to a staggering 725,000 book count currently available for download (and now gifting).

I have been preparing a full out post on my love for the Amazon Kindle so I’ll save that for another time.  It will be really interesting to see the response from authors and publishers on this new innovation from Amazon.

Wow is it cool!

It was founded by a group of Facebook brainchilds who are innovating beyond belief out in Silicon Valley.

I now understand why the author of the article was so excited by its potential.   Here is a description from their website:

“Quora is a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it. The most important thing is to have each question page become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question.”

The questions stretch to the ends of the earth.   It was really fun for me to jump in on the age old “how do I get my self published book on bookstore shelves” and watch other users vote my answer up the results ladder.

In seeking guidance for myself  I posed questions surrounding new algorithim changes in google local search that I hope to see a big time search guru weigh in on over the next few days.

I think Quora will be game changing for the way we share, organize and help others find solutions to their problems or questions (in conjunction with this blog of course! )

You can check it out here:

http://www.quora.com/

If you have checked it out and I am way late to the party let me know what your experience was like in the comments below…

Its a personal money management tool that “downloads and categorizes your balances and transactions automatically every day— making it effortless to see graphs of your spending, income, balances, and net worth.”

It pretty much rocks and gives you stomach pains at the same time!

(not my actual account)

Have you ever been frustrated trying to update your expenses in an excel spreadsheet?

Have multiple bank accounts you login to each day to make sure there are no fraudulent charges?

Not understanding where your money is being spent?

Mint will give you insight to all the above on-demand (if you can stomach it).

When I have shared this website with others in the past, they cringed emphatically saying “Oh God, I don’t want know!!”

Yes it is painful to see how much money we spend at Starbucks or local watering holes every month but without the knowledge of where the money is going-the bank account never grows.

It sends you a weekly a summary of how you are tracking to set personal budgets and has added tons of new features over the years to help you manage your cashflow better.  You can also download apps on your mobile phone to get a quick snapshot.

Check it out as way to get a better understanding of your personal finances.

Disclaimer: It won’t replace a professional accountant.  My tax and money coach, Mr. Steven Clem over at Charleston Tax Masters takes the reigns for me from there!

What do you do to better manage your money?  Would love to hear your tips and helpful secrets.