Realizing we're going to spend a lot more time on content creation in Section Three, we're going to move right along now to the next step in the Instant Expert Formula cycle.
While creating stellar content is key to a successful Content Marketing Hurricane, distributing that content effectively is just as important. Just as closet writers have known for centuries, you'll never sell a novel that stays in your desk drawer.
For the sake of discussion, I'll divide the myriad options for content distribution into two major categories: traditional publishing and self-publishing.
Traditional Publishing
While the dusty old machine we call "publishing" still exists, and certainly provides a viable outlet for distributing your content in the form of books to a wide audience, there's a lot more to the traditional publishing distribution channels.
Traditional publishing involves anyone other than you distributing content on your behalf.
The big publishing houses in New York can do that for you, and if you're lucky enough to pick up a publishing contract, they can make a lot of things happen very quickly for you.
In fact, if you're able to secure a publishing contract for your book, or you're able to have one or more of your articles published – either online or offline – by a large recognized media establishment, it can do wonders for your Content Marketing Hurricane!
However, let's keep it real: the lines are long and your chances are slim. So slim, in fact, I wouldn't count on it at all. That way, when it happens, it will be a pleasant surprise.
What does traditional publishing offer?
The publishing industry is and always has been a marketing machine. The actual printing of books or magazines is really secondary to the marketing of ideas and (on the magazine side) the sale of advertising.
So, when you plug into that machine, you can potentially see your visibility skyrocket very quickly. Publishers know how to generate buzz around a book they're backing, and magazines have their finger directly on the pulse of their audience, so they know how to present your article in the most favorable light.
Of course, you need to understand that no book publisher is going to handle all the marketing for you. It's expected that an author will push his own work as vigorously as possible, and in fact most publishers won't consider gambling on a book if the author doesn't already show some aptitude for doing so.
But working in conjunction with a publisher or a large magazine is going to make the job of obtaining visibility and capitalizing on it far easier and quicker than a self-publishing content marketer can hope to expect.
In addition, traditional publishers can offer priceless editorial support and expertise. Often, especially if you're immersed in your subject for a long time, creating content piece after content piece, you can become immune to your own faux pas. An experienced editor can keep your idiosyncrasies in line with a brief phone call, opening your eyes to errors you've been making, perhaps for years.
What are the cons of traditional publishing?
When you publish your content through a traditional industry media, you often relinquish most if not all control over that content.
This essentially eliminates the possibility of repurposing that content in other ways, limiting to some extent the value of the original time and effort expended.
In addition, since every book distributed by a traditional publisher is a financial gamble, they're going to be quick to pull the plug on the entire arrangement just as soon as it becomes apparent it's not going to be a best seller.
So, should your book not sell as well as they'd like, you may find yourself high and dry before you get anywhere.
Having articles published through magazines will rarely put you in that position, but you may find an approved assignment being "killed" unexpectedly prior to publication, even at the last minute, meaning any time and effort you've put into promoting that article's publication will have been for nothing.
Of course, in that case, you can generally still use the article you wrote in other ways, even offering it to another magazine.
So the bottom line is not to discount or ignore traditional publishing just because it's not the flavor du jour. But, at the same time, don't spend your last dollar and last drop of sweat struggling to get published traditionally because other effective options do exist.
Self-publishing
Years ago, self-publishing was a way to quickly spend a ton of money on nothing more than a little ego stroking. The term "self-published" was synonymous with "not good enough to be really published."
Fair or not, that was the image self-publishing conjured up in peoples' minds. They saw a struggling author tired of rejection stacking dozens of boxes of books in his garage that will never see the light of day, and proudly displaying one on his coffee table for guests to drool over.
The traditional publishing community thumbed their noses at self-published authors, book stores and libraries refused to carry their books, and most readers were not open-minded enough to look past all that and try out a book that looked and sounded unprofessional.
But these days, self-publishing is not only easy and cheap – even free – it's also gained a lot more respect in the content marketing world than it ever had in comparison to traditional publishing in the past.
From a content marketing standpoint, self-publishing refers to any form of content distribution that you are able to control yourself.
A lot of the content distribution channels we've already touched on fall under this category, and all of them are viable options for content marketers with content their target audience wants to consume.
Again, here are some options:
The Modern Self-publisher
Today, self-publishing has taken off in numerous forms, primarily due to two technological advances in publishing that synergistically strengthen each other: P.O.D. publishing, and the Internet.
Whereas a self-publisher in 1988 could easily spend tens of thousands of dollars to see his book into print, and was then wholly responsible for marketing and selling the hundreds of copies he was forced to purchase for the smallest print run, getting a book published in trade paperback today costs nothing up front, costs a few dollars for the printing and shipping of one copy and can be completed in an hour or so.
Then, even more incredibly, not another copy needs be printed unless it sells! That's the true beauty of print-on-demand publishing services like CreateSpace, LuLu, and others.
Combined with the cost savings and convenience of P.O.D. technology is the ease with which these books can now be marketed and sold via the Internet.
If you publish your book via CreateSpace, for instance, it becomes automatically available on Amazon.com, the single largest book seller in the world. And even if you don't use CreateSpace, getting your book on Amazon only takes a few minutes.
Hundreds of other online retail sales sources are available as well for free or close to it, not to mention the ability to sell directly from your own website with nothing more than a free PayPal account and a few minutes of coding.
Social networking, e-mail marketing, blogging, and being active in niche communities online all allow a self-published author to build a platform, build credibility and buzz, and end up selling a self-published book faster and more effectively than even a traditionally published book that makes it to Barnes and Noble's or Borders, and with a higher profit margin to top it off.
When you also add in the increasingly viable option of e-book publishing (such as via the Amazon Kindle format) the profit margin and scalability increases even more.
So are there any cons to self-publishing?
Honestly, not much.
The only real caveat that must be understood about self-publishing – whether you're talking about a full-length book, a white paper, or even a simple blog post – is that marketing your content and getting it into the hands of your target audience is completely and totally up to you.
No one is going to do that work for you, at least not at the start. There is no gigantic marketing machine behind your content, like there is for a James Patterson or a Stephen King. There is no team of publicists covering all the bases to make sure absolutely everyone knows that you've just self-published your e-book.
That's all up to you.
So, if you're up for it, self-publishing is a low-cost, high-yield opportunity to add tremendous power to your Content Marketing Hurricane!
In conclusion...
There are pros and cons to both categories of content distribution.
The most obvious pros that come to mind are speed, ease, and low cost on the side of self-publishing (with the exception of physical newsletters and direct mail which will incur printing and mailing costs), and access to potentially huge unearned audiences in the case of traditional publishing.
On the other side of the coin, traditional publishing is unpredictable and subjective. You and, to some extent, your content, are at the mercy of The Editor or whomever is in charge of the publication in question. They can pull the plug, require untold edits, and basically make your life difficult if they want to.
Self-publishing requires a lot of work on your part, and also requires that you identify and reach your target audience on your own, which generally means a slower rise to success and a longer learning curve.
But, in both cases, stellar content that is strategically distributed to reach the target audience it was best suited to appeal to will likely succeed.
Exercise #15 – Publishing Your First Piece of Content
1. Polish up that piece of content you created in Exercise #14 as best you can (we'll discuss that more in the next section) to get it ready for publication.
2. Self-publish your content using one or more of the options outlined in this chapter. Again, don't worry too much at the moment about how perfect it is or even how strategic it is. This is just to get past the “I've never done this before” stage.
3. Reach around and pat yourself on the back.
4. Read the next chapter.