LAST CHANCE FOR NEXT WEEK’S PUBLISHING
SEMINAR!!
http://www.PublishingSeminar.com
It’s only $97 for 2 days!!! If you live anywhere NEAR
the NY/NJ/CT/PA area, this should be an event
you attend.
Seriously can’t afford the entry fee? There are a few
scholarships left for those who can prove they TRULY
can’t afford the tuition. Also, let me know if you are
a student. We have some student tickets available.
Contact me directly at fredgleeck (at) gmail (dot) com
Other Publishing Related Info:
Have you heard about this one? A new site for authors
who want to sell their content in digital form. You set
the price and you get 80% of the money. Just signed
up and will report more in the future. For NOW, all looks
pretty good.
It’s always a good idea to sell your content (particularly
in digital form) in as many places as you can.
I’ll tell you more, but I would go sign up for this right
now. No fees. Good deal. Let’s see!
Amazon:
That being said, I’m SICK and TIRED of Amazon and
their B.S.!!!
I am in their advantage program which I’ve recommended
to you and others for years. Now, I have to WITHDRAW
that rec. Why?
Just the other day they ask me to send ONE COPY OF
a book. By the time I send it I will LOSE money. Yeah,
that’s a GREAT way to keep your customers happy!
MORONS!
Someone has to whisper in Jeff Bezos’ ear that he
can only piss people off for so long before they end
up revolting.
Bezos should be worried. As soon as Apple releases
a BETTER version of the Kindle, LOOK OUT!
As for now, I’m about to extricate myself from Amazon
altogether. I’m going to just start selling my books on
my own site. Haven’t done so in the past because I
didn’t want to sell onesy twosey’s of the books.
So, if people want PHYSICAL books I’ll sell them with
a minimum order of $50. If they only want one book and
their total is less than that amount, I’ll sell them the
digital version of the book.
That’s MY plan!!
Put Up Your Own Sites in Less than 10 Minutes?!?
My friend and colleague Dave Hamilton has done
an amazing thing. You’ve got to look at:
http://www.7MinuteMiniSites.com
He’s made it so that anyone can put up a sales
site in less than 10 Minutes. AND, they look
really good AND they are SEO friendly.
He also has a new video for you to look at here:
http://7minutesqueezepages.com/
Mac vs. PC for Information Marketers
The Apple ads that pit the mac guy against the PC
guys are fun and clever. Being a mac person I probably
enjoy them more than those in the “other” camp.
BUT . . . . looking at this from a strictly practical point of
view, information marketers really SHOULD have macs.
Why? Well let’s take a look at what info product folks
need to produce. First, they need to write and produce
written material. MS Word and Adobe Acrobat can make
that happen quickly and easily.
Then you need to produce audio and video products.
I can think of NOTHING more simple to use than the
Apple products. IMovie and Itunes (and maybe Garageband)
are all you need to do excellent audio and video products.
I’m about to get going on a documentary film shortly.
Most “professionals” would use Final Cut for editing.
For most people, this is now OVERKILL. If you’re an
information marketer, IMovie is all you need. Full stop.
Like I’ve told you before in this ezine, if you DO get a
mac, make sure to also get their One-to-one training
package for a year. $99!!! This price is RIDICULOUS!
You can go in every week for an hour and learn ALL
you need to know about how to produce your own
EVERYTHING. Websites, audios, videos, blogs, you
name it. They will show you HOW to do it. Great value.
Most recently I’ve been trying to figure out how to most
efficiently do my videos. The OLD way was to record
directly onto mini DV tapes. The problem with doing it
that way is you then have to take the time to DIGITIZE
them.
For every one hour of video, it takes you at least that
much time (forgetting about set up) to get the videos
onto your hard drive.
Solution? Find a way to have your videos already IN
digital form when you record them. How? Either you
get a camera that has a hard drive or a flash drive that
you record directly onto, OR, you record directly onto
your computer.
My last trip to the Apple Store I was talking with my
trainer about my fear of recording directly onto a hard
drive. He has been doing sophisticated video projects
for years. I asked him how many times he had had
problems with a hard drive in this kind of situation.
His answer: NEVER!
BUT, I’m a pretty careful kind of guy. For certain
events I would always want to have back up. There
is NO reason why you can’t be recording onto BOTH
tape and your hard drive simultaneously.
This way IF there is a problem, you have back up.
The only thing you’ll lose is time. You would now have
to digitize your tape if the hard drive crashed. BUT,
all would NOT be lost.
So here is my plan on the video front. Very shortly
I’ll be buying a mac notebook that will be used
EXCLUSIVELY for recording video onto it’s hard
drive. This way I’ll have (and you would have) a
portable solution for recording your video programs.
ANOTHER VIDEO ISSUE
When recording video, I always present myself
with two options: record now/edit later OR record
now with LIVE switching so as NOT to have to edit
later.
What do I mean by this?
When you are shooting video with more than a single
camera or source (i.e. – powerpoint presentation), you
can MIX the signals LIVE as the event is happening.
Net result? You don’t have to do ANY editing. Which
is how I do MOST of what I record.
Often times when I do a seminar I will set up two or
three cameras and a feed to accept the presentation
the speaker is making via his/her computer. Then all
of those different signals go into a video mixer which
allows the “director” to select which of the three or
four inputs is being recorded.
There are a number of video mixers out there these
days. I started, many years ago with a Videonics MX1
which you can still find used on Ebay quite often.
A very good basic mixer. For Info marketers all you
really want to do is cut, fade and dissolve between
the various images and inputs. Video mixers usually
come with TONS of “transitions” to go between inputs.
If you work with one of these, DON’T get carried away
and start using all different kinds of effects and transitions.
It’s DISTRACTING. If you want to know what works best
watch a movie. Do you see any EXPLODING GLOBES
or spinning images? I don’t think so! Why? Because that
kind of thing will distract you from the story or message.
Same holds true here. All you need are simple cuts,
fades and dissolves to make things work.
With video, one of your biggest issues is lighting. There
are people who teach entire courses in this area. At my
next bootcamp I’ll have a guy who does feature films in
attendance who I’m going to be working with to produce
some products. Look for that at a later date.
If you are working with video and want more information,
call the folks at B&H Photo. They happen to be across
the street from my place in NYC. VERY helpful and will
answer any questions you have for FREE. There number
is 800-606-6969. When they pick up get yourself to the
pro video department. They will help you.
Other Upcoming Events:
NYC:
Publishing Seminar – May 26-27
LOTS of great speakers at a very
reasonable price – Manhattan location TBD
Just before the Book Expo in NYC; ALL about
publishing and SELF PUBLISHING!
http://www.PublishingSeminar.com
LAS VEGAS:
Fred Info Bootcamp
Las Vegas, June 4th – June 11th – SOLD OUT!
Spend a week with me to get to REALLY
understand HOW to create, market and
sell Info Products. Maximum of 6 people.
This has become my MOST popular event.
Get a product done, get your copy done,
get your website done. Get it ALL done in
just ONE WEEK! (1 space left, right Bill?)
www.FredInfoBootcamp.com
Upcoming Bootcamp Dates:
September 24 – October 1, 2009
December 3 – 10, 2009
Lunch with Fred – Buenos Aires – June 22, 2009
http://www.LunchWithFred.com
2 day Info Products Seminar – NYC
September 12-13, 2009
http://www.InfoProductsSeminar.com
LIMITED SPACES for this one. Held in
in NYC!!!!
2 Day Seminar on Seminars: – NYC
http://www.SeminarOnSeminars.com
Small Group: Learn the right way to do your
own seminars and events
All the Best,
Fred
