Getting a subject or product idea
-----------------------------------------
Some of you will have spent a whole lifetime being a specialist in a particular
subject. Others will have to discover a subject to produce a product.
In the appendices we have listed a wealth of proven ideas that can be grown in
to multipart products and self study systems.
There is also a wealth of information about product creation on the Internet. Ed
Dale and Frank Kern’s “Underachiever Formula” is one of the best around. Visit
their Blog and just the postings should educate you in this area.
My job as “the behind the scenes guy” usually begins once the idea has been
turned in to a basic raw product.  
However the most important part of the information that follows is that you
notice that ALL finished products usually comes from a fairly similar content
source. A transcript, CD, DVD can all originate from the same seminar you have
filmed.
There is usually NO difference between the content in an e-book, audio and
video but depending on the way you package it you could receive a much
higher profit because you’ve provided a much higher value to the client.
Admittedly it may take longer to sit down for a few house and record your e-
Book on audio CD’s or sit in front of a Video camera while recording a DVD, but
the scripts are usually pretty much the same.
Make sense?
Detailed below is a list of content sources that may refresh your thoughts as to
where you can get the content for your new product.
Lots of Product Ideas in the Appendices
There are hundreds of good and proven product ideas in the Appendices at the
end of this book. There is also a run through of the Seven Steps as it pertains to
one of these titles. Check these out on page 62

E-Books
There are so many around that sit on people’s hard drives and never come to
life. If you pick a good subject and make it come to life as a manual, CD, DVD,
Home Study Course etc you have an excellent chance to end up with a real
winner.  There is a score of ideas in this publication to help you achieve this
goal.

Books
There are many books that are “in the public domain” an example is the very
first success story at the start of this book. Leslie Fieger taking “The Master
Key” and turning it in to a series of products from a USD$2000 audio course to
a USD$8,000 multimedia experience, or a $32,000 ten day intensive retreat.

Newsletters
You may have written your own newsletter and if it is on a subject that will suit a
self study course you could turn it in to a full course complete with audio CD’s. It
may not even be your own newsletter. Maybe you receive one that you think is
just awesome. Ask the author if he wants to do a joint venture to market it as an
audio course for people to listen to in their car or on their iPod.

Blogs
By searching the internet you may come across Blogs that are really popular.
If the Blog is in strong demand then the information it is about will be of interest
to the audience that is not yet up to speed with Blogs. You may communicate
with them via a home study course, self study course, a book and CD whatever
you feel is the best way to deliver the message to the market.

Audio Books
Record yourself (or someone else) reading your book content.  Yes, just read it
and record it.  Voila – you’ve got an audio book.
Such a large percentage of the General Public are “Auditory” That means that
the primary method that they would prefer to absorb information is through their
ears. It just takes someone to pick the right topic, record it and market it – and
that could be you.

Podcast
While this is not a physical product you can use podcasts to sell a complete
home study course. While auditory is good some materials need to be delivered
that appeal to sight, sound and feelings. On your podcast on say “stock options”
you can get people excited about it but at the end you could tell them all about
the trading diary, board game and step by step training manual that is available
from your web site. Voila ... your Home Study Course is for sale!

Audio Program
Multiple audio CDs in one program. 
Whenever you gather content for an idea you’ll always have more content than
you can fit into a book or e-book.  A one CD ‘audio book’ could become a full
blown ‘audio program’ by breaking it into separate CDs for each chapter and
adding additional content. Many of the products we have shipped from our
warehouse cover multiple CD’s and DVD’s. This is often appropriate if you have
say six speakers at a seminar who talk for an hour each. When you sell your
home study course you will have the transcript of the session in a manual, the
speaker’s notes, a CD for each speaker and the seminar workbook. Exactly the
type of product you could sell for say USD$1000.

Video (DVD) Program
It wasn’t so long ago that videos were the main product that we shipped from
our warehouse. How quickly times changed. Now only DVD’s are shipped.
Video programs are just like the Audio Programs described above except the
content is recorded as a video.  For example, you could read the book into the
camera or you could be recorded teaching the material to a group.  Break the
content up into sections and place each section on a separate DVD.

Workbooks
Maybe you have workbooks somewhere from seminars, workshops or events
you have held or been part of in the past. Examine content you have lying
around and create a book or report specifically designed to ‘teach’ the material. 
Present the information in a summarized format and have questions for each
book chapter/section. This can form the basis of a whole big ticket product that
you are marketing.

Multi-Media Kits
While we have discussed parts of this above don’t lose sight of the fact that the
ultimate product is a multimedia product that combines seeing, hearing and
feeling. Touch is also important. Including candy, sweets or lollies people have
to unwrap, bookmarks and other things that people can play with. Put your
book, audio book and/or DVD of you reading your book together including lots
of tactile bits and pieces including where appropriate coloured pens, calculator
etc.

Radio Show
Some of you may have already been on a Radio program giving others the
benefit of your expertise. Perhaps you can get the recording of the shhave it form the basis of a physical product that you can market. The radio
program can be released on a CD, the transcript can be included plus any other
material that will make the package more presentable and saleable.

TV Show
Similar to above but you may have already been on a TV program giving others
the benefit of your expertise. Perhaps you can get the recording of the show
and have it form the basis of a physical product that you can market. The TV
program can be released on a DVD, the transcript can be included plus any
other material that will make the package more presentable and saleable.

Syndicated Column
Perhaps an expert in your field, you may be asked to submit your articles to a
newspaper.  If you have these on file or are able to get access to them these
may be able to form the basis of a physical product

Mini Books Or Reports
You may have noticed that there is a wealth of mini books and reports on the
Internet. Often people cannot see how some of them are linked together. As an
example there may be lots of mini books on how to have a budget holiday,
safety while travelling, planning for your trip, a thousand things to do before you
leave on holiday etc and if your area of expertise is trekking in Nepal you may
be able to grab the best from lots of other publications and make a really
comprehensive product on preparing for your travel / trek to Nepal

CD/DVD Training
Use your audio CDs and/or video DVDs to create a monthly training
subscription service. This means that each month a physical product will be
shipped out to your subscribers. John Reese, the Internet “Traffic Secrets” guy
who sold one million dollars of product in one day has a monthly newsletter,
printed physically that includes a CD that goes all around the world to his
subscriber base. Each subscriber pays USD95 per month!!!!!!  If you’ve already
got the content created – get clients to pay you monthly for it.

Software
Convert your content into an executable file.
You don’t have to be a software developer.  I used HTML and Flash to package
text, audio and video. Once you have incorporated this into an executable
(.EXE) file you can call it software and it could be promoted with a higher
perceived value. You can then package it up on a CD with a manual.


Resell Rights
Provide others the ability to resell your product(s) and keep 100% of the
profits.
Pro:  Higher perceived value
Con: You lose control of your product
If you want income – this is a great way to do it.  If you have a product you don’t
want to lose control of – do not do this. The secret of this from a physical
products point of view is what you deliver to the person that has paid you the
resale rights. The more comprehensive and thorough the package is the more
money you will get for it.
When the person buys it they often would like a physical master of the
manuscript so it can be photocopied; a CD that can be used as a master for
duplication and a DVD that can be used as a master. If the person buying the
product opens the box, and there is absolutely everything they need to make
the most of the resale rights, you will have a loyal customer base for future
marketing.

Private Label Rights
Provide others the ability to modify your content, brand it with their own
name, and, resell it as their own.
Pro: Higher perceived value
Con: It will no longer be your product after it’s re-branded
Again most of what is detailed above applies, however in this case the physical
products you give them must be easily editable so they truly have “Private Label
Rights”

Foreign Rights
Convert your content into other languages. You may be able to find local people
proficient in a foreign language that can record your product so that it can be
marketed as a physical product to other countries. This is a strong plus for a lot
of internet products that are only available in English.

Hiring A Ghost Writer
Elance (www.elance.com) is a great place to find a ghost-writer. The
Underachiever DVD’s sold by Ed Dale and Brett McFall, detail exactly how to go
about this. Most of the products we have packaged though, have been written
one hundred percent by the people marketing them. My advice is to grab a topic
you are passionate about which is in your area of expertise. You could use a
ghost-writer to tidy it up and get the grammar and spelling correct.

Interviewing An Expert
This is a different story though. Many of the products in our warehouse have
been built from interviews with “experts”. These usually make good listening
and viewing and can be transcribed into printed matter.
In many of the products we handle the “Hot Seat” sessions of seminars are the
favourite. People like watching experts give answers to the questions they
wished they had asked. You may be aware of the success people like Joe
Kumar has had with “expert” interviews.
These can be packaged as audios, DVD’s, manuals or all three!

Writing It Yourself
Writing from scratch is tough, especially if you are not certain there is a market.
However if it is a topic you are familiar with give it a go.

Buying Private Label Rights
Time can be saved here. Often someone has written a book that is nearly the
same as one you would like to write.
Perhaps you want to write it from another perspective. Taking a private label
product you can alter as much or as little of it as you wish to get your story
across. Many, many products are only marketed on the Internet as e-books.
There is a whole other market off line and in physical products. Buy the private
label rights and record the e-book as an audio course. Or if you are brave run a
seminar from the e-book, film it on a digital camera and sell it as a DVD.

Doing A Joint Venture
Someone may have the perfect product for you but they are unable to sell it.
Ask them if you can do a joint venture with them.
Information Product Creation Links

Internet Marketing Seminars

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