I remember being at the playground, talking to another parent about my travels.

I mentioned that I enjoyed being in Paris.

“Paris!” she almost seemed to scoff at me. “My gosh… Don’t they treat you badly over there?” (By ‘you’ she meant Americans in general.)

“Well,” I replied, with a hint of sarcasm, “if by ‘badly’ you mean getting dinner invitations to peoples homes whom I’d just met, new neighbors offering free babysitting services, and various other warm-hearted offerings, then yeah… it was awful.”

As the 80’s song goes, “People are people wherever you go.” We may speak different languages. And we might look different. But the human dynamics on a personal level are the same across the borders.

In knowing this, my approach to international living has always been to come in with an open mind, some knowledge of the language, and the do’s and taboo’s of my host countries customs.

You don’t have to be a native in order to be accepted. But you should be aware of the ways of others. And those ways should be respected when tra-la-la’ing on their land.

Not just in the real world. Virtually as well.

I’m realizing this more and more as I look to expand the ‘Internet marketing e-book’ part of my business.

As some of you know there are various subsets of Internet marketers. Those people who live, breath and teach the philosophies of Internet marketing to other Internet marketers.

The Warrior Forum is a very popular hub within that realm.

And selling to that Warrior subset is lucrative. But it’s only a part of the Internet marketing world.

You go two steps to the left, say to the DigitalPoint forum, and the Internet marketing crowd is extremely different.

Readers of both forums really are striving for the same things – more traffic and more money. And they’re both very much open to sales messages.

But you have ‘Warrior-speak’ in one forum, and ‘DigitalPoint-speak’ in another. And if you want to cross the barrier, you essentially have to get out your translation dictionary.

There is a Point to this Story

And that point is, don’t stay boxed in.

Within most niches there usually exists several sub-niches. Sub-niches where all members inherently want the same thing, but take different paths to get there.

Your job as an information product author is to learn how to be bilingual or even trilingual when it comes to communicating your sales message. To learn how to effectively get your point across to all factions by speaking their language.

The profit advantage of being an ‘international’ seller (so to speak), could be enormous.

As some of you know, I moved to NYC this month. The transition I’ve been waiting for, but putting off for a long time.

It’s very expensive to live in NY. The average ’size-of-a-breadbox’ studio will set you back at least $2K a month.

Heck, my daughter’s kindergarten is a hefty $16,600 A YEAR. And to further increase the shock value, they have week-long vacations almost every month! (On the upside, she’ll be completely fluent in French and probably a third language. And she’ll graduate in the 11th grade.)

But trust me when I say that it all balances out for an enterprising e-book author. I have a true ’show-me-the-money’ mentality when it comes to busy cities like New York.

Turn me loose in the Big Apple with a laptop, wifi access, a map, and a Metrocard. And within 72 hours I’ll have a salable e-book.

Here are some of the e-book ideas I’ve discovered…

* New York Street Art Sellers
Want original art for a pittance of the prices you’d pay in a gallery? NY has a selection of artists who sell their original works on the street. I’m talking oil, collage, acrylic, pen and ink, portraits, etc.

* New York’s Wholesale District Explored
The wholesale district in New York is to die for – especially if you have a jewelry fetish like me. Sure there are NYC shopping guides. But none that are strictly wholesale based.

* Nighttime Safety in New York
As a single parent, one of my top 3 questions when I move into a new neighborhood is “how safe is it after dark?” Since NYC attracts so many people from around the world, who I’m 100% sure want the same question answered, it’s definitely an e-book in the making.

There… 3 e-book topics in under ten minutes.

Sometimes you have to look at the opportunities sitting in your own backyard. What’s “who care’s?” information to you may well be of great value to somebody else.

BTW, even if I didn’t live in the city, forums can still give you an accurate view of what people need/are searching for.

For New York – (and other cities) City-Data offers a wealth of information on what people are ‘desperately’ seeking.

A few days ago I stumbled upon a report that covered a topic I’d wanted to learn about.

Not just any report. A $7 report.

Perhaps you’ve seen them sprouting around the Internet. They’re the mother, father, sister and brother of all impulse buys.

It’s very difficult to walk away from a good sales letter that promises something you really want – especially when it’s pared with a $7 price tag. I actually think the technique is awesome.

So anyway I click on the Paypal button for this report with no hesitation. I download it. And after 2 pages, it begins to hit me.

This… thing… is… CRAPPY!

It wasn’t the 100+ affiliate links. Nor was it the multicolored text.

It was the fact that the author said he was only giving a piece of the technique – after he’d he’d delivered all these bells and whistles in the sales letter.

Saying something to the affect of, “Well you ONLY paid $7 for this report, so I’m ONLY going to give you so much information, you skinflint.” (Not in those exact words, but you get my point.)

I don’t know how much he was making on the backend of that report. But I will say that I thought it was a lousy marketing move.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about supporting the $7 report movement.

But I do believe that they should be written with the same integrity and tender loving care that you would use when writing a $97 report.

A $7 price tag shouldn’t be an excuse to deliver a BS product.

You don’t want to give away the farm? Okay. Give a piece of the technique. But give the whole technique. Not just a sliver of it.

After all, the beauty of the $7 report is that you can break down big pieces of content into smaller, more affordable pieces.

The only way people are going to feel compelled to buy the ‘whole enchilada’ is when you deliver good content to start with. Nobody wants to feel like they got duped into buying a brochure.