This month marks the 2^nd year anniversary since the launch of my ebook Desperate Buyers Only.

And even with a growing number of new Internet marketing infoproduct launches, a healthy 188 copies were sold last month. And happy customers still e-mail me…

From Steve Lindhorst, February 19, 2008:

As a national eBay University instructor, I’ve taught thousands of people to use eBay. When I paid for your book I was worried about what my wife would say when she found out I spent money, since we’re on a budget.

I had never written an eBook, not to mention a sales letter for one. Your step by step instructions were so easy to follow, I scribbled out an outline and started writing that night. I edited and polished it, got the sales letter up, and let a few friends know about it.

Within one week I’ve already paid for the book several times over – and I’m just starting! It’s amazing to wake up and find more orders each morning! Your system works. I can’t imagine it could be any simpler.

Steve Lindhorst
http://www.ShowroomSecrets.com

To be honest with you, I don’t think I would’ve done as well as I did if I hadn’t created DBO as a system. Like Steve said, a lot of readers like that I’ve outlined the information as step-by-step process. And then I show the system at work with my own sites.

$50,000 TIP…
If you’re going to write about a lengthy process, don’t just write an ebook, create a system. Market your titles as systems.

Remember, desperate buyers essentially want the direct path to success. And that’s the unwritten promise you provide when selling a system. The word in itself mentally conjures up a roadmap to the promise land.

A few days ago I mentioned in my blog post that I’d started teaching my daughter to read when she was 3-years old. Now at the age of 5, she’s reading books for 7-year olds without having to point to the words.

Around two months ago I began teaching her how to write and send letters to her grandparents. (Snail mail letters, not e-mail.)

Then two weeks ago I decided to up the ante a little bit, and she started writing a story called The Underwater Sea Man.

That story is now 5 pages long – (5 pages of handwriting practice paper… the ones with the big lines).

Initially she was excited about writing the story. But on the first day when she realized she’d have to sound out a lot of words that she didn’t know, she wanted to give up.

Instead I helped her along. And yesterday as she finished reading everything that she’d written so far, she SQUEALED with delight.

She said – and I quote verbatim:

“Mommy I’m so-o-o-o proud of myself!”

Plans for the second and third Underwater Sea Man book are already in the works. All hail the active imagination!

You Can’t Shove – but You Can Show

As a parent I feel as though I’d be doing a great disservice to the fruits of my labor if I didn’t expose her to the writing world.

Writing – after all – is much more than ebooks. Being able to write well opens doors in so many different ways.

For example, when my grandmother got placed into a shoddy nursing home, I wrote an epic complaint letter to the governor of New York. Someone from his staff replied personally – within days. The problems were rectified almost immediately.

And even though I did horribly on my SATs, and barely made it out of high school, I still eeked my way into New York University. It was an homage to my writing because I cracked that entrance essay out of the park. (Although I never ended up graduating from NYU.)

That’s why when my daughter began asking what I was doing on the computer, I broke down the publishing process into bite-sized morsels that she could understand.

I explained how and why people buy my ebooks. We talked about writing stories that painted a magical picture for the reader. (Which is how The Underwater Sea Man was born.) I even showed her how to check my orders for the day.

My goal is to help her mentally grasp the Empire State Building sized power that mere lines and curves on a page can wield.

If she becomes a writer – awesome.

If she doesn’t become a writer – awesome.

The gifts bestowed now can never be taken away. They will be given sunlight and water and they will grow. And they will benefit her in ways I can’t even fathom right now.

So while you’re helping others with your words of wisdom, don’t forget to plant the seeds of writing possibility into the younger ones around you.

You can’t just be somebody who writes.

Be a parent who shows the excitement of reading and writing.

In Kill Bill 2 there’s a scene where Beatrix (the heroine) is thinking about the first time she met her kung fu master Pei Mai.

In his best “westernized women are trash” tone, Pei Mai asks Beatrix what forms of martial arts she’s good at. She says that she’s proficient in blah, blah, blah… proficient in blah, blah, blah… and more than proficient in blah, blah, blah.

Her so-called proficiency is soon put to the test, where we see Pei Mai barely lift a finger to defeat Beatrix.

Through her angry tears (and Pei Mai grasping her arm, nearly ripping it off) she concedes that she has a lot to learn.

The moral of this piece of the story?

Proficiency Sucks

When expert status (Pei Mai) was pitted against proficiency (Beatrix), proficiency got a first-class, no-nonsense thrashing.

And that brings me to the message of this post.

In the world of writing, most of us are proficient. I’m a proficient writer. I know I could be better. But proficiency has helped me sell a lot of ebooks, so why rock the boat, right?

Rock the boat because proficiency can become a danger to yourself in the big scheme of things.

Okay breathe that one in for a moment…

Proficiency is okay if you’re a government drone with a pension and 15 years under your belt. But will it always serve US well? Forever and ever, amen???

My proficiency (knock on wood) works to my advantage right now. But what if I could blink and have all the necessary words jump directly from my brain onto the monitor with barely any mental interruption? My skills would then give me a leg up over proficient writers.

Which leads me to a comment I read by Catherine Franz on Amazon.com. She was reviewing Word Work: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer, when she said:

“One of my goals is to read every book on writing.”

I was actually stunned when I read that statement. I got up, walked away from the computer and thought about the breadth of it. My heart was actually pounding.

It’s kind of like Beatrix training with Pei Mai to become a super warrior. (Which – by the way – we later discover saves her life, and helps her to defeat Bill.)

It’s an incredible tactic from a writers perspective. I can’t even fathom how much better I’d be as a writer if I took the time to read every single writing book there is. How much faster I could write. How much more creative I’d become over time.

As a writer I can see a goal like that changing the very essence of who I am.

That’s why I’ve stolen Catherine’s idea. (Though I’m sure she won’t mind.) I too am on the path to reading every writing book available.

And I propose a challenge to you… are you ready to change your proficient ways?

Are you prepared to know all that is, so that you can become one who truly knows?

Don’t decide now.

Just think about it.