AlanTutt.com

This coming weekend is one of many holidays around the world. Here in the US, we celebrate our status as an independent nation where we can choose for ourselves how we will be governed.

And this is one reason I selected July 5th as the "official" publication date for my new book, Choose To Believe.

The powerful information in this book allows ANYONE to choose for themselves how their lives will be governed.

This is another post about the technical side of running a web-based business.  In this case, I spent some time researching current options for affiliate software.

For those who don't know what affiliate software is for, here's the key idea.  The word "affiliate" means "working partner".  While that COULD mean just about anything, on the Internet, it means someone who promotes a product for a commission.  In other words, a commissioned sales rep.

Over the past 24 hours or so, I've gotten caught up in doing some research for the technical side of my web business.  While I expect that few of my reader really care about this, I felt that for the few who are, posting my findings would be a good thing.

When I wrote Choose To Believe, I knew that I wanted to do something special for my readers.  It turned out that I created an offer to get my previous 5 products on a CD-ROM for nothing more than basic S/H fees.  In the rush to get the book "out there", the creation of the bonus CD was scheduled for a later time.

In an author's career, there are certain events that mark significant stages of the journey.  Completing your first manuscript, seeing a final cover design, holding a final copy of your book, and seeing it for sale in an established retail channel.

In days past, the established retail channel used to be just bookstores, but these days it includes big name websites too.  While my work has sold fairly well from my own websites these past few years, there's something different about having it available from one of the biggest bookstores in the world.

As many of my readers know, I've been working hard these last few months getting everything ready for the Official Publication of my new book, Choose To Believe, which is scheduled for July 5th.

We started taking advance orders for my new book on March 31st.  500 copies sold in the first 4 and a half days (we offered a special ebook edition for the first 500 customers), and over the next few weeks we sold an additional 100 copies.

While waiting for the books to arrive, I set up a system to handle the large quanitiy of packages.  Signed up with Encidia.com to print labels and postage for USPS packages, bought a special label printer and USB scale, and ordered 700 bubble envelopes.  (In total, this cost over $900!)

This past Monday, I announced to my mailing list that I am now taking pre-orders for the new book, Choose To Believe.  To help with printing costs, I put together a Pre-Publication Special for anyone ordering before April 30th.

Description Page at PowerKeys Publishing

On Monday, March 24th, I uploaded the final PDF to the printer.  According to them, I will see a proof copy this coming Monday, March 31st.  Once I approve the proof copy, they will proceed with printing, and I'll receive 3000 paperbacks within a few weeks.

I'm so excited!!

Today, I just sent off a few Advance Review Copies to the important reviewers in the book trade -- Publisher's Weekly, The New York Times, Library Journal, Booklist, and ForeWord Magazine.  Kirkus Reviews would have been another one, but they won't review self-help titles.

Charles Burke, author of "Command More Luck", really knows how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage!

About a month ago, he and his wife moved from Japan to Thailand, and just as they were beginning the transition, someone hacked one of his websites!  Lots of strange characters -- no description of the product being sold from that site.

Having his focus on the process of moving, Charles didn't realize that his site had been hacked until recently.  Whereas most folks would cry, complain, or get angry, Charles yelled "Whoopie!".