Bill and Nancy James have been in the printing and publishing field ever since they were married. Their background includes all phases of production in the printing, publishing, and direct mail fields. They are the authors of three books on marketing.

They started their first publishing company, James Family Publishing, in 1975. While furthering their education in Minnesota, Bill and Nancy started a successful home-based publishing company. The company published out of print theological commentaries from the 1800s. After uncovering this niche in the marketplace, the husband and wife team sold over $100,000 worth of books in 12 months on a shoestring start-up budget of $700. It was also during this time when Bill and Nancy co-authored their first book, “The Story of Jesus.” As of 2016, the duo has published over one million books. 

In 1994, they were asked by a chain of home improvement centers to write a manual for contractors on how to write a marketing plan that would be effective, inexpensive and require only a small investment of time. The client wanted the information to be in a format that would be easy for anyone to understand and implement. The result was a fill-in-the-blank and checklists format book called, “Contractor’s Blueprint for Success.” Challenged by the project, they expanded and improved the work. After three years of painstaking labor, they introduced Market2Win. 

Market2Win was designed for hard-pressed business owners who have enormous demands placed on their time and skills. It was concise, with easy-to-understand instructions that walked business owners through every step of planning, implementing, and evaluating their marketing strategies. After the input of numerous businesses, Market2Win evolved into Market with Postcards, and with the help of marketing guru, Alex Mandossian became very successful online. 

For over twenty years, Bill and Nancy operated a printing and publishing firm in Central Virginia, using the latest in electronic and digital equipment. Bill’s keen interest in computers led him to develop a computer estimating software program for commercial printers, which was sold to a national company. He became a prime consultant involved in the start-up of a large direct mail firm which grew into an operation with annual revenues over $50,000,000 with over 300 employees. 

They have operated Publishers Solution for the last ten years. Publishers Solution helps schools and non-profit organizations start their publishing divisions. Now they are putting all their efforts into helping individual authors with their new division, Book Jolt. 

Book Jolt specializes in supplying authors with everything needed to produce and market a book. With almost 5,000 new books and ebooks created every day of the year, you as an author need to know how to stand out in the crowd. Book Jolt will be able to help with the all-important defining of your market. Book Jolt supplies our authors with information so they can help in the design and implementation of different marketing strategies directed at generating new readers. 

Today we must target strategies for an author more directly than it has ever done in the past – – – Why? 

The main reason . . . NOISE! 

There is more noise in the marketplace right now than at any time in history, and the bad news is, it’s only going to get worse! 

The noise that authors are up against includes competing for the mind share of prospects each and every day. It’s kind of like being at a party having a conversation with someone. Then as more people come to the party, each new person adds more noise. Our conversation becomes more difficult to hear and understand. That is precisely what is happening in the world of marketing today. Whether you are selling on the Internet or selling your book at a local bookstore, your marketing voice is no longer heard in all the noise. 

Generic messages don’t work. It’s the difference between a person yelling, “HEY YOU,” or calling you by name. Today you must be specific on how you market. If someone says “HEY, YOU,” they could be talking to anyone, so you will likely ignore them. However, if a person specifically calls out your name, you are going to pay close attention to what they have to say – in other words, that’s TARGETING! Targeting is what makes the difference between success and failure in all your marketing efforts. 

Realize that, today, sluggish online sales are rampant. Why because one can become complacent using marketing strategies that have been used successfully in the past. However, I have learned one thing about online sales today, and that is CHANGE IS NECESSARY if we want to be successful. 

What worked successfully just a year ago doesn’t work as well today. People have changed, the market has changed, what people buy and – more importantly – how they buy. This is why Book Jolt is here to take your book to the next level and to help you find the right market for your book.

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