The Pyramid Approach to Social Networking Content Development and Deployment

© 2012 – Ned Barnett, APR,

Fellow, American Hospital Association

Adjunct Professor:

Middle Tennessee State University

University of Nevada Las Vegas

Marketing and Public Relations Fellow, American Hospital Association

Author:

Finances for Non-Financial Marketers

Hospital Marketing:  Step-by-Step

Insider’s Guide to Hospital Finances

State of the Art in Healthcare Advertising

Introduction – The Base of the Pyramid

Social Networking communications are comprised of “content” and “conversation.”  “Content” – White Papers, Case Studies, Blogs, Video Blogs, Blog Comments, Webinars and other forms of content – is what brings readers (or viewers) to a Social Media site – and, if the content adds value, it brings them back.  Conversation” – Tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn posts and other forms of conversation – is what humanizes Social Networking – and, if effective in that role, turns readers or viewers into followers and fans.  The effective combination of “content” and “conversation” is what turns a blogger into a “subject matter expert” or “Thought Leader,” someone who is cited, referred to, respected and called on for information and insight.

While “conversation” is what humanizes your presence in the world of Social Media, what you produce as content is the basis of your Social Networking success.  To gather followers, before you can dazzle them with your “conversation,” you must first have something worth saying – content.  Further, to impress them with content, you next must come up with effective ways of communicating what you have to say. 

Blogs and video blogs, white papers and case studies – even webinars and YouTube videos – all succeed as means of presenting content.  This is because the huge number of people who use the Internet as the basis for personal information gathering are not, in fact, a group, but individuals.  These individuals have very personal preferences for how they receive and take in “content” – and in many cases, they may have different preferences for different kinds of content. 

For instance, some prefer to read a brief and relatively casual blog, while others prefer the more in-depth (and occasionally scholarly) approach that typifies white papers.  Still other content readers value the facts-and-figures, as well as the stated or implied testimonials that can be found in case studies.  However, a completely other group of social networkers prefer to obtain their information in a more visual format.  They prefer video blogs to blogs, more in-depth YouTube videos to white papers, and webinars to case studies.

The truly successful content communicator makes use of more than one format.  Bloggers, for instance, may also create video blogs – short on “production values” but long on content, which also have a “conversational” function by highlighting their personalities.  The most successful social networkers will make use of most – or all – of the available content formats, the better to reach the broadest possible audience, allowing the audience themselves to choose the format which they prefer.

That multi-format approach to content presentation is also inherent in the “Pyramid” approach to successful social networking.  Properly done, this approach can also lead to the successful creation of the ultimate and most credible form of “content” – the eBook.

Creating eBooks has often proved daunting to otherwise successful content creators, in part because the very idea of creating an effective and coherent book-length document is intimidating.  This seems to be especially true for those content creators who are accustomed to writing and presenting complete and cogent thoughts in 750-word (or less) blogs. 

However, as the author of ten published books – and the ghost-writer of at least that many other books, I began to consider how bloggers could turn their brief and insightful content into viable and effective eBooks.  What I developed, over a period of more than 18 months of study and experimentation, is what I call The Pyramid Approach to Social Networking Content Development and Deployment.  Using the Pyramid approach, a content creator can easily and painlessly create the basis of a successful eBook – and, as will be shown, that individual will also create reader demand for that eBook, even as it’s being written in early-draft form.

With this system, by first planning a focused eBook and creating an outline of that book’s eventual chapter-by-chapter (and sub-section by sub-section) content, the actual book content can be created in a series of blogs, white papers, case studies and other, shorter documents.  By focusing on individual (and shorter) formats that are already familiar to (and within the comfort zone of ) the Social Networker, the stress and anxiety that are often the nemesis of successful first-time book authors becomes irrelevant. 

However, this “Pyramid” approach goes several steps further.  First, by publishing these carefully planned-out blogs, white papers and case studies in social media’s various “content” platforms, the ideas themselves begin to appear online, and – if they’re sound and well-written – to develop a following.  Then, by promoting each of these blogs, case studies or white papers through the social media’s “conversation” platforms – including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – awareness of, and later demand for, the building blocks that will lead to the eBook itself will build interest and demand long before the eBook itself is completed.

Though elements of this have been used by others in the past, the careful and planned integration of these various approaches represent something new to the Social Networking world – I’m only exaggerating a little when I say that I’d patent this approach if I could …   

This innovative and integrated approach allows content creators to develop, over time, a few topical blogs, focused white papers and on-target case studies, then string them together into an eBook.  This distinctive process can, and should, be supported by video blogs, YouTube videos and webinars – the audio-visual equivalent of blogs, white papers and case studies – to further build demand for the eBook, long before it’s completed and published.

Perhaps most important, this Pyramid approach has the potential to turn anyone who has specific expertise – and the ability to write effective blogs – into a published eBook author, with all the credibility and respect that being a published author can generate.   

What follows is an adaptation of an article published in July PR News. 

The Value and Impact of an eBook

Whether an eBook has been sold or given away, an eBook created using the approach presented here makes the person who produced the eBook an author – and, for a variety of reasons, both the Internet and the news media respect authors and accord them a level of credibility hard to obtain in other ways.  Even better, as soon as an author decides to write an eBook and come up with at least a provisional title, that person is legitimately “the author of the forthcoming book, ______,” and can begin immediately to experience at least some of the benefits of being a published author.

In addition, each blog, white paper, case study or audio-visual equivalent can legitimately be presented as “based on the forthcoming book, _____________,” giving that shorter-form content added credibility as well.  However, the eBook can go a lot farther than that in creating both credibility and success.

An excellent example is author and PR expert David Meerman Scott (http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/).  He first created a free eBook on the emerging subject of “PR 2.0.,” a new “take” on public relations that freely and effectively integrates social networking into more traditional public relations.  That eBook was downloaded for free more than 250,000 times, making it something of an eBook sensation.  However, since he wrote that eBook, he expanded and converted it into a conventionally-published book which, in 2006, became a New York Times business bestseller.  Even more remarkable, because of the rapid changes in social networking in the latter half of the last decade, Scott found the need to produce a second and significantly updated edition (http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books/the-new-rules-of-marketing-and-pr/) – and that book also became a New York Times business bestseller.  

While Scott has written other marketing and communications books which have also been successful, I believe that it was his 250,000-copy free eBook and his two editions of his New York Times bestseller which firmly positioned him as a subject matter expert and Thought Leading innovator in the integration between social networking and public relations.  He has been able to transform that widespread recognition and respect into a remarkable career as a consultant and worldwide public speaker – as well as a continually successful author and innovator.

David Meerman Scott’s example is obviously the “best case scenario,” a publishing success that also became a dynamic career-builder, but it is also, arguably, an effective model for any aspiring eBook author.  For instance, in addition to his free-download eBook – which is still available – he has also converted sections and sub-sections of his books into blogs and other short-form “content.”  This information is easily searchable by topic, and anyone who finds useful information from one of these blogs becomes an instant candidate for purchasing the published version of the book, along with other published books.

Using this approach, you can use your personal and professional knowledge, as well as your writing skill, to become a published eBook author.  Better, you can do it quickly and painlessly – and it can be more fun than you’d believe possible.  This approach can also help you become a social networking subject-matter expert, or even a “Thought Leader,” as well as a published author.

However, don’t expect – if you follow this approach – that you will soon be giving talks all over the world.  As I said, that was the ultimate best case scenario.  However, whether you write your own book or you work together with a writing coach (or even a ghost-writer), you could easily become a reputable and well-known – in your field – published author, with all the respect and credibility that status generates. 

The Process

The process itself is simple, and it comes with two variations.

The first – you do it all yourself.  You have clear ideas of what you want to say (and to whom you want to say it), and you know how to organize your thoughts.  You also have the basic writing and communications skills to develop blogs that attract and satisfy the information needs of your readers.  Finally, you are self-motivated.  In this case, you will do all of this yourself, and you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to accomplish all of the steps involved.

The second approach – you work with a writing coach, a co-writer or ghost-writer – to take your ideas and experience and translate them into the blogs, white papers, case studies (and their audio-visual parallels – video blogs, YouTube videos and webinars), all focused on ultimately converting that same information into the chapters, sections and sub-sections of your eBook.

Because I am currently working with several different authors/clients in creating books of this nature, using this approach, I am going to present the process here as a collaborative one.  However, if you’re an effective and self-motivated writer, take these steps and execute them yourself, and you’ll create your own eBook in far less time than you likely expect it to take.

As you develop the concept, please keep in mind that an eBook does not have to be as long as a published book to be successful.  There are successful and well-received business or non-fiction eBooks that run from 35 to 50 pages, though eBooks of 250 pages are not uncommon. This length is measured in “typeset pages,” rather than manuscript pages, but eBooks that run less than 100 manuscript pages can be considered “real books” and – if the topic and the writing are on-target – they will be accepted by their readers.  That, after all, being the writer’s goal, you can see that success isn’t dependent on producing Tom Clancy-length books.

Having decided to proceed with an eBook, here are the steps you’ll take.

First, working on your own or with your writing coach/co-writer, come up with a focused topic, along with a title for the eBook.  The title should be catchy – but it should also define the information you want to share, as well as the market you want to reach.  Once you have nailed down a useful and informative focused topic and the eye-catching title, create a detailed table of contents for the book.  Experience has shown that for a straightforward topic, seven to nine chapters is sufficient to present the material, but that length is remarkably flexible. 

Regardless of the ultimate length of the eBook, the first chapter will be a summary – it will tell the readers what you’re going to cover in the book.  Then the middle chapters will actually present the real in-depth content.  Finally, wrap it all up in a tight and informative summary that comprises the final chapter.   

A note for authors who would like to create follow-on books, know that – if you plan the book properly at the outset, each of the “content chapters” can be expanded into its own eBook.  Think of how John Gray turned “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” into a dozen or so books, each describing how this one basic relationship approach can be made to work in the board room, in the marriage bed, when dating again and in many other interpersonal arenas.  Just as John Gray did with his series of books (and as the Chicken Soup guys did in more than 125 spin-off books), you can expand your initial book’s “content” chapters into a series of useful in-depth eBooks on more narrow topics.   

But that’s down-the-road, for the future.  Let’s look at how you can create this first book.

First, as noted, the subject and the title.  Then an in-depth, detailed outline of what will be covered in each of the chapters.  Then, before you start writing, break down each of the chapters into a more detailed outline that covers the content in each chapter’s sections and sub-sections.

That’s actually a pretty standard approach used by writers for almost any kind of non-fiction book.  However, we’re talking about creating an eBook using the Pyramid approach, and that means we’ll be using a host of social media tools to present the eBook’s information far and wide over the Internet. This approach will result in building your reputation among future readers EVEN AS YOU WRITE THE BOOK. 

As you create the book’s content, blog by blog, white paper by white paper, we’ll be laying the groundwork for e-publishing success, once the eBook is completed and ready to either sell or give away.

Which leads us to one of the true secrets of the Pyramid approach to creating an eBook.  Basically, as we develop the content – the blogs, case studies, the white papers and other material that will ultimately be revised for use as the building blocks of the eBook’s chapters, sections and sub-sections – we keep writing and presenting that same very useful (to the readers) material, over and over again. 

The content material in the blogs becomes the basis of the case studies and white papers; and all of them become the core content material for the eBook’s chapters and sections and sub-sections.  There is a remarkable economy of creative thought here – the basic ideas you have developed will be presented several times, in several different formats.  Each of these formats will appeal to a certain kind of content consumer – as noted, some prefer the relatively casual approach of blogs, others like the nuts-and-bolts of case studies, and still others like to see it visually, rather than to read it in print format.  Yet in each instance, the core information remains the same.

Here’s how I do it.  If you work on your own, just adapt these steps to your own creative process. 

For each section or sub-section of the book, I first interview my client/author for anywhere between 45 minutes and two hours at a sitting.  In these interviews, I use my laptop to take detailed notes right into the eBook’s outline, obtaining the background information I need in order to write that section of the book for or with the author.

I commend this in-depth interview process to you, even if you are going to do all the writing yourself.  Each interview becomes a collaborative brainstorming session.  As a professional interviewer, I “challenge” my authors to think beyond the basics of the outline, perhaps unearthing ideas or information not anticipated in the outline.  This is always valuable, and usually winds up enhancing the depth and value of the building blocks that lead to the eBook.

To make sure I didn’t misunderstanding, I write up the interview and share it with my author.  I ask that person to confirm that I heard it and understood the information presented.  Once the named author of the forthcoming eBook clears my notes as being on-target, I take that interview material and write it down in a series of several different formats. As noted above, that’s the “secret sauce” of the Pyramid approach to writing an eBook.  The information is presented in different formats, as blogs or video blogs, as white papers or YouTube video presentations (often “white board” presentations), and as case studies or webinars.  That material, re-presented in these different formats, is then pulled together as the sub-sections and sections and chapters of the eBook – but by the time we get around to writing the eBook, we have a thorough grasp of the content, and have “experimented” with presenting it in several formats.  In my experience, this has always enriched the final material, helping to ensure that the eBook is as good as the subject matter and the writer’s communications skills can make it.   

To move the development of the material leading to the eBook forward, we tend to schedule these interviews at a regular time, once every week or two.  Even the busiest professionals or business owners – if they’re serious about creating an eBook – will adjust their schedule to permit these interviews. Some interviews are conducted over lunch, that being a time when even the busiest individuals generally take a break.  While doing this during business hours has obvious advantages, some interviews are scheduled in the evenings or on weekends.  If the eBook is a priority, it’s more important to maintain a regular schedule than it is to find a convenient time during the business day.

For most of my clients, I do the writing for them, as their co- or ghost-writer, first because I’m an experienced writer, and also so they don’t get bogged down in the process of creating the copy and content.  My clients are busy professionals or business owners, and while they are motivated to create an eBook – or a series of related eBooks – they find that day-to-day priorities of their professional practices or businesses tend to push the book into the “priority backwater.” 

However, some of my clients are so intensely motivated – and they have the necessary written communications skills – to take on the writing for themselves.  Either approach is valid.  The goal shouldn’t be “auctorial pride;” rather, the goal should involve getting a quality eBook written and published, so the author can reap the benefits that come from being a published author.

When I write for or with my clients, generally their roles involve reviewing and editing what I write – the blogs, white papers, case studies and, ultimately, the chapters of the eBook.   Obviously, they have to take a more visible role (pun intended) in producing video blogs, YouTube white-board videos and webinars. Still, they rely on me to create the script, the talking points and outline their audio-visual presentations.

If you are a good and motivated writer, and if you honestly have the time and interest to take on an eBook project from beginning to end – from outline to “interview” to blogs and white papers to eBook chapters – you don’t need someone me, or you only need an experienced writer as coach and editor. 

Returning to process, first, write blogs about the material that will ultimately be featured in the eBook’s sections and sub-sections.  In parallel, you can and should also create video blogs paralleling each of these blogs. 

It’s not as widely known as it should be, but – after Google – YouTube is the most widely used search engine.  Millions of people prefer to get their information via video, rather than in written form. 

Just as important, and benefitting the average blog-writer, overly “produced” and “polished” videos often do not do well on YouTube.  That site’s “corporate culture” prefers more off-the-cuff, “just you and me” spontaneous-looking video blogs and other videos, and those are easy to create.  The video equivalent of white papers can be created using a “white board” presentation that, again, is relatively lacking in sophisticated production values.  What counts is the quality of the information, and the enthusiasm of the presenter.

To focus your growing YouTube audience, you’ll want to create a YouTube “network” for your video blogs and virtual white paper presentations. 

Returning to the written blogs, to publish these blogs, first create a website that includes a place to publish blogs.  However, you will also want to create a Blogger or WordPress blog-site as well.  The blogs published on your website and on the blog-site should have different titles and modified first paragraphs – this is an SEO requirement, and is relatively easy to accommodate.

As far as the blog-publishing sites, I find a Blogger blog-site easier to create, but harder to use.  Conversely, a WordPress blog-site is, for me at least, a bit harder to create, but it is far more flexible in creating the blogs.  Both Blogger and WordPress are legitimate and valid blog-publishing sites, so choose the one that best suits you. 

There is no cost for the basic WordPress or Blogger blog-site, though some “template” designs for these two sites have a relatively minor cost.  Especially if you do WordPress, unless you have web-creation skills or a fifteen-year old in the upstairs bedroom, I suggest that you retain the services of a webmaster to help you set up the template design.

To enhance your blogging “reach” – and to attract new readers – you’ll need to also search out other blogs, by other writers, covering the same material to be included in sections of your book.  Find good blogs that relate to your topics, then add respectful comments to their blogs.  In these, you should either agree with the blogger, then adding a new point or two – or, you should very respectfully disagree, and explain that disagreement briefly and concisely.  There are three keys:

·        Be respectful

·        Add value with your comment

·        Include a link back to your own blog-site or website

Either agree or disagree, this is an effective and legitimate way of leveraging other blog-writers’ followers.  You’ll be persuading them to check you out, not by any sales pitch but by virtue of the quality of your comments.  These should demonstrate that you are also worth following.  Cutting to the chase, this is legitimized poaching, one of the few ways of co-opting others’ followers that is accepted and approved of by the Social Networking community.

Having finished up with the blogs and their video offshoots, take the same core content material and re-work it.  Write this information up – perhaps drawing from several more narrowly-focused blogs – as white papers and case studies. 

Let me emphasize that: in the Pyramid approach, these white papers and case studies cover the same basic material as is found in the blogs.  However, that information is presented to a largely different set of readers, and given to them from a different perspective and in a different writing style. 

As a rule of thumb, blogs – along with video blogs and comments on others’ blogs – tend to be more conversational and informal.  However, white papers tend to be more formal, and, with links to sources and even a list of “further reading,” almost academic in tone and feel.  However, case studies are very practical and pragmatic, with nuts-and-bolts information, as well as – frequently – either direct or indirect testimonials. 

This same approach translates well into the audio-visual format – as noted, white board presentations can cover the material found in white papers, while webinars tend to be effective in presenting case study and testimonial information.  The video formats are flexible and will vary from topic to topic, and from author to author.  The key is to translate the information from blogs, white papers and case studies into video presentations that work for your audiences.

As noted, some people prefer to get their information in a relaxed and informal format, while others prefer a more formal and credibly academic style, while still others prefer the nuts-and-bolts … or, as Dragnet’s Sergeant Friday used to say, “just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.”  To satisfy the maximum number of followers, give the social networking market the same core information – with a choice of formats, so that readers can find what you have to say in the format they most prefer.

But it’s still the same material, presented in different formats.

Finally, as noted earlier, we take the same basic information obtained in that initial interview – information that’s already been presented as blogs and white papers and case studies – then we rework it into book sections and sub-sections.  Each bit of information generated in the interview, based on the in-depth eBook outline, gets presented to readers at least three or four different times, in three or four different formats, all of them culminating in the eBook.

Take a moment to absorb this. It’s critical to this whole Pyramid approach to writing and disseminating eBooks.  Keep re-using the same material, presenting it in different formats, the better to suit the information needs of different people.  Each time you rework the same core information, you gain additional followers and further enhance your reputation in your own market niche.

Having done that, let’s now look promoting this material. Again, not once, but every time it’s used, and in several formats each time as well.

Each time you publish a blog or post a video blog (or submit a blog comment), and each time you post a white paper or case study for downloading from your website, promote this new content via posts on Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as through Twitter tweets (making use of hashtags when appropriate) – or, if you’re material is visual, Pinterest. 

Use these various more conversationally-oriented social media sites to promote blogs and other content.  You can get by with something no more complicated than a “check out my new blog” posts on these social networks. 

However, in advance of these posts, especially for LinkedIn and Facebook, first join discussion groups that cover the topics related to your eBook.   Don’t just join – contribute to them occasionally.  This is part of the “Conversation” element of Social Networking.  This will give you credibility and some advanced visibility when you then post an invitation to check out your new content.  This pre-established credibility is critical to building a following in the social networking world.

I find that, for each new published piece of content, post several different promotions/invitations on Facebook and LinkedIn, and create as many as seven different Tweets, each targeting a different element of the content and each focusing on a different segment of the likely audience.

What this amounts to is volume – what advertisers call ‘reach and frequency’ – that, together, help generate audience interest.  For a single piece of content information, you might create:

·        three to five narrowly focused blogs – each of which also has a companion video blog – which leads to …

·        one white paper and a YouTube video, perhaps a white-board presentation – which leads to …

·        one case study and a related webinar

·        A sub-section in the eBook

Then, except for the sub-section in the eBook (which will be promoted as part of the whole book), you’ll also create and post:

·        three different Facebook invitation posts

·        three different LinkedIn invitation posts

·        seven different Tweets

If you’re into numbers, each ultimate sub-section of the eBook will be based on up to 14 distinct content posts, each of which will be promoted online 13 different times – a total of 182 “conversation” promotion posts.  Do the math – before you ever write that sub-section of the book, the “word” on that particular content will be out there 196 discrete times.  That’s a lot of pre-promotion for the eBook.

However, to significantly further enhance the impact of any really meaningful or “seminal” content you create – budget permitting – you should do some conventional media public relations to further get the word out, reaching audiences you’re sure to miss with your online promotions.  This begins when you write and issue a press release. I recommend that these be sent out via BusinessWire, which is – for what you intend to accomplish – still the best release distribution service in the business.  This puts your information out in an entirely new venue – Google-searchable news. 

One reason for using BusinessWire – it has contracts with roughly 300 news aggregator sites, including Yahoo Finance and MSN, and every press release is guaranteed to be posted at least that many name-recognizable news websites.  That does you a lot of SEO good, as well, but the primary purpose is to attract new first-time readers who’d otherwise never have heard of you.

While many bloggers will post a Facebook and LinkedIn comment, along with a tweet or two promoting a new content posting – and you’ll do that, too – relatively few ever consider the huge potential for attracting new followers that comes from creating and issuing provocative press releases to support those new content products.  Remember – in every promotion post on any social network, and especially in every press release – be sure to mention that this material is from the forthcoming eBook, “_______________.”  That will get the book’s name out, and add credibility to whatever content you have created, published and promoted.

When your topics are “public interest,” consider obtaining a media list and pitching talk radio and talk television producers, offering yourself as a published expert in the topic.  Here’s an example of how this works:

In 2008, testing this as a new concept, I first developed five specific informative and controversial business-related topics that were also tied to that year’s Presidential election.  Next, I wrote each of these topics up as articles or blogs and secured their publication in a prestigious online news-and-commentary “e-zine.”  I then contacted a producer at several media outlets and pitched myself as an expert on the topic of the day – including a link to my published write-up on that topic.  Five for five, I secured interviews on Neil Cavuto’s program on Fox Business, as well as five interviews with Imus; I also appeared on 56 other radio talk programs across the country.  Finally, one article was read in its entirety by Rush Limbaugh on his highest-rated national talk radio program, one that had 20 million listeners per week.  In short, by leveraging an online publication of an intriguing topic, I was able to appear on a significant number of national and regional radio and television programs. 

This same approach can work for almost any eBook author.  There are other examples where, through effective public relations, I was able to take something a client wrote (or something I wrote for the client) and got them on CNN, MSNBC, in USA Today and even in the editorial page of the New York Times.  There are no guarantees, but it is certainly worth the effort – especially when you have something newsworthy and perhaps a bit controversial to say, and especially when the media perceives you as published author.

The bottom line – use all the avenues available to you to legitimately promote each new content posting.  Each promotion will ultimately help you, in large ways or small, to promote your eBook.

The Pyramid

This whole Pyramid approach is really very simple and logical, but when I developed the concept, I was frankly amazed to find how often these steps are overlooked by other bloggers or even successful eBook authors. 

Bottom line – after each author/writer interview, use the same information over and over again.  In the process, create a content pyramid that focuses on building an audience and creating an impact – in essence, making the maximum use of each sub-section in the eBook. 

This chart may help you visualize how it works:

Two key elements of the Pyramid approach that this graphic doesn’t show are the way we re-use content (up to 14 times for any given eBook sub-section), and the way we promote each new published piece of content (up to 196 times online, plus any PR or press activity you undertake). 

Finally, to promote this new material (blogs, case studies, white papers – and ultimately the eBook) in the Social Networking world, we will create and post at least one Facebook post, one LinkedIn Post (each shared widely with groups, multiplying their impact) and probably three-to-seven Twitter tweets for each new piece of content – each blog, video blog, blog comment, white paper or case study.  And also for each piece of media coverage (link to radio interviews, print/internet write-ups, etc.) – we want to invite people to see your content and accomplishments over and over again.

That creates a great deal of useful online activity, all focused directly or indirectly on your eBook.  However, because you’ll keep re-working and re-packaging the same basic material in different formats for different audiences, you’ll accomplish a great deal of activity with only a relatively little bit of actual “new” creative work. 

Taken together, this Pyramid approach ensures that you have both the “content” that is one half of the Social Networking experience, along with the “conversation” part of the equation. 

This new approach to leveraging both “content” and “conversation” to build an audience in the Social Networking field – all designed to turn you into a subject matter expert and “Thought Leader” – will help you focus on your own eBook success.  If you have all the information you need to create the content and handle the conversation, go for it. 

However, if you’d like help in turning yourself into a published author – and a powerhouse in your specialty area – then find an experienced and prolific writer who is ready to help you, as coach and interviewer, or as co-writer or ghost-writer.

When you’re ready, as Star Trek’s Captain Picard said, “make it so.”

About the Author

In addition to a forty-year career as an award-winning and accredited public relations professional, author and college professor, Ned Barnett has written ten published books under his own name, and ghost-written perhaps twice that many books for clients. 

He began his love-affair with publishing and promoting published works when his various publishers uniformly failed to effectively promote his books.  Taking over that role, Barnett successfully positioned his books so that at least four of the ten sold out their press runs – and one was reprinted in a second edition.  These published books focused primarily on marketing and Public Relations, especially in the healthcare field (then Barnett’s specialty), but one book was a guide to understanding finances for non-financial marketers, another was a guide for Wall Street traders on the five largest publicly-traded for-profit hospital companies, one was a biography of a retired CIA pilot, and others addressed equally diverse fields.

The first of these books was published in 1982, and since then, Barnett has never stopped writing, or promoting books and publishers.  In addition to his ten published books in his own name, he’s ghost-written at least that many books for clients, as well as many dozens of in-depth case studies, white papers and hundreds of published articles, featured in the New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal and numerous trade and consumer publications for clients over the years. 

Continuing his love-affair with books and publishing, he also marketed and promoted a half-dozen different publishing companies – his clients – and, for a decade, he was a partner in a literary agency.  Through thirty years of active book writing, as well as the promotion of books, authors and publishers, Barnett has come to know something about publishing, and about what that can do for published authors.