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What's a Mile High Above Madison Avenue?

Publishers Find Altitude AND Attitude Prove Key to MarketAbility's Book Promotion Success

TWISTED HISTORY
Not much about MarketAbility is normal. But then again, most publishers have found that "normal" rarely sells books. Much the same way the pioneers staked their claims on the land out west, Denver based book publicity firm MarketAbility forges a new frontier with every new campaign. They've proven their system - albeit a bit twisted - really works.

"Look back to the advertising campaigns that stick in your mind," says Tami DePalma, partner at MarketAbility and the one who is often found jolting others out of their old, stodgy ideas. "Companies that dare to do something new, something different, yet follow a few solid marketing rules are the ones that stay in the minds of consumers, develop trusting relationships and are rewarded with increased revenues and long-term profits."

While the Golden, Colorado-based book publicity firm has been in business since 1989, in the last year MarketAbility has accepted a mission to put more profits into the pockets of publishers by pushing publicity three steps further. The result? An innovative sales machine has just been launched and initial indicators are promising. Mission accomplished.

IT'S THE TWIST THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
So how did two twenty-something women launch a company that has helped hundreds of publishers accomplish the impossible in the last 13 years?

"The secret is so simple it's almost embarrassing," admits Kim Dushinski, the partner responsible for developing implementation systems for the twisted ideas and trying her darnedest to turn the art of Public Relations into a science. "Integrity. In all things, integrity."

"We've always tried to go the extra mile to do what's right," continues Dushinski. A tough task when you find yourself middleman (or should we say middlewoman in a company that's 88% female?) to so many stakeholders. "Clients, cohorts, media contacts, printers, distributors, publishers and authors all have their own perception of a situation. And ALL of them are right. There is always an outcome that benefits all players. The key is to keep asking the right question until the solution appears."

Dushinski, DePalma and their team of cohorts (other companies call them employees) have grown a company that is unique in just about all ways you can imagine. Their vision puts them A "Mile High" above Madison Avenue. If you've ever called them or visited the www.MarketAbility.com website, you already know what I mean.

For example, despite promises of cost-reduction and increased productivity, they refuse to have a phone answering system when human contact is possible. "Voicemail has gone out of control," says Jenny Moore, office administrator who exemplifies excellent customer service. "We are in a relationship-oriented business. When people call MarketAbility, they don't want to get lost in voicemail hell. They want to talk to somebody. And I want to talk to them!"

Once in the door, you find the infamous Barbie Bathroom, the idea stimulating Creative Session Cove, and even cohort-painted murals on the walls. On the website you will NOT find biographies, you'll find Snapshots. You'll discover Hired Gun PR instead of a description of services. Rather than a Press Room, they host a Media Lounge.

Even their newsletter, The Twisting Times, is wacky. No specific schedule--that would be untwisted. But it is jam-packed with insider info and book trade tidbits to help you successfully market you and your book.

"We designed our atmosphere to stimulate creativity and honor individuality," adds DePalma, who instinctively develops the backbone of their publicity campaigns. "We strive to innovate, holding integrity at heart. And the result is top-notch marketing for our clients!"

Over the years the firm has branched far beyond the realm of publicity in their quest to serve up strategies that sell books. Not only do they design and implement full service publicity campaigns, for three years they have been training publishers and authors how to market their own books. They publish a media newsletter and have most recently launched a breakthrough marketing "machine" that threatens to change the way publishers get their information into the hands of their customers.

MILE HIGH MAGIC! Hired Gun PR Services
Specializing in Business, Lifestyle (Parenting, Cooking, Health, Relationships, Gay/Lesbian, etc.), Self-Development, Spirituality and Women's titles, the company can often find just the right strategy for any genre of book.

One triumphant campaign began when Advanced Research Press (the publishing division of TwinLabs) came to MarketAbility with a low budget but high expectations for their struggling post-publication cookbook The Cooking Cardiologist.

C'mon baby, let's do the "twist." In six short months, MarketAbility turned an investment of under $25,000 into over $13 million of advertising value and over 32 million impressions.

PR account manager Bradley James, who has been with MarketAbility for almost three years, and his team landed author Richard Collins a spokesperson role for Lipton, repeat spots on Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee, articles in top magazines like Ladies Home Journal and more. The Cooking Cardiologist rose to the top 50 best-selling books on Amazon.com and continues to be the publisher's best-ever-selling title. The campaign was recently awarded the prestigious Bulldog Award in Book Publishing & Media by InfoCom Group at Media Relations 2001 in Washington, DC. MarketAbility founders and partners Kim Dushinski and Tami DePalma in front of the company's "Mile High Above Madison Avenue" mural wall.

Another MarketAbility campaign shows how a Licensed Social Worker earned over $55 million of exposure and 23 million impressions in a world of parenting experts sporting Ph.Ds. The topic-focused promotion catapulted The Parent's Toolshop to success and launched author Jody Johnston Pawel into media placements including Woman's Day (mentions in three different issues), American Baby, Parenting, Parent's Journal, Target the Family, US News & World Report, The Christian Science Monitor (three times), and The Chicago Tribune (syndicated article). She continues to be one of the most quoted and interviewed parenting authorities in the country today.

Additionally, MarketAbility has helped one author land a major publisher, and another publisher immediately recover the expense of their campaign in book sales generated from one targeted placement (that has reportedly continued to generate over $.5 million in revenues for the publisher). Another client boasts of her Mercedes and luxurious vacations that MarketAbility's strategies have brought her way.

www.AnglesAndExperts.com
The publicity team at MarketAbility has launched a newsletter that the media has come to rely on. In both its print and online versions, AnglesAndExperts.com gives every publisher the chance at the kind of media exposure all MarketAbility clients receive. Online media kits continue to make publishers' information instantly available and easy for the media to obtain.

MAXIMUM EXPOSURE
If they say different is better, then could there be any rules? Well, actually, yes.

When Dushinski and DePalma began to hire account managers, they found it necessary to systemize their creativity. Their business coach Bill Brakemeier recommended the book The E-Myth Revisited which helped the duo develop a system any author or publisher could follow to market their books for maximum exposure.

The 7-week TeleConference and Course Workbook, now in its fourth edition, reveals secrets of the industry's top experts, and puts them into an easy to follow, step-by-step system. MAXIMUM EXPOSURE Marketing System - Book Marketing Training Program for Publishers and Authors promises publishers will save at least six times their investment. Guaranteed.

If you want to orchestrate a marketing campaign focused on generating the greatest return on your investment, MAXIMUM EXPOSURE is a low cost, highly effective, complete book marketing training program for publishers and authors who are looking for unlimited results on limited budgets.

INNOVATION ON THE HORIZON
Dushinski has been key to launching the next profitable "twist" in marketing for independent publishers. Their groundbreaking system promises that operators of this "Machine" will break out of the bookstore black hole and keep more than 45% of sales revenues.

"If you give them enough to drink, any publicist will admit that publicity alone does not sell books," confesses DePalma. "The distribution dilemma will leave publishers dissatisfied almost every time. Finally, we've discovered how to transform publicity into profits."

Different than any strategy ever known to publishers or practiced by publicists, this new system delivers information that turns prospects into customers with the payoff taking far less than the 90-120 days one must endure when awaiting payment from wholesalers and distributors.

Intrigued? We were too, so we emailed SellBooksNow@MarketAbility.com and found out how to become a profit magnet through their instant information delivery system that connects your PR right to the sale, and lobs an independent.publisher over their greatest hurdle: "Why isn't my PR selling any books?" "Never before have we been able to say that we actually sell your books. Now we can," says Dushinski

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So, there's more to Colorado than good hockey, great football and purple mountains' majesty. There's a thriving book publishing community and a PR firm that boasts the best promotion campaigns in the West.

For more information about MarketAbility, send them an email or visit their website.

Click here for a free subscription to MarketAbility's Twisting Times newsletter.

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