From:
North of Jewfish Creek

 
Dear Friend & Subscriber,
I have an idea that's probably insane.
But, I'm going to throw it your way anyway.
Once in a while, I create a promotion which is too universally appealing for me to exploit by myself in anything even resembling a timely fashion.
The best example is the marketing I did for the family crest project. The letters I wrote continued to be mailed for 30-years and only ceased after my old partner Dennis Haslinger passed away. The market for that particular project was... ONLY... people who had a last name.
In other words, the market was endless.
So it is with the sex book I wrote and the copy I wrote to sell it. It appeals ONLY to those people who are interested in sex. In other words...
The Market Is Endless!
And that's only for Volume I. There's plans for Volumes II, III, IV, V, etc.
How can this book be marketed? Let's leave the Internet out of this discussion for now. Let's start with direct mail.
There are millions of names the letter to sell this book could be mailed to at a profit. They are on all kinds of different lists. John Carlton wrote a "sanitized" piece of copy for a "sanitized" sex book for Rodale Press and his sales letter was mailed (I think) for seven years.
I don't know how many lists would pay a profit... but... I bet a lot of them would.
Let's move on to another means of advertising. Let's talk about magazines. In my opinion, there lies the biggest potential for profit of all media. My guess is a single ad in "Men's Health" would pull in an astronomical amount of money. So would "Playboy". And "Penthouse". And all the lesser "girlie" magazines.
And all the men's self-improvement magazines. Plus magazines targeted to senior citizens. The copy seems to have a special appeal to men over 40.
My guess is, there are at least 300 or 400 magazines which would work with this copy.
Then there's also radio. Howard Stern type shows, etc.
And TV. I don't know how this book could be exploited on TV but, I bet there is some way.
Now we can talk about the Internet. John Reese's seminar, as I have said before, is the best I've ever attended. But, as I reflected on the 400+ notes I took at his seminar, I got more and more pissed off. His info was GREAT!
And, that's what pissed me off. The Internet, if you know as much about it as John does, offers too much potential for profit. Too many ways to make a buck. Too many tricks and strategies for me to want to learn.
Look at it this way: I'm like a guy who has been going great in the buggy whip manufacturing business. Then, in the blink of an eye, everybody is driving cars. It pisses me off. At my age, after all my years of learning to make top-notch, masterpiece buggy whips...
I Don't Want To Learn How
To Make Carburetors!
Or transmission engines or anything else having to do with cars.
So, what the hell do I do with this universally-appealing sex book... and... the killer copy I wrote to sell it?
I don't know exactly.
What I'm NOT going to do is sell the reprint rights to other people. Most times, when people do this, I think it's on the scammy side.
But, I'd like to have a select few people help me sell my book. Especially help me sell it offline. Maybe one guy would run ads in "Playboy". Another guy would run the ad in "Penthouse". Another in "Men's Health".
Maybe one guy would send direct mail letters to "List A" while another guy to "List B".
I've created the most-often-missing... and... the most CRUCIAL ingredients. I've created...
The Product...
And... The Sales Pitch!
But, there's a lot of infrastructures needed here. A lot of time needs to be used dialoguing with mailing list owners, letter shops, printers, magazine reps, etc. A lot of time and energy I do not want to expend.
Does any of this interest you? If it does and, if we end up working together, there will be some sort of equitable split of profits.
But, before you get too excited, let me lay a few truths on you.
TRUTH #1: Even though I won't be charging you to work with me... You Cannot Do This Without Money!
Mailing direct mail letters and running ads in magazines is NOT free.
TRUTH #2: Having the ability to process credit card orders is a must. And, you can forget it if you have a little "Mickey Mouse" merchant account with a cap of $30,000 per month. So... You Cannot Do This Without A "Fat" Merchant Account!
 
The final truth...
TRUTH #3: People think if I'm involved in a project, it is bullet-proof. That's bullshit. NOTHING is bullet-proof. Ask any ex-employee of Enron. In my opinion, there's a big, BIG potential for money to be made here. But, I do have to say it... You Have The Potential To Lose Money!
 
I'm out of my element here. I don't know precisely what I am proposing. Or how, exactly, to structure deals like I've just described.
You know, you've read an endless number of pitches written by me. Now, if you're the right sort of person, I'd like to read a pitch... written by you. Not a sales pitch for the product... but...
A Pitch Why You Think
You And I Should Do
Business Together!
Do NOT bother to contact me if you represent someone else. The words, "Sounds good to me. I'll go check with xxx and get back to you," are the "kiss-of-death" words for a deal as a far as I'm concerned.
Do NOT contact me if you have to borrow money to give this a try.
Do NOT contact me if you don't have a way to process credit cards.
Do NOT contact me if you don't have a way to take phone orders.
Do NOT contact me, if in the back of your mind, you think you're slick enough to rip me off. People end up being ruined and incarcerated for trying that. Not all of them. But, enough to make it a bad percentage bet for you to try.
Maybe this whole idea is stupid. I mean that. I'm groping around here. But, I have a firm belief... and... it's this...
Nothing Is Impossible
For A Man Who Refuses
To Listen To Reason!
And NOBODY has EVER accused me of being reasonable or sane. Listen, I suck at deal-making and details. But, I'm associated with a guy who's pretty sharp at that kind of stuff. His name is Aaron Copeland and, if you are interested in any of this... then...
FAX Him Your Details
And Your Suggestions!
Tell him why you would be a good person to work on what I have outlined in this letter. And don't tell him that, even though you're broke and sleeping under a bridge, your "overwhelming enthusiasm" will make the deal work.
Above all, don't reply to this message unless you are REAL!
  Sincerely,
 
   Gary C. Halbert
 Insane & Unashamed
 

P.S. A few people had a hard time downloading the free copy of my book. That's probably because they had an older version of Adobe Acrobat on their computers. Maybe you ran into this problem too. Hey, I can't anticipate everything. And just for the record, about $210,000 worth of those books were downloaded for FREE.

And, that page with the free book will be kaput by the time you read this letter.
P.S.#2 Aaron and I both look forward to meeting you at my seminar in Miami. Especially if you're going to take a shot at the deal I described in this letter. It's nice to be able to shake hands with the people you're doing business with.
P.S.#3 I bet everyone who is reading my "Motherload Collection" is having a hard time sleeping at night. Early comments are to the effect my "Motherload Collection" is worth closer to $30,000 than the mere $297 I charged for it.
And that's all I got to say 'bout that.
Peace.
P.S.#4 Oh, I almost forgot. You need Aaron's fax number. It's:
1-305-375-0066

 

 

Copyright © 2003 Gary C. Halbert.  All Rights Reserved.