By Marty Foley

Right now, profits are being made writing, publishing and selling information by people just like you, as shown by this quote from the U.S. government publication, Establishing and Operating A Mail Order Business: "How to do it and self-help books are very popular - mail order operators who specialize in selling bits of education can produce very profitable and satisfactory results. Further, it is an easy way to get started, and is one of the most profitable areas of mail order selling. There are a large number of such one-man mail order enterprises in this country which are paying their owners far more than a comfortable living."

Self-published author Dan Poynter tells us in his book, 'The Self-Publishing Manual': "The information industry, the production and distribution of ideas and information as opposed to goods and services, now amounts to over one-half of the gross national product. There is money in information."

The mail order (direct marketing) business is a primary way of
selling information. If you research this business as I have for the past several years, you'll find that a large percentage of the most well-known (and obviously successful) entrepreneurs - Stew Caverly, Russ Von Hoelscher, Herman Holtz, Jeffrey Lant, Melvin Powers, and many others - all sell the same thing:
INFORMATION! What does that tell you? My point should be plain by now: THERE IS GOLD IN INFORMATION!

Just skim through any publication whose readers are accustomed to buying by mail - such as Popular Science and Popular Mechanics - and look at the display and classified ads. You'll see all sorts of ads selling a wide range of information products - like everything from plans for building your own one-man helicopter, to recipes and kits for making your own beer.

Ads that you see repeated again and again over a long period are almost certainly making money for their originators, or they wouldn't continue to advertise. (NOTE: Sometimes an advertiser may actually lose money on an initial sale, but make up for it by selling additional products/services to those
responding to the ad.)

Many sell information in their spare time, and some have gone on to become self- employed by developing their own full-time information selling businesses - sometimes making around $50,000 or more a year.

Information sells well during both good and bad economic times, because people are hungry for information. (Some types of information sell even better during an economic slump!)

What types of information sell best? Non-fiction, namely 'how-to' and 'where-to'. People want to be informed on many
things, such as how to play their favorite game or sport better, how to get more out of their hobbies, how to make and save money, where to locate things, etc. - and they are often willing to pay handsomely for information that appeals to them.

Whether simple or complex, information can be profitable in the form of audio cassettes, special reports, homemade booklets, videos, books, books-on-disk, directories, plans, correspondence courses, and more.

I make money selling information, but I admit, I didn't start out that way. Over the last several years, I've learned a lot about what works and what doesn't, (often through trial-and-error) when it comes to selecting a profitable subject, creating and producing a useful product, and marketing it. I only wish that I knew what I know now when I first started.

I'd like to suggest that you, too, can learn how to make money
from the demand for information. There is the saying: 'Knowledge is power' - but knowledge can be more than that. Knowledge can be profit, too. You, dear reader, are a unique person, with a reservoir of knowledge unlike anyone else. You may already know something that others will eagerly pay to learn, or you can find money-making topics to turn into 'information gold' by creating, producing, and selling information products.

You can also profit from selling information products produced
by others. Although the profit margin is not as great as with products you've created, the combination of selling other people's products along with your own is a combination that is
hard to beat.

What's more, you can use information products you've created to promote other products and/or services, as well as help build your credibility, establishing your credentials as an authority in your field.

Creating your own information products (booklets, books, special reports, audio cassettes, etc.) may be easier than you think. If you can write a letter or tell a logical story, you can create your own profitable information product. You can also get someone else to create your information products for you, if that's what you want.

Some examples of information products that have made money for their sellers are: 'How To Eliminate Moles and Gophers From Your Garden' . . . 'How To Start and Operate a Profitable Homemade Booklet Business' . . . '$200 A Day From Your Pickup' . . . the possible subjects are virtually inexhaustible.

Imagine the advantages of having your own information marketing business: Unlike a retail business, which is limited by the amount of customer traffic in the surrounding area, you can use the tremendous power of direct response marketing to sell information across the country, even around the globe, right from the convenience of your own mailbox or personal computer. Your 'office' can be at a table in a corner of your kitchen, den or bedroom.

But don't be fooled by the smallness of a home-based business
operation. Using the tremendous power and reach possible through direct response marketing techniques, you can run a national, even a multi-national information marketing enterprise from the convenience of your mailbox or personal computer.

Most types of information products can be made inexpensively, a few copies at a time, which allows you to test with a low investment. Low investment means low risk. With little or no overhead costs, you and I have the advantage in that we can make money on low-budget publishing projects where the big publishing houses would lose money.

You can gradually expand into larger scale self-publishing, developing and selling your products to libraries, bookstores, mail order catalog houses, wholesalers, distributors, even through your own dealer network.

Since you can start in your spare time, on a 'shoestring' budget, there's no need to give up your present job. You can learn and grow as you go, perhaps to the point that you can quit your job and be your own boss.

Now I didn't say this business is a lazy man's way to easy money that requires little effort on your part. It's just like a literal gold mine, which takes knowledge, effort and persistence to get the gold-bearing ore from the mine and extract it from the ore. If you're looking for easy, overnight riches, look elsewhere - but if you're willing to learn, apply yourself, and work at it, it can be profitable for you.

I can't tell you how much money you will make, but I do know
that information marketing can be quite profitable. If you go about it the right way, you can extract gold from information, too.

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Article by Marty Foley of Victory Ventures. His FREE ProfitInfo
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