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Volume 3, Issue 8 - 19 April 2006
Brought to you by Aneeta Sundararaj and Eric Okeke
To subscribe to this newsletter, please go to:
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A WARM WELCOME TO ALL OUR NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
I. from
the editor's desk ...
Dear [First Name],
The winner of a copy of Steve Robertson's Soccer Made Easy for Americans
is Stephen LaCroix. Stephen, please contact Steve to obtain a copy of
the book. Steve's email is coachr@bellsouth.net.
In this edition, I've posted an interview with Debbie Jenkins, who is a
publisher who has some extremely interesting ideas and much success with
publishing. You can read the interview under 'Blow Your Own Trumpet!'
There are a few interesting announcements sent in by our readers and I
urge you to read them.
I've added more articles and two reviews. In addition, I've redone the
index page for the database of articles I've collected so that they're
now all in alphabetical order.
One of the reviews I've posted is about a book entitled, Awaken the
Giant Within by Anthony Robbins. I must say that I am really not
surprised that this book has obtained such success because it's
brilliant. If you'd like to change your life for the better, in any way,
I would highly recommend you read this book.
I've somewhat neglected my blog and the only 'defence' I have is that
I've been utterly swamped with completing a project. Thank God it's all
done now and I can get back to discovering more and more about
storytelling. As such, please forgive me for there is no StoryAsia.
Here's to your storytelling success.
Aneeta Sundararaj
editor@howtotellagreatstory.com
OVERVIEW OF NEWSLETTER CONTENTS ...
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From the Editor's Desk
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StoryAfrica
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StoryAsia
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Tips For StoryTellers
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What's Your Fascinating Story
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Blow Your Own Trumpet!
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Articles For Storytellers
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Book Club
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Tell Everyone About ...
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Resources For Storytellers - Blogs, Books, Paying Marktes
and so on
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How
To Tell A Great Story (5th Edition)
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Do you
catch people holding back their yawns every
time you speak?
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Do you want to converse better in
social situations?
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Do you have trouble
narrating your own experiences in a way that people
will listen?
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Do you want someone to ask you how
your day was and be able to narrate even the simple
things you do in an interesting way?
The answers to these questions lie in
learning the BENEFITS of
How To Tell A Great Story.
Your
Friends, Colleagues and Business Associates Will
Be
On The Edge of Their Seats
Every Time You Open Your Mouth!
If you would like to know more, please click on this link for more
details:
http://www.howtotellagreatstory.com
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STORYAFRICA
Selling
pharmaceuticals with storytelling
Can you
sell medicines and pharmaceutical products with storytelling? By this I
mean telling real life stories of the well-being and good health of your
customers and not necessarily advertising and product promotions. Yes
you can if you do it in a simple and down-to-earth way.
Let me tell
you a story of how this is done in Nigeria and there are plenty of
lessons storytellers and marketing professionals can learn from it.
First the
background: Selling medicinal products is still a problem in Nigeria.
Number 1:
There is
still an acute shortage of pharmacists and druggists who run licensed
pharmacy shops for sale of prescription medicines, ethical and
over-the-counter drugs. This is a big lapse which adversely affects the
health of citizens. Many of them still buy from unregistered outlets
because of easy reach and cheaper prices.
Number 2:
Patent
medicine stores manned by untrained professionals are more in number
than pharmacy shops. And many of them sell fake and sub-standard
medicines. This is bad news for the health of citizens.
Number 3.
The rate of
sale of sub-standard drugs is still high because of the shortages
mentioned above.
Number 4.
The price
of medicines is still high in registered pharmacy shops because the
professionals there pay rentals and are burdened with high overheads.
The medicines sold in such shops are still beyond the reach of many
struggling citizens who are battling to survive. The result is that more
and more Nigerians are resorting to herbal medicine.
This is the
scenario of the pharmaceutical trade in this great African country. But
there is an interesting development. A band of smart traders are making
the marketing of pharmaceuticals very interesting in Nigeria. And they
are doing it in a very simple way that should make our very educated
marketing professionals in the business of promoting and selling
pharmaceuticals to be green with envy.
These drug
merchants are smart because they use storytelling as their main selling
strategy and they get results. They are also very mobile. Rather than
rent medicine store outlets at exorbitant rates, they carry a bagful of
assorted types of medicines- analgesics, anti-malarials, multivitamins
and others and board inter-city luxurious buses that do long hauls each
carrying up to 45 passengers each. So how do these drug merchants sell?
They
understand human nature and they tell stories. As soon as the bus driver
maneuvers the vehicle into the traffic, a young man whom you thought is
a passenger gets up, clears his throat and salutes all the passengers on
a spiritual note.
Pra—a—i—se
the Lord! Alleluia, reply the passengers. If the reply is not total, the
drug merchant repeats the praise and anchors it on a questioning note:
Amen? Amen, the passengers’ chorus.
With this
strategy he arrests the attention of everyone on board the vehicle as
all eyes are focused on him. Then he launches into prayer, praying for a
safe journey, for the success of all the passengers, and their well
being. When he does this, he has taken care of their spiritual need at
that moment because there are many hazards on Nigerian roads. And he
makes them relaxed and gets their attention.
Then he
launches into a series of storytelling, either real life or imagined. He
uses family setting for his stories either the good health of children
which parents can be proud of, or how a single woman can maintain a
smooth skin to get a husband quickly.
Many of
these stories are vivid and told in a dramatic and interesting way. At
this moment the drug merchant on board the mobile bus speeding down the
highway is a consummate storyteller. He laces his stories with jokes and
anecdotes and is consumed with passion as he tells them. Watching him,
you will think he is professional storyteller. For 45 minutes, it is all
stories, and there is no mention of the wares he wants to sell. And if
you are not observant, you will think he is a comedian on board the bus
to cause fun and laughter. Of course he does these, but the real thing
he wants to do is to sell the pharmaceuticals and other products in his
bag, but he devotes most of his sales time to telling health and beauty
related stories.
As he tells
his stories, he jerks, surges forward, jumps, boxes the air and mimics
the voices of children or women causing the passengers on board to roar
with laughter. At one time I was aboard one bus, the drug storyteller
who was trying to sell a medicated soap told the story of young lady
that was long troubled by pimples on her face. It was so bad that she
could not get a marriage proposal. Meanwhile all her mates had gotten
married until she bought and used a particular brand of soap she bought
on board the bus. Six weeks later after using the medicated soap, her
pimples vanished and so many men pestered her with marriage proposals
that her problem was the man to choose as her husband. Now she is
happily married to a multi-millionaire. When he told this story all the
young ladies on board laughed uncontrollably.
At this
moment when the audience is relaxed, amused and laughing, the drug
merchant reaches into his bag, pulls out a pack of the medicine or
beauty product he wants to sell. Before he sells, he offers a sample
pack for free and shares it among the laughing passengers. Then he
begins to sell. Still reeking with laughter, many passengers who are
fully entertained now reach into their purses to peel currency notes.
The
merchant makes a brisk sale, thanking those who buy and praying for
their prosperity, while urging those still undecided to buy at a cheaper
rate on board the bus and get value for money. These itinerant drug
merchants are incredible.
Though they
are largely uneducated, they know the power of stories on board
the buses. They did not attend any university and are not pharmacists.
Yet they achieve a lot of results by selling on mobile buses using
stories. There is power in storytelling and drug merchants are putting
it to good use.
I hope you
do same.
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STORYASIA
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TIPS FOR STORYTELLERS
7 short tips.
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Choose
material that you're comfortable with.
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Instead
of memorising your story, become familiar with it.
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Do not
read from a script. Make eye contact with those you're telling
your story to.
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Practice. Practice. Practice.
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If
appropriate, use some props.
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Pace
your storytelling - not too fast, not too slow.
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Do not
worry (I know, easier said than done but ...)
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WHAT'S YOUR
FASCINATING STORY?
IT WAS PROSTATE CANCER
H. Steven Robertson
This is being written to record my experience at having been diagnosed
with prostate cancer and the ensuing tests and treatment. It is
intended as information as well as to help any of the other men who have
been diagnosed with the disease. I plan to send it to the American
Cancer Society and the AARP magazine. The names have been changed
to protect the private identities of the individuals involved.
“Three, two, one.” Pop!
“Uhhhhh!”
“Three, two, one.” Pop!
“Uhhhhh!”
I was
bending over a table in the urologist’s office with the Dr. and a male
nurse behind me. They were manipulating an ultrasound device with
a special gun attached that fired hollow needles to take biopsies of my
prostate gland. There would be around twelve shots.
Fortunately they had given me a mild anesthesia.
“Three, two, one.” Pop!
“Uhhhhh!”
To read more,
please click here ...
To tell your own Fascinating Story,
please click here...
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BLOW YOUR OWN TRUMPET!!
Dangerous Fantasies - an interview with Debbie
Jenkins.
Excerpts ...
Aneeta: That’s quite a story and now I know
why people call you Dangerous Debbie! I understand that you
run two business: one is Lean Marketing and the other
Bookshaker.com. Please explain each one in detail, what it is you’re
offering and so on.
Debbie: LeanMarketing.co.uk is really the front
for our “Gorillas Want Bananas” book and “The Lean Marketing Toolbox”.
Both of these products sell really well and we work with a network of
consultants so we can refer people who need hands on support to people
they can trust.
www.LeanMarketingPress.com
and
www.BookShaker.com are pretty much two separate elements of
our publishing business. The former is where we give information to
prospective authors on the kinds of books we take on and how we work,
and the latter, is where we sell our author’s ebooks and print books
direct. Although sales of print books via bookshops and Amazon are now
outperforming direct sales (which makes our life even easier)
Aneeta: I see you have something you’ve called the
‘ebook revolution’. Tell me what you mean by this, please.
Debbie: Yes – this was just the idea that many
people can get access to books that simply wouldn’t have been
financially viable with the traditional print model. This provides more
choice for readers (especially niche markets) of books that don’t have
much mass appeal and also more opportunities for people with a story to
get it “public”.
I personally love ebooks because you get them instantly,
they take up less physical room and they’re kinder to trees. But print
books have the advantage of being easy to read in places like the beach
or in the bath, With the advent of Print on Demand, a book is only
produced when a person has requested a copy so this is also less
wasteful and kinder to trees.
My fantasy prediction is that airports and public spaces
will eventually have a vending machine which produces the exact book you
want on demand. You can either plug your palm-top in and download an
ebook direct (the technology for this is available now) or have a real
physical book produced “while-u-wait”. Then I might actually find a book
I want to read in an airport bookshop!
To
read more,
please click here ...
If you'd like to be interviewed for this column, please
contact me at
editor@howtotellagreastory.com
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ARTICLES FOR STORYTELLERS
The Quickest Road to Success
Much has been said about the trouble of a negative attitude and the
power of a positive outlook. It has always been one against the other,
with optimism always winning out in the end. But there is a third way,
and in my opinion, it is the most powerful and beneficial of all
outlooks. What is it?
Reality. ...
Are You Suffering from the
Autopilot Dilemma?
An epidemic is occurring all around you, and there is a
good chance it has already found its way into your life.
It begins slowly at first, nearly imperceptible. But it
grows. In time it can take over your entire life. I have
seen it happen too many times, and if you don't act now,
it may happen to you.
It's easy to fall into the trap. Well-intentioned
individuals of all ages don't mean for it to happen, but
that doesn't matter. It takes much more than good
intentions to steer clear of this problem. If all it
took was good intentions the world would be packed with
people living their dreams and accomplishing their
goals. But that's not how it works, and this trap is one
of the most common reasons why it has happened too often
in the past, and will continue to happen in the future.
To read more,
please click here ...
5 Words to Creating
Unstoppable Confidence
One thing drives me each
and every day to keep
growing, learning, and
striving for my dreams.
It is this single idea,
five simple words, that
has dramatically
improved my life, giving
me the positive
motivation and
confidence necessary to
achieve my goals and
really enjoy each moment
I am alive.
Today, I am going to
share this idea with
you. ...
To read more,
please click here ...
If you would like to submit your own article on storytelling,
please click here...
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BOOKCLUB
Review of
Awaken the Giant Within
It surprises me not one bit
that this book has sold over a million copies.
Briefly, this book has, as its
subheading, ‘How to take control of your mental emotional, physical and
financial destiny.’
There are four parts to this
book:-
Part 1 – Unleash Your Power
Part 2 – Taking Control – The
Master System
Part 3 – The Seven Days to
Shape Your Life
Part 4 – A Lesson in Destiny
To read more, please
click here
Review of
Memoirs of a Geisha
At the start of this review, I must admit that I read this book
after I watched the movie. Therefore, I found that a lot of the
time, when I read the story I was visualising much of what I’d seen
in the cinema.
Usually,
when I’ve watched a movie or read a book, I’ve been disappointed because the
stories would never tally but in the case of Memoirs of a Geisha, this
was not so. I enjoyed the movie and I enjoyed the book even more.
To read more, please
click here
If you would like your
book/product to be reviewed, please
click here to send an email with your request.
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BLOGS FOR STORYTELLERS...
Here are some of the first blogs that I've found fascinating
to read. I hope that you enjoy reading their stories as
well...
http://dinazaman.squarespace.com/journal/
http://sharanyamanivannan.blogspot.com
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RESOURCES FOR STORYTELLERS...
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TELL EVERYONE ABOUT ...
Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that I've started blogging
at
http://sharanyamanivannan.blogspot.com
This is a public blog, so feel free to link me and leave
comments
Sharanya :)
FREE Special Report: "How To Make Your Book An Amazon
Best-Seller in 24 Hours or Less"
I'm Debbie Jenkins, boss of
www.bookshaker.com. On Wednesday 5th April
2006 we made
"...and death came third!" (www.deathcamethird.com)
by Peter Roper and Andy Lopata an "instant
best-seller" using the power of networking, leverage and
good old fashioned *ethical* bribery!
On the launch day, using our plan, their book stormed
onto Amazon.co.uk's Hot 100 (number 83) by 8.20am and
then rocketed to the top 10 (achieving number 2) by noon
(a spot they kept for well over 24 hours after).
In all we sold over 2,000 books in a single day, making
more than £30,000 in sales. Here’s your link to the
report on how we did it…
http://www.bookshaker.com/amazon-best-seller
How are people going to know about your great storytelling
resources [books, websites, newsletters, forums, e-books,
manuals, ideas, thoughts, tapes and so much more] if you
don't tell them? Here's your chance - Send info about your
stuff and we'll post it here for free. Please keep the
number of words to no more than 125. Send an email to
editor@howtotellagreatstory.com
with 'Tell Everyone About ...' in the subject line.
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WHAT OUR READERS ARE SAYING ...
And we can both be thankful
to Aneeta for providing yet another way of making the world smaller
through networking.
Dr. Neill Neill
Yes, one of the beautiful things about Aneeta's work is that it
brings people together.
Rosemarie Skaine
I have just ordered your e-book and read your bonus #4 Great
Storytelling Articles. WOW! did I enjoy. I heard a lot of wisdom
coming from your printed words and look forward to reading the
rest of your book. From what I've read so far, I know that I'm
in for a treat.
I don't know what made me order (I usually don't fool with
online orders) but I'm glad I did because I have already been
blessed.
My name is D'lores and I am a newly retired teacher. Growing up
with ten brothers and sisters you know that I have been telling
stories all of my life. I have been telling African American
folktales and stories for about eight years in and about my
community. I am always looking for ways to better myself and
build upon what I already know.
Looking forward to consulting with you (a first for me),
D'lores the Storiteacha
... I have started working through
your e-book, How to tell a great story, and am
enjoying it.
Gopal Ramasammy-Cook
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PRODUCTS WE RECOMMEND FOR THOSE WHO
WISH TO START AN ONLINE STORYTELLING BUSINESS ...
"Blogging For Dollars"
This report contains shocking case studies and test results,
and reveals tricks and strategies you can use to grab a
top-10 position in *any* search engine -- even if you don't
know a thing about web design or HTML! A team of marketing
experts spent over a year compiling this study, and now you
can review it FREE!
To read this special profit-making report, visit:
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Take a private tour of two
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successful people just like you and me who were willing to give away
their most coveted Internet marketing secrets. So if you want to skip
the failing promotions,
click here now and learn the strategies these real people are using
to make real money on the Internet!
SPECIAL REPORT: Learn the
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This report reveals a wealth-building system that thousands of
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-- $75,000.00... $100,000.000... even $500,000.00 and MORE!
Developed by a man who has earned over $40,000,000 online, this
guaranteed system will show you how you can start your own Internet
business in less than 48 hours... build a top-selling web site for less
than $100... find hot products to sell in less than 20 minutes... and
MUCH more!
For instant access to this report, go to:
http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/814293
For more resources, please
click here.
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