Inaugural Issue

by Steve on April 22, 2008

Personally delivered to you by the author of
"Selling on 'the River' - The eBay Seller's Guide to Amazon.com"

In This Issue

  1. Intro to MultiChannel Surfer
  2. I'm Your Guinea Pig
  3. How to Write an eBook that Will Sell

To get things started - When I designed this site I added that graphic you see at the upper right. My wife says no one will remember what that is - could someone please prove her wrong? You may leave a comment on this post if you know. Please try not to make me feel old...

I want to thank all those of you who bought my book. The feedback from readers has been great and I really love hearing the success stories. Keep it up! Selling on 'the River' has sold hundreds of copies. I'm really excited about how well you all are doing.

Most of you probably at least got the free 25 Things eBay Sellers Need to Know tip-sheet. Well, in case you were scared off by all the "rules" - don't be. My Amazon sales continue to beat my eBay sales again this month. If you're new to Amazon, and would like to get started selling, download Selling on 'the River' and get started.

1. Intro to MultiChannel Surfer

Three Things to Expect in Each Issue
First of all - this is not just going to be about eBay. It won't be just about Amazon either. I plan on discussing all of the various channels that are currently effective ways of selling your stuff. I look forward to hearing from you too. With questions, advice, tips, etc. Send your questions to: steve(at)multichannelsurfer(dot)com.

I get a lot of newsletters from a lot of people. I'm glad to get some, because I learn things, I get good ideas that help make me a better person and / or make me money.

Some newsletters are a bit annoying though. I don't like to be bothered too much - so I only plan on bothering you no more than once a week.

Another thing I plan on doing is offering useful content. Sometimes you may already know what I discuss. Sometimes you won't. Treat this like the newspaper and take the bits and pieces you like. Skip the rest if you want. I will try to make it useful for you. You can look forward to a ton of information that will make you money. I will also promote products and services I think are good. So, expect three things per issue:

  1. A new issue every week.
  2. News, ideas, and tips for selling.
  3. A product promotion.


2. I'm Your Guinea Pig

I spend nearly all of my workdays on the internet. I'm going to be trying all these different channels myself. I'll be very transparent, I'll be your guinea pig of sorts. I'll report back to you what I find and whether I'm making any money. If you want me to try one for you. I'll do it. Just email me and let me know. I'm available, and I'll do my best to help. The first site I'll be trying is Etsy.com with some handmade jewelry my wife is making.

Niche Stores

Another project I'm working on involves niche stores. I have Build A Niche Store (BANS) and I use it for a couple of sites. If you would like to see one, visit RadioGems.com.
Get your own Build A Niche Store
.

Aside from BANS, I'm working on building eBay niche stores with Wordpress. I've built three this week and they're too new to report on. But I will give you the details in upcoming newsletters. Stay tuned...


3. How to Write an eBook that Will Sell

Some months ago, I was in trouble. A big part of my income comes from teaching eBay classes. They haven't been filling up like they used to, so things were getting pretty thin. I stumbled on an article about writing ebooks and found a recommendation for an ebook about writing ebooks. Here's the deal. I went from nothing to over $10,000 in gross sales in two months. I'm certainly not bragging. But this lady's method works.

I've looked at those long "sales letter" pages before and wondered what the formula was for writing them. She tells it all. People have now even asked me to write their sales letter pages. Her name is Alexis Dawes, check out her book here. I am telling you it's worth its weight in gold. And if you can't use it, she offers a 100% guarantee.

See you next week! I'll send you an email when the next newsletter is posted.

{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

Lynn Norton April 22, 2008 at 4:17 pm

Hi Steve
Congratulations on your success with Selling on the River. It’s and excellent book and I have no hesitation in recommending it.
I enjoyed the first issue of the newsletter and look forward to watching it develop.
Best Wishes for your continuing success.
Lynn
http://www.onlineauctionideas.com

Rich April 22, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Well tell your wife it’s an old TV tuner knob. I laughed as it has UHF! Remember that? I lived in Philly way back when and that’s how we would watch the Flyers, on channel 29.

Why not rotate the banner with a turntable, a rotary phone or maybe a slide rule! That will get all the old farts (and fartresses) nostalgic.

Steve April 22, 2008 at 4:29 pm

Thanks Lynn! I’m so happy it’s being well received.

Rich, a tuner knob like that is how I learned my numbers. I was the remote control for the family back then.
Thanks for the help with the comments feature!

Jeff April 22, 2008 at 4:31 pm

Rich already got it…an old TV tuner knob. Where are the rabbit ears? Ah…good ol’ days…before remote controls!! When I was a kid, our TV would sometimes “freak out” and it was fixed by whacking it on the right-hand side of the set.

John Bradley April 22, 2008 at 6:13 pm

Hi Steve,

Great newsletter!!

I was getting ready to buy your Selling On The River book until I read the 25 tip sheet. Too many negatives about amazon. If it was me, I believe that I would have used all POSITIVE tips. Just my 2 cents worth. I think you would sell more books by doing that. Or just take the negatives and make them a positive.

I’m still planning on buying your book…

Thanks,
John

Jim Watkins April 22, 2008 at 6:41 pm

Hi Steve,

I have your book selling on the river. It comes at just the right time. Looking for something else to sell since I can’t sell digital downloads on ebay.

Your newsletter looks great. I confess tho that I wandered off on some links and took awhile to find my way back.

marcelle April 22, 2008 at 6:58 pm

Steve, Great newsletter with the old tv channel changer dial on the top!!I think I had the same tv as Jeff with the right hand whacker tuner!! I’m hoping that I can learn from you although I have not purchase your book yet, I would love to have many avenues of selling stuff to REALLY earn some money!!Right now I feel like Ebay has died!!Keep up the good work!! Thanks, Marcelle

Sally K April 22, 2008 at 7:06 pm

Steve,

Great job on Selling on the River. I set up my account easily and now I’m working toward the next level. Definitely feeling the need to diversify.

Thanks!

AJ Mulvey April 22, 2008 at 7:33 pm

Thanks Steve! Selling on the River is a great resource!

Kevin April 23, 2008 at 7:19 am

I believe that it’s the channel selectot for the old-style, rabbit-ear needing, TV sets. I reognize it bt the UHF option as a channel.

Congrats on getting this started, as I am starting my venture now, too. So if anyone visits the site, don’t fret- it’s as they say, “under construction”.

Pam Poppa April 23, 2008 at 9:50 am

I think the newsletter is GREAT. Keep up the good work. I think I, a new eBay seller can also learn from you about how to use Amazon too.

After believing that the image at top of the newsletter might be a combo lock for a locker; I realized it WAS an old TV tuner! LOL

When our cathode-ray tvs started getting old, we had to whack them so they would work.

Thanks for the great new newsletter; I have already
subscribed to it.

Jane April 23, 2008 at 10:44 am

Steve,

Loved the “River” book – It took me maybe 10 minutes to get set up on Amazon and list a few items. Now, I’m just waiting to see what happens. I also received the 25 tips on Amazon – Thanks!! I was not able to get the other “freebie” about using your cellphone to do research to download. What now??

Charles April 23, 2008 at 11:42 am

Your graphic looks to me like an old time TV tuner. Am I right?

Steve April 23, 2008 at 12:56 pm

@Jane – I’ll send the download to you directly. Sorry you had trouble.

@Charles – you nailed it. A channel selector.

Andrew Titcombe April 23, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Newsletter was a nice change from the usual fancy multi graphic ones that I get too often.
As an eBay Powerseller of CDs I have found Amazon to be a lifesaver. eBay is not a good place to sell music these days.
Coming from the UK I had no idea what the graphic was as in the 50s in the UK we initially had ONE channel TV only. Even in the 60s I think we only had THREE channels to choose from.
What on earth did we do back then to fill in the time?
AND
With all that TV and radio available now, how on earth do we have time to spend on anything else on the internet?
Still a nice reminder (now that I know what it is) of gentler times -thanks
Andrew Titcombe (in the UK)
http://www.crucialmusic.co.uk

Ijeoma April 23, 2008 at 4:11 pm

Hi Steve,
don’t know if you remember me but thanks again for the book, I’m glad to report that after the initial mix-up I finally purchased it, read it, loved it and currently have about 40 items up on Amazon just patiently waiting to be bought.

I really like the newsletter, in particular I like the very simple clean page style, it made me actually want to read it without feeling like I was walking through a car sales lot!

I thought the image at the top was an old Egyptian sundial, I have NEVER seen a TV dial like that before (what did they dial the TV with?).

I’m looking forward to your Wordpress website findings, especially as I am in the process of setting up a WP blog myself, so I am really excited.

Stephen April 26, 2008 at 10:15 am

Its a television channel selector knob :-)

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