Friday, September 24, 2010

Turning Clicks Into Customers.

Let me share some honest, insider information with you...

About a year ago, I decided to sell books on the internet. Unique customer visits to my website will break the 100,000 mark this year. Of those 100,000 visitors, only 4,000 will go on to visit my secure, on-line store. And virtually no one is buying.

Up until this time, such things haven't bothered me: my main focus was to increase visibility on the internet (which I have done) and offer prospective customers a place they could visit to preview my products.

Today, when I looked at the numbers provided above, I decided something must change. If I were to compare internet buying to mail-out numbers, the industry tells me I should expect approximately the same results. Well, mail-outs generate 1-2% sales, on a consistent basis. I haven't sold a single book through my on-line store this year, and sales made as a result of visits to either website or online-store are definitely not in the 80-2,000 book range.

What's going on? Frankly, I have no idea. My prices are as good as you'll find in any store. My products are of excellent quality. I've accumulated some terrific reviews. Shipping & Handling are free in Canada and the US. I've even tried 2 for 1 sales: no luck. And, this is a big one, my books have traditionally sold well through channels other than the internet.

So, here's today's effort: Any book you buy from my Online Store now comes with a Money-Back, Satisfaction Guarantee.

Finally, if you have any ideas or insights to share, I would gladly look/listen.

Clayton Bye
September, 24, 2010


For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

PROMO: What I Found In The Dark



What I Found In The Dark
Clayton Clifford Bye
Chase Enterprises, 2010
ISBN 9780978177423
eBook, PDF, 70 pages
Poetry

Purchase exclusively at ClaytonBye.com Online Store


Blurb

The mystery of the veil, of the dark curtain between this life and the next, between past and future or between mind and matter haunts all of us at one time or another. Yet... there is beauty in what we can’t see and must imagine.

Like most people, I’m certain my life won’t come down to What I Found in the Dark: there’s too much light for that. Yet... I peer through veils of the past and the future yet to be, and I take what glimpses come my way.

Share those glimpses with me. Some are sweet; some bitter; and some will hurt: my hope is you will find all interesting and instructive.

Clayton Bye
May 22, 2010


Excerpts


The Town of Me

My days have been
the passing of dreams,
not quite real clouds
built of smoke and dust,
marking each pained
but gritty footstep
with rasping laughter
to steal away
the life-blood of
this aging ghost town,
while colourless
thoughts raised without form
walk through my halls,
echos of silence.


Loss

A crystal passage from here to there
but no light with which to see.
"So what?" He asks with bitterness,
that door is closed to me.


Hole In The Clouds

Radiant beams,
a hole in the clouds,
gossamer strands
speak out loud.
Warmed heart,
a child's eyes aglow:
soul is livened,
I drive slow.


Reviews


Author D. L. Keur | 5 out of 5 Stars!
31/05/2010

This resonating collection of poems by Clayton Bye takes you into the deepest stirrings of the psyche. It plumbs a true fathom of passion, yearning, and acute self-discernment, from the center of the Self. The soul's quest, its essence responding to the visceral reality--the joyous, the lovely, as well as the ugly--this is the journey upon which you will embark within these pages.


Poet Cynthia Baello | 4 out of 5 Stars!
31/05/2010

Regarding the poem "A Hole In The Clouds." Very refreshing and the lines though brief say a lot of emotions.


Poet Edwin Hurdle | 5 out of 5 Stars!
31/05/2010

Regarding the poem "Headpins." Great poem, very well written.


Poet Gillian Jane Sims | 5 out of 5 Stars!
22/06/2010

Your poetry is just unbelievable.


Author John B. Rosenman | 5 out of 5 Stars!
13/07/2010

By all means, be sure to read Clayton Bye's What I Found In The Dark.. It's nice to see a poet with a sense of structure and restraint. When it comes to poetry, restraint magnifies freedom. The brief introductory comments are great, too. They tell us just enough without spoiling it for us. I like their thematic tie-in with darkness, love, and related emotions. Most of all, this is a volume you can read repeatedly without exhausting its richness.


Reviewer Lucille P Robinson | 4 out of 5 Stars!
13/07/2010

The Black Veil

I don’t always understand poetry. Sometimes I read a poem and wonder what the author is trying to say. Sometimes I have to read a poem several times to get any meaning. Clayton Bye has included in his book of poetry brief introductions to each poem that will help the reader understand his poems.

The poems move me like other books of poetry have not. Perhaps it is because I feel a connection to the ideas Clayton Bye uses, perhaps it is a mutual understanding of things that lie in the Black Veil present between two people, between this life and after death, between this world and the possibility of one in another dimension, or the veil between our waking and sleeping moments. To me the Black Veil could easily be the subconscious mind because it is so alive and yet so hidden and still it plays such an important part in our lives.

It is difficult to review a book of poetry because of the different ideas presented, but I found the following truths about Clayton Bye’s What I Found in the Dark poems. They make you wonder, ask questions, imagine, and, yes, feel sadness, joy, discomfort, and perhaps a yearning for love, for understanding, for a close mate to share your life with. Yes, these poems are deep, some rhyme, some don’t, some are clear on their own, some become clear from the introduction that comes before it.

The poem ‘The Town of Me’ strikes a certain chord in me, almost like Clayton Bye knew what makes me a person. ‘The Farm’ evoked many memories of farm life for me. The chickens and gathering eggs, the pig, lol, the milk cow and calf, and what we called the ‘truck patch’; a larger plot of garden than a usual kitchen garden which was planted to provide not only food to can or freeze for later, but to provide fresh produce to sell. Those were wonderful days. ‘Crazy for you Baby’ read like a song lyric complete with a chorus and reminded me of the country song ‘Mama, he’s crazy, crazy over me’ which is probably not the title of this song. ‘One Forever’ is so lovely, yet so sad. This poem seems to speak of a yearning for another despite the other’s inability to offer more than friendship. These are just a few of Bye’s poems that moved me so much and gave me back so many memories. On the downside, there are a few poems having an excruciating sadness about them, yet a reader could feel the optimism hiding beneath the sadness. These made me wonder if Clayton Bye wasn’t talking about himself.


Buy this eBook ($3.99 CDN). When purchasing, mention this blog in the comments box. I will send you a free copy of The Bare Knuckle MBA eBook ($120 CDN).  NOTE: The promotion may end any time at my discretion.


For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.