All things considered, word of mouth is still the most important means of marketing any product or service.

Word of mouth is created by getting your product or service in the hands of people who will appreciate it and will talk to friends and associates about it.

The best way to get people talking is to give your book to key individuals — talk-show hosts, columnists, celebrities, and chat-line addicts — who are going to mention it to many people, who will mention it to even more people. With the right book, the more you give away, the more you end up selling.

So, don't cheap out with the number of copies of your books that you give away! I have now spent approximately $40,000 giving away over 13,000 copies of my books.There is no doubt in my mind that this has played a big part in helping me to sell 90,000 copies of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and 225,000 copies of The Joy of Not Working. All told, my ten or so books have now sold over 500,000 copies worldwide.

But let me not dwell on my own case because I have one that is much better. A few years ago, Marlo Morgan self-published a book called Mutant Message Down Under. Three years later, Morgan had sold 270,000 copies. This is a remarkable figure for any self-published book, but the most extraordinary fact was Morgan had given away over 90,000 copies of her book in three years. She donated the copies to prisons, women’s shelters, and other institutions.

Giving away almost one hundred copies each day for three years straight is not something even major publishers would consider, but it paid off for Morgan. Her impressive sales were a result of the word-of-mouth advertising generated from the copies she gave away. Better still, when the book finally came to the attention of HarperCollins, the publisher paid Morgan a $1.7 million advance to take over publication of Mutant Message Down Under.

Giving away your product or service for free may seem like a silly way to try to make a living. There is no better way to create word of mouth, however, as Marlo Morgan proved. Many people end up buying your product or service after hearing about it from someone.

The key is to give your product to the influencers of this world. By influencers, I mean the “big mouths” of this world who know a lot of other influential people and will recommend your book to everyone they talk to. If you can’t get word-of-mouth advertising happening after giving a lot of your product away, likely your product is not distinctive enough.

In the same vein, you can get publicity by giving free talks and consultations. You will establish yourself as an expert and publicize your product or service at the same time. If you can create yourself as being controversial, you increase your chances of making appearances on talk shows, where you can offer free samples of your books.

I can’t give enough ink to the fact that marketing is the mother — father, grandmother, aunt, and uncle too — of extraordinary success attained with any product or service. Strictly from a business point of view, it’s not creative unless it sells! A creative product or service gets you to first base only; creative marketing gets you all the way to home plate.

Do whatever it takes to make your product and marketing more distinctive. The subsequent word-of-mouth marketing from giving a lot of it away will do wonders for your bottom line.

NOTE: This article is adapted from the book Real Success Without a Real Job (Ten Speed Press) by Ernie Zelinski. The book has been published in Spanish and Russian and has now sold over 10,000 copies.

Download the Free E-book (in PDF format) with the first chapter of Real Success Without a Real Job : The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations at:

Free Downloadable Ebooks at The Real Success Resource Center

Also Download the Free E-book of 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting at: Free Downloadable Ebooks at The Real Success Resource Center

Check Out The True Spirit of Mothers Day