SelfhelpMagazine

by Douglas H. Ruben, Ph.D.
reviewed by Bryan M. Knight, MSW, Ph.D.

Self-help Product Review Rating Scale (1=low 5=high)
Clarity: (5)
Practicality: (5)
Target-Audience:	Private practitioners

Self promotion has become a necessity for the private practitioner who wants to survive and thrive despite managed care and boundless competition. This book is itself a vivid example of self-promotion: it bristles with ads for the author's products and services!

Ruben encourages the reader to follow his example in gaining exposure on TV, radio and in print. He is bold and optimistic.

Consistent with the message, Ruben's style is breezy, even colloquial. He points out that fluency in jargon, while essential to success in school and among peers, is deadly when marketing to the public.

The book shouts with the unmistakable sound of experience. This is no theoretical treatise. The author gives you step-by-step instructions on how to get publicity and how to wring the most out of the media towel. For instance, under such subheadings as "Watch Body Language," "Know Your Product," and "Know Your Audience," Ruben tells the reader exactly how to sit in a TV studio, why a true personal experience with your audiotape is so convincing, and when a soft-sell is more appropriate. (Soft-sell goes over best in the South and West, he says).

How to write for local print markets, national magazines and even how to compose and sell your own self-help books, are topics all clearly explained.

The book is slightly marred by typographical errors such as "writers" when the author evidently means "readers;" "employee" rather than "employer,"."infomercial" rather than "infomercial." But this quibble cannot detract from the practical usefulness of the book. For example, Ruben informs us that, "Rewriting technical terminology into conversational speech is like converting Russian word by word into English. It doesn't work." He then tells you what does work. And that is "stories or anecdotes . . . [and] personal introspective views of the author."

Before you write a word of a self-help book, says Ruben, find a publisher. He tells you how to do this. He also suggests that you begin with your title. And he offers guidelines on how to create that title -- and test it.

When you do find a publisher (and smaller ones are easier to deal with), Ruben reminds us that, no matter how "standard" the contract offered, "everything is negotiable."

While he does mention subsidy publishing, the author is silent on self-publishing, which is surely an option to consider -- especially if you follow Ruben's advice to prepare the manuscript yourself with your computer word-processing program.

Another puzzling omission is that of hypnotherapy to relax you when you venture into TV promotions, whether on your local cable outlet or on a nationally syndicated talk show. On page 1 Ruben writes about this pervasive fear and how it's worth living through because television is such a powerful medium. Yet you can lower this fear to an acceptable level very easily with hypnosis. Since the forward is written by a media-savvy hypnotist who is a close friend of Ruben's, he must surely know of this possibility.

The author raises an interesting ethical question In the section on infomercials. He claims it is unethical to use the testimony of actual clients. "Ask yourself if putting the client on public display entirely for personal gain is exceeding your authority as trusted teacher, friend, and confidant." Better to obtain "authentic" testimonials from "neutral" sources, writes Ruben. How? "By running a classified or display advertisement in which you offer to have people use your product (e.g. read your book) for free. Volunteer participants receive an informed consent stating benefits and risks of the product and that they are not under any financial or ancillary obligation to you, the provider. Next is a statement asking their permission to be contacted for live or written testimonial for TV, radio, or print media."

I wonder how much these "neutral" volunteers would be influenced by the possibility of a few moments of TV fame. Perhaps this process is more ethical concerning clients, but is it any more ethical concerning the validity of the product's effectiveness?

Ruben makes an excellent suggestion: "Why not promote your expertise or product educationally using videotape, or consult with a video production studio on their own educational and industrial projects."

He tells the reader how to do this. Certainly inspired me to complete production of a video of my seminar on "How to Avoid Bad Relationships."

Several other avenues of self-promotion are described by Ruben, including various uses of on-line services, and the creation of CD-ROMs. He even discusses how you could become a media psychologist, i.e., a consultant on the psychological accuracy of movie scripts.

In addition to a saturation of information about the author and the wonders he has wrought in all types of media, the book is packed with resource lists, references and suggested readings.

Bryan Knight, Ph.D., author of several books, including Health and Happiness with Hypnosis, specializes in helping people conquer phobias, banish panic, lower anxiety and proof themselves against stress. Information about hypnosis and Psychovisual Therapy can be ordered through 7306 Sherbrooke West, Montreal, Canada, H4B 1R7 or see his website: http://hypnosisdepot.com.
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