Products: Where to Begin

[Michael A. Wright is mentor, life coach, entrepreneur, curriculum specialist, and Owner/President of MAWMedia Group. His interests span behavioral health, family systems, and wealth creation. Follow @MAWMedia ]

 

Four types of products exist: books, websites, DVD, and CDROM.

These are the basic media that you can employ to disseminate your content. After you have made the mental shift to value  CONTENT and think of your production imperative as the creation of content, you may ask, “What do I do next?” Contrast this question with your question prior to your mental shift, “How do I start?”

Your next step depends on the medium you choose. Following a some beginning steps specific to the four media listed above. Notice that the steps describe increasingly finite, intentional expression of your content.

The Book

  1. Outline 3 broad sections: Beginning, Middle, and End.
  2. Outline Chapters within the broad sections.
  3. Outline the Scenes/Concepts within the chapters.

Web Site

  1. List the features of the site.
  2. Draw out the screens that will be seen by the user and those seen by the administrator.
  3. Conceptualize the feature-button relationship in preparation for coding. That is, state how screens and buttons relate to the features–what happens when a button is pressed.

DVD

  1. Outline the story/point arc: Beginning, Middle, End.
  2. List the episodes/lessons within each section of the outline.
  3. Produce a general segment outline that will be followed by each episode.
  4. Write content within each segment of each episode.

CDROM

  1. Outline the modules to be included in the product.
  2. Produce a pedagogy outline. For example: Pre-test, Vignette, Content, Reflection Question, Writing Assignment, Post-test.
  3. Script the point or value dilemma for each module.
  4. Script the vignette and content to emphasize the point or value dilemma in each module.

Implementing these next steps enable you to share your budding product with collaborators, mentors, or editors. Keep in mind that your goal is to increase your ability to articulate the elements and potential impact of the product. These steps will help.