Cash flow is crucial for small business owners who must constantly make payroll, launch new products, pay vendors and run costly advertising. Entrepreneurs also often face the same personal economic woes confronting most American consumers—massive credit-card debt, rising mortgage payments, unfunded retirements and an increasingly high cost of living. For millions of entrepreneurs whose bank account is in trouble, Janet Switzer's book Instant Income offers specific strategies for bringing in substantial new cash-flow. Below are seven recommendation from Switzer on how booksellers can improve their businesses. (Switzer also has developed an entire book signing promotion kit for bookstores, at www.instantincomebooksigning.com.)

Market specific categories of books to niche buyers. Create weekend sales or events around specific topics, such as starting a small business, making a career change, improving personal finances, getting healthy, designing a suburban garden or other major categories. Ask authors and local experts to conduct 30-minute workshops on popular topics related to that weekend's theme, e.g., "Eliminating Credit-Card Debt," "Saving for College" or "Funding Your Retirement." Then, market your weekend events to local civic and educational organizations.Create media events around author book signings. Authors who are media savvy can help you turn their signings into events worthy of media coverage. Ask authors to do local radio talk shows. Suggest they pitch articles to editors at your local newspapers and magazines. Ask authors to market their store appearance to their own database of names and to recruit from colleagues' databases.Bundle books together—you can encourage bigger purchases by creating and promoting bundles of, say, three nonfiction books on a related topic or by a single author. Explain how each of the three books works together to help the reader realize a lifestyle or career goal. Promote a "Financial Fitness" bundle in March, "Women in Business" bundle in October, "Health and Wellness" bundle in January and so on.Ask local retailers to help drive book buyers to your store. Print stacks of coupons for retailers and practitioners willing to suggest books to their customers. A health-food store with no book section of its own could easily hand customers your coupon featuring five or six books as examples of the wellness titles you carry. A private tutor could recommend specific titles for students. Leave a blank space for the referring party to write in their recommendations for each customer.Support your own reading groups and encourage new ones. High schools, churches, corporate offices and other venues often have groups who gather to read and discuss the latest titles. By promoting bonuses or other store benefits to group leaders, you can often secure their recommendation that group members buy the next selection at your store. For instance, Instant Income comes with a "10-Day Turnaround" program designed to be promoted by bookstores to personal finance and small business groups.Start collecting e-mail addresses and send out exclusive offers. You should immediately put in place a system for collecting e-mail addresses from customers, readers' groups, book signing attendees, special orders, holds and others. To build a list safely, be sure your list management service sends a "confirm opt-in" e-mail once you input the address into your system. Better yet, you can set up a kiosk or countertop space with a monitor and keyboard so customers can opt-in on their own—perhaps receiving some free downloadable PDF file or MP3 file as your gift when they do. Ask for name, e-mail address and category preferences, so you can segment your list. Then send specific promotions for unique book bundles, special events, advance orders and other offers customers will respond to.Target demographic groups and develop book clubs. Parents of young readers, mystery fans, gourmet cooks, small business owners, gardeners and other groups can be targeted for monthly selections, holiday collections, closeouts and other appealing offers for books. Collecting e-mail addresses and staying in touch is key. To keep track of promotions and insure you're in frequent communication, develop an annual calendar of when you'll promote specific offers to each group.

In addition to writing Instant Income, out in March from McGraw-Hill, Switzer is the author, with Jack Canfield, of The Success Principles. She has also worked on marketing the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise since 1994.