All I wish I knew before setting sail - how to advertise a book?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by tv195

Thanks for that!
And I totally hear you when it comes to paid advertising. Well, my book should be useful for anybody who is interested in cruising, but that's only a small fraction of the population so it's no blockbuster either.

BTW, did you ever sail by Carrie Bow Cay? Beautiful place - I was lucky to work there for a few weeks back then.

The minimum budget is not very high (IIRC its $100). General sailing books, like yours, I think have a broader audience and probably more worthwhile to promote on sites like Amazon. However, I also think there are better targeted ways to advertise to the sailing community than Amazon.

My books are specific to cruising Belize and the Western Carib, and are designed to be supplemental to existing cruising guides. So, in my case, the target audience is those charterers or cruisers who want to dig a little deeper. A niche market in a niche market. But, Ive noticed an interesting trend: after this hurricane season's devastation in the NE Carib, sales of my books are up...especially of my "Belize & Guatemala Cruising Notes". I was surprised yesterday to see its ranked #8 (based on recent sales) in the Sailing>Excursion Guides category. I think this is likely due to many charterers shifting their plans to Belize...might be a good time to try out that paid advertising! [emoji6]

Yes, I have sailed by Carie Bow many, many times and snorkeled around it, but never been ashore. Worked as a charter captain for years in Belize...still do occassionally. Beautiful spot.

[tv195]

I'll look into amazon ads, and probably start with a tiny ad campaign to see if it has any benefits.

And I'll definitely get your book if I ever sail in Belize waters again. Cheers!

[dwedeking2]

I saw this book on Amazon after seeing this thread. But I get an error on my paperwhite saying its not compatible. All the promotion in the world isn't going to help if you can't read it on the device

[tv195]

Originally Posted by dwedeking2

I saw this book on Amazon after seeing this thread. But I get an error on my paperwhite saying its not compatible. All the promotion in the world isn't going to help if you can't read it on the device

Thanks for your post. You are right the ebook version (kindle) only works on color kindle devices, and android/Apple apps on tablets and phones. The reason for this is that the book layout with lots of figures and images only allowed a fixed layout kindle version.
Alternatively there are also the print versions. Cheers

[Melissa36]

I think that Mike Dillard's Self Made Man says https://www.clickfunnels.com
I would watch Russell Brunson's webinars.

Dan Kennedy's books might also help.

[Melissa36]

Oops. I am sorry. I made a mistake. Disregard my post. I learned about it a long time ago and now there are You Tube videos saying that it has problems.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

My perspective is that my books (Belize Cruising Notes and Western Caribbean Cruising Notes) are narrow niche books with a limited audience, not block busters waiting to happen, so spending any significant $s to promote them is not a good investment.

I suspect your approach is more likely to result in a little cash in your pocket (not going to get rich by any stretch but at least turn a small profit).

People looking at Belize will search "Belize Cruising" or similar and pull up your book in the top few returns.

There are tons of generic how to cruising books, so it becomes a game of spending enough to get the word out or boosting your link to the top of the search engines without burning thru all your profits on marketing.

[Jim Cate]

So, have you sent a copy to Boat Books or to Afloat for review?Good local venues...

Jim

[Melissa36]

The way that they get on the bestsellers list here in the land of the plumed serpents is, they supposedly buy a million copies of their own book and then donate them to libraries. However, a lot of bestsellers are also ghost written propaganda by we know who who fix the bestsellers lists (as they do with everything else).

Another one of their tricks is, they have some sort of software that "legally" hacks into other people's customer database of the niche that they are in. I think that Eben Pagan had an interview with someone who did that in one of his programs that he gave a free trial of.
I don't know if Eben still has this, but he used to give free trials of his phenomenally helpful entrepreneur programs. He rules!!

[sailingunity]

I would suggest posting a thread on CF with a small excerpt of it.

In all seriousness, this one of those things that will take time to build if you're doing it yourself. I think everyone else has covered most of the bases. You might try an instragram giveaway to generate interest, or give books to fellow sailor/bloggers to read and promote in their "book store". As an example, Totem has generated quite a following for themselves, but they've been cruising and blogging for 8-9 years now.

[Melissa36]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

I would suggest posting a thread on CF with a small excerpt of it.

In all seriousness, this one of those things that will take time to build if you're doing it yourself. I think everyone else has covered most of the bases. You might try an instragram giveaway to generate interest, or give books to fellow sailor/bloggers to read and promote in their "book store". As an example, Totem has generated quite a following for themselves, but they've been cruising and blogging for 8-9 years now.

Bullseye. Having ubiquitous ads doesn't necessarily equate to motivating people to purchase a product. It takes subconscious manipulation like the book Influence describes. You have to give people something high quality for free (like Eben does ), so that they feel in debt to you and hopefully, that motivates them to do something in return for you, like purchase your product. Also, you have to fulfill a subconscious need in people. I think that Dan Kennedy's books list or describe the general needs that people have. For instance, greed and lust. There are 3 basic personality types: controlling, competitive and dependent. While everyone is a combination of those types, each type has specific needs like correspondingly, the need for control, the need to be the best and the need for love. Therefore, when you see advertising and marketing like, "be the best that you can be", that is tapping into a subconscious need for the competitive character type, which is a vast portion of the population.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by tv195

Thanks, what's the best way to get in touch with the admins? Just using the "contact us" link?

Yes, that will be the quickest way.

JPA Cate, moderator

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Yes, that will be the quickest way.

JPA Cate, moderator

That, or post inappropriate content. 😆

[Melissa36]

Originally Posted by tv195

Thanks for your post. You are right the ebook version (kindle) only works on color kindle devices, and android/Apple apps on tablets and phones. The reason for this is that the book layout with lots of figures and images only allowed a fixed layout kindle version.
Alternatively there are also the print versions. Cheers

I couldn't get it to open on Kindle for PC, which is color but not a Kindle. I'll have to try a Kindle Fire.