Wonderings on Wanderings: Turning to Marketing!

my new FB Business Page cover photo

Now that I have submitted the book, I wait for feedback regarding 1) completeness, 2) content liability, 3) Round 1 editorial evaluation, 4) Round 2 editorial evaluation, 3) proofing, 4) printing, and distribution. From the first step to the last can be three months at the minimum or, as I assess my chances, six months, partly because we are going on this three month European tour starting May 17.  So now I have turn to marketing activities.

I have been marketing different products and services all my life: IT training, consulting, software, hardware, and services. In marketing a book, the principles are the same, I think, but the state of the art is very different because of the impact of the Internet. I am told that a credible online platform is a must in selling books. So I have repositioned my blog and Facebook profile as parts of that platform. My blog is now averaging 700 views a day. Good platforms are supposed to log in 30,000 a month. I have to work harder!  A FB fan base of around 3,000 is also needed. I have only 2,000 so far but I think I will get there.

FB BUSINESS PAGE

A FB business page entitled The Cruising Lifestyle has been set up and I hope that likes for it will also reach 3,000. It will be the repository of my most popular OLA (Our Lifestyle Adventures) blog posts of not less than 2,000 views and the WOWs (Wonderings on Wanderings)  that describe or lend a discussion towards the understanding of the cruising lifestyle. Right now it contains five WOWs and five OLAs, with a common post, totaling 9.

Most Popular Posts (OLAs with more than 2,000 views as of May 3, 2014):

1. Traveling Light, in an RV? (19,446)

2. Turning Wounds into Wisdom (18,765)

3. Discovering More in New Mexico (18,511)

4. Going up the East Coast (14,825)

5. Finding Christmas on Treasure Island (11,615)

Descriptive Posts (WOWs):

1. Traveling Light, in an RV (19,446)

2. Cruising to a Life together of Cruising (10,340)

3. Going through the Five Stages of the Cruising Lifestyle (108)

4. Debating the Pros and Cons of the RV Cruising Lifestyle (5,258)

5. Classifying Campgrounds (129) 

I intend to update this Page on a weekly basis. The page gives you an easy way to get updated with my blog through its most important and popular posts. I hope you like it.

WEBSITE

I have also created a website entitled The Cruising Lifestyle. It contains the following sections:

1. an active link to the three most recent blog posts,

2. a link to the five articles/posts that have been republished in three publications,

3. the top 10 photos of five galleries (Scenes, People, Plants and Animals, Unusual Things, and Things Yellow). Actually, my blog contains all our photos in these five galleries, too, and  

4. everything about my travel memoir Carolina, Cruising: the cover, back cover copy, a free preview (later) and all announcements.

Right now the big announcement on my website is that an Early Bird Discount is now available! Please go to http://www.gocruisinglifestyle.com  for the details.

There are four Ps in marketing: product, price, place, promotion. I am working on the product and it is now at the publishing stage. Price will be decided with the publishing house together with place or the points for distribution. The online platform will be the key for promoting the book. But after the platform, we probably will also need advertisements (FB and Amazon) and publicity, the latter probably the more important of the two. So I am scheduling at least two tentative book signing events, Phoenix in November and Manila in January.

They say 10% of the effort is in writing the book, 30% is in publishing it, and 60% is in marketing it. Being right in the middle of publishing and lining up marketing, there is so much work left for me to do. 2014 has and will continue to be one busy, and very exciting, year!