The past 2 days’ experiences have confirmed that it is important to carry a copy of my book with me at ALL times.

Last Friday night I had dinner with a Dutch couple who are good friends of mine. During dinner, the husband suggested his wife to purchase a copy of my book for her dad. Before she could give an answer, I swiftly (shall we say, at ightning speed) pulled out a copy of my book from my backpack. And voila – one copy of my book was sold on the spot!

Yesterday, at dim-sum with a group of friends, everyone at the table had bought a copy of my book already except the boyfriend of my friend. And after hearing me talking about the book for a while (I think for over an hour), he said “Perhaps I should purchase a copy and read it instead of hearing it. Too bad you don’t have a copy with you :>” Before he finished his sentence, I put a copy of my book in his hand. Well – One more copy was sold on the spot.

I have gotten 4 book reviews on Amazon so far.
  3 reviews on Amazon UK = 4.7 out of 5 stars.
  1 review on Amazon US = 5 stars.
Yes, please keep it coming!

In terms of media coverage, Financial Times columnist Simon Kupar tweeted about the arrival of my book last week.

That is not a bad start at all!

Today I sent reviewer copies of my book to six major newspapers and magazines in the UK.

To me, it is like buying lottery tickets because my chance of getting a book review or a mention from them is very low. They usually take recommendations from major publishing houses or famous authors. Unfortunately, it is not my case.  However, if I don’t try, I will have absolutely zero chance.

Actually it is a bit more expensive than a lottery ticket after adding postage to the cost of my book.  This time around, the total is close to 10% of the initial marketing budget. Bearing that in mind, I still need to rely on one-on-one book and word-of-mouth approaches.  In short, different marketing avenues are needed.

Miracles can and do happen in life.  We shall see.

Coincidentally (not making it up at all) I received a text from a good friend Alan living in Arizona, U.S. this morning. He is the father of my godson Philip and goddaughter Meghan who are both in their teens. He said he had finished reading my book and felt inspired to start his own new projects. In addition, he suggested me to write my next book for TEENAGERS like Philip and Meghan!

Besides Philip and Meghan, I have 2 teenage nephews, 1 teenage niece and 1 pre-teen niece in my family, though my own teenage years have been quite far behind me (the memory of it is still fresh in my mind:>). Well, I will have to ponder on the suggestion. I am flattered!

A young colleague in her 20’s told me yesterday that she had read my book over the weekend and she found it useful.

I was a bit surprised because I thought she was too young for my book (my target audience was 30+ originally). But she said she honestly thinks my approach and discussion on learning in my book are applicable to all ages. Actually I received similar comments from other readers before but it did not register in me. I was “selling myself short” subconsciously.

Now I announced officially, loud and clear, that my book is for all ages, EVERYONE who wants to learn!

Going to the post office can be amusing at times.

Today I went there during lunch time to send a reviewer copy of my book to Daunt Books, a big bookshop in London.  I put a promotional sticker (please see the photo) on the parcel. The counter staff asked me what it was and I started to introduce my book and try to sell it to her on the spot.

Before I could finish my whole sales pitch, a queue of grumbling lunch-time customers behind me made themselves known to me. Afraid of my own safety (and theirs), I took the hint and left my perspective reader with a copy of my promotional postcard and walked out there with my head held high.

A bigger drama was avoided. It may not be that easy next time. :>

 

One main reason of Wearing-Different-Hats (WDH) is to convey your message to the target audience effectively. In another words, it is to package your message and present YOURSELF in a way that will be more receptive by the recipient.

A lesson learnt for me when I promote my book to a total stranger is to scale down my eccentricity (or political-correctly called uniqueness). Essentially, I need to wear a hat of an author of self-published book on adult learning (a generic image of someone a bit plain and calm). I would not want people (mostly faint-hearted ones) to “switch” off because of my “charming” character. When they get to know me (like most of my friends and acquaintances), then I can reveal more of “Raymond-ness” to them.

My dear circle of friends and family, don’t worry. I won’t lose myself in the process. I am just “flexing my muscles” to fine-tune my personality to promote my book more effectively.

 

 

Another clarification: Wearing-Different-Hats (WDH) is not the same as multi-tasking. The latter refers to the fact that a person can SIMULANTEOUSLY doing more than one task effectively (or adequately at a minimum). For example, it was pointed out to me that I had the “talent” of carrying on a conversation with 3 different people in high school. To be exact, they were 2 classmates sitting on both my sides and one in the front. I guess if I was willing to turn my head to my back, I could have handled 4 different people at one time!

Back to the subject of WDH, a recent example is my relationship with my 13-year old niece Cameron. During the summer, she helped me with some marketing research and I paid her pocket money by hour (undisclosed amount). For work-related matters, I was her boss and she was my personal assistant. I could be (believe me – I was on a few occasions) quite tough (yet reasonable) towards her. But outside of work, I remain her uncle who profoundly adores her. I needed to make sure that I walked that “fine line” cautiously without crossing it. I found it useful to remind myself and the other party (in this case Cameron) of the “different hats” lying on that “fine line”.

 

 

Last night I kicked off the launching of my book globally via the social media including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The initial results: My friends are very support. Thank you folks :>
1) I got close to 20 Facebook Likes and a lot of encouraging comments.
2) A high school friend in Hong Kong has already ordered one copy of my book.
3) I got the first Amazon book review.

In addition, the distribution of flyers and postcards of my book has started in my neighborhood in London, U.K. Due to the limited marketing budget, I have to start cautiously and evaluate how effective these marketing materials are in terms of generating book sales.

In short, another milestone has been made and many more to go!

Apparently the number of copies sold can be a special appeal to some people.  A colleague told me that he would buy the 100th & 101st copies of my book.  Done and sold.

Anyone up for the 1,000th copy of my book?  Bidding starts right now!