Help me market this. I'm lost.

[Michael569]

7 minutes ago, SirVladimir said:

When one attempts to speak to everyone, one usually ends up speaking to no one, and the sound of rejection is deafening.

yes!!! This was the most "IN YOUR FACE" bit of the whole book for me as well. Second one being that SEO is a pyramid scheme and a waste of time

[robinmk4l]

On 11/10/2020 at 9:14 PM, SirVladimir said:

@peqkno A nourishing response, which I will not glance through just once. I'll ponder it. Welcome to the tiny hive mind. 

To answer a few notes:

That's my bias. I went for an 80s comic book design. I fell in love with it. The "to be read on cannabis" subheading may be replaced by "daydreamer for daydreamers" or something alike soon if I go down that road.

This is a neat tip. I do have a few magnificent ones already. 

Yes. The Facebook Page serves as the headquarters for now. 

Regarding the MBTI, I know it's a gross stereotype. The cognitive functions are inferior to Spiral Dynamics or Cook Greuter, and even then I feel an urge to primarily focus on aspects like idealism, romance, daydreaming, etc. within the audience because they resemble me the most. I perceive the audience as me in different lifetimes. 

Thank you; I'm thinking over it as I write this. 

Have no real good advice to give, just remember, you'll find a way! Just keep going bro

[Guest SirVladimir]

11 minutes ago, robinmk4l said:

Have no real good advice to give, just remember, you'll find a way! Just keep going bro

Right back at ya, legend! Yours is an advice worth gold. I will find a way, and you'll witness it. 

[Egzoset]

Salutations SirVladimir,

 

It's quite difficult for me to refrain from developping quite a few items previously mentioned here but the thing is you've typed the magic word:  cannabis.  Unfortunately all i can suggest is to entertain a consumerist audience with cartoons intended to amuse them, ideally at zero cost, delivered yesterday...

 

Anyway i can only wish whatever you come up with that's also going to invite reflexions on "vilification" vectors, starting with side-effects of the consumption tool, etc.  Yet i find somewhat futile to seek refuge on web sites already having their very own agenda(s) while genuine topics are bound to simply fuel some hobby for the masses, e.g. refocussed around "social" stuff often hardly related at all.  The love to hate sells best IMO, very sadly.

 

Good day, have fun!! 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Egzoset

[Nahm]

@SirVladimir

Imaging a store full of your books, and a shload of shoppers, who upon getting to the register to check out are told they have to take psychedelics to buy and read the books. 99 out of 100 might make a face like

Also imagining that lady might have found the read enlightening. I know it’s precious, I know. That’s the call to share it.  

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Nahm That's the face I make when someone boring tries to drag me back down to earth.  All this recreational space tourism is an expensive nonsense, don't ya think? Deconstructing the notion of space is a lot cheaper for humanity. (purchasing a book too)

But yeah, right now it's all about finding, as I have set to do, the most childlike, idealistic, innocent, amazed readers. I was a fool for thinking it could be otherwise. They're out there; little lonely blobs in a world of pragmatism and practicality, waiting to be rescued by a fellow dreamer, taken among stars.

 

[Nahm]

@SirVladimir

Feeling the gravity of the “situation”, and Godspeed. ?? 

[seeking_brilliance]

On 15/11/2020 at 2:06 PM, SirVladimir said:

That's the face I make when someone boring tries to drag me back down to earth. 

As I told someone earlier about their pesky astral demons pinning them down to the floor.... 

Go through the floor. 

In your case, the very earth itself ?

[Guest SirVladimir]

Update:

After finishing Seth Godin's This Is Marketing almost two weeks ago, I have gained a lot more confidence to say, "It's not for you," although I prevent the abuse of this sentence running riot. Every evening since, I have meditated in darkness over the decision of dropping the flair of cannabis/psychedelics. After hours of observing the decision in my head, I have chosen not to appeal to a broader audience, and therefore kept the statement. I'll approach a lot more dreamy/idealistic/childlike (you get the point by now) communities, though, even where psychoactive substances are not mentioned, as certainly a portion of them will be using them by chance.

Lately, I have evolved how I handle conveying the message. I'm unlearning the seeming 'golden standards' which society engraves you with, and I'm instead doing things a lot more authentically, genuinely communicating with whom the message is addressed to. It has worked a lot better. It also drew a smile on my face when I started receiving very positive reactions about my writing, despite English being my secondary. (I'm more chilled on the forum, and obviously not trying.) Some of it I attribute to the fact that I've spent over 1500 hours writing, yet there are thousand more hours to come. The mills grind slowly but surely.

I'll look for more blogs and influencers. (Potentially) a big leap is that my Facebook Ads, which are scheduled for Thursday, got approved. In any other instance, I would have taken it for granted, yet I was taken by surprise this time: It was a very shaky board, as the ad directly mentions "to be read on cannabis" and "read on a high". Facebook policies are brutal in this regard; people have gotten banned merely from mentioning "CBD", forever, without a prior notice. I'm still miles away from attaining a total clarity about how to approach my audience, and especially how and where to find the perfect nest, but I feel I'm a tiny-miniscule step closer now.

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by SirVladimir

[Loving Radiance]

@SirVladimir  I read out The Atlantis to my high friend (he wasn't listening but he also isn't a dreamy idealist). Reading it out I felt so touched, getting to tears. It felt like reading a trip report in which some acid-dropping dude talks about airy-fairy love. God's Love.

Quote

We have known for a long time that Atlantis is not a place besieged by water; not buried in the ocean. Those in search of its golden pillars and riches are wailing for amity. Atlantis is quite close. It resides in our hearts and thinking. The throne is here and now. Atlantis is appearing as a written text. Deconstruct these lines. Look through the black-on-white metaphors. Feel the author’s intended meaning. You are here. In the Oasis of Harmony. What a genius you are. You have brought yourself to life. There is nothing more fascinating than experiencing this story. Atlantis is the everlasting here! You are safe. You have already made it. You are in heaven. The deeds from yesterday do not conquer the eternity of today. Neither do the possibilities of tomorrow.
From the ocean we had arisen – pure and selfless, born in a storm. We had been the city of Atlantis, a treasure lost to the humankind. [...]

I know my gratitude will not feed your body but I sure want you to know that you are eternally loved. Thank you for this creation. Truly beyond mind.

[Guest SirVladimir]

Omg. I just realized my audience could be summarized in one word as hippies. What was all this fuss about?!

@Loving Radiance You have written those words to yourself, remember? Today I'm the creator, tomorrow I'll be the reader. Those words have reached you! My life purpose has blossomed! Hallelujah! Forward, press on! 

[UDT]

Have you thought about that cannabis gives you the attention span of a squirrel sometimes I wonder if you can read on it.
Reading and writing seems more like a cigarette/coffee combo activity

[Guest SirVladimir]

12 minutes ago, UDT said:

Have you thought about that cannabis gives you the attention span of a squirrel sometimes I wonder if you can read on it.

Reading and writing seems more like a cigarette/coffee combo activity

I think 'memory span of a squirrel' would be a more precise term, and still it varies person to person. Fortunately, my writings are forged so that you don't need memory in the classical sense. There exists one sentence at a time. Think of them as falling deep rather than moving horizontally.

Quote

Reading and writing seems more like a cigarette/coffee combo activity

Oh no, reading on a high is an untapped goldmine. Assuming you have the right mindset, i.e. dreamy, starstruck, etc., it helps you be transported into a surreal realm of beauty. This is the kernel of my quest I am the most certain about. I adore the idea of sending the reader down a rabbit hole of mystical beauty, of immersing them in a completely sealed bubble. 

[peqkno]

On 4.12.2020 at 10:09 AM, SirVladimir said:

Omg. I just realized my audience could be summarized in one word as hippies.

So where so hippies and bohemians etc. hang out online? 

Etsy.com?

Might be worth to test it out and put your ebook there for download, too. 

[Guest SirVladimir]

@peqkno It's interesting you would render Etsy as a partial online hippie commune. I never thought of it that way. But they allow for selling e-books, so I added it on my to-do list. I still gotta fire up Amazon; haven't gone down that route yet. I'm about to start testing Reddit Ads now. They allow you to target entire communities such as r/ActualHippie, r/infp, etc. Sadly, substance-related communities are out of the selection.

 

[Godhead]

@SirVladimir If you don't mind me asking,  how much are you paying for Facebook ads?

If I'd be in your shoes, I'd try to DM psychedelic related Instagram theme pages. A lot of them sell "a post" for 10$+ depending on the size of the page.  (ask for their price and then try to get it down to 50% of that.) Maybe create a meme about reading high and promote your book on the second slide. Tell them to write something in the caption like:

"My friend Vladimir just finished his amazing short book that acts as a guide while you are high" or idk something like that, make it nice.

You could also Dm them and ask if they'd be up for a commissioned based deal. So you pretty much get free promo. 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Godhead

[Guest SirVladimir]

1 hour ago, Godhead said:

If you don't mind me asking,  how much are you paying for Facebook ads?

Don't mind at all; I can give you the exact numbers. Sharing transparent information is what we are here for, and I love it.

I was paying exactly $0.04 per impression, i.e. per one view. I attributed it to Q4 and because they had launched around Black Friday. In other words, that's $40 CPM. I broadened the audience, and it went down a little yet was still unsustainable. I had shut down the campaign before it ate any more money, albeit having not tested Facebook's pay per click strategy. Reddit Ads are set to run loose tomorrow, and the cost per click is sternly tied to remain at $0.10. We'll see how it goes. I'll be testing a really neat attention-grabbing creative.

Good catch about those Instagram pages! It completely slipped off my mind. It can be broadened to Facebook pages too, and honestly, I haven't gone down that route yet. Both a promotion deal and a commission share are good ideas, this platform Payhip I sell on fortunately allows for neat and simple affiliate programmes.

[Godhead]

@SirVladimir

This is a pretty good intro on how to go through the process, he uses shopify as an example, but it really works with any kind of advertisement.

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Godhead Thanks. Thinking it over, I'm leaned towards a commission-based deal than an upfront payment, so I'll do that right after I see how Reddit Ads perform. The reason being my audience is an exact thing, very scarce too, and the commission involves no risk. It works better with my limited budget too.

Anyways, I'll get back to some hardcore shamanic breathing as during my marathon. The far-out states of consciousness are source of great epiphanies and insights. One may turn out to just ring true.

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Godhead Tagging you because you were interested in Facebook Ads and might be interested in the following metrics as well. Remember how I said I had been paying $0.04 per impression on Facebook? Well, it's been $0.08 per click in Reddit Ads. While my cost per thousand impressions on Facebook hung around $40, Reddit estimates the same amount of views for $0.36. Yes, CPM isn't a determinative metric in my case, but the numbers are quite amusing to look at. I've also come to realize kratom is a viable option for people who enjoy reading, so I'll be covering their communities as well. I'd personally prefer if people did shamanic breathing or tiny doses of psychedelics, but it'd be too greedy to desire such a narrow ideal audience.