My New Book is Available TODAY
Alastair Humphreys
Good morning!
I'm delighted to announce today the publication of my new book. I'm absolutely delighted with it.
'Microadventures' is published by Harper Collins, and I'm inviting you to pre-order it today so that it arrives at your house on the day of publication (Thursday).
I also want to ask for your help. I know that newsletters are supposed to be for me to help / entertain YOU, but today I am going to ask you, please, to help me. It will take you less than a minute to do, but it will really make a big difference to me.
I know people are too busy for long newsletters, so here is a potted summary, followed by a more civilised explanation...
- In order for Amazon to 'notice' my book and therefore promote it, I need to generate a 'spike' of pre-orders. I would love it if you would order my book on Amazon today.
- As an incentive I am offering free copies of another of my books and films. Click http://goo.gl/r1gWGX for details.
- If you do not want to buy my book, please would you pop something like this on Twitter or Facebook? "This book seems a great idea if you're busy with a 9 to 5 but still want adventure in your life: http://goo.gl/DaqGzc #microadventure"
Since I set off to walk a lap of the M25 a couple of years ago, the idea of 'microadventures' has grown more than I could ever have imagined.
I began by looking for ways to help people with real, busy lives to squeeze more adventure into their free time. I wanted to encourage people with proper '9 to 5' jobs to focus on their '5 to 9' - the 16 hours of [theoretical] daily freedom - to look at the opportunities for adventure rather than the constraints.
The idea grew, and National Geographic named me as one of their Adventurers of the Year, which was simultaneously surprising, embarrassing, and a wonderful validation of the concept. People all over the world have been squeezing adventures into their daily lives and sharing the results on social media (search for #microadventure if you want to see what people have been doing).
Which brings me to the book...
This is the smartest book I have ever produced. There are over 150 colour photographs in it: it's a fantastic-looking book (see attached pics).
The book is in two parts: the first part are all of the stories of my different microadventures (designed to work wherever in the world you happen to live, not just for specific, adventurous locations).
The second part of the book are chapters designed to help YOU get out on a microadventure of your own.
This is a book designed to persuade people to actually get out on adventures of their own, not purely as a nice book to read. Please see the attached photos to get a feel for the book.
I genuinely believe it is a really good book.
But I need your help.
Amazon rules the world of book selling these days. Do well on Amazon, and your book will do well.
With millions of books available on Amazon it is hard to stand out. But if a book gets a 'spike' of pre-sales and early orders, then the Amazon computers take note and are more inclined to promote your book. It's mildly naff, vaguely cheating, but massively the only way that non-celebrity authors like me can peek briefly above the parapet.
So I am asking for your help.
I would be so, so grateful if you would do any of these things:
- order my book on Amazon right now.
- as an incentive to do this, I am offering free copies of some of my other books and films for anyone who does this. Click http://goo.gl/r1gWGX for details.
- tell anyone who may be interested in this book (Twitter, Facebook, actual real humans) about the book: "This book seems a great idea if you're busy with a 9 to 5 but still want adventure in your life: http://goo.gl/DaqGzc #microadventure"
I'm sorry to be emailing you to ask for your help, but this really is the only chance I have to try to get this book to a wider audience than my previous books (my Mum, my Mum's friends...).
I hope that you enjoy the book.
In other news, if you live in Yorkshire you might be interested in coming to the latest edition of the popular 'Night of Adventure' lecture series, in support of 'Hope and Homes for Children'. Details here: www.nightofadventure.co.uk
Thank you very much,
Alastair
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