Do you think it will get anyone interested in ordering it?
I tend to doubt it, but I am pretty pessimistic about the book’s prospects in general. I’m proud of the book, but the most avid audience for political books won’t like it and the people who would most like it (other than you folks, of course) are not the most avid about politics.
I suspect you need to put this in front of the right audience. Maybe journalism majors.
I’m a true believer, so I’m the wrong person to ask. But for that intro it could be more on point. Someone could find examples of CNN (let alone MSNBC) saying completely opposite conclusions from what FoxNews is saying about the exact same news item. The hard part will be finding a Libertarian voice. Take the Syrian refugees issue, for example. Find some topic where the facts are pretty well understood, but the language is clearly distinct to the 3 tribes leading to wildly disparate conclusions.
Scott Adams today suggested that the anti-immigrants and pro-immigrants probably would agree on the level of ideal immigration once you take out the extreme loud-mouths.
Also, don’t be such a poor-mouther! I’m here because I think you are the savior! It should say something like:
“Do you feel like we are more fractured then ever, like the sides can’t even communicate? Do you feel like politics is hopeless and people are losing friends and unfriending relatives because we can’t talk to each other anymore? Do you want to understand why and how you could help bridge the divide and save the country from political divorce?”
It’s really well done, btw. I think the sales pitch could be a little tighter and pitched to a broader audience. Then maybe leverage larger sales outlays to the targeted audience. Maybe do speaking engagements at journalism schools and other places where there is a concentration of people who want to understand all the political paradigms.
Trying to get some bites using Broccoli in chummed red waters is tough.
I know these are pretty unhelpful ideas, but what if you made two (3 if you are optimistic about libertarians and independents) covers/ads ostensibly targeting the tribes:
Why Democrats Don’t Make Sense
Why Republicans Don’t Make Sense
Why Democrats and Republicans Don’t Make Sense
To sell, you want to look like you are closing the minds of your side. I suspect that is where your pessimism originates. But you might be able to trick some people.
I think the video is OK, seems like there is a lot of competition in the short video/movie trailer type space (a lot of clips vying for people’s attention). I’d guess the ratio of quality of your product vs quality of your advert is a lot lower vs other products.
I’ve recently been working on a side project and trying to figure out how to market it and found the book Traction really helpful. See http://tractionbook.com/ The first three chapters are free and give you a general gist of whether it’s something you’d be into.
In your case, I think there are probably some pretty low hanging fruit when it comes to marketing. I’ve personally googled ‘3 axis model’ or ‘3 axis model politics’ a few times since you came out with the original book because I wanted to find a basic explanatory link to share with someone. There’s no reason a basic introduction to the ideas from you with a link to your book shouldn’t be the first result, but it’s not (instead it’s a link to that category on your blog, which is kind of confusing).
Something like this is good: http://lyingeyes.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-three-axes-model.html but (a) it’s not from you, and (b) it doesn’t have a link to your book.
I already ordered my copy (again), at $3.99 seems like a good deal. Good luck with the launch!
It’s nice and looks good. The message is tailored to brainy nerds though.
To motivate mass purchases though you need to make an emotional connection to the audience. For instance – “Have you ever wondered how to get through to your crazy Fox news watching Uncle? Here’s how to speak his language.”
I think if you personalize it a bit it will hit home better. Are your political conversations often frustrating exchanges where everyone seems to be talking past each other? – here’s how you can learn to understand and be understood by people that have very different opinions and values from yours. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum.
E.g., “How to talk to your Friends about Politics and STAY FRIENDS!!!”
This is pretty good persuasion, Arnold. You got at least 2 sales by asking us for our advice! 😉
So, could you scale this up? Could your advertising campaign be “Help me figure out how to advertise my book to save America?”