[Reblogged from 2012]
Elbrus My Waterloo is my most recently published ebook on Amazon, and in only a few days of sales, over a weekend, I’ve gotten two excellent 5-star reviews. That feels really good, I have to say. This book is available for Kindle, and if you have Prime, is free in the Kindle Lending Library.
Having climbed on Elbrus three times without success had caused me a few down moments here and there. I wasn’t sure what I wanted out of my training. I got cold easily, wearing thicker gloves than usual on a wintery hike in Colorado. But I made it through “Elbrus my Waterloo”. I came out of those down moments with a new strength, a new purpose, a new set of goals.
Tram station below Elbrus
“Failing is a sign you’re working hard, taking chances, riding the line..and along that line you’ll find all the really great things that other people who won’t ride that line can only dream of.” — Elbrus, My Waterloo
I’m preparing to climb on Aconcagua next, and after, maybe it will be the big one? I’m admittedly excited about Aconcagua, and am beginning right now to work up a theme for the next book. The “Elbrus My Waterloo” theme locked into my mind as I wandered through the crevasse field below the Diesel Hut. I had already been updating my journal of the trip, something I did after watching an author on one of my flights typing on her tablet in the seat across the aisle from me. I updated my apps so I could type as well, and then began journaling. After a few days I got the idea I could publish my journal.
Elbrus My Waterloo – Marketing Strategies
For the past couple years I’ve been friends with a lot of mountaineers and stay-at-home mountaineers, and have shared pictures and stories via blogs and Facebook and Twitter, so I began updating posts and threads and comments based on my writing progress. I had a lot of interest from them, so I decided that would be my first audience.
First acclimatization hike on Elbrus
I primarily marketed on Twitter and Facebook, with a few links on Pinterest. I had some excellent traffic, and some sales activity. So far no Lending, which is surprising to me, since it would be free to Prime members. I have made some connections with some high-Klout posters on Twitter and Facebook, so when that kicks in I should get a lot more traffic.
Marketing an ebook by yourself is tough in the modern competitive world, and I don’t really want to go the John Locke route and compete with paper publishers by paying for reviews and buying copies of my own book. I do think that’s a valid option, since if you do want the same type of traffic and sales as the big guns, you have to use the same marketing strategies and philosophies.
My second acclimatization hike on Elbrus
I’ve read a few articles about this topic that I’ve shared in a Linkedin Writing Group The Art of Writing in the Digital Age. Some people have the philosphy that as an “indie” you are bound by a higher code of ethics, more poetic and pure I suppose, that your art stands alone, and if it’s your best, the masses will flock to it and buy it until you’ve sold enough copies for the others to consider that you’ve “sold out”. Sadly, that’s fine if your goal is to live in your mom’s basement and wax poetic to your imaginary friends. (j/k)
Waiting to go to the Barrels Huts for my Elbrus summit attempt
My goal for publishing this, on the other hand, is to help the thousands of people that need it to find out that failure need not be a deterrent to striving for outrageous impossible goals. Whether your own Waterloo be fitness, weight loss, strength, or any of the other myriad wants, needs and desires that people have shared with me on Facebook and Twitter, I know you have it within you to find your strength and overcome.
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