To be ready to publish and promote books that Cannonball Jack may complete as early as this year, we should plan and prepare for classic public relations efforts. Reviewing the background will be helpful. Literary agents and publishers are interested in an author’s pre-publication PR platform. Currently we develop and maintain a social media presence and a substantial number of short stories and memoirs to share with groups, friends and family. Stories—some with video—for public and private distribution are:

· posted on Facebook

· included on the Dino website

· emailed as links to individuals and special groups.

Book publication support will require much more: higher efficiency (greater effort/reward ratio) and a new collection of PR assets, such as:

· Intense audience building, management, differentiation, research and optimization on all platforms: social media, website, business email marketing, promotion.

· National platforms for press releases

[1]…

· Multipurpose audio excerpts of Jack’s stories/books as podcasts, interviews, or musings

· More social and other media (ex: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, podcasts, LinkedIn)

· Email address collection: social media, website and novel means (ex: eBay)

· Business email campaigns

· Occasional access to a legal expert specializing in copyright, licensing, fair use and related topics.

This month we will post to remember the next of the most significant race anniversaries (Cannonball, SCCA National, Mille Miglia, TransAmazon).

Facebook

Status

I believe Jack and the Cannonball Jack Team can be proud of our full range of excellent content on Facebook. As other pro Facebook creators explain on YouTube, they also do not understand why more followers/friends do not see their posts, much less respond in greater numbers. The Facebook AI makes complex decisions about whether and where to send each post and maintains a database of every post delivered. The response/nonresponse to that post tells the Facebook algorithm to strengthen or weaken the connection between that follower and our page. Anything we can do to strengthen the relationship helps future results. We cannot know the full algorithm, yet we do note hints from others that may improve our viewership.

Settings and Practices for Facebook Posts

Currently, all postings in the Cannonball Jack [CBJ] and personal Jackson Campbell May [JCM] pages are sent to an undifferentiated audience with a default _Public_ setting. This has been okay for both pages until now but should be reconsidered. We will start using Facebook soon to elicit information from our FB page followers with which to build a database for book marketing.

Using Facebook Data to Understand Audience Segments

Cannonball Jack’s current works and posts fall into at least four categories: To optimize post performance and to get the most useful viewer response data, we need to have different Facebook Groups under the CBJ page.

· Auto Racing [CBJ pg: Racing Groups (subgroups CB, SCCA, MM, TrAmz)]

· Military/Patriotic [CBJ pg: Military/Patriotic Group]

· Explorations/ Outdoor Adventure [CBJ pg: Adventure Group]

· Family/Friends [JCM personal pg: FB biz’page options/stats]

Info on FB Groups: Groups | Facebook Help Center

Info on FB Business Pages: Facebook Help Center

Facebook becomes our first focus because we have a head start with 1.4K followers and years of data. We will also use the Dino website and other platforms to build the marketing database.

The answer is (d) EMAILS! Reason: The fact that you were able to compile lists of 1000s of emails for readers verified to have an interest in the subject of your book indicates its potential salability—with which you can obtain (a) (b) or (c) if you want to. [Other alternatives will be discussed.] Literary agents will be impressed.

Once emails are compiled, we know how to maintain and deploy the email lists. Major email platforms, which we will need to do large mailings, require that you prove that the recipient “opted in” to receive emails from you. Unlike years ago, it is difficult, if not impossible, to purchase quality mailing lists for specific audiences. Developing your own lists as far as you can is an essential first step.

In addition, we expect to make other changes in our Facebook posting. We have learned that Facebook punishes posts that include too many external links. Platforms do not like posts that send their audience away. We think new Facebook Groups may improve overall post performance. Our segmented audiences will receive mostly posts from us that match their interests. The Facebook algorithm may be improved and keep the page-follower bond strong for the next post.

Email

Choosing the Right Email Address for Business

What’s in a name? This is tricky because a personal email name may look very business-like, and a business email name may look very personal. For example, maycomp@aol.com is personal email and jack@cannonballjack.com is true business email.

Our jack@cannonballjack.com email address is set up with a Google Workspace subscription that validates it as legitimate. If you send it to a corporate email address (ex: friend@jpmorgan.com), your Proper Business Email is more likely to be recognized as safe and allowed to pass through the cybersecurity walls to reach the recipient. Beware of using a Personal Email in this scenario because you may not learn that your email never had a chance to be delivered.

National/International Email Regulations

We are required to ask people to give us their email addresses through well-planned inquiries. There are laws against sending emails to people who have not given prior permission. Therefore, we will need to use one of the email services (ex: MailChimp, AWeber, ConstantContact) with procedures that work to prevent clients from breaking rules and risking restrictions and fines.

U.S. regulations for email:

CAN-SPAM:

CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business | Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov)

European regulations for email:

GDPR:

Email Marketing in Europe: How to Comply with the Law (wideangle.co)

Email Subscriptions

What token gift, advice, recipes, words of wisdom, reflections, poetry, wild or comforting ideas will Cannonball Jack, Jackson Campbell May, Jack May, Chef Jack May, Adventurer Explorer or another Jack May offer to the public in exchange for them to sign-up for occasional emails on a subject? (One example may be the snapshots of your favorite restaurants, e.g., Roma.) Per mass email rules, these offerings must relate to one of our existing categories or a new category we plan to continue. Remember that we can also share posts we like from other outside pages related to our categories. Outreach will take different forms depending on the platform (Ex: Facebook, YouTube).

This will be fun to explore. We will be able to use an ongoing flow of ideas. Notice the offers we get in our own Inbox. There is an art to finding what type of relevant appeal works as we collect emails. There are also several analysis tools for identifying successful appeals.

Choosing the Best Topics for Emails/Posts/Videos

Within the categories that Jack’s life experiences have defined, we will choose topics—as specific as possible—based on deep research. The best-performing emails/posts/videos have topics that:

· are related to the subject matter of the page/channel

· cover specific rather than general topics

· are based on research showing what readers/viewers are seeking.

Promising research tools can identify the exact questions people interested in your niche are asking. The data can be applied to topic selection in all media, including Facebook. Videos show how an effort to develop a brief piece on a specific researched topic could yield an extensive list of email addresses for publication marketing over time—our goal!

One caveat: In email marketing and some media, once someone has subscribed with their email address to receive more from us, it is expected that our future emails to them will be within the same subject area. Email providers will consider it a serious offense to send that subscriber an email in a wildly unrelated category.

For that and other reasons, we will present “Jack May” representing multiple categories.

Books

First Books to Consider

The goal is to use pre-publication and post-publication strategies of social media and email marketing to position Jack’s writings to become successful books.

Topics

§ Jack May Memoir [A life of adventure featuring four famous races]

§ Explorer / Hunting Stories

§ Military Memoirs

§ Cannonball 1975 stories and articles

§ TransAmazon

Strengths

· Completed manuscripts and others close to completion

· Jack’s name recognition and strong ties within groups related to topics

· Personal friendships with key people who could be asked to review or comment

· Wide interest in these topics with associated data

· Top software tools and expertise

· Jack and team’s development and publishing experience

Challenges

· Locating and establishing the provenance of images and videos

· Obtaining proper permission in writing from image/video copyright holders required before publication

· Negativity of Cannonball founders’ clique.

Strategies

· YouTube channel

· Brand expansion: Jack May beyond Cannonball

· Trading in collectibles to get email addresses

· Facebook and other social media platforms

YouTube Channel

Jack May knows Adventure and Adventurers! He needs a full-blown channel.

As he likes, Jack’s YouTube channel can feature individual video tributes to adventurers of all kinds. Starting with an assortment of personal contacts from his different adventure areas and scripts he has already written, the channel can expand to include anyone he considers having had an adventure, even historical figures he admires.

Jack’s team can develop the videos from his images and written tributes to friends, letters, newspapers and other documents, adventure-related and other photos from the subject, the web and stock images. Style and length will be adapted to the subject and content we find. Jack may want to interview some himself via the web.

Tactics

This YouTube channel is key to finding more people motivated to send us their email address for future communications. After several videos from existing tributes have been added to our YouTube channel, the next candidates should be (1) participants from the TransAmazon Rally 1988 and (2) racers from the Cannonball 1975 race. For our purposes, we need to assume that anyone who chose to run these risky races could be included.

Individual emails to invite and discuss their participation (although not strictly required) should be sent at intervals. Included will be a standard form to give us permission to send future emails. (Bingo: they have consented to be in our email database in a way that would satisfy email marketing requirements.)

Challenges Obtaining contact information for potential video subjects.

Strengths Top software for researching internet and many clues to their locations already identified through newspaper articles and race reports.

Benefits of an Expanded YouTube

· YouTube keeps content up forever, and the powerful platform is free.

· Grows the audience in several topical directions.

· Obtains email addresses with interest in your topics.

· Is a chance to find people who may have photos or know the source of photos that you may then seek to publish.

· Creates a tribute that will be self-promoting in perpetuity as subjects and their connections (families, descendants, fans) share their profiles from your YouTube channel.

· Builds the market for your books.

· Gives you an opportunity to repurpose the tributes you have written. The individuals you honored were each an adventurer in some way.

· Strengthens your image as an Adventurer “beyond Cannonball” in a way that does not require obvious self-promotion.

Upcoming Deep Dives

· Facebook analysis results and effective postings to elicit email subscriptions

· Implications for website and Facebook business page

· Outreach plans in other media for email addresses

· Additional JCM autobiography theme--Jack May as writer

· TransAmazon special challenges and suggestions

· Cannonball 1975 community, challenges and approach

· Ways to optimize our efforts [For example, add paragraphs and/or sidebars to some story reprints, prefaces, introductions, epilogues and new perspectives.]

· Opportunities and commercial services to consider [ex: formatting for publication type, printing, distribution].

· A publication plan for each book

o Audiences

o Requirements to complete and submit

o Special resources and connections

o Choice of publication pathway

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Books in our Publication Pipeline

1. Jack May Memoir #1 PRIORITY

2. Personal Tributes and Stories [compiled for family and friends only and some already shared on social media and website. What points to make in a preface, introduction, and/or epilogue? Which profiles to include? Time to plan any additional profiles and other material. Specific audience, distribution list?]

3. Cookbook [make decision on theme, compile recipes, define audience.]

4. Military Memoirs [personal recollections of significant dates in history, father’s military service, USMA and Army stories. Write preface, introduction, and/or epilogue including new reflections on your own service.]

5. TransAmazon 1988 [Media research (U.S. and international), contact journalists / photographers / participants. With your “TransAmazon” story as the framework, add independent segments or sidebars with more about the race in general and contributions from other sources, complete bibliography, index, photo verification, Report findings including journalist/participant of ChiTrib article; adventurer/participant with a TransAmz website; discuss potential of Adventurers YouTube proposal.]

6. Cannonball 1975 and Aftermath. 10/8/24 ATA: Now prefer as Memoir section rather than separate book.) [published articles and stories, permissions to reprint, rendition of relationship with Brock Yates without completely alienating his “disciples,” why you have said your record could never be broken, your thoughts about current Cannonball races (positive but not comparable), other press references and copies of articles, anecdotes from vintage car shows, other Dino tales.]

Cannonball fans will buy this book. Unfortunately, many in the book’s natural audience have Brock Yates on a pedestal. The book should tell the truth while getting these CB fans on board with you.

Our goal is to make your book (CB 1975 or Memoir) essential in the small set of books on Cannonball victories. Approaching a traditional publisher with a CB 1975 book could be a disaster. Their first step would be to ask the Yates contingent for reviews before acceptance. We do not want to tip these people off before the book is ready to distribute. We need to complete the book before it is ready to be introduced to the world. The four-race memoir enlarges the book to auto racing in general.

7. SCCA Championship Races at Road Atlanta 1975-1978 [Expand into a section by covering your experiences for the four winning years 1975-1978 (and any other SCCA race years), adding a preface, introduction, and epilogue, research video and photos from earlier years.]

8. Exploration and Adventure [“longtime Explorers Club member”] For example:

“Forest Medicine” topic

“Socabon and Ransom”

“Trophy Lion: Coming of Age”

Notes
Current Focus: Find Literary Agent for Memoir

Why Explain to the potential agent how they will sell the idea to a publisher. We must supply a tight concept, identify the audiences, show them where this book fits with several successful books previously published.

Recommendation For this book and legacy, “Cannonball Jack” becomes most prominently “Jack May,” associated with four legendary races—Cannonball, SCCA, Mille Miglia, TransAmazon—winning two national auto racing titles (Cannonball, SCCA) and four regional titles (SCCA), two-time Mille Miglia racer, Trans Amazon survivor.

Rationale for this Outline General autosports focus in the title and structure matches obvious natural audience(s). This provides the basis for estimating the potential readership in the appeal to the literary agents. Each race has a specific audience and different hooks to be featured in outreach to different audience segments. Of note, having found no published book on TransAmazon 1988 yet, this book could be a special draw to an untapped international group of readers based on our extensive research.

Special Benefit With similar focus on your racing beyond Cannonball, we also inoculate the project from a specific threat. With existing ties to Road & Track and other auto-related publishing circles, the Yates group could easily block a manuscript that features Cannonball only. Any literary agent or publisher will look into and maybe even follow up with people identified with other “similar” books (for example, Cannonball! by B. Yates). Your memoir must be beyond “similar.”