Synopsis

Amrit is a young man who has lived a life as a scientist, a theoretical physicist. He had worked endlessly for the regime, for ‘the cause’ and should have been lionised for his success but instead finds himself set upon by the dogs of war. He cannot understand this bizarre twist of fate, and the regime’s many tentacles have now tracked him to the last place on Earth he thought they would find him, in the most remote capital city in the world. Having nowhere else to run, he somehow finds himself seeking refuge in a Buddhist monastery, and in the throes of the deepest of meditative experience that enlivens his mind and captivates his senses, he embattles perdition and the conviction of his own demons in a journey of self-discovery into the depths of consciousness.

This novel is a quest for meaning and for anyone seeking answers to the biggest of life’s questions in a hard-science based suspension of disbelief. The novel, described as the Sophie’s World of consciousness science and philosophy is a valuable introduction to the latest theories on the nature of consciousness based upon Sir Roger Penrose’s Orch-OR theory. Roger Penrose is the English mathematical physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science, the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, who worked with Stephen Hawking to develop our understanding of the Big Bang itself.

Audience

New Adult 

A relatively new genre of fiction, New Adult fills the gap between Young Adult and Adult Fiction, NA's target is readers between the ages of 18 and mid-20s, times when new adults are first feeling independence and finding their place in the world.

New Adult stories are often geared toward young women readers. As with the New Adult time in real life, other key areas of the characters' journeys to self-knowledge are job and career, first apartment, and finances. 

Often the setting for contemporary New Adult books is a college campus. Like those who read the books, the protagonists are away from home and the strictures of parents for the first time. They are exploring, testing their values, losing and trying on boundaries and stretching to discover themselves, their limits. First jobs and first apartments are also sometimes featured.

The main protagonist in the novel Amrit, is in his mid 20s, having left all regard for parents and family well behind, he now is in a world we he struggles for survival and the inner struggle associated with a New Adult genre. Amrit seeks Truth. He is alone in a new world and discusses philosophical ideas poignant to that early to mid 20 stage of life where all that has been told is in question. Rebellion has set in.

Amrit is a young lecturer at university and there is much discussion of campus life and the new world of work. Amrit recalls his past and alcohol fueled events with friends. Amrit is described as an Adonis and falls passionately in love with his counterpart in his adventure who leads him to a Buddhist monastery and the personal truth he discovers. There is a romantic element to the novel which would be appealing to New Adult women.

Adult fiction showed a decrease of 1.2% in the same time, while sales of young adult books rose 4.4%. Audiobooks are the fastest growing format, with a massive 28.8% growth from 2016 to 2017. Younger people seem to be driving this market. 48% of listeners are under the age of 35 and 29% of listeners are using their smartphone to play the books. 57% of audiobook consumption occurs at home while 32% happens in the car.

(https://publishingperspectives.com/2018/07/us-statshot-publisher-survey-2017-estimates-revenue/ )

One of our main marketing proposals is to get the book on Audible to reach its New Adult audience. 

Promotion

Marketing Plan

• W: www.separationofbeing.com - site has a blog in which articles have been written reflecting several topics covered in the novel. Blogs will continue to raise topical matters of interest from the novel reflected in social media and other media as the case may be. 

• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LukeAshleyFernandez  (414 foAside from these few items there has been no marketing conducted, and while the book have been completed in its entirety and available on the Kindle Store, marketing effort is now required and the basis for this proposal. 

  Upon release in Jan 2019 the book received a #1 bestseller status in Kindle Store Thrillers> Spy stories and tales of intrigue.

Target Audience : New Adult - readers between the ages of 18 and mid-20s. 

In order to engage its New Adult market a 4 point plan has been identified :

(1) Audible  

Audiobooks are of the fastest growing formats, with a massive 28.8% growth from 2016 to 2017. Younger people seem to be driving this market. 48% of listeners are under the age of 35 and 29% of listeners are using their smartphone to play the books. 57% of audiobook consumption occurs at home while 32% happens in the car.

 The cost of creating an audiobook runs about $400 to $500 per “finished hour,” which includes both narration and editing. The novel is a 4-5 hour read (indicative on Amazon).

Amazon dominates the market through Audible.com, its audiobook arm.

(2) Facebook 

Promote author page via organic posts and paid campaigns targeting New Adult FB users, increasing followers from 414 to 10K.

Create video blogs discussing content from each new blog topics 

go Live to answer questions and conduct monthly forums supporting novel topic/ideas

My author page has been live for some months now and have a good handle on posts engagement strategies.

(3) Amazon marketing

Amazon Marketing Services addresses target audiences very precisely. AMS offers three different advertising formats: Sponsored Products, Headline Search Ads, and Product Display Ads.

Test campaigns have been run for several months in Amazon Advertising analyzing keywords, Ad text, targeting and budget and full campaigns are ready to launch. 

(4) Launch 

A formal (hard copy) book launch is intended to both engage readership and as a marketing effort - allowing for social media and PR.  

Competition

1. Origin, Dan Brown - the book promises answers to two of life's most important questions: "Where did we come from?" and "Where are we going?" but is a pithy thriller with little else to offer in terms of philosophical enlightenment. Iniquity and The Separation of Being discusses philosophical accounts of objective reality and offers a metaphysical model of consciousness.  It is a problem novel, offering real answers to life's most important questions and a personal journey of discovery for the reader.

2.  Origin, Dan Brown - the book promises answers to two of life's most important questions: "Where did we come from?" and "Where are we going?" but is a pithy thriller with little else to offer in terms of philosophical enlightenment. Iniquity and The Separation of Being discusses philosophical accounts of objective reality and offers a metaphysical model of consciousness.  It is a problem novel, offering real answers to life's most important questions and a personal journey of discovery for the reader.

3. Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig - Pirsig is capable of seeing the beauty of technology and feels good about mechanical work, where the goal is "to achieve an inner peace of mind". The book demonstrates that motorcycle maintenance may be dull and tedious drudgery or an enjoyable and pleasurable pastime; it all depends on attitude. Iniquity and the Separation of Being in a similar way demonstrates that life has innate meaning. Amrit discovers through meditative contemplation that the world is very much not as we see it, but steeped in incessant beauty, more than imagination can bare, even in the most testing of transformative metaphysical experiences.