Book Review
I plan to contact Book Reviewer YouTubers and other Book Review content creators and request them to read and review the novel 'OAHS' and post their review of the book on their YouTube channel or any other platform they have; I plan to give a free copy of the novel 'OAHS'. If they allow me, I will discuss my novel 'OAHS' on their platform based on a script that I will prepare beforehand. I will contact Book Review content creators who provide content in English as well as in Japanese. In the beginning, I will only approach creators who have a small audience. I also plan to go and meet them in person. The following is a list of examples:
I will provide them with sample chapters of the novel 'OAHS', its synopsis, a list of salient points and the rest of the basic information about the novel before requesting them to read and review it.
Create a Travel Magazine-like Publication
Create a travel magazine-like publication that has many advertisements just like a magazine and selected chapters from OAHS, the novel. The cost of the publication is more or less covered by advertisers and its printed copies will be distributed at a variety of locations where tourists spend time hanging out such as hotels, hostels, van stations and tour agencies. A QR code that directly takes the traveler to a book purchase link will be provided in the publication. The purchased book can also be used as a coupon. For example, the purchaser can stay at a hotel at a discount price.
Embedded YouTube Commercial Video
Advertise the novel OAHS within a YouTube video — the YouTube commercial video is embedded within a YouTube video. A book purchase link with a unique coupon code will also be provided below the YouTube video in its description section. The book can be sold at a discount price as well. Also, running a YouTube commercial video can become a part of a profit-sharing program. For example, when a book purchase is made from the 'Handstand Tutorial' YouTube channel, the channel's host can share X % of the profit.
How I Became An Officially Published Writer
I plan to reach out to YouTube channels hosted by literary agents, published, self-published and aspiring writers and ask them to have me as a guest so that I can discuss how I became an officially published writer. Many of these YouTube channels have had an episode about how they or their guests went about publishing their book: how they found their literary agent and subsequently found a publishing house that would publish their books (not self-publishing). By sharing the story of my road to becoming an author, I can also advertise my book ‘OAHS’.
Other Related YouTube Channels
In addition to contacting podcasters, fitness and book reviewer YouTubers to have me as a guess, I can also contact Japanese language tutorials, English language tutorials and travel-related (in particular, traveling to Thailand, Japan and India), including living abroad, YouTube channel hosts to see if they can have me as a guest. The following is an example. I plan to contact the host of the YouTube channel ‘Chani Japan’ by email or DM:
Dear [Her Name],
My name is Junichiro Watanabe. Since you live in Japan and are fluent in Japanese, I’m sure you recognize from my name that I am Japanese. I grew up in Gifu City, Gifu prefecture until I finished high school — my mother and younger sister both still live in Gifu.
I recently found your YouTube channel and enjoyed the content. It’s rather unusual for an Australian to embark upon the adventure of moving to Japan and at the same time I found it an excellent idea to document your journey. Your YouTube videos also allowed me to see the country of my birth through a different lens and it was kind of refreshing.
I don’t have a well-established YouTube channel like yours, but I plan to publish a novel written in English - I believe, it is still quite rare that a Japanese national who was born and raised there writes a book in English.
I also built a website to market and promote my novel: https://oahsthenovel.com/
The novel is a quasi-autobiographical novel, so I touch upon subjects related to Japan. I teach Japanese in Thailand as a freelance Japanese teacher as a matter of fact — I’ve been living in Thailand for the last ten years now.
I am wondering if we can create a podcast episode/interview YouTube video. I have a couple of ideas and I’d like to exchange emails with you (or chat online) to discuss that. Would you be interested? If so, can you please send me a DM and let me know?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Jun
[End of Email/DM]
Book Fairs
I plan to attend book fairs as well such as Frankfurter Buchmesse (Frankfurt Book Fair).
Japan severely Lacks English proficiency
Throughout the marketing and promotion campaign, I will emphasize that Japan severely lacks English proficiency and thus it is quite rare for a Japanese author (who was born and grew up in Japan) to write a novel in English.
According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Japan ranks 5th in the world in math, 2nd in the world in science and 3rd in reading (reading is tested in one’s primary language) — PISA has three tests: mathematics, science and reading. I believe it is fair to say that Japan has a high-quality education system.
Partly because of the historically low exchange rate of yen (Japan’s currency), in the list of countries by nominal per capita GDP Japan ranks somewhere between Spain and Portugal, but in terms of nominal GDP even after India surpasses Japan in 2025, Japan will still rank 5th in the world and will remain a major industrial nation.
However, when it comes to the ability to communicate in the English language, Japan ranks close to the bottom.
According to the ‘EF English Proficiency Index’, Japan ranks 87th in the world in terms of its English proficiency, which is rather unusual in the sense that none of the major industrial nations (such as European countries) ranks this low — both South Korea and China (and also Mongolia) rank higher than Japan. 113 countries are listed in the EF English Proficiency Index (data is not available for the other 100 or so countries), so Japan ranks very, very low.
I am not trying to self-aggrandize but as a marketing strategy, I plan to publicize 'OAHS' as a unique achievement.