The Peace of Mind Playlist

• The foundation of the marketing campaign. Goal: 1,000 subsribers by 1 October 2025. Current no.: 69
• Emails x 37, weekly between 1 April and mid-December, distributed using Aweber auto-responder platform 
• Offering subscribers book (promo) updates, premium content and exclusive offers
• Choice of three cover designs so they can choose their favourite, via a poll, for the final product
• Email will be the only place (initially) where I’ll share the Kickstarter link, and will be the only way to find out where and when we’ll be distributing the nespapers

Promoting/selling/highlighting:

1. Me, the author
2. The brain
3. The playlist
4. The book

• LinkedIn posts x 32 (weekly)
• Instagram posts x 74
• Some posts will form part of various series:
  • Series 1: Fast Show skits (Brilliant Kid in one, Patrick Nice in another)
    Series 2: Lyrics reveal
    Series 3: The Thursday Quiz
    Series 4: Snippets from old books
    Series 5: Name the venue
    Series 6: New memes
  • Series 7: Randoms
  • Series 8: bands I’ve seen/I recommend
• TikTok vids x 17
• Facebook posts x 3
• YouTube playlists
• YouTube: when I’ve recorded the audiobook, I’ll publish experpts on YouTube (even without video)

*Zuckerberg’s decision to bin third-party factcheckers on Meta’s platforms makes me uncomfortable marketing my forthcoming book on them, but I have to in order to do it effectively.

But I don’t want to give them money as well.

So my online ad spend will be on Amazon only (also far from perfect).

Blog post

Not sure I’ll do this but I could write one post, using the ‘crowdsourced manual’ template. Already used here: paulparry.com/lead-generation.

Writing that post, in 2016, led to about 200 shares with virtually no promo work, and can be replicated during the TPoMP campaign.

Trailer

I’d like a book trailer, and have someone who’s very capable and keen to help, but I so far haven’t given this idea much thought.

Online shop (fulfilled on demand by a third party). Items:

• • The book in all formats
  • Bundles
  • TPoMP umbrella
  • Car air freshener (who’s driving – you or your lizard brain?)
  • Ice scraper
  • Book of TPoMP posts (using popsa.com, maybe)
  • TPoMP logo within the barrowland logo, on a T-shirt 
  • Other T-shirts? 
  • Polo shirts 
  • Bookmark
  • Pens
  • Wellbeing/journalling pad
  • Keyring
  • The newspaper editions 
  • Other? Your playlist as a commemorative cassette? 

Potential offers for backers:

• PDF
• The demo version 
• The signed hard back 
• Audio book
• The Amazon print-on-demand paperback 
• Car air freshener
• T-shirt 
• Bookmark
• Name in book’s Supporters section in all formats of book (including audiobook)
• Branded umbrella
• All four PP books (paperbacks), signed
• All four PP books (paperbacks) 
• All the editions of The Metro Method 
• Links to the 2022, 2023 and 2024 playlists 
• Ebook for Kindle 
• Audio book
• Your playlist as a commemorative cassette? 

I’m in the process of sending out 130 proof copies to:

• Friends
• Family
• Famous names (footballers, musicians)
• Colleagues
• Broadcasters
• Charity management
• Therapists I know
• Potential local stockists

In the new year, I’ll email those who haven’t yet sent me a comment (praise/blurb) which I might be able to use in the opening pages of the book, or maybe on the cover.

A TPoMP-branded newspaper (The Daily Anxiety) sharing book excerpts, repurposed social posts and exclusive content:

Concept

I went into London on Monday 18 November 2024 because on the previous Saturday: the WFC healthcheck; the Sunday: went for a run/signed up for LLH (share charity link); Monday 18th: went to London to walk and work at the RFH. 

At Embankment station, I picked up a copy of Metro. On the other side of the river, I found that the RFH was closed, so I ended up walking for miles and miles in the drizzle and gloom. First, walking rather aimlessly, then heading with purpose towards the Barbican to work there. I ended up changing my mind and walking to Chancery Lane and getting a tube to Oxford Circus to buy a suit for the first time in 30 years (another story).

Later that day, I thumbed through the copy of Metro I’d picked up earlier. My thoughts: it’s rubbish. Boring. Full of bad news and massive, uninspiring ads. Not the best place for news. Entertainment? Not for me.

So why is it pretending to be news?

Because a particular group of people must really like it. 

Five million people read it every day. Therefore, if readership is roughly three times circulation, approximately 1.7m copies are printed daily.

What if we replaced a few of those copies?

What if we gave them a different version of it? Something better to pass the time while still meeting their needs?

Can we create a TPoMP version to give away? 

Yes, with the help of these people: newspaperclub.com.

Why? Who would it be for and what would it be for?

• Who: some of those Metro readers who are up for replacing the same old rubbish with something more interesting for a few days. Many of those people just want something to hold, to fill their commute, to be entertained. Therefore, give them an alternative.
• What: to give those people what they want while also promoting the book and, more specifically, the Kickstarter campaign.

We’ll use the emails to promote the idea, build anticipation and exclusivity. 

We’ll use tpomp.co.uk to put up a simple one-page website whose sole job is to give the dates and stations where we’ll be distributing copies.

Stations

• Croxley
• Rickmansworth
• Charing Cross
• Embankment
• Chancery Lane
• Oxford Circus

These stations formed part of my day on 18/11/2024.

Distribution

• Start by handing out a simple one-pager at these stations to tell people what they can expect on three days later this year. To find out which three days, join the TPoMP crowd at tpomp.com.
• Slot copies between every other edition of Metro in their stands at stations or, top up the holders at stations, or personally distribute copies to commuters, or hire other people to hand them out
• After the campaign, distribute at entrances to stations, building sites, coffee shops and on the concourse at mainline stations
• Which other industries in particular need men to start opening up? Talk to people who know and might want to get involved

Content 

• Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the book across editions 1, 2 and 3 of The Daily Anxiety
• What should replace the traditional horoscopes? Mooroscopes! (Mooro is very funny and used to write a thing every month for Four Four Two – Ask a Silly Question. He’d talk to footballers and literally ask them silly questions. Some played along, others were spooked and didn’t want to know. He’d be perfect for this – if he’s up for it)
• The Luke Norman interview (across the three editions). To keep a balance, I’ll ask Luke if he wouldn’t mind interviewing me. We can then split that interview across three editions of our newspaper. We’d pay Luke and Mooro for their work.
• I’ll also approach Scott Johnson, who established The Proper Blokes Club, for an interview
• Bubbles about songs and bands I like 
• Sport pages: feature athletes included in the book, and what I say about them
• The Fourth Edition includes the full interview and the best Mooroscopes 
• Visuals we’ve used on IG to replace the uninspiring ads

Promotion

• Via email: Why newspapers? I grew up with them… On Nov 18th (following WFC’s day on the 16th) 
• Two stats which I’ve recently discovered and which have intrigued me:

CCR get more monthly listens on Spotify than the Stones. And Metro, which I knew was the most-read newspaper in the UK, is read by 5m people. Five million. 

• Tell people where we’ll be placing them the next day (the modern equivalent of ringing a strange number in the 90s to find out where the party is)
• If people want a copy but can’t get into London, make available free – people just pay for shipping
• For one day only, I’ll be joining the All on the Board fellas at North Greenwich tube and handing out all three editions 

Design

• https://www.newspaperclub.com/blog/posts/26619-the-ultimate-step-by-step-guide-to-using-our-canva-templates 

 Next steps

• Pricing examples: 8-page tabloid x 500 = £668 / x 1000 = £712
• Consider paying for the paper via ads

• Press release/story for MyCroxley, Watford Observer/otehr local publications
• Request on-air interviews with BBC Radio Essex (via brother’s friend, a producer there), then BBC Three Counties Radio
• Journo/blogger outreach, especially if/when I have a blog post to promote

TPoMP branding will be printed on ska band Death of Guitar Pop’s official poster for their upcoming UK tour (a £100 investment). The deal also gets a namecheck from the band on every night of the tour.

I’ll also see if I can get some posters signed to use for a free prize draw.

At last year’s Stone Valley South festival, I printed each day’s set times on a piece of paper and put that paper in a small transparent plastic bag to keep it dry in case it rained. I wanted easy-to-reach info so my friends and I could easily see when each band was on.

“Who’s on next, Pazza?”
“When are so-and-so on, Pazza?”

All weekend. I’ve never been so popular. 

I’ll create a TPoMP version for distribution at Stone Valley South.

These handouts, 148mm x 105mm, will be TPoMP-branded, with a QR code on either side linking to the hompage, and include bands’ set times on one side and book info on the other:

I will pay to get them designed in April, and prepare a printer so that when set times are published I can just slot them into the placeholders and get them printed in time for the festivals.

Numbers to print: so far undecided.

I will be at SV South and can hand out these flyers. I have a connection in South Wales who I trust (and will pay) to hand out at In It Together. Mrs P will be at SV Midlands and will hand out flyers.

BJ Press for printing (tbc).

Potential local stockists

• Amici, Croxley
• LP Café, Watford
• The Kitchen, Croxley
• Johnny’s Bar, Watford
• Chorleywood Bookshop (and Gerrards Cross), via Sheryl Shurville
• Every Cloud – Treatments & Treasures, Croxley, via Nina

100 cards already created and a few dozen given out. Will make more when this lot run out.

F+S: Free plus shipping 

• Might use this model if not using Kickstarter (daughter Mischa is researching Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms at the moment)
• Might offer Mr Lizard book to the email list using this model