My first post ever…and this is the only social media I’m on! So please be patient. :)
My passion project has been to write and distribute (for free) a book called DISENGAGE: Opting Out—and Finding New Options—to Reclaim Your Life from Spammers, Scammers, Intrusive Marketers and Big Tech.
Over the course of two+ years, I went through the process of disengaging myself as much as possible from Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and traditional social media…removing myself from people-finder sites and data-broker lists…protecting my home address and images…getting my photos and bios removed from the web and from AI face searches…etc.
As a former journalist, I thought it would be great to write about my experiences to help others reclaim their power, as much as possible, from Big Tech. The book is free, no email required, no tracking, no affiliate links. Available in PDF and full text on the site, and EPUB on Smashwords and other retailers.
Redditors in subs like r/twoxpreppers, r/privacy, and r/anticonsumption were all over it…but I killed off my Reddit account a couple months ago and plan to use only Lemmy and similar.
So here’s my catch-22: trying to promote an anti-Big Tech book without using any of that big tech myself.
Here’s what’s happening so far:
- Volunteers have been putting promotional postcards inside books at bookstores, in Little Free Libraries, etc.
- I’ll leave piles of postcards at the next protest I go to.
- My volunteer PR person has been managing an Instagram account for my publishing company (which I have bo control over).
- I’m having a couple dozen print copies of the book made, on my own dime, for my volunteer PR person to send out (and for myself to put in Little Free Libraries).
I was considering doing a test mailing using the USPS “every door” delivery service, but at the price I feel comfortable spending, I’d be able to cover, say, a couple blocks in Berkeley, CA. Also, not sure direct mail is the way to go since I have a chapter on getting off of direct mail lists. :)
Any ideas? News outlets/podcasters/etc. you know of that might be interested? Fun guerrilla marketing-style tactics I haven’t used?
I really, really loved creating this book and I’m passionate about the topic. But I just don’t have the reach needed to get it out there the way I would like.
Thanks for any ideas!
Hexbear
Communities Create PostBest way to promote anti-Big Tech book…without using big tech? Corduroy_Pillows_Making_Headlines [she/her] to technology •
My first post ever…and this is the only social media I’m on! So please be patient. :)
My passion project has been to write and distribute (for free) a book called DISENGAGE: Opting Out—and Finding New Options—to Reclaim Your Life from Spammers, Scammers, Intrusive Marketers and Big Tech.
Over the course of two+ years, I went through the process of disengaging myself as much as possible from Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and traditional social media…removing myself from people-finder sites and data-broker lists…protecting my home address and images…getting my photos and bios removed from the web and from AI face searches…etc.
As a former journalist, I thought it would be great to write about my experiences to help others reclaim their power, as much as possible, from Big Tech. The book is free, no email required, no tracking, no affiliate links. Available in PDF and full text on the site, and EPUB on Smashwords and other retailers.
Redditors in subs like r/twoxpreppers, r/privacy, and r/anticonsumption were all over it…but I killed off my Reddit account a couple months ago and plan to use only Lemmy and similar.
So here’s my catch-22: trying to promote an anti-Big Tech book without using any of that big tech myself.
Here’s what’s happening so far:
Volunteers have been putting promotional postcards inside books at bookstores, in Little Free Libraries, etc. I'll leave piles of postcards at the next protest I go to. My volunteer PR person has been managing an Instagram account for my publishing company (which I have bo control over). I'm having a couple dozen print copies of the book made, on my own dime, for my volunteer PR person to send out (and for myself to put in Little Free Libraries).I was considering doing a test mailing using the USPS “every door” delivery service, but at the price I feel comfortable spending, I’d be able to cover, say, a couple blocks in Berkeley, CA. Also, not sure direct mail is the way to go since I have a chapter on getting off of direct mail lists. :)
Any ideas? News outlets/podcasters/etc. you know of that might be interested? Fun guerrilla marketing-style tactics I haven’t used?
I really, really loved creating this book and I’m passionate about the topic. But I just don’t have the reach needed to get it out there the way I would like.
Thanks for any ideas! Body technology technology
On the road to fully automated luxury gay space communism.
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138 users / day719 users / week1.05K users / month2.99K users / 6 months22.6K local subscribers23.6K subscribers5.5K Posts63.8K CommentsModlog mods: context [fae/faer, fae/faer] EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them] SexUnderSocialism [she/her]gaycomputeruser [she/her] ZoomeristLeninist [they/them, she/her] UI: 0.19.8 BE: 0.19.9 PPB Modlog Instances Docs Code join-lemmy.org Terms of Service Code Of ConductThank you for making this! I’m a couple months in on this process for myself and it’s a slog but I’m already noticing how Much more pleasant my online life is.
For distribution: I recommend getting folks to hand out the postcard flyers at upcoming protests like the 50501 protest on April 19. I will make an effort to print and distribute some here in Oakland at the protest and will also take them with me when I walk the dog to leave at cafes and stuff.
Maybe worth adding a cover page to your book that request the reader to pass the book along (maybe you already did this, I’ve only skimmed it so far).
Thank you! I do have an “ask” in the first section of the book for those who would like to help. I’d love for others to distribute the postcard at protests…just not sure how to reach people in other areas (besides my friends). I really appreciate your distributing postcards!