One of the first websites that I started managing under the Wingspan Marketing banner, was nauticalandaviation.com. The Nautical & Aviation Publishing Co. of America was a publisher books on naval and military history, fiction, and reference. They had original works and some reprinted classics.
Many of their sales happened on Amazon, but they also had a very good business with various state parks, battle field sites, and other relevant locations that deal in American military history.
At first, I just hosted and made routine edits to the content of the website (it was a very basic but effective WordPress site with WooCommerce powering the ecommerce part of the site. Over time, I was able to help with much more. We dove into online marketing efforts of Google Pay Per Click and even some Facebook advertising. Monthly status update calls with Jan Snouck-Hurgronje dealt with web analytics and constantly trying to associate sales numbers with marketing efforts.
I had opportunities to discuss directly with some authors, our marketing efforts to promote their books. It was particularly interesting to participate with Nautical and Aviation in efforts to promote their first Kindle book.
I learned a lot about the book publishing industry and valued the experience.
Sadly, Nautical and Aviation recently decided to close the doors. I know that Jan and the team had been doing everything they could to keep the business going, but I think all realized that in the current economic climate and cost of doing business, that the best decision was to sell of the titles and remaining inventory.
I’m grateful for the friendship that I made with Jan. Our many discussions about politics, church, and military past were fun. His passion was obvious and I only wish that we could do more.
Jan was generous in an email to me recently. A reminder that relationship is better than transactions:
Andy, I wish I knew how to fully express my gratitude for your professional advice and success in selling our books online. The pleasure of working with you, and your generous patience with us. You became a true friend. I hope you will visit us soon.
This type of thing fires me up and is such an encouragement.
