I’m undertaking a 1000-day reinvention project, blogging here daily to track my progress. In Monday Marketing, I research, plan, and evaluate my marketing and promotion activities.
I already have multiple email lists, none of them very large, for my three Substack newsletters: my personal one (where I write about whatever inspires me), my occasional AI newsletter, and my serialized memoir, Things Men Gave Me.
I realize, though, that I need an email list for the book I’m writing and plan to release next February, if I can get it created that fast. I bought a domain and domain hosting where I can create a landing page and email sign up. I wonder if it’s too early to do that already? I imagine not.
I’m going to brainstorm how to get people to the landing page for the book here:
- Participate in the dating over subredddits: datingoverforty, datingoverfifty, datingoversixty. Participate with helpful advice aligned with the book concept and material. Update my Reddit profile to have a link to the book page.
- Consider launching a YouTube channel with dating and relationships advice from a reckless romance perspective. Actually, I rather like that idea. I have some experience creating YouTube videos and found it really enjoyable.
- Instead of spending money on a book coach or developmental editor, maybe I should try some advertising. But how and where? Gemini suggested Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram), and there are a variety of options for that. YouTube is also a possibility, especially if I’m already figuring out that platform for sharing my own content. And podcasts are another channel where Gen Xers are listening.
In any case I need to create a strong lead magnet. Gemini says, “it should feel like a must-have solution to a critical problem.” It suggested three possibilities:
- Instead of “Sign up for my newsletter”: “The Midlife Dating Audit: Discover Your Top 3 Blind Spots (And How to Fix Them) [PDF Checklist]”
- Instead of “A free chapter”: “Chapter 3: The Secret Flirting Language Gen X Needs to Learn Right Now”
- Instead of “Free tips”: “Reckless Romance Roadmap: 5 Steps to End Dating Burnout”
I don’t think any of those suggestions are quite right for the ideas and advice I’m developing, but at least they start to give me some ideas.
ChatGPT, which has been helping me with my book, offered some better suggestions:
- “5 Myths About Love After 40” — A polished PDF that teases your core myths of reckful vs. reckless love.
- “The Reckless Romance Quiz” — Short self-assessment: Are you dating recklessly, reckfully, or fearfully? People love personality-style results.
- “The Midlife Dating Survival Guide” — Practical, 5–10 page PDF on avoiding common pitfalls (shopping for partners, over-prioritizing looks, rule-based filtering).
- Dating Profile Audit Checklist — Helps people review their online profile against “reckless” and “reckful” habits.
- First-Date Conversation Starters (That Actually Reveal Compatibility) — A one-pager that resonates with your audience’s desire for substance.
- The Partner Approval Matrix — A simple worksheet that contrasts social approval vs. true compatibility.
I like the first three options best, although I think instead of “myths” I would frame it as reckful vs reckless strategies. I’m not sure “myths” is the right framing though ChatGPT keeps coming back to it! It’s more that you can use reckful strategies (calculating, predicting, optimizing, eliminating, filtering) or reckless strategies (experimenting, welcoming, noticing, observing, …) and we’ve all gone too far in the direction of reckful. A little recklessness could help!
I feel excited about setting up a website, creating a lead magnet, and figuring out how to drive people who want a different way of approaching midlife love and romance there.