How to Market a Book: 10 First Steps

Have you ever wondered how to market a book? You spend months, maybe even years writing, editing, then rewriting your book until it’s a masterpiece (or at least finished). Now what? How do you turn all that hard work into sales and, if it’s not too much to ask, money?

There are hundreds of things to discuss when it comes to how to market a book, but what are the first steps you need to take, if you’re starting from scratch? That’s what were going to talk about in this article. Ready to get started?

Marketing a Book Doesn’t Have to Be Overwhelming if You’re Generous

If you Google “How to Market a Book,” you can find articles with dozens, even hundreds of marketing ideas.

And while those ideas might be helpful, they can also be overwhelming.

Here are the two fundamental marketing ideas you really need:

1. Be generous
2. Ask for help

Be generous with your writing by writing books, articles, and stories your readers will love and be challenged by.

Be generous with your readers by sharing some (not all) of your best writing for free.

Be generous with other writers by reading their writing, telling your friends and readers about it, and helping them whenever you can. (In other words, be generous by marketing the books of other writers.)

And then ask for help. Ask your readers for help when you launch a book and need them to buy it and share it with their friends.

Ask other writers to give their feedback on your writing to make it the best it can be. Ask them help when you need blurbs for your book. Ask them to share your book with their audiences on social media and their blogs.

All book marketing comes down to these two simple principles: Be generous and then ask for help.

If you focus on those two things, you will never be overwhelmed.

Why Marketing a Book Is So Hard

And yet, most writers I talk to are still uncomfortable with the idea of marketing. It feels salesy to them. Part of the reason is that the two principles I talked about above aren’t actually easy.

For many writers, the idea of sharing your best writing for free makes them feel used. They rightfully believe they should get paid for their work, and that giving it away for free cheapens it.

And at the same time, most people struggle with asking for help. It’s like having to ask for directions. Many people would rather get lost trying to figure it out on their own instead of asking a stranger for directions.

But when you do these two things together, when you’re extremely generous and then you ask for help, it makes all the difference. You don’t feel guilty asking for help because you’ve spent so much time giving. And you give so generously because you know that someday, when you need help, someone will be willing to step up.

Besides, if you truly believe in your book, if you believe that it will entertain and inspire anyone who reads it, then sharing it with the world isn’t marketing. It’s an act of generosity.

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If you truly believe in your book, then sharing it with the world isn’t marketing. It’s an act of generosity.

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10 Steps to Start Marketing Your Book

How do you apply those two all-important “marketing” principles we talked about above? What are the first steps to market your book? Here they are, in chronological order.

(By the way, this assumes you’ve already written a great book! If you’re still writing, check out this post on how to write a book in 100 days.)

1. Build an Author Website

All book marketing revolves around the idea of building a relationship with readers and turning them into raving fans, and your author website where you can start building those relationships is the first place that happens.

If you don’t have some kind of web presence (and I’m not talking about Twitter, Facebook, or even Goodreads), you need one.

Why an author website? Why not just build up your following on social media? I cover this in our building an author website tutorial, but here are the three reasons in brief.

1. Social media doesn’t sell books, but an email list does.
2. The best place to build your email list is on a website.
3. You OWN your website. You don’t own your social media following.

So if you don’t have a website, bookmark this page for later, stop reading, and go build one.

Get started: Get our step-by-step guide on building an author website here.

2. Create an Email List

Email far outperforms social media when it comes to marketing and selling books, and so building your email list to 1,000 or more followers should be among your top marketing goals.

There are two email services I usually recommend (and no, Gmail doesn’t work for building your email list):

1. Convertkit. We use and love Convertkit here at The Write Practice because it’s incredibly powerful while also being user-friendly, intuitive, and simple. It’s a little pricey though ($29 / month to start), so this might be for the professional writer or something to upgrade to as you get more serious about your writing. Your email list is a great investment, though, so don’t take this for granted. You can sign up for Convertkit here.
2. Mailchimp. Mailchimp is a great company and is a very friendly service, but personally, I find it to be clunky, unintuitive, and hard to find the things you need. The only reason I recommend it is because it’s free for your first 2,000 subscribers. Assuming you’re using Mailchimp, you can learn how to create your first email list and sign up form here.

3. Give Away a Free Short Story, Chapter of Your Book, eBook, or Something Else to Get Email Subscribers

One of the best ways to grow your email list is by giving something away for free to prospective readers.

Before you say, “But I deserve to be paid for everything I write!” go back and reread the section on generosity above. Be generous with your readers and share something you’re proud of for free. Not only is it a great marketing tactic, you’ll feel better about yourself and the world when you do it.

My friend CG Cooper is the best at this. He’s built a huge reader base of military thriller fans through the power of generosity by giving away his best books. Cooper goes so far to give away full novels, and by doing so, he now has tens of thousands of readers on his email list, all of whom are the first to hear about his new releases.

Giving a novel away works best if you’re writing a series and giving away the first book, but if you don’t have the first book in a series to give away, here are a few things you might give instead:

• A short story
• The first three chapters in your book (they’re free as sample chapters on Amazon anyway)
• A manifesto 
• A 1-page download (like this one)
• A short eBook (5,000 words or less is best)

Convertkit, the email service I recommend above, makes this very easy, but it’s a little more complicated with Mailchimp (and is one reason I don’t like recommending them). Here’s how to do this with Mailchimp.

4. Do a Giveaway

Giveaways are another fun and generous way to build your email list. If you’ve been around on The Write Practice for any length of time, you know that we love giveaways.

If you’re just getting started with a giveaway, here’s what you might offer, from easiest to most elaborate:

• A $15 Amazon gift card
• A copy of your eBook
• 10 copies of your paperback book
• A signed hardcover copy of your book
• A Kindle with all of your books loaded onto it

I’m sure you can think of more ideas, but the point is to be generous and have fun.

As far the mechanism for running a giveaway, you have a few different options:

Kingsumo Giveaways is a great tool that we use here at The Write Practice. It makes running a viral giveaway really easy.

Rafflecopter is quite easy as well, and although it’s not as powerful as Kingsumo Giveaways, they do have a free option, which is nice.

The Comments Section. Giveaways don’t need to be fancy. You can also just do a post on your blog, on Instagram, or on Facebook. Ask your readers to subscribe to your email list, share the giveaway, and then comment or message you with their email address when they did it to be eligible for the giveaway.

5. Publish Great Content (Preferably Content That’s Similar to Your Book)

Sure, there are tricks you can use to get more readers, but the reality is that unless you’re writing great content—great novels, short stories, articles, and blog posts—no one is going to want to read your writing, no matter how many creative ways you market it.

The best way to accomplish your writing goals is to write better stories and articles, and then, of course, to share those with the world.

In other words, if you’re writing, you need to be publishing.

And your blog, which you set up in step #1 of this guide, is a great place to start publishing things! So go publish a short story or write a great blog post.

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As writers, we write things for other people. Go share your writing with the world.

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For tips on how to write a blog post, check out my in-depth guide.

6. Build Relationships With Other Writers

I used to think I could become a writer alone, that I could build a career without the support, encouragement, and help of other writers. In fact, I thought that’s how you were supposed to do it.

But as I studied the lives of great writers, people like Earnest Hemingway, Mary Shelley, Virginia Woolf, and J.R.R. Tolkien, I found that none of them did it alone. In fact, all of them had a team, a cartel, a group of other writers who could support them, encourage them, and help them build their career.

Now I believe that every writer needs relationships with other writers.

This isn’t just important for marketing, but having relationships with other writers does help you market your books better. Why? Because when you publish a book, your friends will share your book with their audiences of dedicated readers. That tremendously expands your reach.

And when your friends learn a new marketing tactic that’s working for them, they’ll share it with you, and then you can get better at marketing your own books.

Obviously, you want to make sure you’re giving more than you’re receiving, that you’re being generous with your writer friends (see the section on generosity above), but doing outreach, networking, making relationships, or whatever you want to call it, is an essential part of becoming a writer and marketing your books.

7. Guest Post, I.E. Publish Great Content on Other Publications

It’s not enough to publish great content on your personal website. You also have to publish great content on other people’s websites. In other words, you need to guest post.

Or, to look at this another way, you need to publish your short stories with literary magazines, or publish your articles in magazines, or publish your blog posts on your new writer friend from step #6’s blog.

As you share your best content with other people’s audiences, you’ll grow your own.

8. Get Beta Readers

A beta reader is someone who reads your book first, before it’s published. But not only are beta readers great if you want to get feedback on your book, they’re also important for marketing your book.

Here’s why: After your beta readers do the hard work of reading your book, thinking through it, and giving feedback, they become invested in the book’s success. They’re part of the process, and when your book comes out, they’re much more likely to leave a review (which we’ll talk about next) and tell their friends about it.

Since word of mouth marketing is the best kind of marketing when it comes to books, having a lot of beta readers can make a huge difference to your book’s success.

Check out our post about how to get beta readers.

9. Ask for Book Reviews

When people look at a book page on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, what do they look at first? The cover probably. But before they read the book’s description they’ll probably glance at one, all-important number: how many book reviews you have.

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Getting a lot of book reviews is one of the best things you can do to ensure your books success.

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Book reviews work for three reasons:

1. Book reviews provide social proof. You’re more likely to read a book with 100 reviews than a book with 3 reviews, even if those 3 reviews are all 5 stars.
2. Book reviews help people figure out whether they’re right for your book. Before I read a book’s description, I check out the reviews, because what other readers say about a book is a better sign that I’ll like it than what the publisher says.
3. Book reviews work on Amazon’s algorithm. While this isn’t confirmed by Amazon, I’ve found there’s a clear correlation between the number of reviews a book has and how well a book performs in Amazon’s search results.

How then do you get book reviews? You ask for them. Ask your beta readers, ask your writer friends. Ask the people on your email list. When someone emails you to tell you they loved your book, after you thank them for reading, reply with the link to the book’s page on Amazon and ask them to leave a review.

If you’ve been generous, and if you’ve focused on building your email list, creating relationships with other writers, and getting beta readers, this is your chance to ask for help.

10. Launch Your Book

All of the steps above lay the groundwork for this one thing, the moment you publish your book and finally share it with the world.

My friend Tim Grahl is the book launch expert, and he says in his article on how to launch a bestselling book that there are basically three steps to this:

1. Sell to your fans. I.E. your email list, step #2.
2. Invite your fans to share.
3. Engage influencers. I.E. your relationships with other authors, step #6.

You can read the full book launch guide on Tim’s website. It’s excellent.

This is where all the work you’ve done in the earlier nine steps comes together. So if you don’t have an email list and if you don’t have relationships with other authors, make sure to get started with that now.

You’ve Worked Hard on Your Book. Now It’s Time to Share It With The World.

Publishing and marketing your book can be one of the most gratifying parts of your writing career.

Or it can be one of the most disappointing.

What makes the difference is the work that you do before you publish your book. You’ve spent hundreds, even thousands of hours writing your book. Don’t leave the publishing and marketing to chance.

Be generous.

Ask for help.

And lay the foundation to your book’s success. Good luck!

How about you? Which of these steps have you done already? Which one do you need to do next? Let me know in the comments section.

PRACTICE

For today’s practice, use step number five and publish something. If you have a short story or blog post on hand, you can publish that, but even better if you write something new to publish.

And once you publish, here’s your chance for a little self-promotion: share the title and link to your short story or article in the comments section.

Finally, if you do share, read a few short stories or articles by other writers, leave a comment, and start to build relationships with other writers!

Happy writing!

The post How to Market a Book: 10 First Steps appeared first on The Write Practice.

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The 3 Best Yoga Poses for Sciatica Pain

What is Biohacking and Why You Should Care

Biohacking or biohacks is a process that we have been following for several years. Biohacking is a way to manipulate the actions of the body with the brain to get the best results. Biohacking doesn't involve becoming a crazy scientist and executing crazier experiments with your body. Rather, it means using different hacks to understand what works best for you and use it to live your best life.

If you want better outputs such as more focus and energy, a better memory, be free of diseases, and perform optimally in athletics and business, then tweaking what you consume in a day can do wonders. A person can use quantified self-tools to measure the inputs and outputs to test the effect of these modifications.

What Is Biohacking?

Biohacking is a method of making changes to your lifestyle to “hack” your body's system and feel your best. Everything that you put in your body and mind- thoughts, food, or physical movement, all influence the way we act. With the help of biohacking, you can transform your body to be more productive, feel more energized, and give you an overall best possible version of yourself.

Some experts believe that gadgets and measurement tools are important to biohack yourself, but if you are beginning your journey, it is best to make small lifestyle changes first and give time to your body to adjust with the changes and see how you feel. As you are the expert on your own body, stick with the hacks that work for you and get rid of the ones that don't.

Biohacking can refer to:

• Nutrigenomics, using nutrition to hack (take control of) human biology
• Do-it-yourself biology, biotechnological social movement in which individuals and small organizations study biology using the same methods as traditional research institutions
• Grinder (biohacking), people who try to improve their own bodies with do-it-yourself cybernetic devices

The Connection Between Biohacking And Fitness

If you are a fitness enthusiast, who loves to collect information and have a practical streak when it comes to taking charge of your health, incorporating biohacking elements into your lifestyle can give you excellent results. However, one point to remember is that the changes you see are not necessarily representing the bigger picture.

Moreover, no small tweak is going to change your life if you don't focus on the bigger picture. For example, if you are not eating vegetables at every meal, then consuming a cup of strong coffee will not help, or if you are lazy 24*7 and then workout for one hour to shock your muscles, then you are not getting any cardio benefit of exercise.

Biohack is important for people in today’s world as it gives them the freedom to explore biology and gain access to systems of the body that are too intricate to understand. With biohack, people don't need to put in extra efforts for staying healthy but incorporate simple changes in their day-to-day lives. The ultimate goal is to help people improve memory, focus, and mood through unusual methods.

4 Simple Ways to Biohack Yourself and Your Lifestyle

Simple biohacks are not only easy to implement, but they actually amplify your productivity while also effectively adding more time to your day. Here are four biohacks to upgrade your lifestyle:

1. Stay Fit With Meditation

The way we take care of our minds is just as important as the way we take care of our bodies. The benefits of meditation are tremendous, and it is also the ultimate brain hack. From increasing sleep quality and reducing pain to boosting productivity and lowering inflammation, meditating helps with the overall relaxation of the body. You can deal with the symptoms effectively if you are suffering from anxiety or stress with the help of meditation.

Daily meditation practice is going to affect your physical and mental health positively. However, it is essential to wear the right clothes while meditating. If you try to meditate in tight clothes, you will not be satisfied. But, wearing a pair of joggers will give you the best possible comfort level, and you will be able to concentrate on the movement of your body rather than the attire that you are wearing.

2. An Elimination Diet

It is a short-term eating plan to reveal the foods that you are allergic to. Simply remove food such as dairy, soy, corn, and peanuts for three to four weeks. Then slowly reintroduce them in your diet and keep a close check on how you feel and how your body responds to them physically. If you notice that a food item that you have added back into your diet is an irritant, remove it again and check if the issue clears up. The goal of the elimination diet is to pinpoint the allergens that you are intolerant to and make informed food decisions. It is one of the best biohacks for your body as you can eliminate the worst food offenders from your diet and feel good from inside.

3. A Good Night’s Sleep

If you are not getting enough sleep at night (usually seven to nine hours) or suffering from sleep deprivation, you are at high risk of health issues, including a weakened immune system, a higher risk for chronic disease, trouble concentrating, depression, and hormonal imbalance.

An easy biohack is to get enough sleep during the night and stick to a regular schedule to keep your circadian pattern in check. Moreover, it is best to avoid using electronics at night and keeping them away from the bed as the lights and radiation from your smartphone will keep you awake.

4. Stand Up Often

We spend an extraordinary amount of time sitting, from cars to desks to home and so on. All that sitting is damaging our health and might be even more dangerous than smoking. However, there is an easy way to fix it – standing up often. The important part is how often you stand, and not how long your stand.

Biohack your way to good health by simply standing up and interacting with the people around you instead of sending texts or taking the staircase instead of an elevator. Walking during long phone calls or taking a quick post-lunch walk will also be beneficial.

In conclusion…

Biohack is a fun way to figure out what your body prefers and how to make it feel even better, and it comes handy for people who have health problems. While there is nothing absurd about wanting to biohack yourself to feel good, it is important not to stray away from hardcore biohacking. Striking a balance in life will help you keep calm and stay on track.

If you are interested in learning more about the biohacking space online, here's a great list of the top 77 online biohackers to follow.

Example of the Biohacking Universe according to the Bulletproof Exec:

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Author Bio: Harsh

Harsh is the co-founder of Fynd, a first-of-its-kind, e-commerce fashion platform, with a live inventory of 8K plus stores catering to more than 8 million customers. He is an engineer from IIT Bombay and has 7+ years of experience in the field of Fashion Retail, Hospitality, Management Consulting and Human Resources. He is currently working on expanding Fynd's presence on to the global radar.

Twitter |  LinkedIn | Medium 

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#SpyStaffSlam – WIN a Custom Set of Wilson Staff Irons!

We’re just a week away from that annual shindig down in Augusta, and with Tigermania peaking, Rory streaking and Dustin staying away from staircases, this promises to be the most exciting Masters in years.

It truly is a tradition unlike any other, and along with the good folks at Wilson Staff, MyGolfSpy wants to make your Masters weekend a bit more interesting with the first of our four #SpyStaffSlam contests.

First prize is your choice of a fully customized set of Wilson Staff irons - anything from the super-duper game improvement D350’s all the way up to the super-sexy FG Tour 100 blades. It’s your choice.

Call Me Intrigued!

The contest is pretty simple to enter. You pick a 4-person team, and if your team cops to the most total prize money, you win. As we said, 1st prize is a full set of Wilson Staff irons cut built to your specs, 2nd prize is Wilson Staff PMP wedge with the new Raw finish, and 3rd prize is a dozen Wilson DUOSoft balls.

And this is only the beginning. We’ll be doing the same thing all over again for the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA. Wilson Staff has won 63 of these things, you know.

How To Enter:

It’s easy to enter, but make sure you follow the directions, so you don’t miss out.

First, if you haven’t already, you must join the MyGolfSpy Community Forum (click here to sign up).

Next, in the official MyGolfSpy Master’s Pool Thread in the Community Forum (click here), select and enter your team from the provided tiers. You’ll also need to enter your tiebreakers, just in case.

It’s pretty simple, but make sure to enter your selections only in the contest thread in the Community Forum. We’ll announce the winners in that thread Monday after the Masters.

You won’t get a green jacket, but then again, a green jacket won’t knock it stiff from 160!

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Overcoming Burnout: How to Recover When You’re Exhausted From Writing

Let’s face it: You love to write.

Yet a moment always seems to come when that passion feels more like a prison.

Perhaps it’s due to a crushing deadline. Maybe writing becomes exhausting because the words just don’t come. Maybe the readers don’t come either, and you wonder whether writing is even worth it.

It’s so important for writers to know how to rest. To step back from these pressures and find hope. Overcoming burnout — or the early stages of burnout, if you realize you’re getting worn down — is vital to your writing and your own well-being.

Overcoming Burnout: How to Rest From Writing

Rest is essential to recovery. And if you ever want to achieve your writing goals, you have to know how to recover when everything feels like it’s falling apart.

Here’s how.

1. Commit to the Recovery

When you’re worn and weary and overcoming burnout, you need boundaries that provide space between you and your stressful project. To get it, make a commitment that is accompanied by physical action.

For example, you might move files around on your computer, tucking the project away from your desktop screen. You might rearrange your workspace, post reminders, or update your calendar. You can also set reminders on your phone.

And, if you’re comfortable with it, share this commitment with a friend or fellow writer. By stating your intention to rest and recover aloud, it’ll provide the small-but-necessary amount of social pressure needed to keep your commitment.

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Feeling worn out from your writing projects? Commit to rest so you can return refreshed.

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2. Choose the Proper Timeline

When you make your commitment to rest, give it the proper timeline.

This begs the question: what is the proper timeline for overcoming burnout?

That’s up to you. But as a guideline, I recommend observing the following timelines and adjusting based on your needs:

• Short work (poem, short story, blog post): 2–3 days
• Medium-length work (collections of short stories or poems, blog post series): 1–2 weeks
• Novel-length material: 1–2 months

The key is to provide yourself enough time to thoroughly rest and recover for your return to the task at hand. In order to do that, you need to escape from the numerous sources of anxiety that wore you out in the first place.

And this is where the rubber hits the road: These stressors will tempt you, and scare you, into breaking your commitment early.

3. Recover Your Truth

As writers, we live in frequent, if not constant, fear of failure. I recently felt that fear as I was working on a new website that I hope will help students win lots and lots of college scholarships.

Yet despite this awesome calling, I was terrified.

What was I afraid of?

I wasn’t just afraid of failure. I was afraid of what failure would expose. That deep inside the core of my identity, I am a fraud, unworthy of all the joy and freedom that writing provides.

So a few days ago, I took a short break from all my writing. During that break, I journaled and prayed. And I was able to recover my Truth: that I am loved by the Creator of the Universe and that my desire to tell stories (and teach others about storytelling) is driven by a holy passion. I want to serve people with my stories, and I want others to serve with their stories, too.

The purpose of rest isn’t just to sleep more or spend money on an extravagant vacation. The purpose of rest is to give peace to your soul, recharging it for the difficult tasks life has in store.

So as you commit to a period of rest, use that time to journal, read, meditate, and pray. Return to the source of your creative joy, your Truth, and allow it to strip away all the lies, distractions, and fears that hold you back.

4. Allow Healthy Freedom

Two years ago, I forced myself to take a month of rest.

I had been writing, rewriting, and promoting my debut novel for over two years. And as I saw the launch fizzle before my eyes, I was angry and exhausted.

So I committed to take a month to rest.

Yet I didn’t abandon all writing. How could I? I’m a writer!

The idea of rest is to separate ourselves from the aspects of writing that are causing us to grow weary and lose our identity to fear and stress. For me, that negative aspect was promoting the novel.

But as ideas came to me for new projects during the break, I still took notes. When my family traveled to Tennessee on vacation, I sat on a porch rocker and dreamed big about the future of my writing career.

Was I breaking my commitment? Absolutely not! I was fulfilling its truest intent: allowing myself to recover, overcoming burnout. And part of that recovery was to rediscover healthy creativity, writing that didn’t feel like it was enslaving me to sales goals or Amazon reviews.

And when my one month break was over, I returned to the page totally energized and excited about the future.

The Joy of the Return

Perhaps the best part about a break from writing is the triumphant return afterwards.

After the time away, and after the healthy space without anxiety or fear, my mind was overflowing with new ideas and fresh approaches. There are few moments better than looking at an old project in a new way, and seeing a way forward.

Yet that is so difficult to achieve without a healthy break!

Perhaps this is why we often equate anxiety with drowning. Our fears and stresses feel like rising waters that will never recede.

But when we take the courageous step to rest, it’s like choosing to simply get out of the water. “You have no power over me,” we say to the rising tide.

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The best part of taking a break to rest from your writing is the triumphant return.

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Do you need a break? Do you need to free yourself from expectations that are crushing you?

Perhaps not today. But someday soon you will, and I hope that you bookmark this post and return to it when you feel like your passion has become a prison.

It won’t always be. When you commit to recover, your passion is born anew.

So have the courage to rest. You, and your love of writing, are worth the risk!

Have you ever needed to rest from your writing? What’s helped you in overcoming burnout? Let us know in the comments.

PRACTICE

Today, we’re going to rest from our greatest writing goals. Put down your work in progress and take fifteen minutes to free write whatever comes to mind. You’re not writing to accomplish anything, but simply to rest. Give yourself permission to write complete gibberish. Have fun as you let the words flow onto the page.

When you’re done, share your free writing in the comments, so we can all share in the fun, relaxed, messy experience of playing with words with complete freedom. And be sure to comment on your fellow writers’ creative expressions, too!

The post Overcoming Burnout: How to Recover When You’re Exhausted From Writing appeared first on The Write Practice.

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First Look: Bridgestone Tour B XS Tiger Woods Edition Golf Balls

Want to win the 2018 Most Wanted Winning…

PING G400 LST

Enter MyGolfSpy’s Giveaway!

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There may be no entity on Earth happier about the return of Tigermania than Bridgestone Golf. When Tiger plays, more people watch and the better Tiger plays, the more closeups of Tiger's ball.  And as Tiger's ball is the Bridgestone Tour B XS, you can't put a price tag on that kind of branding gold.

Tiger still moves the needle like no golfer since Arnie, and Bridgestone is riding that wave. In a company press release, Bridgestone is claiming more than double sell-through of balls at national retail partners in the weeks that Tiger plays when compared to last year.  The company also says it sees a similar increase in eCommerce sales.

So with proverbial iron red hot, why not capitalize with Limited Edition Tour B XS Tiger Woods Edition balls?

Charity Balls

These are Bridgestone's normal Tour B XS balls, but with the same custom TIGER personalization Tiger uses on his gamers. You also get a sweet Tiger box, and Bridgestone donates a portion of the profits to the TGR Foundation.

The TGR Foundation is Tiger's official charity and is in its 22nd year. In Tiger's words, the TGR Foundation's purpose is to "equip kids with a solid education and the mindset to persevere. We are quietly impacting an entire generation for the better."

The program has served more than 165,000 students (88% are minority, 85% lie below the poverty line and 97% are first in their families to ever attend college), introducing them to STEM - or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math - education. According to TGR's website, the foundation helps students in need to thrive in school, their communities, and the working world. The Earl Woods Scholar Program enjoys a 98.7% graduation rate, one of the highest rates for a scholarship program in the U.S.

The Tiger Edition balls will retail for $49.99 per dozen - 5 bucks more than the non-Tiger models - and will be available beginning April 1st.

Want to win the 2018 Most Wanted Winning…

PING G400 LST

Enter MyGolfSpy’s Giveaway!

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A Ball Fitting Update

Bridgestone's online ball fitting program is taking a bit of a leap forward with Find My Ball. The new fitting tool gives you three options: I'm New To The Game, I Know My Game, and I've Been Fitted.

I'm New To The Game is, obviously, for newbies and simply asks for your average score and your preference for either feel, accuracy or distance. I Know My Game is a little more in depth, asking for your age, gender, and current ball brand and model along with your average score and performance preference.

I've Been Fitted asks for launch monitor data, including driver club head speed, carry and total distance, ball velocity, launch angle, and spin, as well as current ball, average score, and performance preference. Once you give Bridgestone your email address, it'll make a ball recommendation and direct you to retailers as well as provide you with a link to buy online directly from Bridgestone.

You also get a reliability score - obviously, the more info you provide the more confident Bridgestone is with its recommendation. There are limitations to this type of online fitting tool, but then again, there are limitations to an in-person ball-fitting as well. Bridgestone bases its online recommendations on data collected from its in-person fittings.

 

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First Look: Ben Hogan Edge Irons

“I can honestly say that I have never had a bad day on the golf course. Learning to play this game is all about improvement. My goal was to become a better player every day. If I learned something that made me a better player, it was a good day.” –Ben Hogan, quoted by David Hueber from In The Rough: The Business Game of Golf

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Throughout all its iterations dating back to 1953, the Ben Hogan Company has had its good days and its bad days. There have been major championships and changes in ownership, along with comebacks, setbacks, mothballing, bankrolling, shutdowns and other showdowns.

Love it or hate it, it’s the brand that simply refuses to die.

And not only is Hogan refusing to die, but it’s also actually insisting on being relevant again by following up last week’s Equalizer wedge release with an entirely new from-the-ground-up iron set bearing a classic Hogan name – Edge.

Feel + Forgiveness

“It made a lot of sense, given the history and the heritage of the Edge name, to bring it back,” says Hogan CEO Scott White. The very first Hogan Edge iron was introduced in the late 80’s and became one of the most successful game-improvement irons in history. It was the first Hogan iron to feature perimeter weighting for extra forgiveness, along with the classic Hogan forged feel.

Will the new Edge live up to the standard set by its namesake? Not surprisingly, White says absolutely.

“I don’t like the term game-improvement. I’d rather call it game-enhancement,” White tells MyGolfSpy. “It’s for guys or women who are serious about their games, who play a bit and have some skill. It’s not a club with training wheels by any stretch of the imagination, but it does have some game improvement properties to it.”

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There’s plenty of perimeter weighting in the new Edge, but it’s well hidden internally. There’s still a cavity, and you can physically see the outline of the perimeter weighting, but the vast majority of the weighting is inside the head. The Edge is a two-piece forging: once the perimeter weighting is put in the proper place for each iron, the forged face is laser-welded onto the forged frame.

White says it bears the look of a traditional forging, but with a thicker topline and more offset than either the PTx or Ft. Worth 15 irons, which are both aimed at the better player. Overall, the head itself is about 12% larger than the PTx.

White says the Edge is for anyone ranging from a high single digit to around an 18 handicap.

“Hogan Tour staffers J.J. Henry and Mark Brooks both say the long irons may end up in their bags at some point,” says White. “It’s very forgiving, and it’s forged, so it feels great. It’s not a clunky, investment cast club that won’t give you any feedback on where you’re impacting the face. These will give you some feedback and help you improve.”

Last week we heard from a couple of readers quite vocal in their wishes for Hogan to bring back another iconic image – the Hogan sunburst logo. You’ll be happy to know Hogan was thinking the same thing.

 

As a former owner of the Hogan brand, Callaway still has rights to Hogan's other iconic name - Apex. White says that even thought Callaway did come out with irons named Edge a few years ago (and still sells them in a boxed-set to Costco), Hogan's lawyers have done their homework on the Edge name.

"Nobody owns the name 'Edge' outright. It's too generic. Our trademark is for 'Ben Hogan Edge,'"

Say Goodbye to Lofts

When Hogan returned in 2015, its theme was “Precision is Back.” Instead of using iron numbers, Hogan irons were instead stamped with lofts – what the company called the PreciseLoft^TM System – and every loft from 20- to 47-degrees was available. So instead of reaching for your 7-iron from 165 yards out, you’d be reaching for your 33-iron (or your 34, or 35, depending on your set makeup).

It’s fair to say the concept was polarizing. Some golfers were fine with it, others not so much. From a manufacturing and assembly standpoint, it had to have been a logistical and inventory nightmare.

For the new Edge irons, it’s back to basics.

“We’ve gone back to traditional iron numbers only,” says White, who adds Hogan is still committed to the basic tenet of the PreciseLoft^TM System: 4-degree gaps between clubs in the set.

“The loft compression at the short end of most sets is, quite honestly, just ridiculous,” declares White. “It really eliminates your ability to score well. We find in a lot of competitive sets you’re hitting your 7-, 8- and 9-irons within 7 to 10 yards of each other. That’s just not the way we think irons should be developed and built.”

Edge sets start with a 22-degree 4-iron and go up to a 46-degree pitching wedge – lofts which, by today’s standards, are downright traditional.

“It’s not a competition to see who has the longest 7-iron,” says White. “That’s not our goal.”

“We’re not trying to manufacture our irons to win at Demo Day. We’re trying to provide the best tools for a golfer to score with. Hogan players tend to be more accomplished, more skilled. For them it’s not about distance. It’s about having the tools to get around the golf course strategically and in as few strokes as possible. A 7-iron you can hit 180 yards isn’t necessarily the best way to do that.” – Scott White, Ben Hogan CEO

Each iron can be loft-adjusted 3-degrees up and 2-degrees down, as well as lie adjusted, which Hogan will provide as standard customization at no extra charge. You’ll also have your choice of standard or midsize grips and of available shafts: KBS Tour V in Stiff or X-Still, KBS Tour 90 in Regular or Stiff, or UST Recoil 660 in A-Flex or Regular, or the 680 in Stiff.

The Edge irons will sell only on Hogan’s website for $105.00 per club or $735.00 for a seven club set. The price is the same for steel or graphite shafts and includes all loft, lie, and shaft-specific swingweight customizations.

Edge irons should be part of Hogan’s 14-day Demo Program in early April. White says he’s hoping to have 6- and 9-iron demo sets available right around the Masters.

More Changes In Ft. Worth

As we mentioned last week, with the advent of the new Equalizer wedges, the Hogan TK 15 wedges will be phased out by the end of this year (you can buy them on Hogan’s website currently for $75/each). Some other changes are coming to the rest of the lineup, as well.

“PTx will stay in the lineup, but we’re going to eliminate two of the PreciseLoft^TM configurations,” says White. Currently, Hogan offers the PTx in four separate loft configurations – it calls them Low, Mid, Mid-High or High launch. Low Launch, for example, is a 7-club set starting at 20-degrees and ending at 44-degrees. High Launch starts at 23-degrees and ends at 47-degrees.

“80% of our orders are for the Mid-High Launch, the one that starts at 22-degrees. So we’re going to offer that one, and the low launch as well – we get a lot of orders from people playing in the Texas wind – so we’re going to phase out the odd number lofts.” - Scott White

White says there may be some changes coming to the Ft. Worth 15 irons (“Film at 11,” he says), but any changes or enhancements won’t be coming for a few months. No changes are planned for the Hogan VKTR hybrids or Ft. Worth 15 Hi utility irons and don’t expect any metal woods from Hogan this year.

“We continue to work on them,” says White. “But we’re still not where we need to be.”

Still Standing

“If you dig it out of the dirt, it is yours forever.” – Hogan, quoted by Hueber

Mr. Hogan may have been talking about the golf swing, but it’s an apt analogy for this version of his company.

“A year ago, we really weren’t sure what was going to happen,” says White. “But by doing things simply, methodically, strategically and doing a few things well instead of a bunch of things poorly, it’s an easy formula.”

White admits that at this time last year, he really didn’t think Hogan would still be around. But once new ownership was in place and the Direct-to-Consumer model was launched, he knew Hogan was back in the game.

“These aren’t guys who just dabble in anything,” he says. “When they see an opportunity to upset the status quo and make an impact in an established industry like golf equipment, I knew then this was going to be a lot of fun. We’re staying focused on the serious, more accomplished golfer. As long as you have a direction and everybody understands it, it’s pretty easy to execute on it.”

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All aboard the Toy Train for a breathtaking rail journey to Shimla

The Toy Train to Shimla

As we clattered along the narrow track, the mountains gradually emerged like shy ballerinas peeking out from behind a curtain of lush green foliage. Glimpsed intermittently at first, the foothills of the mightiest mountain range on earth rose amidst tiny hamlets and towering pine trees. A yellow butterfly flittered past the open window and the scent of lush plants wafted around our carriage. I was on the quaintly-named Toy Train to Shimla, enjoying a whistle-stop tour of some of India’s highlights with Great Rail Journeys. 

Toy Train at Salogra

The Toy Train to Shimla

We boarded the train at Kalka, a small station in northern India named after the goddess Kali. Our luggage had been whisked away and we’d be seeing it next at the Oberoi Cecil, a luxurious hotel in Shimla. Having everything taken care of, from tickets to luggage and transport are just some of the great reasons to choose an escorted tour of India. Lunch boxes were handed out and we boarded the train in great anticipation. For many of us, the Toy Train journey was the highlight of this trip, along with seeing the Taj Mahal. The carriage was fairly basic, with seats that benefited from the cushions we’d brought with us, air-con provided by open windows and meals served by a boy making up delicious chana chaat as we rolled up the sub-tropical Shivalik Hills.

Ingredients for fresh chaat

Chaat (Hindi: चाट – chat) is a savoury snack, typically served at road-side tracks from stalls or food carts in India. Ingredients include chana (chickpeas), potatoes, tomatoes, onion, chilli powder, roasted cumin seed powder, black salt and a squeeze of lemon.

Freshly-made chaat

We were privileged to share the train ride with local historian Raaja Bhasin, who told us the story of the Toy Train and was a key player in getting it nominated for Mountain Railways of India UNESCO World Heritage status, which it achieved in 2008. This narrow-gauge railway was built in 1898 to connect Shimla, the summer capital of India during the British Raj, with the rest of the Indian rail system. During its construction, 107 tunnels were built (103 remain in use) and over 860 bridges were built along the route, in one of the world’s most impressive engineering projects. (Disclaimer: the exact number of tunnels and bridges seems to vary a bit so don’t take my word for it!) The route is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometers. More than 2/3 of the track is curved, sometimes at angles as sharp as 48 degrees. The Barog Tunnel, 1143.61m, is the longest tunnel on the Kalka-Shimla route; it took us more than 2 minutes to pass through it at about 15 mph.

Barog Tunnel

En route, Raaja also shared stories of his childhood train rides and how he developed a life-long passion not only for this impressive railway but also the stunning landscape that it encompasses.

Raaja Basin on the Toy Train to Shimla

The journey takes about 5.5 hours; after a while, we got into a bit of a routine. Some gazed out of the window at the mountain scenery and villages, others made friends with fellow passengers, some read or checked their phones. For a while, I sat by the door, safely wedged in, to enjoy the fresh air and get closer to the beautiful scenery we were passing.

Zoe aboard the Toy Train

We stopped at quaint stations at regular intervals along the way. It was all very leisurely with people getting on and off, sometimes buying snacks to take back on board. I was very tempted by the fried chaat at Salogra Station but resisted. We’d been warned to be careful of street food and I didn’t want to risk a dodgy tummy. (Delighted to report that I totally avoided Delhi Belly with that advice.)

Chaat seller at Salogra

As we slowly rolled into Dharampur Himachal station we saw a cow sitting quite happily between the tracks. It looked up as we went past but wasn’t at all fazed by the noisy diesel train.

Cow at Dharampur Himachal Station

When the train had stopped, sooe of us jumped off to say hello to the cow and take a photo. We got really close, much to the amusement of the train driver and locals.

Another train tooted its arrival and the cow got up very slowly and set off walking along the railway line in front of the engine.

I was back on the train, leaning out of the carriage window to watch and the cow walked right past me, before the turning round and going back to its original resting place. It was the strangest herding I’ve ever seen.

Cow beneath my window

We stopped at Solan, an urban sprawl of new housing and businesses that Raaja described as entombed in a ‘halo of litter‘. Known as the Mushroom City of India‘ due to one of its main crops, it’s also appropriate in the way the city is growing so rapidly. All along the route we kept passing major roadworks as the main road from Shimla to Kalka and beyond, is being widened. (We drove back down the mountains a couple of days later and it was really interesting to see the route from the road.)

Solan

As we got higher up into the Himalayas the air changed; cooler, fresher and scented with something tantalisingly different from any other mountain region I’ve been in. Himachal Pradesh is known as the fruit bowl of India. The fertile slopes abound with fertile orchards, meadows and pastures growing apples, pears, almonds, peaches, plums, walnut, grapes and mangoes.  Other crops include wheat, barley, maize and potatoes. Wild flowers dot the landscape and roses, tulips, gladioli and many other cultivated species are grown for local and international market. We were lucky with the weather as the sun shone brightly for most of our journey. Eventually the light started to fade and the hills seemed clothed in a lilac-blue mist.

The Himalayas from the Toy Train

There was some excitement as we got our first glimpse of Shimla (Simla) through the huge trees growing beside the railway track. I had an image of this historic hill town from numerous books and films as a small town perched on a hillside, caught in a moment in time, probably mid-1800s when it was the centre of British Government for the British who ruled a large part of India at this time.

Shimla from the Toy Train

The urban sprawl of high-rise office blocks and thousands of apartments and houses built on two sides of a mountain was a bit of a shock. However, the colonial heart of the city is beautifully preserved and old Shimla retains much of its old-time attractions. We stopped briefly at Tara Devi and Summertown stations before making our way slowly to our destination.

As the sun set the hills alight with a rosy pink glow, we alighted from the sturdy Toy Train to begin our exploration of historic Shimla. Our train ride had taken us from the hot lowlands of northern India to the cooler climes of the Himlayas on an unique and unforgettable trip through some of the most spectacular scenery to be seen from any railway line in the world.

I travelled to India courtesy of Great Rail Journeys. I am grateful them for enabling me to fulfill a life-long dream in such a marvellous way. Special thanks to our guide Farouk for his unfailing care and good humour, to all the friendly staff in the hotels we stayed in and to all the wonderful people we met along the way who made this trip so special. All views and photos are my own.

Shimla today

If you’d like to go on a similar trip, take a look at Great Rail Journeys escorted tours of India and start planning your trip of a lifetime now 

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