Business Success for the Inclusive Taekwondo Manual

While I mentioned our inclusive Taekwondo manual in previous posts, the business aspect of its sales was a unique experience for me. When I first published my science fiction novel, The Moonshot Saga, I wasn’t focused on profit. My main goal was to share my story and connect with readers. However, with this Taekwondo manual, my father, who has been a Taekwondo instructor for over 20 years, wanted to ensure that the time and effort he had invested were rewarded. For each manual sold, he earned around three to four dollars, which helped validate the value of this project for him.

Unlike my novel’s target audience, which I reached through social media, my father’s target market was the families and students he worked with—particularly those with mental and physical disabilities. This meant the promotional strategy needed to be different. While I spent $50 to $100 on social media campaigns over a month and a half to attract readers to my work, my father’s close relationship with his students and their families made his manual a straightforward sell. Within just a month, he made over $100 in net sales, selling more than 50 copies, with some purchases made in bulk so multiple people could benefit from the manual.

Witnessing his success taught me an essential lesson: book sales aren’t only about broad reach but also about the strength of existing connections. My father’s close-knit community rallied around him, and the manual’s support was immediate and heartfelt. This experience highlighted that meaningful connections can be just as impactful as online reach, especially within communities that share a common purpose.

Reflecting on this, I realized that for my own ESL workbook for international elementary students, while social media will remain essential for global reach, building personal connections could be equally valuable. Perhaps, in the future, when I travel abroad, I can directly connect with students and educators, creating more opportunities to share my work in person. This experience with my father’s manual has broadened my perspective on book marketing, showing me that cultivating meaningful relationships can be as effective as—and sometimes more rewarding than—purely digital outreach.