I’ve been writing books for several years now, and blogging about preparedness topics for over 15 years. Although I can’t claim to know everything, I do know a thing or two or three about the survival niche. I’ve seen blogs come and go, met interesting people, and was surprised more than a few times when people who I thought were legitimate online preppers turned out not to be, at least, turned out to use fake names.
I’ve seen this problem, specifically, in the places where people create and sell survival courses. Many of them make very fancy websites with professional video presentations designed to scare you to death. They then market these courses to people like you behind vast marketing campaigns, often promoted by affiliates who only make money when you buy.
Although there’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, I’m afraid that much of what unsuspecting consumers are buying is recycled advice repackaged in a way that is less than genuine. That is, the courses they sell aren’t really made by preppers … they’re made by marketers who pay writers to make content. Perhaps some of these writers are also preppers, but probably not.
What I’ve noticed more recently (in the past few years) is the amount of competition on Amazon, even in the survival niche. Gone are the days when even my smartphone survival apps book could make sales (even though nobody was searching for that specific topic) because Amazon was eager for anything to put in front of readers. These days, I can’t even publish the second and expanded edition of my popular food storage book and get any traction without spending a small fortune.
This isn’t meant to be a sob story blog post, but a warning: beware the books you’re buying on Amazon these days because it appears that the same trend is happening with survival books as has happened with the online survival courses.
What I’m seeing are fancy survival books, especially off-grid survival books, that are selling for $20-30 or more! They get very popular on Amazon, sometimes with thousands of ratings, which makes them dominate the niche forevermore because Amazon only seems to care about popularity (partly a result of ratings) and revenue (they get more money from promoting higher priced books). My guess is that marketers are creating these books and putting a lot of money behind marketing them, probably off Amazon, then reaping the rewards.
I’d only suspected this was happening in recent years until I watched this YouTube video on book marketing by a guy I occasionally watch, which confirmed my suspicions. You don’t need to watch the video unless you want; suffice it to say that he mentions “off grid prepping” books as an “ignored and proven” Amazon book niche he recommends writers enter. My ears perked up at the mention of MY niche, then I got immediately sad and a tad upset. (Worse, I’ve seen other book marketers on YouTube discussing prepping books recently too!)
Why is this a problem?
Because it means that more and more survival books are going to be thrown together by people who don’t actually know what they’re doing. These people don’t “practice what they preach” so-to-speak. What you’re going to end up with is a bunch of rehashed advice at best. At worst, you may get deadly advice.
Sure, the pictures will be pretty. The words will sound good. Maybe you’ll even learn something new. Their books will definitely look better than mine. But will their advice be genuine? Will it resonate with your situation? Will it help your family survive when times get tough?
I don’t know the answer. Maybe it will be the best advice you’ve ever heard. If so, I’d like to hear about it because my guess is that you’re simply going to be overpaying for subpar advice written by people who only want to sell you on something (anything, really) but you don’t realize their book isn’t the right place to get the advice you actually need.
Then, again, maybe I’m just getting old, grouchy, and tired of competing with people who don’t actually give damn about you. Honestly, I’ve never been good at marketing my books, blog, or survival course. I just want to write, darn it!
For what it’s worth, I’m a real person. I use my real name. I write what I know. And I share my knowledge and experience with people who want to learn about preparedness because they know it’s what needs to be done for the coming hard times. I do this for people like you.
My advice, even if you don’t take my specific survival advice, is to really research who it is you’re buying from before you purchase that fancy new book. Do they have a website? A photo of themselves? Do they speak from personal experiences? Did they just start writing their books and website three months ago? Is the advice generic or specific? Has anybody ever met them, like at an expo or meet-up? Granted, a lot of this stuff can be faked and made up now more than ever, so this isn’t a foolproof plan.
All I can say is to beware. Find somebody’s advice you trust, even if it’s not mine. Then, equally important, verify what they tell you because even people like me occasionally get things wrong or say something poorly.
You’ve been warned.
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