Geocaching

For quite some time I have heard the term Geocatching and wondered exactly what it was. Recently my friend and fellow children's author, Judi Chesshir, mentioned that she was a Geocacher; and so I asked her to do a guest post about the subject. I was truly excited to find out that Geocaching is a worldwide scavenger hunt because if the truth be known; I have always loved a good scavenger hunt. The best part of this hobby is that the whole family can participate. I was so intrigued by Judi's descriptions that I signed up to be a geocacher as well. So please welcome my friend and leave comments for her as she shares her Geocaching experiences!








A Different Approach to Book
Marketing





By Judi Chesshir





This past summer, I found a fun and adventurous hobby that I
used to help tell others about the book I wrote.  It is called Geocaching. Geocaching
is a world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS devices.  You navigate to a specific set of GPS
coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that
location. I first heard of this in our
local newspaper a few years ago. I tried
it without any GPS device. It was very
hard and I eventually gave up. After
purchasing one, I finally tried again and fell in love with this game. 




What I enjoy the
most about this is not knowing where I am going and what I will find.  It’s like having little mini adventures. Sometimes I am hiking trails, and other
times I am climbing a small cliff or tree to find a cache.  The hunt gets me out of the house and moving
around. The containers are hidden all
over the US and world. The caches or
containers come in a variety of sizes. 
People who hide caches get creative with them, which makes the game even
more fun. The containers  hold a log for the cacher to sign. Some even hold swag or trade items for all to
enjoy. 











Another fun part of the game is finding
trackables. A trackable is a registered number
on a tag that can be attached to anything. The cacher finds a trackable and takes it with him or her  to a new cache further away.  The trackables travel all around the
world. After finding about 100 or so, I
decided I wanted to make a trackable and send it out into the world. I ordered my tags and then attached them to 4
copies of the  book I wrote called, MyFinny Fin Fin. I created a goal for
each book and found ammo sized caches and dropped them off to start their
travels. When a cacher finds one, they
take it with them and move it to another location after logging it in. A
message is sent to me to let me know where all my books have traveled. I am
happy to say they have been taken thousands of miles since August. I enjoy reading messages from those who find them
. I especially love reading how the kids
enjoy the books. This was a unique way
to try to get people to know about my book. I do not know if this has led to anyone purchasing a copy, but I am
enjoying the experience either way. 

 







                                   
The metal shark tag trackable has a number on the back and is attached
to the book.












Another way I promote my book is by taking
pictures of the cache with one of my bookmarks. I later upload the pictures onto the official
geocaching site and now my book title can be seen by other cachers.   I also
autograph the back of the bookmark and leave it in the larger containers for
kids to take in trade.















A sample of a cache.




One more perk to
this game is meeting other geocachers. I
recently ran into a couple while searching for the same cache. We introduced ourselves and told each other
our caching names. I mentioned my
caching name, Finny Fin Fin and then we found the container together, signed
the log and said goodbye. I later
received a message on the geocaching site from one of them saying she had
looked up my caching name on geocaching.com and noticed that I was an
author. She told me she ordered my book
for her grandson.  She asked if I would
mind autographing it when it came in. I
was thrilled to learn she had purchased the book and I did meet her to
autograph it once it arrived. We even
hunted for a few caches in the area together.

I hope that by
having a few books as trackables, the bookmarks being left in containers, my
cacher name on all the logs, and meeting other cachers, that others will learn
about my book and purchase one too. Combining two of my passions, my book &
geocaching, helped me come up with a fun and different way to promote my book.




To learn more
about “My Finny Fin Fin,” please visit http://judichesshir.tateauthor.com/

To learn more
about Geocaching, please visit http://www.geocaching.com/



I would like to thank Judi for sharing her two favorite hobbies with us and if you want to see pics of my family's first Geo Hunt drop by my  personal blog Aileen's Thoughts.



www.BooksByAmanda.com