I'm sure you can find at least 10 things about the sales letter below that suck. Get at it and send me back to the woodshed!
This letter will be positioned as a "bonus article" at the beginning of all of the Illustrated Chess books, to get people off of Amazon and on to my mailing list. Please do your worst, because I have a lot of books, so once I publish this thing on Amazon, it's a real pain to change it, so I want to get this right now and maybe you can help.
Thanks!
UPDATE
The shorter and revised letter: Mystery Bonus For Chess Fans Only
---
Which of your chess heroes will hand you a key?
Not just a key to getting better at chess. Not just a key to getting more fun out of chess. But a key you can keep in your pocket and pull out anytime to unlock the world where you chat with Paul Morphy, visit with Bobby Fischer, and see through the eyes of Capablanca. The world where chess players from all times and all places come together in a single moment.
Lots of great players have been there...
I picture Bobby Fischer as a child, hiding under his blankets — flashlight, chess book, pocket-sized chess set. Locked into another world. Not the world of adults yelling, his sister crying, or the other kids at school, but a world where he is mentored by his heroes — whether long gone or far away, they all live in the sample place, at the same time, and they all speak the same language.
To think of Bobby studying his predecessors, his understanding growing — I know what that feels like! Suddenly seeing the chessboard just a little more clearly. Feeling the pieces on the board becoming a part of your intuition. We all have a chance to experience a sliver of what the great chess masters lived for.
And what does Bobby do when the sun comes up and it's time to go to school?
I'm sure his chess book is under his arm and his chess set in his pocket. Sure... he gets in trouble sometimes for playing chess instead of paying attention in class, but what kind of authority does a school teacher have compared to Nimzowitsch or Lasker? Who cares about the world of homework and chalkboards?
Wherever young Bobby goes, there's a whole other world waiting in his pocket for him to jump into and explore. I want to put my chess heroes in my pocket like that!
That's why I created Illustrated Chess. When I started working on my first book, I didn't know I'd ever sell chess books, I just wanted to keep great chess games close — to have them not just when I'm sitting at a board playing through moves, but as bedtime reading, or on my phone when I'm stuck waiting. Illustrated Chess gave me a way to dive into the chess world anytime and anywhere.
I set out from the beginning to make the books easy and fun.
That's why I made books instead of relying on an app, I wanted to use the simplest technology possible, so that the experience would always be easy. I can always open an EPUB or a PDF on my phone, or send a MOBI file to my Kindle. I don't have to think about finding the right app or the right set of files, the books just work.
In the spirit of making things easy and fun, the very first books were created around the idea of "a diagram for every move". These books let chess fans relax and enjoy the show.
Illustrated Chess readers give me lots of ideas for new books and new ways to connect with the world of my chess heroes. Thanks to reader suggestions, I'm working on new books and book supplements everyday. The Illustrated Chess library is growing... if you're a chess fan, there's a lot you can get out of the new book formats and new titles we add every month.
Plus:
And because I love chess and want everyone to benefit from these books, I've made the software we created 100% open-source under the GNU Public License. This means that even if you have no interest in buying books, you are welcome to download the code anytime and create these books for yourself. We've rebuilt the software from the ground up to make it as easy to use as possible. You don't have to be any kind of computer genius to make it work.
The only thing you need to do is sign up at https://www.illustratedchess.com/bonus - and then I will make sure you have all of the information you need to get all of the Illustrated Chess books, inserts and bonuses.
What are you signing up for? A daily chess newsletter about whatever is on my mind related to being a chess fan — my favorite players, your favorite players, the struggle of being terrible at chess...
I make the books affordable, and give away the software for free because Illustrated Chess is a special experience for me. It's like the way I can bring a good novel with me anywhere and get lost in that world — the specially designed and formatted books in the Illustrated Chess library let me get lost in chess, no matter where I am.
If you're a chess fan, I want to share the experience with you.
I'm grateful that you got ahold of this book, I hope you enjoy reading and I hope it cracks open the door for you to the world that connects chess players across all times and all places.
Thanks!
Tom
p.s.
Before you click the link above, you'll notice that the URL includes the word "bonus". That's because when you sign up for the newsletter (my chess ramblings). I'm going to send you a bonus gift. The bonuses always change, and I'm developing new bonuses all the time, so I can't tell you exactly what you'll get, but I can promise you that the bonuses are exclusive to Illustrated Chess and they are not for sale. You can only get your bonus by signing up for the newsletter.
If for any reason you hate your free bonus, please send me an angry email and I will work hard to create something much better especially for you!
p.p.s
If you're reading this on an e-reader like a Kindle or Kobo and you're dreading clicking that link and opening the web browser, don't worry! I made the web page as simple as possible, so your e-reader can load everything quickly and painlessly. And there's only one field to fill out! I made it as easy as possible because that's how I roll. In case you'd rather type in the URL on your phone or computer, I tried to make it the URL easy to type and remember.
This letter will be positioned as a "bonus article" at the beginning of all of the Illustrated Chess books, to get people off of Amazon and on to my mailing list. Please do your worst, because I have a lot of books, so once I publish this thing on Amazon, it's a real pain to change it, so I want to get this right now and maybe you can help.
Thanks!
UPDATE
The shorter and revised letter: Mystery Bonus For Chess Fans Only
---
Which of your chess heroes will hand you a key?
Not just a key to getting better at chess. Not just a key to getting more fun out of chess. But a key you can keep in your pocket and pull out anytime to unlock the world where you chat with Paul Morphy, visit with Bobby Fischer, and see through the eyes of Capablanca. The world where chess players from all times and all places come together in a single moment.
Lots of great players have been there...
I picture Bobby Fischer as a child, hiding under his blankets — flashlight, chess book, pocket-sized chess set. Locked into another world. Not the world of adults yelling, his sister crying, or the other kids at school, but a world where he is mentored by his heroes — whether long gone or far away, they all live in the sample place, at the same time, and they all speak the same language.
To think of Bobby studying his predecessors, his understanding growing — I know what that feels like! Suddenly seeing the chessboard just a little more clearly. Feeling the pieces on the board becoming a part of your intuition. We all have a chance to experience a sliver of what the great chess masters lived for.
And what does Bobby do when the sun comes up and it's time to go to school?
I'm sure his chess book is under his arm and his chess set in his pocket. Sure... he gets in trouble sometimes for playing chess instead of paying attention in class, but what kind of authority does a school teacher have compared to Nimzowitsch or Lasker? Who cares about the world of homework and chalkboards?
Wherever young Bobby goes, there's a whole other world waiting in his pocket for him to jump into and explore. I want to put my chess heroes in my pocket like that!
That's why I created Illustrated Chess. When I started working on my first book, I didn't know I'd ever sell chess books, I just wanted to keep great chess games close — to have them not just when I'm sitting at a board playing through moves, but as bedtime reading, or on my phone when I'm stuck waiting. Illustrated Chess gave me a way to dive into the chess world anytime and anywhere.
I set out from the beginning to make the books easy and fun.
That's why I made books instead of relying on an app, I wanted to use the simplest technology possible, so that the experience would always be easy. I can always open an EPUB or a PDF on my phone, or send a MOBI file to my Kindle. I don't have to think about finding the right app or the right set of files, the books just work.
In the spirit of making things easy and fun, the very first books were created around the idea of "a diagram for every move". These books let chess fans relax and enjoy the show.
Illustrated Chess readers give me lots of ideas for new books and new ways to connect with the world of my chess heroes. Thanks to reader suggestions, I'm working on new books and book supplements everyday. The Illustrated Chess library is growing... if you're a chess fan, there's a lot you can get out of the new book formats and new titles we add every month.
- Sit back and "enjoy the show" with classic Illustrated Chess titles featuring a diagram for every move — get game collections themed by player, event or opening
- Page through Companion Editions showing all of the games from all of the best chess books like My 60 Memorable Games, Instructive Games of Chess, Reassess Your Chess, My System, and every other chess book you can imagine
- Subscriber Choice collections let you see every move from your favorite streamer's latest match, speed run or subscriber tournament
- Automatically and effortlessly train your brain to visualize chess moves with the Big Red Book collection — just like the not-so-secret book that Bobby Fischer used to defeat the Russian chess machine
- Learn to memorize your favorite classic games with Memory Check Chess
- Taste what it feels like when grandmasters conduct a blindfold simul — level up your skills with Board Vision Workouts
- Learn how you can turn your own games into Illustrated Chess books!
- Wanna play like Paul Morphy? Stop solving tactics like a fish and become a tactics pro with Blindfold Tactics
- Step into the shoes of chess champions: convert their advantages into wins with Winning Positions
Plus:
- Share Illustrated Chess books freely: every book is 100% DRM-free, meaning you own every book you buy and it's yours to keep forever
And because I love chess and want everyone to benefit from these books, I've made the software we created 100% open-source under the GNU Public License. This means that even if you have no interest in buying books, you are welcome to download the code anytime and create these books for yourself. We've rebuilt the software from the ground up to make it as easy to use as possible. You don't have to be any kind of computer genius to make it work.
The only thing you need to do is sign up at https://www.illustratedchess.com/bonus - and then I will make sure you have all of the information you need to get all of the Illustrated Chess books, inserts and bonuses.
What are you signing up for? A daily chess newsletter about whatever is on my mind related to being a chess fan — my favorite players, your favorite players, the struggle of being terrible at chess...
- Why chess fans should pay attention to Magnus Carlsen's girlfriend
- Constant debate over whether or not Paul Morphy is in-fact the greatest chess player who ever lived
- Highlights and "today I learned" from the greatest chess books of all time
- Why the latest Agadmator video is a must watch
- The secret location of Antonio's old couch
- Who is your favorite player? and why is it Tal?
- Re-living beautiful and terrifying moments in chess history
I make the books affordable, and give away the software for free because Illustrated Chess is a special experience for me. It's like the way I can bring a good novel with me anywhere and get lost in that world — the specially designed and formatted books in the Illustrated Chess library let me get lost in chess, no matter where I am.
If you're a chess fan, I want to share the experience with you.
I'm grateful that you got ahold of this book, I hope you enjoy reading and I hope it cracks open the door for you to the world that connects chess players across all times and all places.
Thanks!
Tom
p.s.
Before you click the link above, you'll notice that the URL includes the word "bonus". That's because when you sign up for the newsletter (my chess ramblings). I'm going to send you a bonus gift. The bonuses always change, and I'm developing new bonuses all the time, so I can't tell you exactly what you'll get, but I can promise you that the bonuses are exclusive to Illustrated Chess and they are not for sale. You can only get your bonus by signing up for the newsletter.
If for any reason you hate your free bonus, please send me an angry email and I will work hard to create something much better especially for you!
p.p.s
If you're reading this on an e-reader like a Kindle or Kobo and you're dreading clicking that link and opening the web browser, don't worry! I made the web page as simple as possible, so your e-reader can load everything quickly and painlessly. And there's only one field to fill out! I made it as easy as possible because that's how I roll. In case you'd rather type in the URL on your phone or computer, I tried to make it the URL easy to type and remember.
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