“This uplifting story reminds us that the best travel experiences elicit a broad range of emotions. Importantly, they are vehicles for learning, about ourselves and others, and the beautiful world we live in.”

~Good Reading

Positioning Statement

The long-awaited sequel to The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow—one of sailing literature's most beloved cult classics with 500+ Amazon reviews and praise from The Times Literary Supplement, Cruising World, and Sailing magazine. With the same irrepressible wit and self-deprecating charm that made the first book an international bestseller, A. J. 'Sandy' Mackinnon returns to the water for a solo dinghy voyage from Romania to Venice—through the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, the coast of Turkey, Greece, and the Adriatic—tracing the shores of antiquity with little more than oars, a sail, and an unquenchable sense of adventure. For armchair travelers, sailing enthusiasts, and lovers of classic travelogue, this is the adventure sequel they have been waiting for.

Market

Market Opportunity and Audience

• Built-in readership from a proven bestseller: The first book, The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow, has 500+ reviews on Amazon US with an overwhelmingly positive response, plus glowing coverage in Library Journal, Latitudes & Attitudes, Sailing, Times Literary Supplement, Cruising World, Living Aboard, Classic Boat, and more—plus named one of Newsroom's Top 10 Best Books of Life at Sea (2025)

• Adventure travel market is booming: The global adventure tourism market was valued at $282 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $2.07 trillion by 2032 (Allied Market Research)—readers are hungry for vicarious adventure

• Sailing readership is deep and loyal: An estimated 38 million Americans participate in recreational boating (National Marine Manufacturers Association); sailing titles from Maiden Voyage to A Voyage for Madmen routinely find crossover audiences far beyond sailors

• Mediterranean and classical antiquity as a hook: Books set in the ancient Mediterranean consistently attract broad readership—from Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (Thomas Cahill, 200,000+ copies sold) to Rick Riordan's mythology-driven franchise—tapping into enduring fascination with Homer, Troy, and Greek myth

• Armchair travel surge post-pandemic: Travel memoir and narrative nonfiction sales increased 22% between 2020 and 2023 (NPD BookScan); readers seeking vicarious escape remain a strong market force

• Slow travel and anti-hustle culture resonance: Growing "slow travel" movement—hashtag has 2.3 billion views on TikTok—aligns perfectly with the book's ethos of unhurried, human-scale exploration

• Humor and self-deprecation as a selling point: Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods (3+ million copies sold) and Notes from a Small Island demonstrate the massive commercial potential of witty, self-aware travel narrative

• Classic travelogue revival: Publishers Weekly identified travel narrative as one of the fastest-growing nonfiction categories; The World Walk, A Walk in the Park, and similar titles are finding large new audiences online

• For readers who loved: The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow (Mackinnon), A Walk in the Park (Kevin Carr), The World Walk (Tom Turcich), Rowing the Atlantic (Roz Savage), Jupiter's Travels (Ted Simon), and An Embarrassment of Mangoes (Ann Vanderhoof)

Author Credentials

• International bestselling author: The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow has sold across the UK, US, Australia and beyond, building a devoted global fanbase over more than two decades since first publication

• Proven media draw: Book 1 earned reviews and features in Times Literary Supplement, Cruising World, Sailing, Classic Boat, Latitudes & Attitudes, Living Aboard, and Library Journal

• Lifelong adventurer and slow-travel icon: Born in Australia in 1963, Mackinnon developed a love of slow travel voyaging between Australia and England on P&O liners as a boy—giving him both the credentials and the sensibility that readers adore

• Educator and storyteller: Decades of teaching English literature, drama, mathematics, art, and philosophy worldwide have honed his voice into something rare: genuinely funny, deeply literary, and utterly accessible

• Active creative life: Now based in the Victorian High Country of Australia, Mackinnon continues teaching, gardening, and writing—a reassuringly human counterpoint to the high-octane adventurer world

• Additional published works: The Well at the World's End and Quaint Deeds—demonstrating range and a committed author career

Publicity

Print, Broadcast & Major Media

• Major trade reviewers: Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Booklist, and Foreword Reviews among others

• Sailing & boating press: Cruising World, Sailing, Classic Boat, Latitudes & Attitudes, Living Aboard, Yachting Monthly, Practical Sailor, Sail Magazine, Blue Water Sailing

• Travel media: Condé Nast Traveller, Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveller, Wanderlust, BBC Travel, Lonely Planet Magazine

•    US general press: The New York Times (travel, books), Washington Post (article, not a book review), Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Outside Magazine, Men's Journal

•    Classics & history crossover: Smithsonian Magazine, History Today, Archaeology Magazine—the book's immersion in the legends of Troy, Ithaca, and Mount Olympus opens significant doors in this space

•    Broadcast & radio: NPR Weekend Edition, C-SPAN Book TV, CBS Sunday Morning

•    Op-ed/essay strategy: Bylined pieces on solo sailing, slow travel philosophy, the Mediterranean as mythic landscape, and the kindness of strangers for The Guardian, The Atlantic, Sailing magazine

Podcasts

•    Sailing & adventure: The Sailing Podcast, Good Jibes, Offshore Risk Management, Two Guys on a Boat, Sailing Scuttlebutt, The Salty Dog Podcast

•    Travel & adventure narrative: The Moth Radio Hour, Risk Takers, Adventure Podcast, Armchair Explorer, No Reservations-adjacent travel shows, Explore Parts Unknown

•    Books & literary: Books on the Nightstand, Literary Disco, Backlisted, New Books Network (travel, adventure, narrative nonfiction feeds)

•    History & classics: The History of Ancient Greece, The Ancients (Canelo), Ancient History Fangirl, Mythology Podcast, Casting Through Ancient Greece

•    Humor & culture: No Such Thing as a Fish, My Dad Wrote a Porno (large audience, offbeat adventure), Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe adjacent—lean into the comedy of the book's misadventures

Social Media & Digital Marketing

Author Platform & Built-in Demand

• Existing fan community: Book 1's 500+ Amazon reviews and decades of word-of-mouth have built an organic fan community; many readers have been waiting for a sequel for years—harness this pent-up demand with a coordinated announcement campaign

• Goodreads: Book 1 has strong Goodreads presence; create a dedicated Goodreads page for the sequel and seed with early ARCs; reach out to Goodreads Choice Award nominators in the travel/adventure category

• BookTok (TikTok): Adventure travel and sailing content is thriving on TikTok—the #SailingLife hashtag has 3.2 billion views; #TravelTok has 60+ billion views. Target BookTok creators who specialise in narrative nonfiction, travel memoir, and humorous reads (e.g., @travellingbookworm, @adventurebooks_community)

• Bookstagram: The visually rich setting—Mediterranean coastlines, Aegean sunsets, ancient ruins—makes this book extraordinarily Instagrammable; pitch to travel-and-books crossover accounts with 50k–500k followers for ARC coverage and aesthetic flat-lay features

• YouTube sailing community: Sailing YouTube is enormous—channels like Sailing La Vagabonde (2M+ subscribers), Sailing Zatara (700k+), and Gone with the Wyns (500k+) have passionate, book-curious audiences who would respond to a quirky dinghy-sailing adventure memoir

• Publisher social channels: Serialize key anecdotes and passages as social content across publication window—the border-police encounters, the Homer/mythology riffs, and the "kindness of strangers" moments are highly shareable

• Voyage map as viral asset: Commission a beautiful illustrated map of the Romania-to-Venice route as a shareable asset—maps of extraordinary journeys perform exceptionally well on Pinterest, Instagram, and travel-focused Facebook groups

• Email newsletter seeding: Partner with travel, sailing, and adventure-themed Substack newsletters (e.g., Faraway, The Dispatch sailing community) for sponsored features and select copy giveaways