Achieve Your Dreams Virtual Book Tour ‘08 Where YOU Are the Star!

It was the day after Christmas and I had to return back to work.  Stopping off at the post office, I received a package in the mail.  I knew it was a book as I was quite used to getting them in the mail at this point - whether they are to be reviewed or one of the books from the authors I represent.

I really didn’t pay it no mind and threw it in the back seat.

I got home, grabbing the box out of the back seat and turned on the computer to start my nightly rounds of finding blog stops for my authors to appear on, answer email and work on the website.  But, the box was sitting there, beckoning to be opened.

I decided what the heck; let’s see which book this is.

When I pulled the book out of the box, it was wrapped as if it were a Christmas present from someone.  I didn’t recognize the address, so I ripped into it as it had really gotten my curiosity up at that point.  But, before I did that, there was an envelope inside, which I promptly read first.  It was a Christmas card from one of my past clients, Judi Moreo.

She had hand-written: “Dorothy, may all your dreams come true this next year.”

I thought that was the sweetest thing, but did not realize the significance of what she had written until later.  It was not until I ripped into the box when everything started to make sense.

I was impressed that it was leather-bound.  Or felt like it anyway.  On the front with gold lettering were the words: “Achievement Journal” and at the bottom were the words “You Are More Than Enough.”

It was the cutest book I had ever seen.  Inside you were to write your greatest achievements so far and other cool stuff.  For example, one question was “What do I say when I talk to myself?”  That’s going to be a fun one.  Or, “What do I say when someone asks how I am?  What did I mean?”  That’s a fully loaded cannon!

Bear with me…there’s a great point to all this which you’ll find out in a few. 

I emailed Judi and I thanked her for the gift.  She emailed me back saying this was her new book and could she have a tour for January?

I don’t know if anyone has looked at their calendar lately, but according to my calendar, January 1st is but four days away.

But, how can you turn down such a wonderful and kind woman?  I was just about done with January’s authors tours anyway, so I emailed her back to say yes, but I had an idea.

I said, “Judi, I have an idea.  How about we get all the bloggers in the world to blog about the ways they are achieving their dreams instead of a regular book tour and list these bloggers on your tour page?  And how about if we pick them at random and promote these stops just like we would if you were being interviewed there?  And we could call it ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘08 and since the first of the year we usually think about our goals, what not, this would be the perfect thing to promote your book!”

Well, she loved the idea. 

So, that’s what we’re calling it.  The ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘08. 

My question to you is, would you like to join in the fun?  If so, here are the prerequisites:

Would you like to become involved in Judi’s Achieve Your Dreams Virtual Book Tour? Read below how you can!With 2007 behind us and 2008 on the horizon, it’s time to reflect on how we want the rest of our journey here on earth to go. Do we settle for letting life happen or do we take steps toward achieving our dreams? Do we think about it or do we DO it?

If you have watched the movie, “The Secret,” then you understand the power of affirmative thinking = affirmative action. Are you taking those steps in the right direction to enjoy life at its fullest – whether it’s through financial success, relationship bliss or perfect health?

On January 1, 2008, Judi Moreo, author of You Are More Than Enough Achievement Journal (Stephens Press, Dec. ‘07), will embark on a virtual book tour throughout the blogosphere, but it will involve YOU. She wants YOU to be the star in a campaign to let the world know how you are taking those steps in realizing your dreams.

If you would like to become involved in her ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ’08, here is how it works:

1. Repeat this passage from her book: “Every step I take brings me closer to the realization of my dreams” until you understand its powerful message.

2. Think about what steps you are taking to achieve your dreams and write about it. Your entry can be as long or as short as you’d like.

3. Post your message on your blog and give us the link so that we can post it on Judi’s tour page down below. The email address to send your entry is thewriterslife(at)yahoo.com.

4. When we receive your link, we will put it on our daily rounds of promotions, thus bringing you instant traffic, so get those links to us soon!

5. We only ask that you include the passage above before your blog post so that people will understand what you are doing.

6. We also ask that you include a jpeg copy of Judi’s book, You Are More Than Enough Achievement Journal, in your blog post. You can find her book cover at http://tinyurl.com/3cqa46 and link it to http://tinyurl.com/ywf67x.

7. All participants will be listed below so that everyone can find out how YOU achieve your dreams!

That’s all there is to it! Hurry before time runs out. Become involved in a nationwide campaign to bring in 2008 with a bang and help others realize that dreams are not something that happens; dreams are something that YOU make happen. Let’s make 2008 the year when you realize your dreams and make them happen. Share your stories and become involved in Judi Moreo’s “Achieve Your Dreams Virtual Book Tour ‘08″ where YOU are the star! Judi’s virtual book tour will be highly publicized including press releases and other promotions. Let us know what steps you are taking to achieve success and be read by thousands of Internet users!

If you would like to visit Judi’s personal tour page, click here!

Tags: virtual book tour, Judi Moreo, You Are More Than Enough Achievement Journal

Controversy Sells for Holly Fretwell, Author of THE SKY’S NOT FALLING

In a previous post, I mentioned that a little bit of controversy is good for selling books.  While there is always that risk factor involved, I have found that some authors can get away with it with flying colors.

Another example of a controversial book is THE SKY’S NOT FALLING by Holly Fretwell.  Holly happens to be an expert in the field of global warming, but there are some people who feel that maybe we ought not take the approach Holly does for the simple fact that global warming is something that we should be fearful of.

Not so, says Holly.  Her approach is backed up by years of investigative study and, therefore, she backs up her findings in a new children’s book by World Ahead Publishing, the west coast’s leading conservative publisher. 

For today’s Book Marketing Buzz post, I asked Holly to tell me how controversy has affected her sales as we’d all like to know if it would be a bad thing and something to avoid.  Holly shows you how to stick to your heart and what you believe in.

“Have you ever thought,” says Holly, “‘I have heard so much about global warming, I am not sure what is right?’  You hear that the ‘debate’ is over, yet you still hear about some ’skeptics’ out there.  How do you know what to believe?  This is exactly what I thought when I started to study the issue of global warming.  I was teaching a natural resources economic course and looking at the policy implications of global warming; they were scary.  If we assume that the earth is warming, it is human caused, and we can do something about it, the potential actions, as we’ve seen in many proposals, are extremely costly.  The real catch, however, is that the benefits from those costly actions are tiny.  That is what made me really curious.  And that is exactly why I continued my research and ended up writing The Sky’s Not Falling.

In my world, I look at things a bit differently than most of my friends.  You might say I am a closet conservative!  Many of my friends are extremely liberal, and I understand their point of view.  As an adjunct professor of economics, however, it is hard for me to sit at ease with many political policies.  I am definitely fiscally conservative.  But I have a huge concern for our environment and humanity.  I have spent most of my adult life evaluating environmental policies and see the flaws in much government regulation.  This is why some would say I am so conservative I am squeaky!  Really, I am more libertarian with a love for the outdoors and a passion to improve human well being.  In this way writing a controversial book came naturally to me.

My perspective on the world is different than the perspective many people hold.  Hence, controversy is expected.  Any time you write a book that is somewhat politically incorrect you will get controversy.

Let’s think about some of that controversy, or ‘consensus’ as we too often hear that got me started.  There is a lot of inaccurate or misleading information that I have tried to dispel in my book, The Sky’s Not Falling.  For example, many students are being asked to watch Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth.”  This has been a real inconvenience because, as the High British Court has stated, there are many non-truths and misleading statements in the movie.  One of the most brazen examples is demonstrated with the graph that shows atmospheric CO2 levels and temperature change.  The two variables are correlated; they move together.  Gore and one of his producers, Laurie David, who recently co-authored a children’s book on global warming, both assert that increases in CO2 levels cause temperature to increase.  They have missed something really important here: one correlation does not mean causation, and two the data show that on average temperature change 800 years before CO2 levels.  Yes, read that again, temperature changes lead the changes in CO1 over the last 650,000 years.

When you are reading chapter one of The Sky’s Not Falling, you’ll learn what global warming really means, you’ll learn what effects actually create a warming trend on the planet, and, most important, you’ll have a measuring stick, a barometer, to know for yourself the condition of the world you call home.

One wall that I have run into with my book is Al Gore!  When someone becomes so popular supporting an idea we can reach a ‘tipping point’ where many others begin to follow suit.  When I oppose some of his ideas it is hard to gain credibility.  He did win the Nobel Prize, after all.  Who am I?  Gore and the IPCC summar reports have really captained the ship claiming that the debate is over.  I challenge you, however, to read at least a portion of the IPCC full reports and compare them to the summary reports.  Though I was always taught a summary was supposed to summarize the information, the IPCC summary reports for policy makers take a long scientific document that caveats most of its findings with uncertainty and transforms it into confidence and ‘consensus.’  Alternatively, you can just read my book which helps to clarify the uncertainty of the science.

The value you will gain, is that by following the easy to read and understandable chapters in The Sky’s Not Falling, you’ll experience a road map of targeted examples and compelling stories that highlight and dispel the dangerous myths about global warming.  You’ll experience eye opening and informative results coming from years of research and conclusions that will give you the peace of mind gained from having the true insights about climate change.

I dare you to read The Sky’s Not Falling and come away not being changed.  Please help me get the word out, ‘the sky’s not falling.’  Humans are amazing creatures and in my book, I tell you many of the things we have done and can do to make this world a better place for people today and in the future. 

With controversy in mind, don’t expect to find my book on the front shelves of your local book store–or Barnes & Noble or Borders.  While many local bookstores are carrying the book and so is Barnes & Noble and Borders, it is usually tucked in the far back corner of the kid’s section.  I can’t even find my own book in my local  bookstores!

As an author, more an educator, I recommend you stick to your heart.  Research what you believe, find the truth for yourself, if you disagree with the mainstream explore the ideas further.  It is that exploration that encouraged me to write The Sky’s Not Falling.  Though some will always call me a skeptic, yeah, a conservative too, I will rest with ease knowing that I have helped at least some better understand the issues that surround global warming.  Maybe even more important, I have helped them become critical thinkers.”

Tags: book marketing, Holly Fretwell, The Sky’s Not Falling, global warming

Do Virtual Book Tours Sell Books?

There has been an interesting conversation going on over at John Kremer’s Book Market Ning Social Network the past week or so concerning virtual book tours. 

Someone was interested in finding out whether they worked well as marketing tools and whether they really sold books.

I’m sure everyone else is wondering the very same thing.

We get the same question at Pump Up Your Book Promotion.  Authors are very interested in whether their promotional dollars will be spent in a good place and I can certainly understand that. 

If you are like one of those authors, let me explain what I tell them.  Virtual book tours are but one vehicle to sell books, but if you choose this method to publicize your book, it’s money well spent as it will greatly increase your online presence, thus making it more available to people who search for your book online using your key search words if that is what you are after.

It’s not rocket science, but it is a formula you must use. 

You might think that you could do this yourself.  You can.  But the difference in doing it yourself and having us do it is that we know how to correctly publicize these stops and they are all part of the bargain.

You might have seen me at Book Market Ning, Morgan Mandel Books Ning or Communati.com promoting authors, but there are hundreds of other places where we do this, too.

So, not only is your tour appearing on between 12 - 20 stops depending on which package you use, we also publicize your tour 24/7.

So, how does this add up to book sales?

Don’t bother emailing the author because they aren’t going to know exactly unless they are self-published.  If they are not self-published, there are five ways they can at least take a stab at it:

1. Amazon Rankings

Amazon is the world’s largest book store and goes by a ranking system.  According to the people who think they have solved the mystery of how books are selling there, it operates by putting a ranking number in your book description.  The lower the number, the better the book is selling.

If your book dips in rankings, it is assumed you have sold a book.  If it does not climb quickly during the next few days, you can safely assume that the book is still selling.  If it takes a nosedive under the 100,000 mark and continues to stay there or even dip lower, you can safely assume you are selling more than a few books.  Stick around the #1 spot and you are really doing well as far as sales are concerned.

But, there’s no real way in telling exactly how many books are being sold and why your rankings are what they are but you can use that guide as a good ball park guess.  I’ve had authors tell me their books moved during the tour, but no one can safely assume it was because of the tour or any other type of promotion they may be doing at the same time.  But, a ball park guess is better than no guess at all.

2. Ingrams

Of course, if your book is not distributed through Ingrams, this won’t do you a bit of good,  but there is a number you can call and their automated system will be able to tell you how many books were sold on a certain date.  The number is 615-213-6803 (thank you, Cate!).

The problem with this method, though, is that not all the sales may be reported at the time of your call because it could take more time for the sale to get into the Ingram system.  This is a fun thing to use and you could get quite obsessive over it, but it’s also not a sure-fire way to tell just how many books were sold during your tour unless you wait for weeks afterwards and call.  And, then, it’s still a ballpark guess as to whether it was because of your tour or not.

3.  Word of Mouth

Another surefire way of knowing if your books sold during your tour is for someone you know to tell you they bought one of your books in that time span.  If your Amazon rankings have moved about this time, you can assume that this might have been why, but there’s no way of knowing this to be a fact or not.  And, again, word of mouth is simply word of mouth.

4.  Royalty Checks

Of all the ways of telling if you have sold books that we have discussed thus far, your royalty check is your best bet.  ONLY, if Amazon or any of the other online bookstores have sent their money to the publisher.  I knew I sold books through Amazon (word of mouth) during one pay period, but my sales were not reported on my royalty check.  Seems it takes Amazon a while to deliver.

5.  Publisher

Perhaps the best method of knowing if you have sold books is to ask your publisher to keep an eye out for sales during this time.  However, this method can only work if all sales were reported during this time and your publisher has an account with BookScan (thanks, Shelly!). 

This is perhaps the ONLY surefire way you are going to know if you sold books during a certain time frame.  It is quite expensive to have an account at BookScan, but some publishers feel it’s well worth the expense.

Bottom line is, the next time someone asks if virtual book tours sell books, check with your publisher to see if they have an account at BookScan, because any other way of telling is not going to tell the whole story.

Tags: book marketing, virtual book tours, marketing tools, sell books, publicize your book

Building a Large Following One opt-In at a Time

The old blogmeister *moi* is taking a few days off from Book Marketing Buzz to finish a product I’m looking forward to announcing in a few days concerning my virtual book tours company, so today I have a special guest, Cat Muldoon, who gives us a really good book marketing tip to share with my readers.  Take it away, Cat….

“Plenty of authors, even highly successful ones, leave a lot of money and followers “on the table” by not doing one simple thing.  I’m pleased that I learned this from someone who has gone from knowing nothing about marketing to teaching it to authors.

I met a dozen authors recently who all have sold over a million books, and some of these fantastic authors had no idea who visited their website.  Think about this.  It’s great to give out samples of your stories or other gifts, but why not get people to give you their name and email address, then you an not only deliver stories to them, but also keep in touch over the months.

You can do this for only $20 a month with what is called an auto-responder.  The one I recommend is at http://www.BardoGram.com.  Before you have a fit about a monthly charge, realize this.  You can keep more than one list (like one for certain cities or places you visit often), or one for those who want to hire you to speak, and so forth. 

The best thing about a list, though, is this:  It gives you a chance to keep in touch with someone who first comes to visit.  Let’s face it, we’re all bombarded with so many messages to buy this or that book, and we can’t get them all.  And in this attention economy, it’s “out of sight, out of mind.”  So if someone loves your book excerpt but forgets about you, you’ll never sell them a book or speak to their book club. 

If you use the auto-responder to get their name and email (and by the way, they even give a second, “yes I really did mean to sign up for this” message), then you will build a relationship with them over time, keep giving them wonderful content, and they’ll remember you.  You can even have your blog posts automatically sent to your subscribers, again personalized with their own name.

Your message will be sent individually, not in bulk.  So if your name is Tom, when I send you a message, it will read, “Hey Tom, did you know that I can personally visit YOUR book club?”  This is a wonderful way to build relationships and sell books.  Also, when I’m traveling, such as doing a book signing or attending a conference, I can send a note to the list and say, “If you’re in Utah, you can meet me at…”

And if you would like to invite me to your book club or writer’s conference, please drop me a line at Cat@CatMuldoon.com.  And don’t forget to sign up for my excerpts of Rue the Day and other stories…and my latest drawing or contest!”

Thank you, Cat!  BTW, Cat is the author of RUE THE DAY: THE UNDERCOVER HEIR, BOOK 1 and if you hop over to Amazon, you can pick yourself up a copy!  If you’d like to visit her website, then that’s okay, too.  I’m sure she wouldn’t mind that one little bit.

Hope everyone is having a happy holiday and stay out of the eggnog!

How Do I Get People to Buy My Book? - Part Four - The Progress Report

Take your existing list and turn it into a “peaking window.”

Here’s an interesting idea on how to sell your book.  It’s called “The Progress Report” and is the brainstorm of Nelson Pahl of Cafe Reverie Press.

“No matter what industry you call home,” says Pahl, “no doubt you’ve heard terms such as SEO, viral marketing, and co-registration list development.

For a couple of minutes, I want you to throw all that “Internet marketing” speak out the window and consider something more intriguing and far less competitive.  I’m referring to something that we, at Cafe Reverie Press, like to call “The Progress Report” method of promotion.

While it might not necessarily build a list in and of itself, or increase unique visitors to your site all by its lonesome, it certainly offers a viable method without the in-your-face abrasiveness of typical Internet marketing tactics to achieve the all important “repetition” factor in your promotions (you know the e-clich - it takes seven sales letter reads from your average prospect to sell him or her one unit of your typical widget).

The idea is to take your existing list (or you can use your blog or your site as well), and turn it into a “peaking window” that looks in on your current writing project, a “progress report,” if you will.  You’re busy writing your next novel?  Great.  Now, as you slither your way through one stage at a time, share that entire process with your readers and visitors, piece by piece.  I don’t mean share it in theory, share it in practice.

Right now, I’m producting two audiobooks.  So, every week, I offer via my newsletter and blog the latest sample of one book or the other, with an update on where that specific project stands.  Doesn’t sound like a big deal, huh?  Well, how about this:  as a result of my first two “progress reports” for one title, 73% of my newsletter readers have emailed me with requests for one title.  Seventy-three per cent of my newsletter readers have emailed me with requests for more specifics on exactly when, where, and how they can get the book.  Now, this might not sound like an overtly lucrative method to you, but when one has a list that exceeds 3,300 subscribers, The Progress Report has all the potential to be quite a big deal.  Remember, less than 5% of ALL books published in the U.S. each year sell 5,000 copies or more.  You close  the 73% and you’re roughly halfway to the victorious percentile!

Are you currently penning the next great novel while promoting your current title?  Well, share with your readers and visitors the rough draft versions of those chapters and sections by way of a PDF; give them a taste every week and at the same time, keep them updated on the book’s evolution and timelime to market.  And don’t be afrai to offer full chapters and several of them; you get the reader hooked and he or she will pay to finish the book.  You can even share the frustrations you’re experiencing with the title, or ask readers what they think of a specific chapter or section that’s giving you problems.

Readers love to be part of the process: they’re fascinated with what might be running through the writer’s mind as he or she constructs the setting, characters, and storyline they so much love.

Let a reader in on the process and he or she will, inevitably, let you into his or her wallet.”

Isn’t that interesting?  I know how important it is to have an email list.  What a great way to utilize it.

Thank you, Nelson.  Nelson happens to be on a virtual book tour right now promoting his book, BEE BALMS AND BURGUNDY.  Leave a comment below and you could win a copy of his book which will be announced here at the end of the month.  If you can’t wait, click here to pick up a copy today!

Tags: book marketing, book publicity, virtual book tour, Nelson Pahl, SEO, viral marketing

An Interview with Pump Up Your Book Promotion’s Cheryl C. Malandrinos

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a contributing writer for Writer2Writer, a monthly ezine which nurtures and encourages writers at all stages of their careers.  A member of Musing our Children, a group dedicated to sharing and encouraging the love of reading and writing in young people, Ms. Malandrinos is also a reviewer for the Muse Book Reviews. 

Besides interviewing authors and editors at her blog, The Book Connection, she also coordinates virtual book tours for Pump Up Your Book Promotion, a full service public relations firm specializing in online book promotion. 

She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband, two children and three pesky cats. 

Thank you for granting us this interview, Cheryl.  With all your writing commitments and family obligations taking up most of your time, why did you join the staff of Pump Up Your Book Promotion? 

I became a tour coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion in October ’07, but I had been hosting clients at my blog, The Book Connection for months before I began working with them. 

As to the why part, that’s easy – I love helping authors promote their books. 

How has the company changed since you joined? 

When I first joined Pump Up Your Book Promotion, the client base was a bit smaller than it is now.  The good word about what we offer at such a great price has spread and we have prospective clients contacting us daily to ask about our services.  We’ve also added staff, so there are now four people coordinating tours. Perhaps the biggest change has been the introduction of the video trailers which we offer with our Gold Package.  These are awesome promotional tools, which clients can use at their websites to promote their books and their virtual book tours.  Podcasts have also been added to our list of services at no extra charge. 

What is the best part of being a tour coordinator? 

There are really two things.  The first is that I meet so many wonderful people.  The authors who I have worked closely with are all wonderful.  They are committed to making their books successful and will do just about anything to promote them.  They are also all around nice people who it is a joy to get to know.  The blog hosts are also fabulous.  They willingly take time out of their schedules to help a fellow writer gain exposure for his/her work.  Often times, it isn’t even someone whose work they are familiar with. The other thing is knowing that I am helping talented writers connect with readers around the world, increasing their Internet presence and gaining more fans.  While no one can be as committed to the success of a book as its author, I feel I am not far behind.  I want to see every one of Pump Up Your Book Promotion’s clients do well and I am committed to giving them the most out of their virtual book tours. 

What are the biggest challenges you have faced? 

It takes a huge time commitment to be a tour coordinator.  I have two young children at home and I feel guilty when I put in long hours at my PC instead of spending time with them.  Thankfully, one of the girls is in school during the week and the youngest still takes naps, so I use that time to get as much work done as possible. Another challenge can be organizing all the information.  If you are coordinating one tour, it’s not hard; but when you have two or more, it can be difficult to remember where you are at.  Luckily, I am a very organized person. I use my day planner and another calendar to keep me on track and each of my clients has a dedicated folder on my PC where everything is kept, so I know right where to find anything relating to a particular tour. 

How do you find your clients? 

Most clients come to us.  They find us on the Internet or hear about us from a friend who has toured with us in the past and they inquire about our services.  I do, however, promote our services at my blog, my website, and when speaking with other writers.  I know the dedication of our staff and I am confident that authors will be happy with how we handle their virtual book tour. 

Where do you find bloggers to host your authors and how much work goes into each author during the month-long tour? 

As soon as a client is turned over to me, I begin working on finding bloggers for his/her tour.  Most times that’s a month, but it can take longer.  I do a lot of browsing at various sites to find blog hosts who are the most appropriate for my clients.  I try to have a healthy mix of genre-related blogs and blogs that center around the craft of writing or book marketing and promotion, so that everyone gets something out of following an author around the blogsophere for a month. I am in regular contact with my authors so that they know how things are proceeding and a lot of time is spent in forwarding requests for review copies to be mailed, asking for interview questions to be answered or guest posts to be completed.  I also stay in touch with all the blog hosts before the tour kicks off so that I can make sure they have what they need to post what they have committed to. A big part of my job—and a part that is never ending—is promoting the virtual book tours on a daily basis so that readers know where they can find our authors.  I say that the promotion never ends because I often take advantage of a situation to promote an author’s book even before the tour kicks off or after the tour has been completed.  Like I’ve said before, I am committed to helping my clients succeed.  A huge part of that is in maintaining a relationship with them.  I don’t forget if a certain book has touched my heart or scared the heck out of me or made me double over with laugher.  I use appropriate opportunities to share that with people I come in contact with. 

Do you do this fulltime or do you have other employment? 

I concentrate most of my time on serving Pump Up Your Book Promotion and its clients, but I am also a freelance writer specializing in helping writers increase their productivity through time management and organization.  My articles appear at Writer2Writer, an ezine which nurtures and encourages writers at all stages of their career.  I also write book reviews for Pump Up Your Book Promotion, Pump Up Your Book Promotion’s Galleria of Books , the Muse Book Reviews and my blog, The Book Connection. 

What’s the most satisfying part of your job? 

Knowing that I had a hand in helping talented writers promote their work.  I can honestly say that every day while I am searching for blog hosts, staying in touch with my clients, or promoting a virtual book tour, I am doing something that I absolutely love.  I hope that shines through to my clients and the bloggers who host them because I feel like I have become part of a wonderful family of people who are on similar journeys and who wish each other the best.

Tags: book marketing, book promotion, expert interviews, Cheryl C. Malandrinos

Why It’s a Real Cool Thing to be a Blog Host - Pt. II

Last Thursday, I posted why it’s a real cool thing to be a blog host. Click here if you missed it.

What you might have missed, too, is the reply that Cheryl Malandrinos posted in the comments section. Now, Cheryl is one of my tour coordinators who happens to be a whiz kid when it comes to booking tours - ask any of her clients she has sent out on the virtual highway.

Tomorrow, I am going to post an interview I with Cheryl so that you can learn more about this extraordinary lady. She has been a great asset to our company and quite a remarkable promoter for one who hasn’t published yet. So, stay tuned tomorrow for that.

Meanwhile, I’m going to post her comment from that blog post below so you can familiarize yourself with her. She gives quite an interesting response concerning being a blog host herself before she signed up with Pump Up.

“Before I became a member of Pump Up’s staff, I had hosted authors for months. I saw the immediate benefit of driving traffic to my blog, which is why I was interested in it in the first place. I am a freelance writer but I have no books out yet, so I needed to give people a reason to read my blog.

But the best part hasn’t been increased traffic; it has been meeting a wonderful group of talented authors who I may never have discovered otherwise. The books our clients write are amazing. I’ve had the chance to read and review many of them. And some of these authors have provided free copies of books as thank you gifts.

Now that I am a member of Pump Up’s staff, I am thrilled to be a part of helping these talented people promote their work. I can honestly say that I love my job.”

Stay tuned for more of Cheryl Malandrinos tomorrow!

Tags: book marketing, book promotion, Why it’s a real cool thing to be a blog host, virtual book tour, Cheryl Malandrinos

The S.R.E. Web Widget

This guy just never ceases to amaze me.  Aaron Shepherd has devised yet another way we can keep track of our sales rankings at Amazon.  He’s calling it the S.R.E. Web Widget which when adding the code for it on your blog, you and your viewers can see at an easy glance what your sales rankings are on a daily basis at Amazon.

If you go here, you’ll see the code which includes a snippet of html.  At the end of the html, you’ll see a set of numbers.  What you simply do is replace those numbers with your numbers.  If you are not familiar with this, it’s simply your ISBN with a letter of the alphabet after it which you can find in your browser when going to your sales page at Amazon.

If you want to see how I set mine up for my one and only paperback book, click here and look in the right hand sidebar. 

What I like about it is that I can keep track of my Amazon rankings without having to go over to Amazon…waaay cool!

Aaron, you simply amaze me!

Tags: book marketing, book promotion, Aaron Shephard, promotional tools

Why It’s a Real Cool Thing to be a Blog Host

“Just thought I’d let you know that after yesterday’s blog appearance, my blog received 547 hits. Any time you need someone to host, you know where I am!”

This email was sent to one of my tour coordinators tonight.  What a lovely feeling that is, too.

But, a lot of people just don’t have the time to be a blog host, or they just don’t want to get involved.

Well, let me tell you a secret.  It’s a real cool thing to be a blog host and I’ll tell you why.

I’ve been teasing you in earlier blog posts about telling you the nitty gritty no holds barred insider secrets and what not of what goes behind the scene in putting together a virtual book tour.  Whether you put one together yourself, or you hire someone like moi to do it for you, it’s something that really every author should include in their promotional campaign. 

The reason why I started sending authors out on tour was because I saw the advantages, and they sure outweighed the disadvantages.  Yes, I sold books, but more than that, I gave my book the best chance at getting a lot of online attention.  I can’t think of one other promotional venue which would do your book more justice than embarking on a virtual book tour if you’re aiming for online sales. 

I’ve been on both sides of the ring.  I’ve been the author and I’ve been the tour coordinator.  And, I’ve also been the blog host.

If anyone asked me to host them as a stop on a virtual book tour, I would immediately take them up on it because I know that for the few minutes it takes to put their interview, guest post or review up on my blog, I will reap great rewards.

Those rewards would come in blog hits.

But, let me tell you how this works.  If you are one of my authors, I help you learn how to promote your tour.  You are not only touring, you are promoting.  Daily.  I am promoting right alongside you, but I give you tips and hints on what to do and where to go so that your one tour stop will be read by thousands of readers.  If it is only I doing the promoting, that has the potential of being cut in half, so it’s very important, whether you are setting up your own tour or hiring an agency to do it, that you get the word out about your stop and do this each and every day that you are touring.

Back to being a blog host.  If you are the blog host of the day, you will get traffic from not only my company sending readers your way, but the authors’ traffic, also.  If the author told everyone on their email list, announced it on social networking sites, told everyone in their author groups, posted it on their blog and/or website, and in writers’ forums, can you imagine the traffic from this?  Double that after we do our own promotions and see how that adds up. 

So, let’s say that maybe half of the people that the author and our company has promoted to shows up, that’s still lots and lots of hits.  And, let’s say you are promoting something on your blog that the visitor happens to stumble on and goes, “Wow, that really looks neat!” and buys it?  Cha-ching.

So, there are lots and lots of reasons why it’s a cool thing to be a blog host.

Not only are you getting hits, but you are also opening up your blog to thousands of potential subscribers or buyers of your product. 

And, not only that, you get some mighty fine free books out of the deal.  And, that’s hard to pass up.

Okay, who’s ready to sign up?

Tags: book marketing buzz, virtual book tour, online book promotion, book publicity

Book Marketing Buzz Welcomes Epic Fantasy Author Jim Melvin

In researching one of my client’s books after he signed up for a virtual book tour this month, I found something really inspiring to someone whose life is devoted around online book promotion and any other kind of book promotion for that matter. What I found was that this man knew his marketing. He’d already had quite an impressive portfolio of marketing methods he’d used in the past and was ready to take on a virtual book tour to see if that would also bring in my book buyers.

His name is Jim Melvin and his six-book series that he is marketing during his tour is called THE DEATH WIZARD CHRONICLES.

When I sign up an author for a tour, I do a little background check. Instead of looking for felonies and expired ticket fines, I look for where they have already been promoting so that I know where and how to begin our book campaign.

Jim was going to be a challenge because he had already done his homework.

I asked him to tell my readers how he had been promoting his book thus far so that it might help others in their own book campaign and he gave me quite a few helpful hints myself.

Here’s what Jim had to say:

“In conjunction with my publisher, I’ve been aggressively marketing my epic fantasy series for several months such as:

IN-PERSON APPEARANCES: In October alone, I did a talk/reading/signing at the prestigious Times Festival of Reading in Florida, and appeared at six bookstores in the Southeast United States.

AUDIO AND VIDEO INTERVIEWS: I already have done audio interviews with a radio station (here), a popular online podcast (here), and I did a video interview with digital media outfit (here).

NEWSPAPERS INTERVIEWS: Thus far, I’ve had two features (here and here), the latter in the largest newspaper in Florida. I also have had numerous mentions of book-signing appearances in at least a dozen different newspapers.

BLOG APPEARANCES: I have had reviews, Q/A’s, and or mentions on several popular blogs, including here and here. On the latter, scroll down a ways.

WHAT’S UPCOMING?: I worked in the newsroom of the St. Petersburg Times, Florida’s largest newspaper, for 25 years. Numerous people that I worked with over the years and/or met at conferences, awards banquets, and other get-togethers are literally spread around in high places at just about every large newspapers in the United States. In conjunction with my publisher, I have personally contacted more than 30 of these friends/colleagues and sent them review copies in hopes of leaping over the pile and getting first in line for the book editors of their respective venues. I’m still early in the process, but I’m hoping this will result in a number of reviews at large newspapers. I’ve also sent review copies to reviewers in England and India. In addition, I’m beginning a virtual tour.”

What Jim is going to realize is that in conjunction with what he has been doing, I believe we’re going to take that another step or two even farther. Our goal is to get him read by thousands more and we will by the time his tour is over.

But what I liked about Jim was that he took the bull by the horns and started his own PR, a quality I admire in an author.

BTW, if you’d like to visit Jim on the web, you can visit his blog at www.deathwizardchronicles.blogspot.com.

Jim also has a treat for all of you. He’s giving away a copy of his book to one lucky blogger who comments on one of his stops. Will it be you? Don’t risk that chance of not winning one of the greatest epic fantasies you have ever read by leaving a comment below.   Be sure to check out www.virtualbooktoursforauthors.blogspot.com to see where Jim will be appearing next!

Good luck, Jim, and we’ll see you in the blogosphere!

Tags: Book Marketing Buzz, author interview, author promotions, virtual book tours, Jim Melvin, The Death Wizard Chronicles, epic fantasy, Buddhism