SPECIAL GUEST: Marilyn Celeste Morris, Author of ONCE A BRAT

Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion has another special guest today! I'm proud to have Marilyn Celeste , author of Once a Brat on the 8th stop of her virtual book tour!

Born a Military Brat, Marilyn attended schools overseas, in Seoul Korea, 1946-47 and Linz, Austria (1949-1952) and various schools stateside. From this background, she has crafted her autobiographical Once a Brat, relating her travels with her army officer father from her birth in 1938 to his retirement in 1958.

Her first novel, Sabbath’s Room, was published in 2001, and her most recent work, Diagnosis: Lupus: The Intimate Journal of a Lupus Patient was released in December 2005 by Publish America. She has taught creative writing at Tarrant County College, Fort Worth TX and survived numerous book signings and speaking engagements.

She is co-facilitator for the Fort Worth Lupus Support Group, North Texas Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America and advisor to the Board of Directors. When not writing or editing emerging writers’ manuscripts, she enjoys searching for former classmates and true to her Brat heritage, she has a suitcase packed under the bed, ready to travel at a moment’s notice.

You can visit her blog at www.onceabrat.blogspot.com or visit her virtual tour page at Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours!

PUYOBP: Welcome to Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion blog, Marilyn! Can you tell us what your book is about?

Marilyn: My book, Once a Brat, is based on my travels all over the world with my army officer father, from my birth in 1938 to his (our!) retirement in 1958. I tell the good, the bad, and the ugly. I sometimes describe-it as part travelogue, part therapy session. As one of the first dependents to be deployed overseas after WWII, I had unique experiences that many children would never dream about.

PUYOBP: Can you tell us how you have been promoting your book online?

Marilyn: I really didn't know how to do much publicizing online, until you came along and patiently taught all of us in your The Writers Life group. I had only a pitiful web site; now I have blogs all over the place, and a spiffy new website coming. Interviews are coming at a rapid pace, too.

PUYOBP: What do you believe are the advantages of promoting online versus offline?

Marilyn: I think I'm like most writers -- I would rather write than get out and promote myself. And I can do it in my pajamas at any time of the day or night. I am beginning to see the power of the Internet over a brick and mortar bookstore.

PUYOBP: Have you been able to successfully sell your book offline and can you tell us about it?

Marilyn: I have had four or five booksignings, attended book and craft fairs, all with rather interesting results (one craft fair was populated by guys who were mostly in the market for guns, knives and ammo.) I have also done cable television interviews and three or four radio chats. Locally, I have spoken to the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce. The most books I sold was during my 50th high school class reunion in Lawton OK last June, at Hastings Books. As a military town, I thought surely my army brat book would be the best seller, but I sold more of Diagnosis: Lupus: The Intimate Journal of a Lupus Patient. I suppose the age of my classmates had something to do with it, looking for tips on avoiding disease and taking care of oneself.

PUYOBP: I understand your next book,The Women of Camp Sobingo, is going to be published in ebook format first. Do you have any advice for other ebook authors that would help them with their promotional campaigns and is this your first ebook?

Marilyn: It is my first ebook, and I went kicking and screaming into that venue. But it appears to be the next best thing in publishing. New authors should hire this woman as their publicist, to walk them through the new jungle of publishing.

PUYOBP: I thank you for coming, Marilyn. Do you have any final thoughts on book promotion that you would like to share?

Marilyn: I have learned that for every hour you write on your next best seller, you must spend two hours on promoting it. Even before it appears in print. All the old school of thought that a big New York publisher would find you work worth millions of dollars in sales and that you would spend weeks on the road at booksignings and public appearances doesn't exist, except in the general public's imagination. Promotion is blood, sweat and tears, and I'd rather be writing. But that's why I have you, Dorothy, my publicist. I love saying those words!

You can purchase Marilyn's book Once a Brat at Amazon!

Tags: online book promotion, author publicity, book promotion, book promotion tips, virtual book tour, Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours, Marilyn Celeste Morris, Once a Brat, military brats