Sheila Roberts on Virtual Book Tour at Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion

We have a very special guest today at Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion!

Welcome Sheila Roberts, author of ON STRIKE FOR CHRISTMAS (St. Martin's Press, Nov. '07). Sheila is here with us today to tell us how she pumps up her own online book promotion!

Thank you for coming to Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion, Sheila! Can you tell us what your book is about?

"On Strike for Christmas" is about a group of girlfriends who decide to (surprise, surprise!) go on strike for the holidays and put their men in charge. At the time it seems like the perfect tool to teach the men to appreciate everything women do to make the holidays merry and bright. It's a big order, and with shopping, baking, decorating, orchestrating holiday events and trips to see Santa, the guys find themselves stuck on a steep learning curve. Will they learn their lesson? And what about the women? Is there a lesson in all this for them, too? Maybe.

Who are you published with and how have your experiences with them been so far?

I'm published with St. Martin's Press, a wonderful publisher. Everyone at this publishing house is helpful and supportive, and I am happy and grateful to be with them.

Can you tell us ways you have been promoting online?

I'm promoting on my website (you'll find an excerpt of the book at http://www.sheilasplace.com, and enjoying stopping by great blogs like this one to chat about what I hope will be a fun holiday read for everyone.

Can you tell us ways you have been promoting offline?

Offline, it's book signing parties, radio interviews, book club visits, and anything else fun that comes along.

In your own opinion, what has been the hardest part about being a published author?

I think for any author, exposing your brain baby to the world can be a little scary. What if someone doesn't like it, says it's ugly, dumb, bad? We writers love so much to tell stories and we hope readers enjoy them, but we never really know how they'll be received. All we can do is birth them, and then give them a kiss and wish them well as we send them out into the world. The good news is that usually somebody out there does love those stories as much as we do.

In your own respective, how do you define success?

Setting a goal and achieving it.

What’s next for you? Do you have more books in the works?

Yes, I'm readying my second book for St. Martin's right now and I'm very excited about it.

Thank you for stopping by, Sheila, and much success to you!

Thank you, and thanks to those important people who make it all worth while: the readers!

Tags: Pump Up Your Book Promotion, virtual book tour, Sheila Roberts, On Strike for Christmas, women's fiction novel

Happy Thanksgiving!

How Do I Get People to Buy My Book - Part 3 - Give to the Community

No need to buy books on promotion and marketing when all the secrets for a successful book marketing campaign will be unveiled at Book Marketing Buzz in the upcoming months.

Part three in the "How Do I Get People to Buy My Book? series is live at www.bookmarketingbuzz.wordpress.com.

Pump up your book promotion by signing up for the feed in the left hand sidebar so you won't miss any future installments.

Thank you for stopping by and pump up that book!

Tags: Book Marketing Buzz, book promotion tips, book publicity, book marketing campaign

How Do I Get People to Buy My Book? - Targeting Your Audience

Second installment of "How Can I Get People to Buy My Book?" is posted at Book Marketing Buzz! Today it's how to target your audience. Visit http://www.bookmarketingbuzz.wordpress.com/ and if you have a suggestion to send us on how you get people to buy your books, email us at bookmarketingbuzz(at)yahoo.com and tell us! You may be featured in a future episode!

Tags: Book Marketing Buzz, online book promotion, How can I get people to buy my book?

How to Get People to Buy Your Book - Announcing a Series of Book Marketing Strategies to Help You Sell Your Book!

As everyone knows, I, along with my staff at Pump Up Your Book Promotion, run online book tours, commonly called virtual book tours, for authors on a month-to-month basis. It's very exciting to watch as the tours unfold as to how this reflects into book sales. Halfway through one of my client's tour, I had one of them email me and he said, "I've not sold any books. How come?"

On my end, I really don't know how many books an author sells unless I keep a daily track record at Amazon, but how many of those are really sold directly as a result of the virtual book tour anyway? You can track it but you really don't know 100% whether it was because of the tour or it was because of something else entirely different.

So, if an author sees no figures moving at Amazon, he automatically thinks his method of book promotion isn't working.

The thing about a virtual book tour, I must mention, is that usually you are viewed by at least a thousand people (rough estimate) throughout your tour because of the promotions that are being conducted daily by my staff and I. If I sat here and added up how many people read the promo we send out daily, I'm sure it's well worth over a thousand, but let's just use 1,000 as a starting point.

Of those 1,000 people who read the promo, how many of them are actually going to buy your book? Many? A few? Gulp...none?

Promo is meant to entice the reader to buy your book but there are many other things that come into focus. Is this a book the reader is interested in? Is this a genre that the reader enjoys? Is this a book that is recommendable?

The key thing to remember is that no promo is going to work for you unless the book is recommendable and something the reader is interested in.

So, how do you make your book recommendable to the point where everyone is talking about it and how do you get the reader's interest?

I'm starting a series on my blog at Book Marketing Buzz where we will tackle that question. Just what will it take for people to buy your book besides holding a loaded gun to their head?

If you have a method that has worked for you, email me at thewriterslife(at)yahoo.com and please put "How to Get People to Buy Your Book" in the subject line. You and your book will be featured in a future post in the series at Book Marketing Buzz!

Meanwhile, mosey on over there to read the first installment in the series and if you don't want to miss future posts, sign up for the feed in the left hand sidebar.

Pump up that book promotion!

Tags: How to Get People to Buy Your Book, Book Marketing Buzz, online book promotion

Testing the Unknown Waters of Self-Publishing

Interesting story I just read in The Wall Street Journal about a man by the name of C. Ben Bosah from Ohio who believed so strongly in his wife's book, "Letters to My Sisters: Plain Truths and Straightforward Advice From a Gynecologist," that he decided to forgo finding an agent or publisher for it (claiming he wanted all the profit for himself) and self-published - to a tune of 15,398 copies and a debt of $40,000.

What makes this an unusual story and the reason why it ended up in The Wall Street Journal I suppose is that it shows what people will go through to get their books published with doing little homework on what really goes into the process.

It ain't easy.

I have a friend who had a book published (as did I) whose publisher went bankrupt; now all we've got to show for our efforts is a book with no home, no profit, and probably a book that will never see life again. While in my case, my co-authors and I are trying to ignore this ever happened, my friend is looking into all different ways of trying to get that book published again and self-publishing was something that was suggested to her.

There are many authors who have gone this route; although, it's not for the weak of heart. As was mentioned in the article, a distributor must be found, as well as a printer and everything else that is involved that the ordinary person might not know a thing about.

I have a friend, though, Theresa Chaze, who is going that route and she swears by it. Having started her own publishing business to publish her books, she has done her homework and will test the waters out soon.

My opinion of self-publishing is that it does create an attractive alternative to having your book published only after you have exhausted all other means of publishing. What I have found in setting up book tours is that often the self-published author is turned down by a prospective blog host simply by the method of publishing which I find ridiculous, but you can't fight city hall.

Like I told my friend who is looking into the different methods of publishing, start at the top. If you can't find anyone interested to take it on, self-publishing could be the way to go - ONLY if you've done your homework first and go in with your eyes peeled wide open. But, isn't that with any publisher?

Tags: self-publishing, Letters to My Sisters: Plain Truths and Straightforward Advice From a Gynecologist, Wall Street Journal

2008 New York Book Festival Call for Entries

NEW YORK (November 16, 2007) _ The 2008 New York Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual program celebrating books that deserve greater recognition from the world’s publishing capital.

Last year, over 20,000 attendees enjoyed the beauty and serenity of Manhattan’s Central Park as they browsed books, listened to music and author readings and enjoyed our food vendors. This year, the day festival will offer expanded stages and new opportunities for authors, publishers, musicians and vendors.

The 2008 New York Book Festival will consider published, self-published and independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, children’s books, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, comics/’zines, e-books, poetry, wild card (anything goes!), unpublished stories, science fiction, horror, photography/art, romance and biography/autobiography works.

A panel of judges will determine the winners based on the following criteria:

1) The story-telling ability of the author.

2) The potential of the work to win wider recognition.

Entries can be in English, Spanish, French or Italian and must be published on or after January 1, 2000. Our grand prize for the 2008 New York Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 and a flight to New York for the awards and our day festival in Central Park.

ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.

1) General Non-fiction

2) General Fiction

3) Children’s books

4) E-books

5) Comics/’zines

6) Wild Card (anything goes)

7) Unpublished Stories

8) Teenage

9) Science Fiction

10) Romance

11) Biography/Autobiography

12) Audio/Spoken Word

13) Poetry

14) Photography/Art

FESTIVAL RULES: New York Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.

NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: We will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries on this web site shortly after the entry deadline.

Regular registration deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of business on May 25 , 2008. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions.

TO ENTER: Click on the "ENTER THE COMPETITION" link at newyorkbookfestival.com and follow the directions to get an entry form. Forms may also be faxed/e-mailed to you by calling our office at 323-665-8080 or e-mailing us at NewYorkBookFest@aol.com. You may also register over the phone with a credit card. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee via check, money order, credit card payment or PayPal online payment of $50 in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee.

Entry fee checks/money orders should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC. We’re sorry, but entries must be mailed and cannot be delivered in person or by messenger services to the JM Northern Media offices.

Entry packages should include one copy of the book; any relevant marketing material; a copy of your official entry form; and the entry fee or receipt from online payment.

Entries should be mailed to:

JM Northern Media LLC

7095 Hollywood Blvd.

Suite 864

Hollywood, CA 90028

AWARDS: Winners of the 2008 New York Book Festival will be honored at a gala ceremony held the night before our annual day festival in Central Park. You do not need to be present to accept your award or accompanying prizes.

New York Book Festival winners in each category will be admitted free to the awards ceremony. The New York Book Festival selection committee reserves the right to determine the category eligibility of any project.

VENDORS AND MUSICIANS: If you would like to be a part of our day festival in Central Park, please e-mail us at NewYorkBookFest@aol.com for an application.

The New York Book Festival is produced by JM Northern Media LLC, producers of the Hollywood Book Festival, DIY Convention, London Book Festival and DIY Book Festival, and is sponsored by The Hollywood Creative Directory, eDivvy, Westside Websites and Shopanista.

Tags: New York Book Festival