Tom and I chatted about how I came to write, My Virtual Book Tour Secrets! and why an author should consider organizing a virtual book tour for their own book. We also talked about some of the different types of content authors can provide to hosting blogs, the pre-tour setup needed before embarking on a virtual book tour of your own, and even why I choose to release the book as an e-book instead of a print book. Please join us.

Tomorrow I’m heading up to Seattle, Washington, to visit with Dorothy Lemoult, I hope you can join us!

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• First Things First …
• Writing Style Meme

Today I want to let you in on two items involving the virtual book tour.

First, during the virtual book tour I will be discussing all aspects of virtual book tours, particularly how to organize your own virtual book tour. If you’d like to participate in the tour discussion and have a question you’d like me to answer, maybe I didn’t explain something clearly enough in the Challenge Videos, visit: http://myvirtualbooktoursecrets.com/ask-me-a-question.html, and submit your question. Why not visit his web site now while it’s still fresh in your mind? I will be sure to answer your questions during one of the stops on the tour.

Second, followers of the tour can win a free copy of, “My Virtual Book Tour Secrets.” For rules and to learn how you can win your own copy, visit the “Win a Copy” page at: http://myvirtualbooktoursecrets.com/win-a-copy.html

That’s all for today …

Oh, Massachusetts was beautiful, all except for the sand fleas and the green-head flies (their bite draws blood, ouch!). Got to do a little sightseeing while I was there too. Maybe I’ll post some photos after the tour.

Until next time …

No day without a line!

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Did I succeed in setting up my 10-Day, 10-Stop Virtual Book Tour? I don’t know yet. It’s still early in the day and I’ve got several more bloggers to contact. Check here for itinerary updates.

In this video I review the previous 8 steps in setting up a virtual book tour and then I show you the email I use to contact bloggers asking if they’d be interested in participating in my virtual book tour. I explain each section of the email and why it’s included. You don’t want to skip a paragraph. I encourage you to copy my email formula, not my words. Put your personality into your email, you’ll be more successful.

Good luck in setting up your own virtual book tour.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll be glad to help you in any way that I can.

Until next time …

No day without a line.

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• Day 1: Setting Up a Virtual Book Tour in 5-Days Challenge
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• Are You Overlooking this Simple Readability Tool?

Today’s lesson is Step 8: Determining a Blogs BR. In this first video I explain my Blog Rank (BR) Formula and how it works. When you’re ready click play …

In this video I demonstrate the BR Formula in action and show you how to evaluate the blogs that we’ve been receiving in our Google Alerts emails. Once you get the hang of it you should be able to evaluate and categorize 10 blogs in about 30 minutes.

Whenever you’re ready, click play …

Tomorrow in Step 9, we finally start contacting blog owners! I’ll show you the email I send them that gets around an 83% positive response rate. After you get good at determining a blog’s BR, you may even get a higher response.

That’s all for today. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Until next time …

No day without a line.

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Today marks the half-way point in this challenge; there’s still a little work to do before we actually contact blog owners to ask if they’d be interested in hosting a stop on our virtual book tour. Let’s get started …

Today’s lesson is Step 7: Creating Your Media Kit. The earlier you get this step done the better. This is where we’ll direct the blog owners we contact to for additional information.

Your Media Kit should contain these 8 items:

1.) Your Authors Bio
2.) Your Photo
3.) Cover images
4.) Reviews of your book
5.) Testimonials
6.) Press Release
7.) Sample Chapter/Excerpt
8.) Contact Information

You can include your Media Kit as a page on your blog, that’s what I did. Or, you can make a static web page on your web site. It doesn’t matter.

In today’s video I reveal several ideas for each item in your media kit. Got your pen and paper handy? Good, let’s get started with today’s video …

NOTE: Don’t forget to go to Google Alerts and set up the other 3 Alerts that I mention in the video.

That’s all for today.

Until next time …

No day without a line.

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• Day 1: Setting Up a Virtual Book Tour in 5-Days Challenge

I’m going to cover a lot of information today. But first, I’d like to give you an idea of where we’ve been and where we’re going …

Today I’m moving from the planning stages - Steps 1, 2 and 3 - that I discussed yesterday, into the data gathering stage. I’ll spend today and tomorrow morning on data gathering - covered in Steps 4, 5 and 6. Tomorrow afternoon - in Step 8 - I’ll introduce you to my secret technique for evaluating a blog to determine if it would be a good stop for your virtual book tour.

In the videos that follow you’ll see that after you put Steps 4, 5 and 6 into place, the data we’ll be evaluating will be delivered right to our email inbox. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

This first video covers Step 4: Listing Your Book’s Keywords and Phrases. We’re going see how to use this list in Step 5 to locate blogs that our potential readers visit or blogs that are already discussing the topic of our books.

Get out your pen and paper for notes. Here we go …

That was easy, wasn’t it?

Now let’s see how to use our list of 20 keywords and phrases.

That’s it for today.

Oh, what about Step 7? I’ll cover that tomorrow morning … it’s what you should have in your media kit.

Until then …

No day without a line.

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Anyway, in this clip we “begin with the end in mind” and do a little backwards planning in setting up our virtual book tours.

In Step-1, we review and set S.M.A.R.T. Goals for our virtual book tours.

In Step-2, we give our virtual book tour a name and discuss its importance in tracking posts and getting readers to our virtual book tours.

Finally, in Step-3 we decide how long our virtual book tour will be and block out the time on our calendars or planners.

Don’t skip over these 3 steps, they may appear simple, insignificant even, but the success of your virtual book tour begins on a solid foundation.

Tomorrow we’ll put steps 4, 5 and 6 in motion.

Until then …

No day without a line.

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• My Interview with Blogger Thomas Nixon
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• My Interview with Blogger Thomas Nixon
• “I’d Rather Be in the Studio!” An Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion
• My 14 Point Query Letter Checklist

I’ve been challenged by friend and writer Amy Munnell to put my money where my mouth is. You see I’ve just released an ebook, “My Virtual Book Tour Secrets! – A Self-Publisher’s Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Own Successful Virtual Book Tour in as Little as 30-Days.”

And, Amy is a bit, shall we say, skeptical of my claim that I can set up a virtual book tour in 30-days … she knows how much work is involved in setting up a successful virtual book tour, she frequently hosts tour stops for other authors. Anyway, in my enthusiasm - ok, maybe I was shooting off my mouth - I said using my system I could set up a successful virtual book tour in about a week. And, she said, “Prove it.”

The gauntlet had been thrown and I accepted the challenge.

So, during the week of July 7, 2008, I will set up a virtual book tour for, “My Virtual Book Tour Secrets!” And your invited to watch over my shoulder as I document every step along the way and the results I receive. Good or bad.

If I fail to set up a 10-Day, 10-Stop virtual book tour I promise to contribute a minimum of $100 to Amy’s Event: Kia’s Birthday Benefit, which is a really good cause I might add. If you’re on Facebook, you can learn more by visiting her event page at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21496451465. Anyway, if I succeed, I’ll be able to point to this event as proof that my system works.

You can watch me succeed or fall flat on my face in 1 of 3 places:

1.) My Facebook Fan Page
2.) The Official “My Virtual Book Tour Secrets” Readers Group on Facebook
3.) Or, here on my blog. Bookmark it pressing “CTRL + D”

I’m sure Amy will have something to say too. She blogs at “3 Questions…and Answers: a Blog/Zine about Writers.”

There’s one thing I’m worried about though … I’m scheduled to go on vacation with my family starting July 12th. So my wife will be expecting me to be doing other things, like mowing the grass, changing the oil in the van, packing, etc. Who knows what else?! So I’ll have to use my system and time wisely.

You’re also invited to follow my 10-Day, 10-Stop virtual book tour that will begin on July 21, 2008 and run to August 1, 2008. See the itinerary, which I will post on my blog, Fan Page and Group.

During the virtual book tour I will be interviewed by host bloggers, answer reader’s questions, write and submit guest posts, possibly even do a live teleconference or an interview on SecondLife. All with the intent of generating buzz (and sales) for the book.

If you want to learn how to set up your own successful virtual book tour and sell more of your books, please attend this event … and invite all of your friends to do the same. You won’t be disappointed.

Until next time …

No day without a line.

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• Day 0: Setting Up a Virtual Book Tour in 5-Days Challenge
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• Want to Improve Your Chances of Getting Published?

What’s Your Writing Style?

1. Are you a “pantser” or a “plotter?”

Plotter. I usually know what is going to happen in each chapter before I sit down to write Chapter 1.

2. Detailed character sketches or “their character will be revealed to me as a I write”?

I like to do detailed character sketches of all my main characters … we need to be “good friends.” That doesn’t mean that I don’t learn something new about them as the story progresses; I always smile when I say to myself, “You never told me that,” or “I didn’t know that about you,” when I’m writing about a  character. With minor characters to be “acquainted” with them is enough for me.

3. Do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing?

Yes, for the main characters. And, sometimes for the minor characters, but it’s not important for me to know minor characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before I begin writing.

4. Books on plotting - useful or harmful?

Useful in that they give you another option in plotting. Harmful in that you can get locked into a model that isn’t true to you or your book.

5. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?

I’m 99 1/4% procrastinator. I think my greatest asset, curiosity, is also a great hindrance. When I do get started writing something I often go off in tangents researching, plotting, character sketching, setting research, surfing the internet …

6. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?

I can do both. Mornings when everyone in the house is still in bed or at night when they’ve all gone to bed and the house is quiet is when I can write for hours at a time. I also jot bits and pieces at stop lights, watching tv, while washing dishes … whenever an idea flashes across my mind. I always have paper and pen with me.

7. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?

I write whenever I get a free minute, even if I have to beg, borrow or steal it.

8. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?

I prefer it to be quiet. I can handle music, but people talking really drives me nuts. I can’t concentrate with people talking within ears-shot.

9. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)

I can write with both. But, when I write longhand the words seem to flow freer and require less editing.

10. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?

Most of the time I do. Sometimes it’s a surprise for me.

11. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?

No. I write what I like to read. And that changes frequently … that curiosity thing again.

12. Editing - love it or hate it?

I love editing. Through editing I can make my words shine. Problem is, I sometimes get stuck in trying to make my words perfect. Sometimes good enough, is good enough.

Until next time …

No day without a line!

Random Posts

• Day 1: Setting Up a Virtual Book Tour in 5-Days Challenge
• The Need to Write
• I do the Stupidest Things Sometimes
• A Database of over 1550 Current Markets for Your Fiction and Poetry
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