Pump Up Your Book! October '12 Authors On Tour Trailer

Pump Up Your Book! Announces October ‘12 Authors on Virtual Book Tours

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- Now is the time to explore some great books. During the month of October, Pump Up Your Book! showcases 44 authors in a variety of genres: romance, mystery, Christian novels, thrillers, devotionals and more. And many of our authors are giving away fabulous prizes like the new Kindle Fire HD!

In October you’ll find several Christian novels in a variety of subgenres. Margaret Daley, Kellie Coates Gilbert, Kathy Harris, and Krista Phillips join returning author Kay Marshall Strom to discuss their Christian books. Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein returns for her sixth virtual book tour to promote her romantic mystery and spiritual awakening novel, “Next Year in Jerusalem!” and Benjamin Ethridge’s tour continues for his horror novel, “Bottled Abyss.”

Contemporary novels come to you from Mary Metcalfe and Mack Mulluncey, while thrillers in a variety of subgenres are being promoted by Thomas Block, Bud Bradshaw, Debbie Dyke, Kate McGuiness, Rebecca Reid, Helen Smith, James Houston Turner, and Pamela Samuels Young. Sandy Nathan tours with her three book paranormal fantasy series, “Tales from Earth’s End,” and we welcome back Sheila Roberts, who is on tour with her women’s fiction novel, “Better Than Chocolate.”

Also on tour in October are: Cherry Adair, Tony Cane-Honeysett, Ray East and Sam D., Deb Elkink, Libby Floyd, Eileen Hodgetts, Charlotte Hubbard, M. Thomas Long, Kfir Luzzatto, Helga Madland, Steven Manchester, Lillian Melendez, Joe Niehaus and Mary Sikora, Hank Quense, Morrie Richfield, C.V. Rosasco, and Mary Whitney.

In nonfiction, we have a Christian living devotional by James R. Anderson, and Mark Connelly continues his tour for “The IRA on Film and Television.” Kelly Preston talks about her book, “Real Dogs Don’t Whisper,” and Mark Spinak offers a compelling portrait of twelve spirits that changed the world in “Iconic Spirits.” Also on tour are Catherine Doughty and Carrieanne Fonger.

Visit YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfDKJAborJw to view a video trailer introducing our clients on tour in October.

Pump Up Your Book! is a virtual book tour agency for authors who want quality service at an affordable price. More information can be found on our website at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

Contact Information:

Dorothy Thompson
Founder of Pump Up Your Book! Virtual Book Tours
P.O. Box 643
Chincoteague, Virginia 23336
Email: thewriterslife@gmail.com

Pump Up Your Book's 5th Anniversary Hoedown (Giveaway)

During the month of April, Pump Up Your Book is celebrating its 5th Anniversary with a month's worth of great giveaways. The staff of Pump Up is visiting a variety of blogs in April and giving away prizes everywhere they go. This celebration will culminate with a Q & A session on Goodreads where you can win even more prizes!

I've been with Pump Up Your Book almost since the beginning. Our founder, Dorothy Thompson, started Pump Up with one client in April 2007. I started hosting clients soon afterwards, and by September 2007, I was part of the team. We're a staff of five now, coordinating virtual book tours for 30 - 50 authors a month. You can say we've grown a little over the last five years. :)

I would like to share a list of five things I've learned while working with Pump Up Your Book. Stick with me to the end to see what prize you have a chance to win.

1. Organization is key. You need several skills to coordinate virtual book tours, but one thing you can't do without is organization. I've coordinated tours for 10 to 12 authors a month during peak seasons. I couldn't manage it all without being organized. I have a paper calendar that is backed up by an electronic one. Each client has a folder in my Inbox, so I know right where to look for information if I need something.
2. Meet client expectations. This is important in any business, but crucial in the age where praise and criticism can be shared instantly. Being up front at the beginning is better than a disappointed client later.
3. Meeting client expectations leads to repeat business. Much of my business over the past couple of years has been repeat clients. Marilyn Meredith has toured with us nine times and Kathi Macias is currently on her tenth tour. I've been privileged to work with both of these award-winning authors multiple times. Making a good impression right away and continually meeting expectations goes a long way.
4. Don't forget to thank your tour hosts. Virtual book tours wouldn't be successful without the many dedicated bloggers who host clients. Book lovers have found a way to express their love of the written word through their blogs, but many of them receive no compensation for their time. Letting them know they're appreciated is important to nurturing your relationship with them.
5. Don't be afraid of change. Change is tough for people. At Pump Up Your Book I think we have the perfect balance of using what has always worked well for us, along with being open to trying new things to create exposure for our clients. From Facebook parties to Twitterviews, and from book trailers to author videos, and more, we do our best to make virtual book tours fun for everyone involved.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the last five years. It's been a wonderful ride. I hope to see you all again at our 10th Anniversary.

Today's prize: $10 Amazon gift card!

Complete the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to enter and win. For a complete schedule of our tour stops, visit http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2012/04/01/pump-up-your-book-5th-year-anniversary-celebration/

Interview: M. E. Patterson, Author of Devil's Hand

M. E. Patterson is an author of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and thrillers, as well as an information technologist. He received an English/Fiction Writing degree from Virginia Tech, where he studied under nationally-recognized writers and poets. He has published short stories on RevolutionSF and his first manuscript for his book, Devil’s Hand, placed in the top five in the Writers’ League of Texas Manuscript Contest.
You can visit his website at http://devils-hand.com or his blog at http://blog.digimonkey.com.

Connect with him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mepatterson  or Facebook at http://on.fb.me/dhnovel.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, in a fairly small rural town full of cows and pickup trucks. After high school, I went to Virginia Tech, where I received a degree in English, with a focus on poetry and fiction writing. Then, it was time to say goodbye to the mountains and head west, to Central Texas, where I live now with my wife and dog. Aside from writing horror, sci-fi, and fantasy novels, I’m also an accomplished web software engineer and designer, and frequently blog on the subjects.

When did you begin writing?

I think I began writing as early as 8 or 9 years old, when I wrote a five-page (badly) illustrated story about some friends exploring a cave. From there, it was off and on for years: a bunch of stories about a science fiction universe I dreamt up; some angsty teen poetry; you name it. It wasn’t until college that I really started to seriously consider writing as something beyond a sporadic hobby.

Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

I write mostly late afternoon and evening. It always seems like I’ve got other, more administrative things to do earlier in the day, not to mention my day job.

What is this book about?

Devil’s Hand is a supernatural thriller that follows the return of a washed-up pro poker player to the city of Las Vegas, where he inadvertently ends up saving a strange teenage girl and is caught in a war between angels and demons that threatens to destroy the city and the world. My main goal was to write a story that was both dark and haunting while still remaining fun and exciting.

What inspired you to write it?

Devil’s Hand actually started with the protagonist. Dreaming up character ideas for a role-playing game with a friend one night, I came up with this notion of a guy who survived something impossible and then had luck sort of broken for him, where he never had bad luck happen to him ever again. Of course, that’s not exactly how it works out in the novel, but you’ll have to read it to find out what I mean.

Are you a member of a critique group? If no, who provides feedback on your work?

At various times, I’ve been a member of two different critique groups: the Novels-In-Progress group and the SlugTribe SF/F/H Study Group, both here in Austin, Texas. I learned a lot from both about writing, reading, critiquing, and the most important lesson of all: understanding your readers. One of the most interesting aspects of writing groups for me has been the realization that everyone has an opinion, but you don’t have to try and act upon all of them. When you get two people giving completely opposite, extreme responses to the same aspect of your story, that’s usually a sign that you’ve hit your mark perfectly. Or, it can be a sign that there’s something subtle about your prose that isn’t working quite right that critiquers are having trouble explaining. Learning to figure out which is which is the real art of writing grops.

Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?

Like many indie authors I’ve talked with, my road to publication started with several years of going the ‘traditional’ route, through agent queries, form rejections, more queries, partial reads, more rejections, then finally numerous full reads and personalized rejections. After too many “this book is great and publishable, but not what my editors are looking for right now” letters, I realized that the market was shrinking too much to make it viable for many first-time authors. With a background in Internet technologies and viral marketing experience, I figured it was time to strike out on my own, and I haven’t looked back.

If you knew then, what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?

That’s an interesting question. I might have tried the indie publishing world a little sooner, but I’m not entirely sure that my hindsight is 20/20 here. The landscape has changed dramatically in even the last 12 months. It would have been nice to have been one of the earlier books on the crest of the wave that’s now breaking, but I don’t think I’m too far back, either, so I’m happy.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Devil’s Hand is available in both e-book and paperback. You can get the paperback and the Kindle version from Amazon. There’s also a Nook e-book available. Links to all the versions are on the official book website, http://devils-hand.com/.

Do you have a website and/or blog where readers can find out more?

There are several ways you can engage with me and with Devil’s Hand:

The official book website is http://devils-hand.com/
From there, you can add your email address to the mailing list, head over to the Facebook Fan page, or start following @mepatterson on Twitter.

If you want to check out my personal blog, where I blog about both internet technologies and writing, head over to http://blog.digimonkey.com/

Do you have a video trailer to promote your book? If yes, where can readers find it?

No book trailer yet.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

By now, it’s become pretty common advice, but I think it bears repeating: success is a result of reading a lot, writing a lot, and then putting yourself in the position to get lucky. You can have all the talent and all the drive in the world, but if you produce something and then just sit around waiting for your success, you’ll likely get nowhere. Get out there, make a name for yourself and your work, and put yourself in the position to be ready when luck knocks on your door.

What is up next for you?

The next thing out will be the sequel to Devil’s Hand (name forthcoming), which I’m hoping to have available early 2012. After that, some planning for the third book in the series, but I may take a temporary detour to finish up a sci-fi adventure novel I’ve been toying with, that will be marketed to both adults and teens.

Pump Up Your Book! Announces June ‘11 Authors on Virtual Book Tours

Join a talented and diverse group of 38 authors who are touring with Pump Up Your Book! Virtual Book Tours during the month of June 2011.

Follow these authors as they travel the blogosphere from June 6th through June 30th to discuss their books. This month is filled with a variety of genres: thrillers, children’s books, fantasy novels, historicals, memoirs and more!

The month of June finds several authors continuing their virtual book tours. Returning are Buzz Bernard and “Eyewall,” Sandi Gelles-Cole and “The Memoir of Marilyn Monroe,” Emily Sue Harvey and “Homefires,” Douglas Jacobson and “The Katyn Order,” Tom McLaughlin and “Borneo Tom,” M.J. Rose and “The Hypnotist,” Alexandrea Weis and “Recovery,” Nzingha West and “Is My Kid Stupid?”and Lory Kaufman and “The Lens and the Looker.” Kaufman will also be touring with “The Bronze and the Brimstone,” the second book in his Verona Trilogy.

Short story collections come to you from Hank Aaron and Garasamo Maccagnone, while Michael Scott Miller talks about his contemporary novel, “Ladies and Gentlemen…The Redeemers.” Thrillers are being promoted by Steve DeWinter, Julia Madeleine, bestselling author Aaron Patterson and Chris White, L.L. Reaper, and Dave Zeltserman.

Check out literary fiction offerings from Patty Friedmann, Lynda Simmons, and Carole Waterhouse. Mysteries come to you from Ray Ellis, Larry Jukofsky, and Wayne Zurl, while Paul Levine promotes his hardboiled crime novel, “Flesh and Bones.” Amazon bestselling author Mayra Calvani talks about her children’s picture book, “Frederico, the Mouse Violinist,” and award-winning author Renee Hand tours with the second book in her Joe-Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill children’s mystery chapter book series, “Mineral Mischief.”

Also on tour in June are F.J. Dagg, P.J. Hoover, Leonora Pruner, and C.W. Gortner, who is promoting the paperback release of “The Confessions of Catherine de Medici.”

Memoirs come to you from Neil Cullen McKinlay, Jessamine Rose, and Jane Rowan. Other nonfiction authors on tour are Harriet Cammock, Barbara Conelli, and Dr. Frederick Lukash. Pump Up Your Book! is also running a one-day promotional event on June 14th for author Laurel Dewey and her crime thriller, “Revelations.”


Visit YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PujAarlkpBo to view a video trailer introducing our authors on tour in June.


Pump Up Your Book! is a virtual book tour agency for authors who want quality service at an affordable price. More information can be found on their website at http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/.



Contact Information:

Dorothy Thompson
Founder of Pump Up Your Book! Virtual Book Tours
P.O. Box 643
Chincoteague, Virginia 23336
Email: thewriterslife@yahoo.com