Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Radio Show Invitation for Friday February 1

I wanted to extend an invitation for anyone to drop in on a radio interview that I have on Friday morning. Melissa is a good friend and an accomplished author.

These are the details for the show -

The call in number to speak with us is 1-347-215-8473 from 11 am to noon EST. If you aren't able to attend, you can visit the site to listen to the recording later in the day. If you visit the site and register before the show you can listen online for free. This is the link for this show - http://blogtalkradio.com/MelissaAlvarez

We have a long list of topics to discuss, but will be taking questions from callers too.

Nikki Leigh

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

New Virtual Book Tour Site Launch on February 1

Many people have heard about virtual book tours, sometimes called virtual author tours or virtual blog tours. They are a new and exciting way for authors to "tour" the internet - without leaving their home.

Imagine... you can meet potential readers from all over the internet and potential all over the world and you don't need to leave your home and family. In addition, a virtual tour is much more reasonably priced than the plane tickets, hotel rooms, meals etc that you need to buy for a book tour on the ground.

Authors and readers are all invited to visit the new virtual book tour site. There are over 100 articles and interviews to help authors learn more about book promotion. There are a number of web pages that were created by our tour site sponsors - they offer many products and services that could be beneficial for you. (If you would like to become a sponsor, please contact me at nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com for more information.)

What's different about this book tour option? While our featured authors will visit other blogs throughout the month, each tour stop will be posted on the book tour site. Visitors who come to the site have the option of reading any or all of the information about the books and the author in one central location. So, whether you arrive at the tour on day 1 or the last day, you can easily catch up on all the details that each author wants to share with you. Each visitor has a choice about how they want to learn about the feature authors. I encourage you to visit the site frequently to find out what new information has been posted. The links which are posted below, take you to each author's tour page. All posts about their books are linked to these pages and are easy to access.

So, what books are we featuring in February? Here's some information about the authors you will meet during the month. They have all posted some information on the site and much more will be posted throughout the month.

Earl Ofari Hutchingson - The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House http://www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion/Earl+Hutchinson+-+Feb+2008

The Ethnic Presidency is an explosive look at how racial and ethnic conflict has openly and covertly played a crucial role over the past three decades in influencing, shaping and ultimately deciding who bags the world's biggest political prize, the White House. It explains how racial politics is playing an even bigger role in the 2008 presidential election and future elections.

Steven Clark Bradley - Nimrod Rising
http://www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion/steven-clark-bradley-author-nimrod-rising

Have you ever felt that the world was guided in ways that are beyond man's control? The constant changes in the world since the time of Nimrod 4000 years ago until today and all the events that have shaken the world have been to bring the universe back into the hands of the Prince of Darkness, Lucia, a world that he had ruled with his Watchers before it was all ripped from his grasp when man was created. Nimrod Rising paints a diabolical picture of how the Prince of Darkness executes his evil plot to take the world back by force and destroy civilization in the process. From the Great Builder Nimrod in 4000 BC to today, 666 generations later, you can ride the storm of Nimrod Rising and experience the death of a world and the birth pangs of another. You will swear it is really upon us!

Virginia Vassallo - Unsung Patriot: Guy T. Viskniskki How The Stars and Stripes Began
http://www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion/Virginia+Vassallo

The Unsung Patriot is the biography of Guy T. Viskniskki, the dynamic first officer-in-charge and editor-in-chief of The Stars and Stripes newspaper. Based in part on Guy’s unpublished autobiography describing the first difficult months of the paper, his granddaughter’s knowledge of the family verbal history paints a picture of a complex man. A devoted husband and father, Guy was unable to show the love he felt for his family. Guy poured his time and talent in the newspaper business. His knowledge and energy made the Army’s newspaper a reality and his doctrine of “by and for the soldiers” still is the guiding light of the Stars and Stripes.

I want to extend an invitation for each person to visit the site and learn more about each of these authors and their books. I invite readers and authors to register on the site and create a profile page to tell us more about yourself. Also, feel free to post a comment about any of the posts or post an introduction on the forums. If you have questions, feel free to contact me at nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com.

I look forward to meeting many new people.

Nikki Leigh
Author of the Book Promo 101 Series
www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm





Monday, January 14, 2008

A Book Tour Done From Home - Is She Crazy?

I may be crazy, but not about this :)

Any author can do a book tour from the comfort of their home. Even if there are two feet of snow in your driveway, you can still have a book tour. It is critical that you have a computer, an internet connection and electricity - but it can definitely be done.

One of the authors that will tour with me in February is even going to be traveling for one week during the month, but she will still be promoting her book.

We've all had book signings where very few people attended. Sadly, book signings with authors aren't the big attraction that they used to be. It can be very expensive and disheartening to plan to book signing and to have only a handful of people attend.

But, there is another way. I suggest that you have a virtual book tour. These are also called virtual blog tours. There are a number of ways to conduct these tours. You can visit a bunch of different blogs throughout the month and encourage potential readers to chase you around. Or, there is a brand new option that I'm very excited about.

With a friend, I just launched a new and different virtual book tour website. I like new, unusual and creative promotional activities because they are more fun and more memorable. That's one of the reasons I'm excited about this new site and a new way to hold a virtual book tour. Another reason is because this program gives the author control of their tour. Now, if you're an author who doesn't want any control, that's fine. Our authors have the choice to control their tour personally or to have me coordinate each aspect of the tour for them. The possibilities will increase over time and I'd be happy to discuss any ideas with you to customize the tour for you.

Definition of a Virtual Blog or Book Tour

1. Simply, a virtual blog tour is a cyber “tour” of various blogs and websites. These blogs and websites usually have themes that are within the book that is being promoted on the tour. This “tour” allows authors to reach many people as they travel through the blogosphere.

2. A tour contains a set of blog, website interviews, reviews or guest posts that are posted on a series of blogs during a set amount of time. Various blog owners host you and many ask you interview questions about your book or they may request that you write a piece about a specific part or element of your book.

3. Virtual blog tours are a wonderful alternative to a “live” bookstore tour. A bookstore tour can be very expensive, consume a lot of your time, take you away from your family and job and there is no guarantee that it will be successful. A blog tour can be done from home and in your pajamas if that’s what you prefer.

TTThe Virtual Book Tour Website

I invite each person to visit the new site. The address is www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion. This is a site that was created exclusively to promote author book tours and to make it easy for potential readers to learn more about a wide variety of books and authors.

Each touring author is given a section of the website to promote their books. For a couple of examples, feel free to visit - http://inspiredauthor.com/promotion/february-authors-2008. This page links you to each author that is touring in February and I will create a similar page for touring authors each month. In February, we have three authors touring at this point and I'm talking with several more. For more information about the February authors, visit that page and click on their name. These authors include: Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Steven Clark Bradley and Virginia Vassallo.

This page takes you to Earl Ofari Hutchinson's information http://inspiredauthor.com/promotion/Earl+Hutchinson+-+Feb+2008 and all information throughout the month will be in this same location. In addition, the various posts will remain in our archives for people to view even after the tours are over. The site is designed in a way that attracts the search engines and that will generate links to your information.

I'm writing a short e-book for each of our touring authors to help them learn to use the site, how to create a variety of items to post during their tour and ways to make the most of their tour. I'm also available to help with questions and to offer suggestions of ways to make the most of your tour. Another great advantage is that each author can benefit from the traffic generated for the other touring authors on the site.

The site also offers the chance for website, newsletter and blog owners to promote their sites to visitors. These are site "sponsors". All I ask is that the blog and website owners post a simple promotional message once a week. I'll supply a message for the sponsors to use. This is one of the ways the touring authors will be promoted around the internet. If you're a blog or website owner, feel free to contact me for more information. I can be reached at nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com. I would love to talk to you about the options to promote your book.

Nikki Leigh - Author of the Book Promo 101 series
Visit www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm for more information
Tours on the virtual book tour website begin at only $105 for a full month.



Monday, January 7, 2008

I Want to Give You A Free* Promotional Page on My Website

I have a new virtual book tour website and I want to give you a free* page to promote your book, your blog or your business. There is no charge for this promotional page. But, it is a barter deal. It's this easy -

You can be a site sponsor which means that you post a simple promotional message for the virtual book tour site once a week. In return, you can have a page to promote your book, your blog or your business on the site.

For additional information, visit - http://inspiredauthor.com/promotion/how-and-why-be-sponsor

For a few examples, visit - http://inspiredauthor.com/promotion/?q=node/6

There are only a few categories for sponsors at the moment, but I'm open to all sorts of ideas. If your blog readers like to read - and they obviously do - you could qualify to be a sponsor. Simply drop me a note at nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com and let's talk about the possibilities.

I plan to reach a wide audience of potential readers for my touring authors and bringing quality sponsors to the site, is a secret to making that happen. If you have a newsletter, a blog, a forum or other way to communicate with visitors, you can be a sponsor. I look forward to talking to you in more detail.

Nikki Leigh - Author of Book Promo 101
www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion - All readers and authors are welcome.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Virtual Book Tour – Unique and Unusual Book Promotion Option

The Virtual Book Tour site offers something for anyone who loves books. Readers have a chance to meet new authors. Authors get a chance to create a profile page to promote their books. Authors can opt to be a feature author and their work will be promoted on the site for a specific period of time. The site also allows any person, author, business to promote their products or services on the site - free.

Virtual book tours give authors to opportunity to travel the internet, without leaving their home. Many authors visit various blogs, websites, and they may be mentioned on newsletters or review sites.

This approach offers a number of benefits:

  • Much more cost effective than a physical book tour to different cities
  • You don’t have to leave your home, job and family in order to tour
  • It is a way to get information about you and your books circulating on the internet
  • Virtual book tours generate book sales and a buzz about your book
  • You will have additional search engine links to your website and to details about your books
  • The Virtual Book Tour site is part of InspiredAuthor.com which had over 3,000,000 hits in 2007

I’m happy to announce a new way to accomplish these same benefits for you and your books, but this option offers more control for you and the tour coordinator who works with you.

Here are some problems I’ve seen with typical book tours:

  • Tour stops on websites with low traffic
  • Blog hosts forgetting to post your interview or posting late in the day
  • Blog hosts posting the wrong information on the day when you are scheduled
What happens when people see the information about your tour and they go to the daily tour stop and your information isn’t online? This makes you look bad and often people don’t return to look for your post. The new Virtual Tour site gives you and your coordinator complete control over the information is posted and when it is posted. If you control your tour, post the information at any time that suits you. If you hire a coordinator, this person makes sure your information is posted on the right day.

Another benefit is that people don’t need to chase you around the internet. They can return to the same site during the month to visit you and to learn more. But, you might wonder how they will hear about your tour. That’s the beauty of our book tour site sponsors. We are always on the lookout for sponsors. These people post promotional information about the Virtual Book Tour site each week to circulate current details for their website or blog visitors. In return the site sponsors are given a dedicated page on the Virtual Book Tour site to promote their website, their blog, their book or their business. The site offers free and easy promotion for you and/or your business. Contact me about being a sponsor – I can be reached at nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com and please put “Sponsor” in the subject line.

To visit our site, click www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion. There’s a wealth of information about how the site works, how to post information, and about 100 promotional interviews and articles for you.

Up to Date Nikki Leigh Bio

Since its a new year, I figured it was time to update my author bio - and I thought I would share it.

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Nikki Leigh began as an idea in a teenager’s mind. At about 14, Shri Henkel knew she wanted to be an author and she wanted to write under the name Nikki Leigh. It took over 20 years, but she eventually “became” Nikki Leigh. Shri is from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

“I want to convey time, place and character details to my readers. I choose my settings carefully and want people to understand what the setting and history contributes to the story.”

Her love of the coast, history and lighthouses is apparent in her stories. On a trip to Cape Ann with her brother, Chris, she found the location for the Misty Cove series. The rugged land, hard working people and rich history were too compelling to ignore. Cape Ann and Gloucester, Massachusetts are featured in Stormy View, Widow’s Walk (Book One), Lady Lightkeeper (Book Two) and Stormy Shores.

“My first mystery, Lilah and the Locket, is set along the Outer Banks of NC and literally at the base of Cape Hatteras. There is extensive local history and color woven into the story. I did that to help convey the time and place to readers. Other local events will be featured in upcoming books in the Outer Banks series.”

She owns a consulting and promotional business under her real name. Shri has 21 years of business management and 15 years of marketing experience. This knowledge was used to create books and articles for business managers. This experience is valuable to her business and promotional clients. She has four business and restaurant books in print. Visit http://www.nikkileigh.com/biz_books_4_sale.htm for full details. Her business website is www.sandcconsulting.com

Book Promo 101 – Basics of Book Promotion is Nikki’s latest book. She created it to share her promotional background with authors. It includes tips and suggestions to help the beginning book promoter or the more experienced promoter. There are review questions at the end of each chapter to help the author to learn more. For additional information about promotion and Book Promo 101 feel free to visit Nikki blog – Muze’s Musings. The link is: http://muzesmusings.blogspot.com/.

Nikki recently launched a new blog tour site and you are welcome to visit – www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion. This site offers promotional opportunities for author, all members and businesses (as site sponsors). Feel free to check the site for more information and contact Nikki with questions – nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com

Coming Soon - Book Promo 201 – Learn the Basics of Online Promotion is a work in progress. In 2008, she hopes to complete the sequel to Lilah and the Locket, the contemporary Misty Cove book – Stormy Shores and possibly a couple of Misty Cove short stories. For updates on new books, new short stories, upcoming character and promotional classes, new promotional opportunities and much more, visit www.muzesmusings.blogspot.com.

Visit us on the Promo 101 Promotional Services site - http://www.bookpromotionservices.com