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Since the 1950s, the foundation of marketing has been the Four Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. While the internet has changed and marketing strategies have taken on a new look, and many new ones have popped up, these four elements are still at the helm of an effective marketing plan. With this is in mind, Danny Brown has developed his own marketing strategy: PITS (Persuasion,

Visuals are powerful. They’re one of the highest converting marketing tools there are. Along with video and animations, Slideshares are a great content marketing and inbound marketing tool. They help boost visibility, website traffic, and authority. Don’t think you can create one? Well, it’s easier than you think. The Slideshare presentation below has step-by-step instructions on creating

Not too long ago, with the release of a new book, an author went out on a “book tour.”  Depending on the perceived sales potential and the size of the publishing house (as well as the author’s name), this involved the author traveling across the country for a few days to a few months to sign, speak about and otherwise promote the book.  The publisher (or the publishing house’s pr department) would set up a series of radio, TV and newspaper interviews in various cities in conjunction with public appearances and book signings at a combination of independent book stores and chains – usually focusing on those that reported sales to the New York Times or other major newspapers. The more signings, interviews and appearances, the more book sales.

In recent years, as publishing budgets have shrunk and the digital world has gained an ever-more-powerful footing, marketing and pr people have begun to redefine the book tour. While some major authors still occasionally ‘go on the road’, a new mode of publicity has begun to take over as the pr vehicle of choice – the ‘Virtual Book Tour.’

A Virtual Book Tour is one in which the “stops” are websites instead of cities, stores or other ‘real life’ venues.  Authors connect with readers online, via websites, blogs, podcasts, vlogs, teleconferences, chats, web-based articles and reviews, and Internet radio and TV, plus YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and other social networking communities.  Sometimes the author throws a ‘book party’ at his or her own website, but generally speaking he or she is visiting other people’s sites over a period of days or weeks in a structured, co-ordinated effort.  During these visits the author may be interviewed, answer questions from readers, have their book reviewed, or contribute original content in the form of an article, essay, guest blogpost, vlog or podcast.

Just as with ‘real world’ book tours, in order to be successful, the Virtual Book Tour must be a carefully organized and factor in the book’s subject matter and perceived audience.  Well before the tour begins, the highest profile and most related bloggers and website hosts are identified, queried and sent advance copies of the book, as well as media kits including press releases, author bios, photos and other pertinent materials (usually also in digital form).

It’s possible for authors to plan and set-up their own Virtual Book Tours, but as with the old-fashioned kind, tours are often most successful when a specialist is brought in to assist. Most of today’s publishers and marketing/pr agencies are well-versed in managing virtual book tours. In addition, there are some individuals and organizations who have made names for themselves exclusively in the Virtual Book Tour market. Among some of the better-known are Alex Mandossian (“VirtualBookTour Secrets.com“), Kevin Smokler (“BookTour.com”) and John Kremer (“BookMarket.com”).

Once the tour begins, it functions in many of the same ways that the ‘real world’ tour does, except that the author never leaves home – and possibly never even gets out of his or her pajamas.

The Muffin readers, you're in for a treat today. We have an interview with Sarah McGinnis, who is vice president of creative services at Frenzy Marketing. So, what is Frenzy Marketing, and what can they do to help you with your writing career? Read on to find out!

WOW: Welcome, Sarah, thanks for stopping by today. So, what is Frenzy Marketing? Tell us about your position there.

Sarah: Frenzy Marketing is a newly re-launched, full-service marketing company specializing in work for authors, artists, and other creative professionals. We are all working artists ourselves, so we know how difficult it is to navigate the world of promotion and how awkward it can be to market yourself to others — we've been there. But we've also worked on the other side of the business--at publishers, art galleries, and even in the film business. So we know what "they" are looking for and where they're looking and how crucial it is for writers and artists to carve out a presence for themselves in the world and on the web.

I'm the vice president of creative services, so I get all the fun of overseeing our design projects, event planning, and other creative work, while the other partners in the company, Anthony Pizzuto and Anthony Cox, handle the numbers and all the really geeky behind-the-scenes stuff. We also have a fantastically talented group of freelancers in NY and beyond that we will be working with as well.

WOW: I love how the three of you understand the marketing aspect from both sides of the issue. So many authors struggle with marketing! So, how can Frenzy Marketing help an author promote her book?


Sarah: When we say full-service, we mean it! We offer everything from print and web design to event planning, web promotions, and ongoing representation. So, we can create an entire website; design bookmarks, postcards, or other promotional materials; plan author signings—the sky's the limit! Our goal is to offer plans of work that are completely flexible and customized for each individual author—plans that make use of the skills and resources an author already has, and that are totally in sync with her goals and priorities. So for example, very tech-savvy authors might just want help with the event planning side or pitching the media, or they might come to us for web hosting. Another author might be a pro at print design, but need our help making her creative vision work on the web. And others may be starting from the very beginning with their first book or even before they're published, and not quite know where to start—we can jump in and be of help at absolutely any stage.

WOW: Sounds great. I love the idea of customized services. What if an author has a low-budget? Do you have any packages for authors starting out that don't have much money? Can you give us a rough estimate of what you charge per hour or per service?


Sarah: Yes, absolutely--we can work with just about any budget. To start, we're offering three introductory packages at a great value:

Web Package $450
Website Design
1 Year of Free Hosting & Domain Registration Service ($129.00 Value)
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Today on Book Bites for Kids, Fraser Kelton will be the guest. Kelton isn’t a children’s book author or illustrator. He’s Director of Business Development for AdaptiveBlue.com.

He’ll talk about FREE online marketing tools children’s authors and illustrators can use to promote their books.

Call in and ask Kelton a question or make a comment during the live show at 1-646-716-9239.

The show starts at 2:00 central time on blogtalkradio.

“Alanna’s been gone a long time, Hikousen. . . I don’t know what I should do. She said to stay here but what if she’s in trouble?”

mrowrzzzzzzzz….

“Maybe I should transform and. . .”

“Hey! Who are you?”

“She is very much too young for Tree Shores High School.”

“You better not be that Sorcerer in disguise or I’ll ZAP YOU!”

“Whoa! I’m not a sorcerer. I promise. Calm down, now, okay? I’m just wondering what a little girl is doing in the band room at our high school?”

“With very strange-looking watch.”

“Yeah.”

“Jessie said I could go to the band room whenever I want. I’m supposed to wait here until Alanna gets back.”

“Jessie… Jessie… hmmm.. oh yeah! Isn’t that the dizzy blond girl that hangs around with Ranko?”

“I think last name is Hoshi. She is freshman in band with Ranko.”

“I don’t know where anybody is. Alanna said to wait but she’s been gone for a long time and I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t know what’s going on but this sounds bad.”

“I have to go find Acey. She’ll help me find them. Come on Hikousen.”

zzzzzzzz….

“Should she just leave like that?”

“We need to go to Ranko’s Mom’s Diner, or call somebody, because this is like, intense bad stuff going on.”

“We can use the shortcut to get to Diner. I have bike.”

“Me too. Let’s rock.”

“Looky! It’s meeeeee! And there’s Teko and my new sword!”

“Looks like we’re putting the team together for our new gallery project.”

“Ooh, it’s got the new logo too. I love new stuff.”

“We’re gonna start our new gallery today, ’cause Talitha said there’s gonna be this button and it will have all our pictures in it and it changes all by itself. She gots all the best drawings too, and lots of them are warriors and treasures.”

“This is a new category too, so if you want to see our gallery updates, they’ll all be linked to the Legends of Aventar Gallery category.”

“Sweet, let’s get going!”