Pump Up Your Book's 5th Anniversary Hoedown Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Pump Up Your Book is turning 5 years old, but you're getting all the presents. Pump Up Your Book opened its virtual doors the first week of April 2007 with one customer. Today our client list has grown to an average of 30 – 50 authors a month. What started as an experiment, escalated into one of the largest virtual book tour companies on the Internet. We have represented authors from all walks of life and platforms: from self-published authors to celebrities such as Judge Glenda Hatchett and cook show personality Paula Deen, and from those authors with little or no publicity, to NY Times bestselling authors such as Caridad Pineiro and Lisa Jackson. It has been a pleasure to serve you and we look forward to many more years to come.

In honor of our celebration, the staff of Pump Up Your Book will be appearing at blogs during April, giving away prizes along the way. Be sure to stop off at each blog and leave a comment. One lucky commenter will receive a $50 Amazon gift certificate. The blog host with the most comments (not counting the blog host’s comments) also gets a $50 Amazon gift certificate. But, that’s not all! Be sure to visit these blogs on the designated days to see what else you can win!

What's All the Hoopla about Virtual Book Tours? by Cheryl C. Malandrinos

Pump Up Your Book opened its doors before virtual book tours were a standard way of promoting books. In those early days, I found myself having to convince authors that a virtual book tour was in their best interest. Like anything new, people were wary of spending their money on an unproven commodity.

As word got around about the benefits of virtual book tours, Pump Up Your Book grew. In the near five years I've been working in online book promotion, however, the questions from potential clients don't change much.

Why do virtual book tours remain an important part of any author's marketing plan? 

According to a 2011 survey on book-buying conducted by Verso Advertising, 49.0% of avid readers typically purchase their books online. That percentage is higher than those who purchase from a chain bookstore (42.7%) or an independent bookstore (36.0%). While this survey also shows that there is some resistance to e-readers/tablets, e-reader ownership among avid readers is 22.3%. In addition, general and avid e-reader owners buy proportionally the same number of e-books and print books.

Authors need to meet readers where they are. For a healthy portion of the book-buying public that means online.

Networking is an important aspect of virtual book tours. Not only networking with potential readers, but also bloggers, who if they enjoy your book may read future titles.

Word of mouth (personal recommendations) is still the most influential way readers learn about new titles. Bloggers work to create a loyal fan base, which makes them important to an author trying to gain exposure for her work.

One of the best reasons I can think of to use a virtual book tour to promote your book is that they are fun. You meet a lot of great people along the way. You get a chance to show your style through interviews and guest posts. And you get to do all of that while sitting in the comfort of your home.

For today's stop, I am giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to one of my followers. Please leave a comment with your email address. Only those who leave their email address are eligible to win.

Bonus entry for following us on Facebook. Bonus entry once a day for tweeting this giveaway. Each entry must be a separate comment.

Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM Eastern on Saturday, April 28, 2012. Winner will be notified by email. As this is an emailed gift card, the giveaway is open to international winners.

Good luck!