How OK! Magazine taught me a thing or two about book promotion

I'm guest blogging today over at Tony Eldridge's blog, Marketing Tips for Authors!

How OK! Magazine Taught Me A Thing Or Two About Book Promotion By Dorothy Thompson: http://bit.ly/49x2rF

See the magazine cover on your left? Look to the right and you see a picture of Jennifer Aniston? I was called by the editor of OK! Magazine to give my opinion of the Jennifer Aniston l Vince Vaghn relationship. My quote appeared in this very magazine in '04.

Seems so long ago. I had put together a book of soul mate stories - true soul mate stories - called Romancing the Soul, and I knew there was a vast untapped online market out there to get me and my book in front of. The thing is, I had to try this, try that, and what happened really became the backbone of my company, Pump Up Your Book Promotion and now, it's wonderful new counterpart, Pump Up Your Book.

One of the great things about newspapers going bust (I don't mean that in a negative way of course) is that what's happening is that they're concentrating now on online measures to get their news out - more so than ever before Back in '04, newspapers were still thriving but the journalists had discovered how to cut a few corners and that was to find what they wanted over the Internet.

If you concentrate on building up your author platform, present yourself in a professional way (great website), write until your fingers fall off about your expertise...someone is going to find you and present an offer you won't believe such as I did the day OK! Magazine's editor called me for a quote.

I can't stress enough how important it is to find an author platform you would be comfortable with. After all, if you can't talk the talk when you walk the walk, people will see right through you. I knew my stuff. Putting together an anthology of true soul mate stories where more than half of it was written by other writers, that's not enough. To make my book stand out, I divided the questions into three sections - Twin Souls, Companion Soul Mates and Karmic soul mates - and through my expertise, I could tell which story fell in which section. As it turned out, it wasn't just a collection of stories, but a lesson in finding and keeping your soul mate and learning why certain people come into your lives.

So, there was my platform. I became the soul mate expert, then gravitated to relationship expert.

Define your author platform, use those key search words in everything you send out. Who knows - there are journalists, magazine editors, book publishers, agents, ect. out there looking for the next big thing. Or, at least a quote. And, believe me, that quote is like getting a gig on Oprah. It could be your big break, open a few doors, or make you believe in miracles.

#7 Hallopalooza Contest Results!

And...we have a winner!

dlodden at frontiernet dot net won a copy of my book, Romancing the Soul!

Congratulations!

Here's your Hallopalooza Scavenger Hunt Clue!

Boomer Chick – post #7 http://www.overthehillchick.blogspot.com/

"That's with a Z, and my last name is Barrymore, like Drew, who's a cousin of mine on my father's side."

Milla would have bet that it was Lisa with an "S." Liza Barrymore swore she was related to Drew, but judging from the accent, the only Barrymore this dame knew was Barry Moore from the old neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Milla guessed that Liza, or whatever she called herself, was about 55, but according to the police report, the woman copped only to 44. She had listed her job title as makeup artiste – although that might also mean she spritzed perfume on unsuspecting shoppers at Bloomingdales. She was wearing a black sweater over a red silk flapper costume.

Liza was hired for the party by Diana Trent, who was the host's ex-wife. "She wanted me to make her look like Cleopatra. Hell, I'd have made her look like the snake just to get in this joint."

"Diana Trent hired you just to do her makeup and provide touchups during the evening?"

"No. She had me do hers and then offered up my services to anyone else at the party who wanted a professional touch. I set up in a room near the ballroom. There were a lot of fancy costumes here tonight, but most people hadn't thought much about their makeup. Diana is very generous. I think she always hired someone for the Halloween Ball when she still lived here, and just continued the tradition. Mr. Howard seemed pleased.”

"Did you do Carla Jordan's makeup?"

"The Sunflower? Sure. I did hers. She didn't give me a tip. Lucky for me others appreciated my efforts. Those tips are going to pay next month's rent. You should have seen them. Not everyone likes masks, you know. I did some of my best work last night. Of course most people have changed out of their costumes now and my hard work's been washed down the drain."

Milla glanced at her watch. It was noon.

Next Clue Location - http://sarahlynn.blogspot.com/

Hallopalooza almost here!

There's some serious fun coming our way at the end of this month! The Stiletto gang has teamed up with 20 author blogs for a humungous online scavenger hunt where readers can go blog to blog gathering clues to solve a mystery. Lots of great prizes are going to be given away along the route.

Now you know Boomer Chick just had to accept their invitation to be part of this, didn't you?

Now here's the fun part. We're going to have lots of readers stop by but...if you'd like to win a copy of my book, Romancing the Soul, you'll just have to leave a comment for poor ol' Boomer Chick on that day, you hear?

Everything starts the end of this month...more details soon!

Guest Blogger: Carol Sue Gershman, author of The Jewish Lady, The Black Man and the Road Trip

I have a guest blogger today! Carol Sue Gershman, author of the memoir, The Jewish Lady, The Black Man and the Road Trip, is joining us as part of her virtual book tour for Pump Up Your Book Promotion!

Finding Love After 50
by Carol Sue Gershman

I personally have had more love affairs after 50 than ever before. In fact, love started pouring in after 50.

How can I explain this...

As a 14 year old teenager I fell in love with a guy. I knew the moment I saw him that I wanted to marry him, and while I did date, I was more of a lady in waiting for him to come around. Yes, I did win him over and we had many, many happy years together and are dear friends to this day.

However, we ended up separating after all, and I began to date.

I had the opportunity of going back to when I was 19 in spirit, the age that I married and re-living those same years. It was at the time that the younger man, older woman came into focus so I had a slew of potential dates.

I travelled all over the world and met men; in fact I probably enjoyed the company of men in most countries of the world. Please do not get me wrong as I was not promiscuous. I was making up for my teenage years and having experiences.

I had shorter term relationships as I did not want anything close to marriage, but as I grew and got older, my relationships got longer. I can honestly say that fifty is fabulous, sixty in sensational and seventy sizzles all with passion and all by dating. My theory is to keep yourself in good shape, keep yourself healthy and stylish and stay up with the times. If you do that, it makes no difference what so ever how old you are.

I think on line dating is terrific. When I put up a great picture and smile and write something clever I am inundated with responses. I might do that for a month at a time, stopping and later picking it up again. I have met some great guys on the free sites like Craigslist, Google; there is no need to sign up for expensive sites that lock you in.

I imagine it is good to set your goals, rich man, poor man, handsome, charming, etc. but I am an independent woman so good companionship is what I look for. I also have no qualms about sharing expenses with a man. Unless if he is very wealthy, I am sure he is watching his money as well, and I do not take advantage. At this point of life men usually have a ex-wife or kids to think about, so sharing is fine with me.

There is nothing wrong with calling a man, in fact setting it up that way is a blessing. Nobody likes waiting by the phone.
The next time you are attracted to a man ask him for his card immediately!. How often have I made that mistake and sometimes the opportunity passes...

Love after 50 or 60 is more passionate than back then. And with the right partner it can be a lot more fun. We know the tricks.

Carol Sue

Constantly reinventing herself, Carol Sue Gershman attended the Miami Dade College memoir class and decided that she would turn her two and a half page “Adventure in Love Story” into a book. Never having written before, it was passion that drove her each day to write.

After spending 25 years in New York City, she was one of the first to arrive into the new phenomenon of Miami Beach (South Beach) She is presently writing her next book while working on laws to ban smoking in residential buildings.
Now at 73 she will take her completed book back on the road re-living the cities and states visited on the road trip. You might just see her driving her hot yellow mustang convertible packed with books, hats and what it takes for life on the road.

You can visit her website by clicking here.

Man killed by sharks at Kill Devil Hills

Man, did you all read about this? A tourist found a man dead at Virginia Dare Road and the autopsy revealed...a shark ate him!

It seems I just got back from the Outer Banks just yesterday....oh I miss it so much (maybe not the shark part but thank goodness I didn't know about the possibility of becoming someone's dinner at the time).

I remember Virginia Dare Road...just trying to think if it was the road we needed to take to see something or the name just stuck in my mind. I had no idea there were sharks in the water, but this proves it!

While I have you on the subject, I've got...taddddaaa...pictures! I've got so many, I think I'll divide it into 3 parts.

First, the Outer Banks is beautiful. If you want to see miles and miles of beach, this is the place to go. Our plans were to stay over at Nags Head and use the rental to drive to other places. I knew I wanted to see the Cape Hatteras lighthouse which was an hour away and I knew I wanted to see the Wright Brothers exhibit, plus there was the biggest dune on the east coast there in Nags Head and I wanted to see that. Plus, eat. Eat and eat. We did more eating than anything else, I think.

So anyway, since we were only staying a couple of days, beach houses were out as you could only rent them for a week at a time, plus this was a last minute trip and it's nothing like trying to plan a vacation in a few days so we opted for the Ramada Inn. Here's what it looked like:




















Thought I had a better picture of it, but this is as we were sliding into the parking lot. My daughter said Nags Head wasn't what she pictured. She pictured more like here on the island but instead it reminded her of Pigeon Forge, TN. because of all the tourist shops.

Anyway, we unloaded and when we got to the room, how do I want to put that. They weren't impressed. For one thing, it was small. We had two double beds for 3 people which I knew when we signed up for it but there was nothing else available (might I add we made reservations the night before so pickers can't be choosers).

I made the best of it and started unpacking while the kids were sitting around looking kind of let down. Granted, it looked nothing like the hotel at Myrtle Beach. But it was a room and I tried to keep up their spirits.

We had a balcony which overlooked the ocean. Again, nothing like Myrtle Beach with the palm trees, pool below, wide open beaches, but this is what it looked like:




































I guess it's not that bad, but nothing like this:




















Or this:



















Or this:



















Those last pictures were taken at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a few hours south...now that was a beautiful place.

But this hotel did have a few perks. We were tired and hungry so instead of searching for a restaurant, we decided to eat in the hotel's restaurant. Well, it came with entertainment. While we were waiting for our overly high priced food to arrive, it seems there was a line dancing class in progress. Yehaw. Take my word of advice. Order take out.

After that exciting adventure, we rode around to the different shops and bought t-shirts. It was getting late so we headed back to the room. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of the Cape Hattaras Lighthouse, the Wright Brothers Museum and the tallest sand dune on the east coast which I climbed. Believe It. Or Not.

Pump Up Your Book Promotion Nominated Best Blog Tour Group Award

It's official! Pump Up Your Book Promotion has made the short list at BBAW for Best Blog Tour Group!

Book Blogger Appreciation was started by Amy Riley of My Friend Amy in an effort to recognize the hard work and contribution of book bloggers to the promotion and preservation of a literate culture actively engaged in discussing books, authors, and a lifestyle of reading.

The first Book Blogger Appreciation was observed in the fall of 2008 and occurs every September. The week spotlights and celebrates the work of active book bloggers through guest posts, awards, giveaways, and community activities.

We are honored to be on their short list for Best Blog Tour Group and would appreciate everyone''s vote. All you have to do is visit http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/index.php/awards#pd_a_1964022 and look for the "Best Blog Tour Group" poll.

We appreciate your kindness! Polls end on Saturday just before midnight so cast those votes early. Thank you!

Mytle Beach Vacation '09

Okay, okay, stop yelling. I was coming! Would you like to see pictures of our vacation in Myrtle Beach now?

I had never been, never ever. I'd been to Florida so we passed it to our left, but never did we even think about going to Myrtle Beach until someone blogged about it. I must write to the North Carolina tourism people and tell them how valuable blogging is.

So it was BF, his 14-year-old daughter and I. My kids stayed home and watched the doggies (I promised them a trip to the Outer Banks this upcoming week as a matter of fact...always vacationing, that's the way to do it). I had a very relaxing time...spent most of the time in the pool or on the beach. I thought it was kind of strange there wasn't much else to do right there and that you'd have to drive a few miles to see anything, but maybe next time when we have more time.

The hotel was BEAUTIFUL. Here it is right here:


Here it is when you walk across the street:

And here is the back of it:

We were on the sixth floor and if you look directly to the middle, you can see our room. It was a really gorgeous place to stay. Inside (I forgot to take pictures of this), there was an indoor waterpark, slide and everything...I felt like a little kid again!

Now this one above is when you stand on the balcony and look down. I used the zoom on this because it wasn't that close, but you can see how we got to the beach from the hotel. To the left of that wooden walkway were rows of chairs you could sit on but it was too hot. Everyone either was at the beach or in the pool.

This is below our room. If you click on any of the pictures, btw, they'll get larger and you can see them better. This pool was the bomb. What was really neat was all I had to do was look out from the balcony and I could see if there were a million people in there or two or three. The best time to go was 9 a.m. and 9 p.m...barely a soul then, but in the middle of the day, you better be prepared.Get a load of those palm trees!


One of the beach scenes. One thing that is confusing the heck out of me is where was the sea gulls? I'm so used to having sea gulls everywhere, especially at the beach and all I saw was one. Don't know whether it was the fact it was too hot or what but that was really strange. And...no shells...I guess they were there but no good ones. I still loved it, though.


Ahhh, the beach. Nature's playground. Fun in the sun. It was PACKED.

Oh yeah...I'd definitely do it again....

My Grandma Went on Vacation and All She Brought Back Was...

These damn glasses....

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina '09 Vacation

I'm back from my mini-vacation at Myrtle Beach, N.C. I. Had. A. Blast.

And...It. Was. Hot. Man, I'm telling you, there were sweat beads on top of the sweat beads. But it was really fun once you got used to the heat.

On the way, we stopped off at South of the Border. I hadn't been to South of the Border since I got married about 35 years ago. We were spending our honeymoon in Ft. Lauderdale and there were all these freaking signs for the place which made you have to see it to see what all the commotion was all about. It had really changed by leaps and bounds...it was spread all over the place. Had a blast there.

We got to Myrtle Beach around 3:30. Didn't have too much trouble finding it. We stayed at the Dunes Village Resort Hotel. Really really nice. Pool and ocean off your balcony...just yards from it. You could get up and see how many people were at the beach or the pool before you planned on going down there. I wish I had taken a picture of the monster cock roach that was walking along the patio wall, though. They really need an exterminator for that, but I remember living in Ft. Lauderdale years ago (that one honeymoon did it for me; I was hooked on the place) and they were really bad. I mean these suckers were at least 2 inches long. And didn't run. The regular house roach, they'll fly practically whenever someone gets near them but this baby wasn't scared of anything.

Anyway, despite that, the hotel was beautiful. It had an indoor water park which actually was geared more toward the kids but that didn't stop us from getting in and flying down the water slide.

I think the best part of the whole experience, though, was sitting on the patio and watching the people on the beach and in the pool below. I wish I had the guts some of those kids swimming had...they were like little fish.

And the people coming into the hotel - we met one couple from Virginia - Fredericksburg - and lots of others were from Virginia, too. I didn't see anyone else from up north judging from the license plates but I'm sure they were there somewhere.

Waits at the restaurants in the area ranged from walk right in and get a seat to an hour long. We ate out the whole time we were there despite the fact we had a stove in the room. I don't cook here, I sure as hell wasn't going to cook in a hotel room, lol.

Anyway, got lots of work to catch up on. I'll be downloading pictures and talk about the trip more tomorrow, but yeah, I'd do it again and again!