OK, maybe I am biased – after all I’m it – but it is rather a fine piece of work. Well done, Jack (and Liam). You managed to make your trailer as unputdownable as the book.

Here we are at the start of a new year and every blog I read is reflecting back on the year gone by. I have to say my biggest highlight was the launch of my new (and first) book, @Home in Dubai…Getting Connected Online and on the Ground. I’m still on the high that comes from seeing your name on the cover of a book!

As I was planning the launch and developing my marketing strategy I decided to do a virtual book tour.  In my previous life as a PR professional, very often I would include a media tour as part of the recommended PR strategies so I intuitively knew the nuts ‘n bolts of what should go into a ‘blog tour’ and went about making it happen.  Honestly, as I was going through the planning and implementation it was refreshing to see that all of the elements were really the same… they just took place in cyberspace instead of in person.

So, in a nutshell, here are the 10 steps to a successful virtual book tour:

1. When you first sit down to write your book (yes, the planning starts as early as that), really flesh out your target market.
2. Make a list of blogs and other online media that reach the same target audience you’ve identified for your book. These will be the ones you’ll approach for your virtual book tour.
3. Start following and subscribe to the blogs and online magazines on your list. Leave relevant comments and get involved in the conversation.
4. Once your book launches, develop your pitch. Why should they be interested in your book and promote it to their followers, readers, viewers and listeners?
5. Pick dates for your tour (usually simultaneous to your book launch since it should be a key element of your marketing plan).
6. Make sure you have a website, active blog, Facebook and Twitter account (essentially your online platform) for people to visit and interact with you once you start promoting your book.
7. Develop several different ideas or angles so you have fresh content for each stop on the tour.
8. Send an introductory email to all bloggers/editors/creators on your list announcing the launch of your book, keeping step #4 in mind, and inviting them to participate in the virtual book tour. Offer a review copy of the book and say you’re available for interviews and/or would be pleased to provide a guest post (typically 200-400 words).
9. Prioritize the list and send personalized emails with specific topic ideas to your top 10
10. Start scheduling and have fun with it. Tweet, blog and post on Facebook (giving reciprocal exposure) about anyone who joins the tour, before, during and after.  And, don’t forget to thank them.

Even though my ‘official’ virtual book tour was December 12-17, I am still receiving inquires and requests for review copies and guest blogs. I’m happily accepting any and all offers!  Something you really must keep in mind is that promoting your book is a never-ending process.  So, just put it in your diary and accept it as part of your daily life now.  Happy writing!

Jack Scott recently published his memoir, Perking the Pansies – Jack and Liam move to Turkey. In this candid interview he talks about how the book began as a blog after he and his partner, Liam, expatriated, and the methods he used to grow a blog that began seeing 5,000 hits a month and that has now increased to 13-18,000 a month. We discuss issues such as how he feels about baring his soul to the world, narcissism and why he chose to write, from the outset, under a pseudonym. This lively interview will interest anyone thinking of writing a memoir and will show how to use the power of social media and the blogosphere to achieve success.

You can find Jack on http://www.jackscott.info and http://www.perkingthepansies.com

Listen to the radio show here

Your story matters.

Would you even consider reading Jack Scott’s Perking the Pansies, about his move to Turkey as a gay man, if he were neither gay nor lived in Turkey?

Would you pick up one of Dr Phil’s books if you did not already trust he was a good psychotherapist?

Would you buy a cookbook written by someone who couldn’t boil an egg?

Exactly!

When I first read the manuscript for The Thinking Tank, by Jae de Wylde, I knew her ‘back story’. I knew she had lost a daughter and that she suffered from a painful, debilitating illness. When I cried with the protagonist, Sarah, I cried all the more for knowing Jae’s story. When I laughed, I laughed louder. But Jae did not want to dwell on her ‘back story’ and we omitted some facts from her about the author page.

As sales of The Thinking Tank grew, and I watched Jae sell hundreds of books at each of the many book signings she set up in England, I recognised that this was indeed a good book, and that it was selling without the readers knowing about her grief and pain.

But, here in Holland, as people who had read the book came up to me to talk about it, I found myself sharing some of Jae’s real story with them and watched their eyes widen. I realised that had they known some of this before they read the book, like mine, their experience would have been even better.

Since the launch of The Thinking Tank, Jae has bravely decided to start a new blog, entitled Life’s Crappy Stuff, and in which she shares stories of how she has overcome many set backs. She does this in an upbeat, self-effacing and witty style that inspires her readers. Slowly, Jae is realising that her truth does matter – a lot.

Then, this week, she did the bravest thing yet and shared her story, her real story, about her divorce, her illness and losing Rowena, in Gulf News, Friday magazine. She also shared how a move to Dubai and discovering bellydance changed her life.

If you have not read The Thinking Tank, then be sure to read this article before you do. And if you have read it, then, reflect back on the novel in the light of what you learn. You will be enriched and inspired. Trust me.

I am thrilled to share this interview with my latest published author, Jack Scott. Perking the Pansies was published just before Christmas and sold more books in its first week than any other book I published last year. Earlier this month, Amazon showed this great memoir at No 1 in gay and lesbian travelogues.

To find out why he wrote it and how he created the following that has ensured great book sales, read on…

Jack Scott was born on an English army base in 1960, spent part of his childhood in Malaysia as a forces brat, idled his way through Grammar school, became a shop boy along Chelsea’s trendy King’s Road and then eventually settled for the dull security of a local government career. By his late forties, passionately dissatisfied with suburban life and middle management, his civil partner, Liam, and he abandoned the sanctuary of liberal London for an uncertain future in Turkey. In 2010, Jack started an irreverent narrative about our new life called Perking the Pansies; it became one of the most popular English language blogs in Turkey and has now spawned a book.

The book:                                     http://www.jackscott.info

The blog:                                     http://www.perkingthepansies.com

Facebook:                                     http://www.facebook.com/jackscottbodrum

Facebook Fan Page:           http://www.facebook.com/perking the pansies, the book

Twitter:                                    @jackscottbodrum

JP

Tell me about your book. What is it about? Can you describe it in just a few sentences?

JS

The book covers the first year of my life with Liam in Turkey: a culture-curious gay couple from London on a bumpy rite of passage in a Muslim country. I describe the oddballs, VOMITs, vetpats, emigreys, semigreys, debauched waiters and middle England miseries we encountered, the fun we had along the way and our subsequent move to the heart of liberal Bodrum, a place we fell in love with. It’s an irreverent look at expat life in Turkey with a right royal dose of misery and joy, bigotry and enlightenment, betrayal and loyalty, friendship, love, earthquakes, birth, adoption and a senseless murder.

JP

Why did you write it?

JS

From the moment we came ashore, we encountered so many extraordinary people and situations that I just had to start writing about them. You could say that the book wrote itself. More importantly, I felt I had something fresh to say about expat living, about Turkey and about living as a gay man in a Muslim country. The book is not about being gay as such; it’s about two people, in love, living in Turkey as expats – who happen to be gay. I thought our story was worth sharing.

JP

What qualifies you to write this book?

JS

Well, the book is based on a series of astonishing events that we actually encountered, so I guess that immediately qualifies me to write about them! I have travelled around Turkey since my mid-thirties and have a good understanding of the country’s history and what makes it the place it is today. Finally, as an out gay man (I dropped out of the womb waving my jazz hands and screaming I am what I am) I know a thing or two about being on the outside looking in: I  feel I’m in a good position to comment on life as one half of a same-sex couple living in a Muslim country.

JP

Why do you think your book needed to be written? What will it do for other people? How will it help? Did you have any competition?

JS

I wrote the book for many reasons, not least because Liam and I are rare creatures in this part of the world. Gay culture is largely invisible and underground in Turkey and I hope our story may, in some small way, raise the profile of gay men and women here. It also demonstrates that it is perfectly possible to live happily within a different culture – by respecting that culture but still standing by the principles that make you who you are. Finally, it felt important to prick the pomposity and bigotry of some of our fellow expats – as well as celebrate the wonderful friendships we’ve formed here. As far as I’m aware, there is no other book of its kind on the market.

JP

Who do you think will read your book? What made you think that there was a market for it? If your book has been out for a while, what proof do you have that you were right?

JS

Many expat books about Turkey (and elsewhere) are about building the dream in a foreign field set against a magnificent backdrop of history, culture and landscape. I wanted to write something completely different, so I hope the book stands out from the crowd. Perking the Pansies also provides an alternative expat perspective of a British gay couple in a Muslim land. It’s not been done before and I hope people will find that interesting. Our story rattles along at quite a pace so I hope it will appeal to anyone who simply likes a good rollicking read. Initial sales seem to indicate that the book has broad appeal. Fingers crossed.

JP

It does not matter how good a book is, or how good your writing is if no one knows about it. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take to promote your book? Are you a speaker or trainer? Do you have a blog? A website? A newsletter? Do you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools? What about press releases and sending out review copies and free articles? Have you had any other ideas? Which methods do you think work best and can you give me any examples?

JS

I am a qualified trainer and a former business manager and these skills seem to have equipped me to plan and think strategically. This particular roller coaster ride began with the blog and I grew the readership by engaging with social media. The book came later. At the beginning I was a complete novice and fumbled around trying different ways to get the message out. I quickly learned that Facebook and Twitter were the big hitters for increasing an audience and for raising a blog’s SEO (search engine optimization). SEO is important because if your website doesn’t appear on the first few pages of a search result (and by this I mean Google as it’s the only one that matters) then it’s hardly worth being on the internet at all. Most other social networks are small fry, but I have found that Stumbleupon and Reddit also helpful to boost my readership from time to time.

The key to a successful blog is good, fresh content (another SEO trick), a strong appealing theme and active engagement with your audience and network. This takes hard graft. I put the hours in and it worked for me. When the book was published I already had the infrastructure to help launch it. The trick now is to break out of the blogosphere and appeal to a wider audience. This is where a strong partnership with my publisher comes in. Oh yes, that’ll be you, Jo!

JP

How did you publish your book? Did you find an agent, a publisher or did you publish it yourself? Please describe your process and tell us how you found the experience. Is there anything you would definitely do again or never do again?

JS

Several readers said that they thought there was a book buried among the blog posts. Eventually, I did too, and set about trying to write one and finding an agent or a publisher. You may recall that I found you on Twitter purely by chance. This is another example of the power of social networking. I emailed you. You responded almost immediately. I sent you some material, you critiqued it. I sent you more. You critiqued it again. I sent you five chapters. You said, “Let’s go for it.” That’s more or less how it happened. You took a chance and I’m rather grateful that you did!

JP

What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?

JS

I’d say the biggest challenge was ensuring the book had a plot that readers would find convincing and engaging enough to make them turn the page. I wanted a book with pace and very little ‘fat.’ One of the first things you taught me was to dump storylines and characters that weren’t key to the plot or didn’t add interesting flavour. I tackled this by creating a story board, much like constructing a film, and quickly found parts of the draft plot that were either superfluous or in the wrong place.

JP

Now you have written this book, what has writing it done for you, your family, your self-esteem or your business?

JS

It’s early days but I do feel a huge sense of achievement. It’s virtually impossible to work legitimately in Turkey as an expat; writing the book has kept my ageing brain active and prevented me from propping up the local bars (well, most of the time). Liam has supported me through the whole, painful process. He’s my whip-cracking taskmaster, poring over every word and pontificating over every sentence. There was a creative tension in the air and the occasional brouhaha over lunch. It’s genuinely been a labour of love for both of us. Becoming a published author has opened up a new (and scary) world for me. The possibilities are endless.

JP

If you were to give advice to someone else who is thinking about writing a book, what would be your number one tip?

JS

That’s easy.  Get honest feedback about your idea and your initial drafts, especially from people who don’t know you; don’t work in a vacuum, don’t ask your friends or loved ones. They will lie (though, Liam was brutally honest).

JP

And finally, how can people buy your book, in what formats, and what does it cost? Please include any links if you have them.

JS

The book is available to buy in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, on-line and WH Smiths, Waterstones and any good on-line store or available to order from any good bookstore near you. Alternatively, if you order through my website, I make a few extra pennies from it. No pressure.

Today, I am happy to welcome Matt Krause here to share his insights on getting inspiration. Matt is the author of a Tight Wide Open Space, inspired by his life as an expat in Turkey.

No matter where you go, there are usually plenty of other people around.  If you learn how to draw inspiration from them, you’ll never run out of ideas.

Listen carefully to the details people mention in passing in conversation, little incidentals they blow past as they talk about something else.  These details can be opened up and explored and turned into full-blown stories.

For example, in Perking the Pansies Jack mentions there is a picture of a former lover displayed in his home.  Jack only mentions this picture once, giving it a sentence or two in an entire book.  But the presence of this picture suggests there’s a fascinating story to tell about Jack’s husband Liam, and about Jack and Liam’s relationship.  I think back on my ex-wife and previous girlfriends, and not one of them would have stood for me displaying a picture of a former lover in our home.  So when I hear about this picture, I start wondering what unique abilities to tolerate and understand Liam has that few of us others do.

Another way to find inspiration is to toss out an idea and see how people respond to it.  In a conversation people will grab an idea and take it in directions you didn’t know existed.  If you throw one idea out to 10 people, you’ll get 6 or 7 different kinds of responses, and a couple of those responses will surprise you.

For example, when I first mentioned my upcoming project (a 1500-mile walk across Turkey and the Middle East, see heathenpilgrim.com for more info) to my grandparents, they were puzzled.  They couldn’t figure out why their grandson would want to do something like that.  But then they saw a connection between my project and a Bible story they already knew, Paul’s journey in Acts, and my project began to resonate with them.  Within an hour they were telling their friends their grandson was following in the footsteps of Paul, and their friends, also familiar with the Paul story, began buzzing with excitement and couldn’t wait to hear me talk about the project.

After my journey, when it comes time to tell my story, I doubt I’ll tell it from that Biblical angle, since I don’t see it that way and so coming from me it would sound hollow.  But in seeing how others interpreted my idea, how they grabbed hold of it and quickly reframed it in a way that exploded with life in their minds, I learned another way to look at my project.

A third way to find inspiration is to give your work away.  I don’t mean sell your books for free, I mean recognize that your work does not belong to you, it belongs to the people who inspire you.  Acknowledge those people by name, and when someone praises you, deflect the praise onto the people who inspired you.  You are simply a scribe who puts a finishing touch on stories other people start.  Remembering this helps you step outside of your own head, which is the worst place to look for inspiration.

We writers don’t have to look far for inspiration, because the people around us are already providing it.  We are just polishing the mirror so when they look into it, they will see something about themselves they didn’t see before.

This week, Anne O’Connell’s brand new book, @home in Dubai, is launched! Anne is a PR consultant, lives in Phuket, Thailand, and is running a PR campaign from her home by the sea. Inevitably, the backbone of her campaign will be a blog tour. In this ten minute interview, Anne shares the secrets of her virtual book tour, taking place this week all over the world.

Listen to her interview here

Wendy Williams is the author of the brand new, just released, hot off the press The Globalisation of Love, a book about multicultural romance and marriage. She has lived in six different countries and worked internationally for 18 years. Canadian and with an Austrian husband, she has been married for thirteen years, lives in Vienna, Austria and has one daughter.

See: www.globalisationoflove.com.

www.Facebook.com/globalisationoflove.com

twitter @globalisationoflove

JP

Tell me about your book. What is it about? Can you describe it in just a few sentences?

WW

The Globalisation of Love is about the whirls and twirls, the quirks and perks, the frustrations and the fun of a multicultural relationship. The book is based on dozens of interviews with multicultural couples from around the world.  It includes chapters on multicultural weddings, religion, race, food, language and children. It is both humorous and factual and I include personal anecdotes from my own experience in a multicultural family.  There is a world of romance happening out there and it is all captured in The Globalisation of Love.

JP

Why did you write it?

WW

Three reasons. Firstly, globalisation has been the buzz word of the past 20 years, yet little attention is given to the most profound influence of globalisation, which is the effect it has on people. People from everywhere are falling in love with people from everywhere else. Secondly, multiculturalism is another term that is bandied about to describe some kind of pesky nuisance to society, yet multicultural couples and families are constantly increasing and becoming a social norm. Thirdly, multicultural couples, what I call GloLo couples, get a lot of negative attention, like they are all destined to fail. In fact, most GloLo couples describe their multicultural relationship and experience as enlightening, enriching and the most amazing journey to take through matrimonial life.

JP

What qualifies you to write this book?

WW

I grew up in a multicultural family – a British-Ukrainian-Canadian family. I have been married to an Austrian for 13 years and have been living and working internationally for 18 years. What really qualifies me to write the book however, is the ability to see humour in the challenges of a GloLo relationship.

JP

Why do you think your book needed to be written? What will it do for other people? How will it help? Did you have any competition?

WW

It needed to be written for two main reasons. Firstly, it is important to recognise that a multicultural relationship is inherently different than a monocultural relationship. Multicultural couples have all the issues that exist in monocultural relationships, as well as whatever colourful combination of culture, language, religion and ethnicity the couple bring into their marriage. Secondly, the book outlines the issues in a multicultural marriage, so it helps GloLo couples to identify hot spots in the relationship that are culturally based. I wanted other GloLo couples to know that they are not alone and that there is a funny side to a GloLo marriage.

Yes, there is competition. There are many wonderful books about multicultural dating and marriage however The Globalisation of Love is the first book that is deliberately written with humour and wit.

JP

Who do you think will read your book? What made you think that there was a market for it? If your book has been out for a while, what proof do you have that you were right?

WW

Multicultural GloLo couples, and their friends and family will be interested in and benefit from reading The Globalisation of Love. Almost every knows someone or is related to someone in a GloLo relationship, therefore the book has a broad appeal. It is a topic that is starting to receive more media attention on multicultural royal weddings and GloLo celebrities, so it is becoming very chic to have an international marriage.

JP

It does not matter how good a book is, or how good your writing is if no one knows about it. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take to promote your book? Are you a speaker or trainer? Do you have a blog? A website? A newsletter? Do you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools? What about press releases and sending out review copies and free articles? Have you had any other ideas? Which methods do you think work best and can you give me any examples?

WW

The book is literally ‘hot off the press’ so the media promotional plan is still in the design phase. I haven’t even had time to have a book launch party yet! There is a new website and blog at www.globalisationoflove.com and you can follow The Globalisation of Love on Facebook and Twitter. I will be interviewed for different ezines and radio talk shows. I also look forward to the book signing and reading events.  It is nice to be with people and talk about their experience in a GloLo relationship. All the events will be posted on the website calendar.

JP

How did you publish your book? Did you find an agent, a publisher or did you publish it yourself? Please describe your process and tell us how you found the experience. Is there anything you would definitely do again or never do again?

WW

I took a middle road between self-publishing and traditional publishing and hired a book mentor and publisher. It was the right route for me to take because I had a ‘book coach’ to help me ‘find my voice’, develop a consistent writing style and create a format for the book and then to deal with the administrative side of publishing by listing the book on Amazon and writing the press release. Writing a book takes a long time and it is also a ‘personal journey’. Having a coach along the way was a great help!

JP

What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?

WW

The biggest challenge for me is that writing a book is a lonely path to go in life. I loved conducting the interviews with GloLo couples from all over the world but I spent most of my time writing, re-writing and re-writing some more.  I overcame the lonely factor by taking my ‘office’ to the Vienna coffee shops, hotel lobbies and even Starbucks. It’s a book about people and I liked having people in the background while I worked.

JP

Now you have written this book, what has writing it done for you, your family, your self-esteem or your business?

WW

The most noticeable difference for me and my family is that since I finished writing the book, I now take weekends off!

JP

If you were to give advice to someone else who is thinking about writing a book, what would be your number one tip?

Write about something that you are passionate about and like to talk about or read about all day long.

JP

And finally, how can people buy your book, in what formats, and what does it cost? Please include any links if you have them.

WW

The Globalisation of Love is available on Amazon and via www.expatbookshop.com for €19,99. An ebook will be available soon too.

Jae de Wylde began life as a French and German teacher and was a bit of a closet expat and writer. But when her daughter died in 1999, Jae found herself reassessing what she wanted to do with her life and began a new career as a writer. Life has taken her to Spain and Dubai where she found both time and inspiration for a move into fiction. A debilitating illness led her to yet another reassessment and inspired The Thinking Tank, a truly gripping novel, influenced by what she calls Life’s Crappy Stuff. Her blog of the same name shares Jae’s amazing positive outlook and you will find more from her at JaedeWylde.com

Hear how Jae lured people to a recent booksigning too, in this inspirational interview. Listen to it here.

I spoke to Angela Williams, who writes as Susan Carey not only about the Writers Abroad online writers’ circle to which she belongs, but also about their newest anthology of fine writings, called Foreign Flavours. The organisation provides support and inspiration for a group of writers all over the world and this is their second anthology, published by Lulu. It has a foody theme, which suits me fine, and there are lots of really great recipes in the book too, for unusual delights such as Indian idli and a Turkish pear and quince dessert. My chat with Angela, who lives in Amsterdam will whet your appetite. In addition, you get a sneak preview into her own novel, which will be about one of my other favourite topics (apart from food) – bellydancing.

Listen to her interview here