Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

Top Five Things I Learned From My First Virtual Book Tour

Today . . . I am thinking about my amazing Virtual Book Tour.

Over the last two months, I've visited 22 unique and interesting sites, made many new friends, networked like crazy, expanded my business connections, and even managed to tick-off a few blog readers along the way.

Gregory Bell organized the tour for me, as part of the marketing support my POD Publisher, WME Books, offers to their authors, and what a wonderful job he did. Everyone should have a Greg managing their VBT for them!

This Virtual Book Tour was the first one I'd every participated in, and, quite frankly, prior to going on tour I had no idea such a opportunity even existed. I just assumed I would be going out on a traditional bricks-n-mortar book tour after my book was published, however, going virtual was so much better!

Top Five Things I Learned From my First VBT

1. Blogs are a fabulous way to get your book noticed.

Watching news of your book spread from one blog site to another is exciting. Seeing it pop up in different places all over the Internet is exhilarating. Having an entrepreneurial woman's group in Arizona adopt it as their April Book of the Month . . . priceless.

2. Not all promotion is the same.

Some sites will enthusiastically welcome you and your book and promote you to their readers. Other sites won't. Partner with the former and avoid the latter.

3. Bloggers who leave comments, rock!

Reading the comments was the most valuable part of this entire experience for me. Take note, if you are a blogger who doesn't think your voice matters, you couldn't be more wrong. Feedback is the lifeblood of book authors. Comment often.    

4. Having your book reviewed is a good thing.

Good review. Bad review. It doesn't matter. What matters is the insight you gain from looking at your book from another reader's perspective. Make sure that at every stop, your book is reviewed by the blog host.

5. Manners count.

Don't forget what your mama taught you . . . say thank you when someone does something nice for you.

On that note, I'd like to thank everyone who helped make my VBT a success. Thank you to Greg, Yvonne, and the folks at WME Books. A special thank you to my hosts. A warm and appreciative thank you to my friends who cheered me on, my colleagues who supported me on my journey, and my clients who faithfully came on tour with me. And my heartfelt thanks to everyone who left comments. Your feedback inspired me; your thoughts intrigued me; and your insights ignited the fires for my next book to come.

In gratitude and appreciation, from my heart to yours,

I am,

Discovering Your Inner Samurai, Last Week on Tour

We've had such a marvelous last week on tour with our book.

• Monday, Discovering Your Inner Samurai visited Pam Peyron at Rural Entrepreneurs who posted a heartfelt review of my book.
• Wednesday, we stopped at Chris Bailey's blog,
  Bailey Work/Play: The Alchemy of Soulful Work where he posted a "been there done that" review entitled,Getting In Touch With My Own Inner Samurai, Part One.
• Friday, Chris will continue his discussion post on the concept of Multiple Streams of Passion (MSoP) that is explored in Chapter 5 of my book.

On February 26, I'll be talking about why using a One Page Business Plan is perfect for the environmentally-minded, green entrepreneur over at Green Career Central in a live phone-in expert interview. Anyone is welcome to attend this live interview and find out why the easy to do, quick to be done, One Page Business Plan is perfect or you. Just click to register.

Thank you to everyone who made my VBT such a great success.

Until next time, mi viaje es to viaje.

Discovering Your Inner Samurai at Green Career Central

This week, Discovering Your Inner Samurai visited Carol McClelland at Green Career Central where I wrote a guest post entitled, What Is a Nice Green Company Like You Doing Without a Plan?

Carol's Green Career Central blog is a companion to the Green Career Central membership site, which is for people who want to transform their passion for the environment into a prosperous green career.

Earlier this month, I interviewed Carol on the Accidental Pren-her Show pod cast about her 16-year journey from Accidental Pren-her to entrepreneurial woman that culminated in the development of Green Career Central. You'll be inspired, so take a listen!

On February 26, I'll be talking about why using a One Page Business Plan is perfect for the environmentally-minded, green entrepreneur over at Carol's site in a live phone-in expert interview. Anyone is welcome to attend this live interview and find out why the easy to do, quick to be done, One Page Business Plan is perfect or you. Just click to register.

My book and I will be on tour for another week or two, traveling around from blog to blog, visiting with my tour hosts and discussing different aspects of my book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success. By clicking on the VBT icon (as pictured above) in the upper right-hand corner on my permanent blog site you will be able to see my tour schedule and visit on the days that interest you. Better yet, come along for the whole ride!

All aboard!

Discovering Your Inner Samurai on Tour

This week, we visited three very different sites and presented Discovering Your Inner Samurai in three distinct lights.

First up was a 20 minute, more in-depth interview about why women aren't making the big bucks that men are making by Yvonne DiVita of WME Books. Click here to find out why.

Next stop was at Verna Wilder's blog, Out of the Cube. Verna hosted a guest post I wrote called, Remember the Lemonade Stand -- an homage to entrepreneurial firsts.

Then, late last night, Kevin Reid, VP of Internet & Social Media at Amplify Public Affairs posted a "how I got started in blogging" interview with me on Amplify's blog Blogger Relations.

My book and I will be on tour for another week or two, traveling around from blog to blog, visiting with my tour hosts and discussing different aspects of my book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success. By clicking on the VBT icon (as pictured above) in the upper right-hand corner on my permanent blog site you will be able to see my tour schedule and visit on the days that interest you. Better yet, come along for the whole ride!

Have any of you ever been involved in a virtual blog tour, either as a guest or a host? If so, what tips, ideas, or insights did you find most helpful and uselful? What would you have done differently or better next time?

Virtual Book Tour Stops at Think Retirement and Art of Allowing Mindset

YAY!

Gregory Bell at WME Books has put together an exciting Virtual Book Tour for my newly published book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success.

Today kicks off the second leg of our book tour at Think Retirement. For those of you who are not familiar with this new blog site, Think Retirement is an exploration of possibilities and relevant issues for people who are about to retire, are already retired, or care for someone of retirement age. Topics range from finance and lifestyle, to employment, politics and health care. Retirement comes in several forms, many of which would not have been recognizable 20 years ago. I've written a guest post for this stop on the tour. Head on over and see what you think of, Is Retirement Even Relevant Anymore for Midlife Entrepreneurs?

On Friday, we'll be at BZ Riger's blog, Art of Allowing Mindset. If you aren't familiar with this blog site, The Art of Allowing Mindset is a place to come for passionate, bold, lively conversation about master success mindset, using the law of attraction to get real results daily and taking inspired action for delicious success. BZ gives you ideas, tools, resources, and a step-by-step approach to winning a woman's inner game to wealth.

Then check out the Virtual Book Tour Schedule to find out where else I'll be. I'd love to have you come along with me on tour, reading and commenting as we go.

All Aboard!

Virtual Book Tour Stops at Small Business Trends

How exciting!

Gregory Bell at WME Books has put together an exciting Virtual Book Tour for my newly published book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success.

Today kicked off the book tour at Small Business Trends. I have long been a fan of Anita Campbell and the work she does as editor of the Small Business Trends site, the Small Business Trends newsletter, and as the host of Small Business Trends Radio.

Head on over to Anita's site to see what's happening on today's Virtual Book Tour stop, then check out the Virtual Book Tour Schedule to find all stops on the tour so you can come along with me.

All Aboard!