Shining the Book Promotion Spotlight on Laura Vosika

Laura Vosika grew up in the military, visiting castles in England, pig fests in Germany, and the historic sites of America’s east coast.

She earned a degree in music, and worked for many years as a freelance musician, music teacher, band director, and instructor in private music lessons on harp, piano, winds, and brass.

Laura is the mother of 7 boys and 2 girls, and lives in Minnesota.

Her latest book is Blue Bells of Scotland: The Trilogy.

You can visit her website at www.bluebellstrilogy.com.

Welcome to Book Marketing Buzz, Laura. Can we begin by having you tell us a little about your book?

Blue Bells of Scotland is a time travel and historical adventure, about two men, polar opposites but for their looks and love of music, who are mistaken for one another. Shawn is a womanizing modern musical phenomenon, who wears accusations of self-centeredness like a badge of honor. Niall is a devout medieval Highland warrior, the epitome of responsibility. The fate of Scotland rests on his shoulders. When they both spend the night at the top of the same castle tower, they wake up in the wrong centuries, caught in one another’s lives.

What is the first thing you did to promote your book once your publisher accepted your manuscript?

I set up my website and blog, and started putting together a virtual book tour.

If you had to pick just one book marketing took that you’ve used to promote your book, which would you say has been the most effective?

Virtual book tours have been most effective.

Do you do more promoting online or offline and which do you prefer?

Online by far. It’s more effective and efficient.

Do you use social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to promote your books and have you had any success with it?

I use Twitter and Facebook, and I do know friends have bought my book after I mentioned it on Facebook. I’ve had people sign up almost every day to follow me at Twitter. But it’s hard to separate out how much impact either of those has in comparison to virtual book tours or local appearances.

Do you own a blog and how often to you update it? Did you set up your blog solely to promote your book and what is its effectiveness?

I keep a blog called The World of the Blue Bells Trilogy, (www.bluebellstrilogy.com/blog) which focuses mostly on the people, places, and events of medieval Scotland, but also touches on anything associated with the trilogy, such as time travel, music, and reviews of other medieval fiction. I update at least every week, and on a good week, two or three times.

The blog is partly a promotion tool, and partly a way to collect and organize my research. What I post often relates to the scene I’m writing that day.

Do you recommend authors getting publicists to help them promote their books? Do you have one?

I know authors who feel they can do anything a publicist can do. After a year’s experience, I disagree. Publicists do this for a living. They have connections and knowledge that I don’t, not to mention the issue of time. So it really depends what you want out of your book. The bigger you want to go, the more strongly I would recommend finding a publicist. I am currently working with Dorothy Thompson of Pump Up Your Book Promotions.

If an author prefers to do it alone rather than hire a publicist, where should they start?

My recommendation is contacting book bloggers and setting up your own virtual book tour.

Thank you for coming, Laura! We wish you much success!

Thank you, and thank you for having me!