Interview with Author, Publicist, and Relationship Expert Dorothy Thompson

As I can see, Dorothy, you wear many hats. Why don't you start by putting on your publicist hat and telling our readers what a publicist can do for an author that the author cannot do himself?

First let me begin by saying that I’m an advocate for learning how to do things yourself. If I know how to do it and you need to know how to do it, I’ll teach you to do it. For some, it doesn’t come as easy as it does for others. Not saying you aren’t as smart, but maybe you’re just too overwhelmed with editing or are on a deadline and you can’t do everything. That’s when a publicist comes in handy. Because I am an author much like the clients I represent, I have been in their shoes. I know their frustrations and that’s why my approach is very hands on with them. I have a client who is getting ready to go on tour in a couple weeks and he needed a book blog to aid him in his virtual book tour, but as he had never blogged before, much less set one up, he needed my help in setting one up which I did and which you can see at the site, Partially Human.

Now, this guy isn’t dumb. He’s almost 24 years old and has three books published. But, there are just some things he’s not familiar with and I’m finding this is happening a lot because when a writer becomes an author for the first time and even for the eleventh time, his or her first instincts are to set up book signings, maybe invest in bookmarks, that sort of thing, and maybe set up a website. But, blogging… I don’t think many authors realize the potential blogs have in helping to sell your book. So, that’s a little part of what I do that some authors can’t do. But, I find it funny—once I set the blog up for them and explain what to do after that, they become blogging fanatics. Now, that really makes me happy.

I think what authors don’t realize is that if they spent as much time on the Internet – and that’s what I specialize in – as I do, they would learn everything there is to know about online promotion but it has to be a 24/7 thing. A lot of authors just don’t have that amount of time to put into promotion simply because they have books to write, edit and revise. That’s where a publicist comes in. They do the work so you can do what you do best and that is write. However, I do encourage all my authors to do some kind of online promotion every single day.

Tell us a bit about your company, Pump Up Your Book Promotion, and your mission.

I started Pump Up Your Book Promotion in April ‘07, so we haven’t been in business very long but business is booming. To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure what happened except one thing led to another. I started out by getting a call from an online friend who wanted me to promote her book online. She was a member of a couple of my writing groups and had listened to the various ways I was showing people how to promote online and she insisted on paying me to promote hers. I thought she had lost her mind because I wasn’t a publicist. Little did I know, but this was the beginning of my career as one.

Article Author: Mayra Calvani

Mayra Calvani is the National Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com.

Visit Mayra Calvani's author page — Mayra Calvani's Blog