Talking Virtual Book Tours with Thriller Author Gary Morgenstein

Gary Morgenstein

Novelist/playwright Gary Morgenstein is the author of four novels. In addition to Jesse’s Girl, a thriller about a widowed father’s search for his adopted teenage son who has run away from a drug treatment program to find his biological sister, his books include the romantic triangle Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, the political thriller Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and the baseball Rocky The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His prophetic play Ponzi Man performed to sell-out crowds at a recent New York Fringe Festival. His other full-length work, You Can’t Grow Tomatoes in the Bronx, is in development. You can visit him at www.facebook.com/people/Gary-Morgenstein/1011217889 or at http://redroom.com/member/garymorg.

Gary Morgenstein will be on a virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours in October and is here with us today to give his opinions of virtual book tours and online book marketing.

Jesse's Girl

Thank you for this interview, Gary. Can we start out by having you tell us briefly what your new book is about?

Jesse’s Girl is about being a parent – and how much will a father sacrifice to save his son? The thriller centers around a widowed Brooklyn father, Teddy Mentor, who risks everything to find his troubled adopted son, Jesse. He has run away from a wilderness drug treatment program in Montana (where he’d been sent by Teddy under escort a couple weeks ago), to hunt for his biological sister, Theresa, in Kentucky. However, they become embroiled in a grisly crime which sends them fleeing in a wild search for the truth – if they live that long.

More and more authors are realizing the potential for sales that derives from virtual book tours. Can you tell us your personal reasons why you chose a virtual book tour to help get the word out about your new book?

The world of publishing has changed so dramatically that it’s imperative to go where people are reading and talking about books and buying them – which is online. Dorothy Thompson came highly recommended and she has been great!

Is this the first time you have heard of them?

I had heard of them without understanding what they are. I’m still not 100% sure, but I like a bit of mystery and adventure, lol. For all I know there will be holograms of me throughout cyber-space.

What do you hope to achieve through promoting your book through a virtual book tour?

To reach as many people with this story about the pain and the frustration and ultimate joy of parenting. To touch people through my words. And to sell lots of books!

Do you promote online through other means? Website? Blog?

Since one of the underlying themes of Jesse’s Girl is teen substance abuse, I blog for the Partnership for a Drug Free America as well as at redroom.com.

Do you promote through Twitter and Facebook? What are your links there?

I don’t understand Twitter nor really understand why I or anyone should understand Twitter. I mean, with cell phones and texts and email and Facebook, aren’t there enough ways to connect? Also, the language that flows out of texting and twittering is degrading the English language. For example, your is spelled your, not ur. Sorry for the brief rant. I feel better now.

What are your experiences with offline booksignings? Which do you prefer – online or offline and can you give us the reasons why?

I’ve never done any book signings, either in the flesh or through a virtual tour, so this is going to be a very cool experience. I love science fiction (and do PR for Syfy Channel), so I appreciate the whole other-worldly aspect.

Here’s a fun question. If money was no object, how would you promote your book?

Have a huge ad at Yankee Stadium with a specially created trailer for the book running on the scoreboard. Put Jesse’s Girl on the uniforms of the New York Giants. Go on Oprah and let her read from the book. Have the President hold up my novel at a press conference and say, “Read this book or I will raise your taxes!”

Thank you for this interview, Gary. Do you have any final words?

Like all writers, I have enough of an ego to believe what I wrote is important. If you’ve ever been a parent or a child, if you’ve ever loved someone enough to do anything to save them from themselves, then I think you will like Jesse’s Girl.