Talking Virtual Book Tours with Children’s Fiction Author Victoria Simcox

Victoria, known as Vicki, was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Austrian immigrant mother, and a Dutch immigrant father. She has one older sister. When she was 7, Vicki moved with her family to British Columbia—then in her early twenties to Western Washington, where she now resides in Marysville WA. She has been married for almost 20 years and has 3 children. For the past 10 years, she has home schooled her children, and she also teaches elementary school art. Her other family members are, a Chihuahua, named Pipsy, 2 cats, named Frodo and Fritz, and 1 parakeet, named Pauly. She did have a pet rat named Raymond; when she started writing The Magic Warble, but sad to say, he has since passed away of old age. Vicki enjoys writing, reading, painting watercolors, good movies and just hanging out with friends and family. Her favorite author is C.S. Lewis, and one of her fondest memories is when she was 12. She would sit at the kitchen table, and read the Chronicles of Narnia to her mother while she cooked dinner. These magical stories were very dear to Vicki, and she remembers wishing, If only I could go to Narnia like Lucy and Susan. Vicki hopes that maybe she can touch someone with her story in a similar way.  You can visit her website at www.themagicwarble.com.

Victoria Simcox will be on a virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours in November and December and is here with us today to give her impression of virtual book tours and online book marketing.

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

My book, The Magic Warble, is a fantasy story, listed as Juvenile fiction, but I feel it is for all ages. I’d say Juvenile and Young adult fantasy are still my favorite categories to read.

Growing up reading C.S. Lewis’s beloved Narnia Chronicles has influenced me in writing The Magic Warble. My story is about a 12 year old girl, named Kristina Kingsly, who hates to go to school because she doesn’t fit in. She’s bullied by some of the kids, and they make her daily life miserable. I created this aspect of my main characters life, because as a child, I had experienced dealing with bullies in school myself and I remember hating to go because of them.

My parents owned their own piano store and they up and moved it many times, so before the age of 13, I had made 5 major moves, and had been to 7 different public schools. I can remember this being difficult for me, especially having to leave friends I had made, and even worse having to make new ones, which I was not good at.

I named the main character “Kristina” after my daughter Kristina, who is 14 now—even so, my book’s character is not characterized after my daughter. Kristina in The Magic Warble is definitely her own unique person.

In the story, Kristina receives a gift from her teacher at school, and it’s this gift that magically takes her to another world, where she finds out that she not only fits in, but is chosen for a very important task, and if she completes the task, she will change the destiny of the land. Throughout her journey, Kristina meets all kinds of characters, such as dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, talking animals and a teenage boy named Werrien, who ends up going along with her on her adventure. Along her perilous journey, she will not only have her strength tested but her heart as well.

I wrote this story because, I love fairy tales and fantasy stories, and I have a big imagination that I thought I may as well put to good use. Once I got started writing the manuscript, I couldn’t stop. My characters seemed to take on a life of their own, and I felt that I owed it to them to finish their story. This may seem a little weird, but when you spend so much time writing a story, you do or at least I do get very attached to my characters.

Even though The Magic Warble is a fantasy filled with adventure, suspense and intrigue, the underlying message is one of faith, hope, perseverance, friendship and love.

Click on cover to purchase at Amazon!

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?

I choose a virtual book tour, to increase the online sales of my book. Dorothy Thompson owner of Pump Up Your Book Promotions, has a really great reputation, and many authors who have used her services say that she has really helped them with the sales of their books. I’m hoping her tour program can do the same for me.

Is this the first time you have heard of them?

Yes

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

An increase in online sales of my book.

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

Yes, by website, blog and a book trailer on youtube.

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

I have a facebook under my name Victoria Simcox

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

Off line book signings work out really well for me. I love dealing with people and telling them about my book. I also get to autograph copies for my fans. I have been told by several Borders Store managers that I am top ranking in book sighing sales. The only down side is that I can only be in one place at a time, so if I want to increase my book sales, I need to tap into the online ways of selling, which is why I chose to do an online tour. A great thing about online sales is that you can be at home with your family while your book is selling on line. Even though I love dealing with people I love being home with my family even more, so I would say online sales is what I prefer.

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

The first thing I’d do is upgrade my website to have full flash and music. Also I would invest in as much online promotion as I could afford.

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

If you truly feel that writing is your life’s purpose, then no matter how frustrated you get when writers block may stop your creativity, or how hard the publishing journey gets, or how low your self esteem may get, never give up. What ever step you are at in your writing or publishing journey, be prepared to do what ever it takes to get to your next step, and so on. If all seems to come to a stand still, and you don’t know what to do next, just hang in there. Keep searching for a way to pursue your dream. Eventually an opportunity will show its self. Do a lot of research—the internet is a goldmine of information. I’ll leave you with another good quote: Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. J. R. R. Tolkien.

If you would like to visit Victoria’s official tour page, click here.