Talking Virtual Book Tours with Humor Columnist Pat Snyder

Pat Snyder, a humor columnist, certified laughter leader, and recovering lawyer, offers stress relief to the overbooked in her just-released first book, The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips From An Overbooked Life.  Pat has written a newspaper and online column called “Balancing Act” for nearly a decade. When she’s not writing, she offers workshops, speeches and laugh-ins, to help others laugh their way through life’s obstacles and find time for joy in their lives. Her columns appear in Suburban News Publications, a chain of 22 weekly papers in her home of Columbus, OH, and on her website, www.PatSnyderOnline.com. Find her also on Facebook and LinkedIn.  Also, look for her weekday lunch hour “tweets” on time management and life balance from Henry the Time Management Dog and her Sunday afternoon posts on her blog, The Dog Journal.

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

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

Pat: The Dog Ate My Planner is about those metaphorical dogs that romp through our already overbooked lives and turn them upside down: everything from malfunctioning computers to malfunctioning relatives. It also contains tips, or “Leash Laws” for getting those dogs under control.

The Dog Ate My Planner by Pat Snyder (click on cover to purchase)

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?

Pat: My book appeals to the overbooked, and the overbooked tend to shop on the Internet.  Being a writer, I also love the opportunity to write about the book and the process of writing it.

Is this the first time you have heard of them?

Pat: No. Virtual tours were part of the buzz among writers when I attended the Erma Bombeck writers conference a couple years ago.

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

Pat: More online visibility for the book and more traffic to my website, where I offer some important resources on life balance.

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

Pat: I have a website, www.PatSnyderOnline.com and a blog called “The Dog Journal,” www.PatSnyderOnline.com/journal. I also have a monthly e-newsletter, “Balancing Tips.”

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

Pat: Yes. You can find me on Facebook and LinkedIn .  Also, Henry the Time Management Dog sends weekday lunch hour “tweets” on time management and life balance.

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

Pat:  I’ve read that a successful offline signing mean you show up at the store, have books and sell at least one. By that standard, mine have been wildly successful. But I believe I can reach more people and sell more books online. Also, I can stay in my jammies.

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

Pat: I would specialize in offline tours to 1,000 places I want to visit before I die.

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

Pat: I’m excited to be spending 12 days of Christmas doing something other than shopping.  And I’m grateful someone else is making the arrangements.

You can visit Pat’s official tour page here!