Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Motivational Speaker

Virtual Book Tour Stops at Glenda’s Hometown

Filed under: Virtual Book Tour — by at 6:24 pm on Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Today, my virtual book tour “40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days” finds me back in my hometown of Surrey to chat with Susan Emerson of Web Page Mistakes. Susan and I met virtually a few years ago as we share an interest in web accessibility – creating websites that are accessible to everyone, regardless of an individual’s capabilities or the technology used.

In my interview with Susan, I share how I had a fairly normal childhood, despite my cerebral palsy. My parents’ philosophy was “to introduce Glenda to the world and the world to Glenda”. In our home, the word can’t was not allowed, only try.

Please visit Susan’s site to find out what other topics we discussed.

Thanks Susan for taking time for chatting with me before leaving on your winter getaway. Enjoy the weather!

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

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Living (and Brainstorming) with Cerebral Palsy

Filed under: Virtual Book Tour — by at 2:23 am on Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Today I am off to Georgia to chat with podcaster extraordinaire Penny Haynes of 1st Podcast Publishing. In this virtual book tour appearance, Penny and I discuss brainstorming ways to put ideas into action. Oftentimes, our own busy-ness and fear hold us back from doing what we are truly passionate about.

As cerebral palsy has taught me, or, perhaps it is despite my cp, if there is will to do something, then there is a way to do it. Today’s appearance is a perfect example. Even though I have a speech impairment and have been labeled as “non-verbal” by medical experts, I have found a way to podcast by using text-to-speech software. This technology is what I used in my interview with Penny (this link will open a pop-up streaming audio player to listen to the podcast). A text transcription is also available for those who prefer to read it.

If busy-ness and fear are holding you back, remember:

Life shouldn’t be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and screaming, “Woohoo, what a ride!”

How are you finding ways to put your ideas into action? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

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Kicking off My Virtual Book Tour

Filed under: Virtual Book Tour — by at 4:29 am on Monday, January 22, 2007

Three. Two. One. Welcome to the kick off of my virtual book tour “40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days”. In the next forty days, I plan to visit forty blogs to talk about my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself, living with cerebral palsy, working as a solopreneur and whatever other topics are on bloggers’ minds. I am really excited about doing a virtual tour and am curious where all I will visit over the next eight weeks! Please join me on tour by signing up in the upper right corner to receive blog updates in your email inbox so as not to miss any of the excitement and surprises along the way.

As with any tour, the itinerary is subject to change. The plan was to kick off this tour in Australia, but my friend Des is in the midst of launching his own audiobook Big Biller and is not available at this time. I wish Des every success with his audiobook and look forward to stopping by his blog later in the tour to compare notes on book promotion strategies.

The beauty with virtual book tours is that this itinerary change is no problem at all. I simply go onto the next stop, which is eSight Career Network’s “Promoting Yourself by Building Solid Relationships” . In my interview with eSight’s Senior Content Developer Jim Hasse, we discuss how book marketing is like job hunting: they both involve building solid relationships with people within your target audience.

I would like to sincerely thank Jim and Executive Director Nancy O’Connell for their tremendous support, both as I was writing my book and now as I promote it. Not only did they host a tour appearance, they also emailed the 3000 eSight members to further garner support and reach for virtual book tour.

If this is the kind of support I may receive from other bloggers too, I have absolutely no idea where this tour may lead me or what results to expect. This experience could be mind-boggling. My seat belt is fastened and I’m ready to go. I hope you will join me!

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

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40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days

Filed under: Virtual Book Tour — by at 12:14 am on Thursday, January 18, 2007

Forget lugging around heavy boxes of books, waiting for delayed flights and enduring jet lag to do a book tour. Do it virtually! A virtual book tour enables an author to visit blogs and chat rooms anywhere in the world from the comforts of home! And the number of readers reached can be mind-boggling.

Given the wicked winter weather Vancouver has been receiving, a virtual book tour makes perfect sense for me (not that I could leave home if I really wanted to, with all this snow and ice). Next Monday, I am kicking off my virtual book tour “40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days” to promote my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself.

The plan is to visit forty blogs or ezines in the forty business days between Monday, January 22nd, and Friday, March 16th. Appearances on blogs may take the form of Q&A interviews, articles, questions from readers, book reviews, podcasts or other creative formats. Topics might include discussing my book I’ll Do It Myself, self-publishing, living with a disability, working from home and online, web accessibility, my love of animals, and countless other topics bloggers may come up with.

Benefits to Host Bloggers

As readers follow me on my virtual tour, traffic to participating blogs should increase. There is also a great opportunity for cross-promotion by announcing my other tour appearances on one’s own blog.

At the end of the tour, I will create an ebook of the entire virtual book tour, hyperlinking to each participating blog, further increasing exposure for each blog. I will also include ways bloggers promoted the tour and any noteworthy results.

Sample Questions

Below are some questions that host bloggers may use as a starting point when interviewing me. As they know their readers’ interests best, I’m hoping bloggers will add their own questions or solicit questions from their readers.

  • When did you first realize that you wanted to share the story of your life with others?
  • Why is it important to you that others benefit from what you have experienced in your life?
  • Are there any central messages in your book? What were your personal challenges in writing this book?
  • What or who has given you encouragement to write your book?
  • Why did you self-publish?
  • What has all the work you’ve done on your book taught you?
  • How can we follow your virtual book tour?

In researching how to conduct virtual book tours, I discovered a small number — perhaps three to five — of interview questions is best as it prevents me from answering all the good questions on one blog and it keeps readers in the tour, which keeps the momentum going. Advice that will be kept in mind, although not necessarily followed. However, I do ask that bloggers email me their questions three or four business days prior to their date so that my left thumb has plenty of time to type out responses.

Current Itinerary

Monday, January 22 – Thinking Home Business (Australia)

Tuesday, January 23 – eSight Careers Network (New York)

Wednesday, January 24 – Web Page Mistakes (Surrey)

Thursday, January 25 – Solo Entrepreneurs

Friday, February 16 – Special mystery blogger!

Thursday, February 22 – Spiritually Speaking

If you are a blogger interested in hosting an appearance, please email me.

Join Me on Tour

Each day during the tour I will be posting a blog entry with a link to that day’s appearance. Be sure not to miss an appearance by signing up to receive blog updates right in your email box – form is in the upper right corner of this webpage. How cool is that!

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

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