Pump Up Your Book Chats with Anne-Rae Vasquez

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

ABOUT ANNE-RAE VASQUEZ

Anne-Rae Vasquez authored Gathering Dust – a collection of poems, published by AR Publishing Inc. and Teach Yourself Great Web Design in a Week, published by Sams.net (a division of Macmillan Publishing). She wrote the novel and screenplay and directed Almost a Turkish Soap Opera, an award winning feature film and series produced by Joseph Khalil, Sababa Emporium Film Productions (http://www.sababaemporium.com) produced the feature film and series.

Details of the film production is at http://www.almostaturkishsoapopera.com.

Note from the author:
“The popularity of Turkish soap operas or TV series’ in the Arab speaking world, Europe and Asia is not well known here in the West. The Turkish TV series’ storylines are packed with jealousies and misunderstandings in family life and marriages, mafia encounters, economic problems and societal pressures, which all make for great drama. What I find fascinating in watching Turkish soap operas is how the Middle Eastern culture is woven into the modern way that Turkish people live which has influences from the Western and Eastern societies. I thank our producers Sababa Emporium Film Productions for allowing me to retell the story with so many different lenses – as a feature film, a short and as a series.” – writer/director/associate producer, Anne-Rae Vasquez

Aside from her artistic work, Anne-Rae Vasquez also manages a web design, production and learner support team, specialized in distance and blended learning at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Her expertise in HTML authoring, Web and multimedia design, and project and database management and being a graduate of the Internet Publishing Certificate Program at the University of British Columbia, has provided her with the opportunity to work with many talented people in the industry. She has over 14 years of experience in distance learning and her expertise is in producing and delivering top notch online courses at university level standards.

Q: Can you tell us why you wrote your book?

I wrote Almost a Turkish Soap Opera to focus on the challenges that people face when trying to immigrate into a country—told in the style of a Turkish soap opera. Years ago while working at the English as Second Language Institute at the University of British Columbia, I became aware about the different socio-cultural challenges many international students face coming to study English face while trying to immigrate to Canada.

As my interest in foreign language and cultures grew, it led me to study the Arabic language and is the main reason why I told my story in the style of a Turkish soap opera. So what does studying Arabic have to do with Turkish soap operas? Well to be honest with you, I wrote in the style of a Turkish soap opera, mainly due to my addiction to watching Turkish soap operas (which are really Turkish TV series dubbed in Arabic).

How I became addicted is somewhat of a story in itself. A few years ago, an older couple from the Middle East stayed as guests in my home for a couple of months. I was interested in learning the Arabic language and I thought this was a good opportunity to immerse myself in the language and learn more about the culture.

During their stay, the wife seemed very homesick. I asked her in broken Arabic if there was any way I could help her feel better. After a few minutes of miming what she wanted, along with help of her husband’s basic English, I was able to figure out that back at her home, she usually watches her favourite Turkish soap operas or TV drama series dubbed in Arabic on a daily basis. I did a bit of research online and was astounded at the popularity of the Turkish soap operas in the Middle East, Europe and even Asia. It was not long when I discovered the MBC (Middle Eastern Broadcast Centre) website and found links to her favourite soap operas.

She was ecstatic and soon both of us started watching the Turkish soap operas online together. I personally do not watch American soap operas because I find them to be quite cheesy so my intention, at the time, was to learn Arabic and keep her company. Her husband told me that he had no interest in watching these silly shows but soon enough, he was sitting with us, criticizing the characters and the previous episodes—almost word for word repeating scenes’ dialogue. It made me smile to see the both of them discuss, argue and laugh together as they watched the stories.

For me, I was intrigued about how the shows gave me a sneak peek at the Middle Eastern culture of which I knew very little of. It was fascinating to see generations of a family living in one household for both the rich and the poor.

I enjoyed the cultural humour and drama and was amazed that similar issues we face here in Canada are also encountered in their society, such as affairs, betrayals, divorce, political and religious differences, etc. I learned about arranged marriages with cousins, a practice that is still common in Arab speaking countries and in Turkey. The stories, I was told by the husband, of course, are exaggerated with mafia encounters, action, guns, murder and provocative kissing scenes. Each episode is full of colour, drama, tears and excitement, all against the beautiful backdrop of either Istanbul’s seaside or a smaller quaint Turkish city. Even when my guests finished their visit, I couldn’t stop watching the shows. Soon I realized that I was quite addicted to the soap operas. My addiction was contagious and soon close friends would come over to watch them with me. The series usually run up to 70 or more 50 minute episodes a season.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your childhood?

Being an immigrant myself, I reflected on the journey my parents experienced immigrating to Canada in the early 1970s. Learning the language, trying to find employment in the fields that they graduated in, and making Canada their home were very difficult for them. We lived just below the poverty line and I remember trying my best to pretend that I was just like the other middle class kids in school. When my father’s business went under in the 1980s during the recession, the bank took our home and literally threw my parents, sister, my baby brother and me out in the street. It was a humiliating experience, and one I will never forget. However, you learn from your experiences and as I grew older, I realized that many people face even greater hardships.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

When I was a kid, I loved three things… books, movies and the Beatles. If anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d say without hesitation, “I’m going to be a writer, director, filmmaker and publisher.”

When I was younger, I participated in drama clubs, young author writing groups, local theatre; and wrote and produced my own screenplays, etc. But unfortunately, life got in the way and I had to pursue a “real” job. I turned my creative energy into becoming an Internet web designer, which eventually landed me a writing contract with Sams.net/Macmillan Publishing who hired me to write “Teach Yourself Great Web Design”. After that, I became very busy with my “day” job, working at the university—designing course websites for online and blended courses and managing a (fantastic) web design, production and learner support team.

For many years, I was so busy with my life that I stopped my personal creative projects. Three years ago, I approached Joseph Khalil, Sababa Emporium Film Productions, with the first draft of my novel and he was impressed with the story and my writing ability. He said he believed in my work and said he would support me in making it into a feature film. He became the producer of the feature film and web series and continues to support me with the publication of my novel and other projects.

Q: Besides books, what else do you write?

I love to write. I write short stories, poems, fiction and non-fiction books and recently a cookbook. I blog and write content for web sites and online courses related to far ranging topics such as web design, user interface navigation, training, scripts for screencasts, popular Turkish TV series, book and film reviews, etc.

Recently I wrote and directed the screenplay for an award winning independent feature film and web series, Almost a Turkish Soap Opera which is an adaptation from my book of the same name. The film and series were screened at US and Canadian film festivals. My book will be released on October 24, 2012, which will coincide, with the DVD release of the film.

Q: Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

My advice to new writers is:

1. Look at each of your projects as products. Before you even start writing, you need to make a business plan on how you intend to produce, market, and sell your product—be it an article, a short story or a novel. Unless you can hire a marketer, you need to be your own publicist from day one. Make sure you start branding your book and determining whom your audience is. The more targeted you are with who your readers are, the easier it will be to package your work.

2. Create a web space (you can use free online sites such as Google’s Blogger, Squidoo, etc. and later move on to your own domain name) and start reaching out to your audience. Find out what things your readers like to do and where they like to share these things. The internet has a vast number of groups, clubs, blogs, etc. where readers gather to discuss their favourite books, topics, etc. Start early and join these same sites and start interacting. What you need to focus on is building relationships and networking. You can’t expect that after you have slogged away at your computer writing your life memoirs, you can just publish them on Amazon or B&N and suddenly a mass of people will start buying your book. Your book is but one of many hundreds of thousands of books available for readers to buy. Unless you are extremely lucky, you need to gather your fan base, and yes that does take time to do, so my biggest advice is to writers… start early.

3. Make sure that what you write is well written. Have a professional editor go through your work with a fine toothcomb.

4. Find good reputable marketing services to help you launch your book and publicize your work. You have to know when you can’t do it all on your own.

5. Finally, believe in your work, because if you don’t believe in it, how can you convince anyone else to?

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

What do I do to get away from it all? Simple… I go read a good book.

Q: Are you familiar with the social networks and do you actively participate?

When I’m not busy writing, cooking, filming, you’ll find me writing on my blogs, tweeting the universe, and or uploading videos to my YouTube channel. You can find my blog at www.anne-raevasquez.com, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/write2film, watch my web series on YouTube (www.youtube.com/3arnb9/), or follow me on GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/annerae .

Q: How do you think book publishing has changed over the years?

Answer: In the last three years, I learned the ins and outs of writing a novel, screenplay; and directing, producing a feature film. But most of all, I learned the hard knocks of marketing and distribution, first in the independent film industry and now in self-publishing.

I purposely chose self-distribution of the film and self-publishing for the book after analyzing the trends of traditional film distribution and publishing over the past four years. The growing shift of social media has given the independent creator much more options to market, distribute and publish their own work. Having been involved with the internet in my professional day job for the past 15 years, both in the technical and the marketing side, I have leveraged this knowledge with the marketing and distribution of the film and the book. Currently our film’s Facebook page has over 8400 fans, and our YouTube channel has 8100 subscribers with over 220,850 video views. In addition, our web series is syndicated on multiple sites such as Blip.tv, Viki.com, iTunes, OpenFilm, Daily Motion, Web Series Channel, and more. You can check it out at www.almostaturkishsoapopera.com

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

I wish my fan base would grow to the point where I can just focus on my creative projects such as writing and making more feature films.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview, (name of author). Do you have any final words?

Big piece of advice to those who are thinking about becoming writers… it’s never too late, just create. If you have a story that is burning inside you, tell it. The tools and resources are at your fingertips, all courtesy of the web. All you need is a sustainable plan; surround yourself with experts; and tap into your own determination to follow through.

ABOUT ALMOST A TURKISH SOAP OPERA

Almost a Turkish Soap Opera is about Adel, a young Turkish man whose family has lived in poverty while his grand uncle controls the inheritance money which rightfully belongs to his father. Adel travels to the USA with his best friend Kamil, works illegally, and is deported back to Istanbul. He flies to Canada, marries his rich grand uncle’s spoiled obnoxious granddaughter in exchange for his permanent resident status. He becomes infatuated with his beautiful English teacher and tries to hide this from his wife. How did his life turn into a Turkish soap opera?

Award-Winning Book Publicity Company Since 2007

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR, BLOG TOUR & BOOK PUBLICITY ENDORSEMENTS: NICE THINGS PEOPLE SAY ABOUT PUMP UP YOUR BOOK

NEW! "Thank you Dorothy for a lovely tour! Thanks so much for the graphics and wonderful trailer!!"Avery Sterling, PRECIOUS BURDENS

"I just wanted to thank you for everything. You ARE the queen. Your are so personable and professional. Your graphics soared beyond. They are beautiful. It was a pleasure to work with you."Jude Hopkins, BABE IN THE WOODS

"THANK YOU for all of these graphics!!! That was a valuable added perk of working with you on the VBT! Thank you for all the work you put into those, and into the organization and follow-ups on the tour itself. It's been a pleasure working with you, Dorothy!"Allyson Rice, The Key to Circus-Mom Highway

"Oh, awesome!! Thank you so much! You ran such a lovely tour. Those images are great, I look forward to using them and will miss seeing the regular postings on Twitter ;-).
I really appreciate your steadfast and ongoing support. It means a lot!!"Palmer Pickering, MOON DEEDS

"Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you again for the amazing blog tour and to tell you that we will be adding the tour to Mark's author website in the next few days. We will of course be recommending your company to other authors we know. And when Mark's next book is out, we will use your services again." Kirsten Grenside on behalf of Mark Grenside, FALL OUT

"Thank you for all the great, creative, work you have done on behalf of my book. You are
a special lady, as a kind hearted woman and a professional."
Maria Andrade, DEFIANCE AND REDEMPTION

"Everyone did an excellent job. The blog pages were beautiful, and the trailer was so clever and funny. Thanks for sending these lovely "souvenirs" from my tour. I will be able to use all of these posts on Twitter. I enjoyed this so much and look forward to my next tour!"
Irene Woodbury, HONEYMOON ROULETTE

" I am delighted with the results of my recent tour with Pump Up Your Book. Dorothy is meticulous and professional, presents beautifully laid out pages, maintains constant contact with the client, and gives more than expected value for money. In a nutshell: you get what you pay for and more on top! I will certainly be using Dorothy’s services for my other Regency romance books.”
Arabella Sheraton, THE LORD BLACKWOOD REGENCY ROMANCE SERIES

"Thank you so much for The Shadow of Atlantis tour. I've really enjoyed all the posts and seeing my book being promoted. I will definitely come back to you with another of my titles!"
Wendy Leighton-Porter, THE SHADOW OF ATLANTIS

"Thank you so much for the great job on the book tour! Pump Up Your Book was a driving force in the launch of THE PILATE SCROLL!"
M.B. Lewis, THE PILATE SCROLL

"Thank you ever so much - it was a fun tour. I will continue singing your praises to my fellow authors. And grateful for the images, I will put them to continued use."
Kathleen Shaputis, HIS KILT DROPPED HERE

"I appreciate you and your hard work. Thank you for creating these awesome images for my book and allowing me to use them. I am very thankful to have them!"
Joni Ankerson, TO KILL OR BE KILLED

"Thank you for an Amazing Virtual Book Tour for Son of a Soldier! I really appreciate all the work you put into it!"
Aiken Brown, SON OF A SOLDIER

"Thanks so much for getting ANNA INCOGNITO out there and reviewed and shared with so many people. It was great to see it on so many twitter feeds!"
Laura Preble, ANNA INCOGNITO

"Thank you so much for such a fantastic tour! You did an amazing job getting it together so quickly, and I couldn’t have been happier!"
Lena Gregory, GRAVE CONSEQUENCES

"Thank you so much Dorothy! I appreciate your hard work. Love the graphics!"
Jennifer Chase, FLOWERS ON HER GRAVE

"This has been one of the best things I’ve done as an author. Not only am I getting the word out about my books but I’m learning about my own work and my readers along the way. I love it!"
Elysia Strife, A PROMISE IN ASH

"Today my blog tour ended, with another great review which made me end the tour with a big smile! What a fun way to end this incredible 4-week tour. I will surely miss it. I want to thank you for arranging it so well and for being there for me whenever I needed. Thank you!!!"

Miri Leshem-Pelly, SCRIBBLE & AUTHOR

"I think you did an excellent job last time, thank you!"
Shami Stovall, KNIGHTMARE ARCANIST

"Just wanted to thank you for the book tour. :) You did a great job. :)"
Suzanne M. Hurley, THE TEDDY BEAR EYE CLUB

"I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful virtual tour in August for Brimstone and Water. I was very happy with the amount of attention given to the book and to me. I am mentioning it to friends on line that haven't gone to the site yet to be sure and take a look. Thanks for all your work."
Sharon House, BRIMSTONE AND WATER

"Thank you for running my book promotion for BlackJack. I am so pleased with the reviews that came in and appreciated all you did. My sales have improved from being around 800,000 down to the 200,000 on Amazon and hopefully dropping still. I will definitely be contacting you for a promotion again."
Christine Donovan, BLACKJACK

"You’ve been a joy to work with, and I’d do another tour with you in a heartbeat. Overall, it was an excellent experience and a good value. I’ll be sure to look you up when it’s time to release my next book."
Michael Allan Scott, GREY DAZE

"Just wanted to thank you for putting together a great tour for You Won't Remember This. I think the author was pleasantly surprised and overall very pleased."
Bacon Press Books

"Dorothy, thanks so much for another great VBT!!! The Twitter-Party was a new feature this time that I particularly enjoyed. I will continue to recommend PUYB to my writer-friends, because you are simply the best!!!"
T.M. Wallace, WINTERGARDEN

"Thank you for a great blog tour for my “Depression and Your Child.”
I’m in the middle of my third book and will definitely call on you again when it’s time to market it."
Deborah Serani, DEPRESSION AND YOUR CHILD

"Your hard work and professionalism hasn't gone unnoticed. When I release my next novel(s), I will definitely use your service. I have already recommended you to several authors."
Ashley Fontainne, GROWL

"Thanks for a very good experience with Pump Up Your Book. Fighter Pilot's Daughter has sold out of the first printing (still available as POD on Rowman & Littlefield's site, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.). My editor at R & L says there's a very good chance the book will come out in paperback in the summer. He asked me "Did you hire a publicist or something?" I told him about you, and he was impressed."
Mary Lawlor, FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER

"You are amazing Dorothy and I love what you do to get the spirit of our books out to the world. Thank you!"
Lee Papa, TEMPLE OF ALL KNOWING

"I can't believe the response this book is getting! I am so very thrilled that she liked it!!! You are THE BEST, Dorothy, for hooking up this amazing tour with all these stunning reviews! This was the book I was going to keep under my bed forever and ever and now WOW. I can't believe this is happening. It's like a dream come true!"
Madeline Wynn, DAUGHTER OF THE FALLEN

"Just wanted to say I'm appreciating your tweets so much. This is really helping my book sales, and I'm telling writer friends about you."
Mary Lawlor, FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER

"Thank you SO much!!!! I had a blast on the tour and appreciate all the time the bloggers and reviewers spent promoting Ash to Steele:)"
Karen-Anne Stewart, ASH TO STEELE

"When it comes to looking for a virtual book tour coordinator, Dorothy Thompson of Pump Up Your Book Tours is simply the best. I have tried several virtual book tour coordinators and have even set up a book tour on my own, but none of them were as successful as my tours with Pump Up Your Book Tour, which has the combination of expertise and experience needed to get the author the results they need. On this latest tour, TWELVE TO MURDER made it up to number three on Amazon! Thank you, Dorothy!"
Lauren Carr, Best-Selling Mystery Author of Mac Faraday, and Lovers in Crime, Mysteries

"Thank you again for all of your help and support for my recent book tour. You were so supportive and responsive, and I enjoyed working with you. It was a great tour and I really enjoyed it, especially when my book hit the top 100 in the two subcategories! That was awesome! Thanks for "pumping up my book!""
Monique Roy, ACROSS GREAT DIVIDES

"Thank you for another amazing tour, Dorothy!! I loved the sites I had an opportunity to visit and the people I met along the way. I even made a few new friends and found wonderful supporters that I'll never forget - I promise! The exposure you gave my book was absolutely unbelievable, and I can't think of a better way to welcome and expose an author's new creation to the literary world. Happy New Year to all your readers and may your success continue to grow. "
Kaylin McFarren, BURIED THREADS

"Thank you for a great virtual book tour. I thought it went really well and it was great to have a wave of PR that flowed through the two month period of my book release. I'm working on my next book - and will definitely reach out to you when it comes time to market! You were a delight to work with and really made me feel looked after. As I've mentioned before, I just don't know how you do it all."
--Deborah Serani, DEPRESSION AND YOUR CHILD

"I just wanted to let you know how wonderful I felt my book blast went for Be Careful What You Wish For in the month of August. So many emails and contacts that I would never have gotten. The publicity was just phenomenal!"
--R.K. Avery, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

"Just wanted to touch base with you and extend a huge thank you for the wonderful and successful book blast you arranged for Love Vindicated for me. I was very happy with your services and will be passing your name and brand along to some writer friends with a stellar recommendation. Again thanks and I look forward to working with you again in the future."
--Lila Munro, LOVE VINDICATED

"Thank you so much for all your hard work in putting together the virtual book tour for The Sixth Power. I appreciate it so much."
--Carol Nicolas, THE SIXTH POWER

"Thank you SO MUCH for such a great blog tour!"
--Sandra D. Bricker, ALWAYS THE BAKER, FINALLY THE BRIDE

"Wow - you are absolutely fantastic. Can't believe how lucky I was to find you :)"
--Jo Sparkes, THE BIRR ELIXIR

"I just wanted to let you know that tonight Steven Manchester's Twelve Months became The Story Plant's first #1 Kindle bestseller. This couldn't have happened without you. Barb's cover is an absolute showstopper, Sue's copyediting boosted the overall work, Jackie's proofreading kept all of us honest, and Tracee Gleichner's blog tour started what has become an avalanche of great reviews."
-- Lou Aronica, STORY PLANT

"Blog tours have been the most effective promotion I’ve done. Dorothy Thompson and her company Pump Up Your Book are the greatest. I’ve spent money with other promotion companies that advertised packages then didn’t deliver the service they advertised, inflated their audience and reach and point blank falsely represented themselves. Dorothy has been a Godsend, and by far, her services are the best promotional endeavors I’ve invested in thus far."
-- Alicia Singleton, DARK SIDE OF VALOR

"I didn't realize that there is a place on amazon that you can see your stats for foreign sales; mine are really good and I believe it is your tweeting service. I think I might have found the key to successful self-publishing when I found Pump Up Your Books."
-- Suzanne Jenkins, PAM OF BABYLON SERIES

"Dorothy Thompson helped promote my book, Gringos in Paradise: Our Honduras Odyssey. Taking part in it was so much easier (and less expensive) than the travel schedule I was hving to keep doing on my own. She set up everything, coached me through my part, and I found my book and I promoted it all over the Internet. It definitely increased my book sales."
-- Malana Ashlie, GRINGOS IN PARADISE

"Dorothy was not only a lot of fun to work with but she helped me get the word out about my book. I would recommend her to both debut and experienced authors."
---Deborah Woehr, PROSPERITY: A GHOST STORY

“Dorothy is a firecracker promoter. She is skilled at finding the most visible placements in promoting your book with unmatched enthusiasm.She is creatively talented and a wonderful person to have on your team.”
--Kathy Holmes Eckardt, REAL WOMEN WEAR RED

“I invested in a three month virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Books promotions for my noir thriller, Moonlight Falls. Not only did the marketing campaign work wonders for spreading the word about the new novel, in the very last month, on the very last day of the tour, Moonlight Falls became an Amazon Kindle bestseller!”
–Vincent Zandri, MOONLIGHT FALLS and THE REMAINS

“I’m so pleased every day when I look at Google Alerts and see our titles all around the blogosphere, so thanks for that!”
–-World Ahead Media

“This has been a wonderful experience. Dorothy Thompson and her whole team are very committed to each author, take each author’s tour very seriously, and work towards maximum exposure in the right places. This is the best book promotion expenditure I’ve made in terms of return on investment. I highly recommend Pump Up Your Book Promotion.”
--Phyllis Zimbler Miller, MRS: LIEUTENANT

"I used Pump Up Your Book promotions a few months ago for my novel, Nephilim. My publisher is a great person, but when it comes to promotions, she encourages authors to do that on their own. Enter Dorothy Thompson at Pump Up Your Book. I had 8 reviews of the book and was featured as a guest author every day of the week at various websites during the month that I used her company. Amazing! She secured everything for me which was really nice and I didn't have to do anything but write a few blogs or answer interview questions. I would use Pump Up Your Book again in a heart beat!"
--Mary Ann Loesch, NEPHILIM

Visit here to find out what others have to say!

Follow Us!

Click on image to see who’s touring in November!

Book Mockup Graphics for $49!

Click on image to find out more!

PUYB Book Trailer of the Week

The Death of the Kremlin Czar by Jorg H. Trauboth

Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach