Dr. Dean DeLuke is a graduate of St. Michael’s College, Columbia University (DMD) and Union Graduate College (MBA). He completed residency training at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and also participated in a fellowship in maxillofacial surgery at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, England.
He currently divides his time between the practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery and a variety of business consulting activities with Millennium Business Communications, LLC, a boutique marketing, communications and business consulting firm. An active volunteer, he has served on the Boards of the St. Clare’s Hospital Foundation, the Kidney Foundation of Northeast New York, and the Albany Academy for Girls. He has also performed medical missionary work with Health Volunteers Overseas.
He has a long history of involvement with thoroughbred horses—from farm hand on the Assunta Louis Farm in the 1970s to partner with Dogwood Stable at present.
His latest book is Shedrow, a medical thriller with a unique twist.
You can visit his website at www.shedrow1.com or connect with him at Facebook at www.facebook.com/deandeluke.
Thank you for this interview, Dean. Can we start out by having you tell us briefly what your new book is about?
Shedrow is a part medical thriller and part racetrack thriller. It’s actually been dubbed a cross between Dick Francis and Robin Cook, because while it is a racetrack thriller in the spirit of the Dick Francis stories, the principal character in Shedrow is a surgeon, not a barrister as in many of Francis’ books. So there’s plenty of medical drama as well here.
The story centers around a multimillion dollar stallion who dies under some very mysterious circumstances on a supposedly secure and placid breeding farm in Kentucky. The principal character, Dr Anthony Gianni, is a plastic surgeon with a successful career and a bad marriage. He had worked on a thoroughbred farm in his youth, and he becomes involved with a thoroughbred partnership as a diversion—that diversion evolves into a sequence of events that ultimately leads to infidelity, sabotage, and murder.
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?
An author friend had recommended that I consider having both a traditional as well as a virtual publicist, and that turned out to be excellent advice. Pump Up Your Books and Dorothy Thompson have worked tirelessly in securing reviews, guest posts and interviews for me. I have found it to be an extremely effective marketing tool—and one that is very cost-effective as well.
Is this the first time you have heard of them?
I first heard of Pump Up Your Books when I saw that a well-known local author, Vincent Zandri, had a virtual tour with them.
What do you hope to achieve through promoting your book through a virtual book tour?
I think that I can reach an audience that may be a bit different than my core audience of readers of medical fiction, and Dick Francis enthusiasts. There should be crossover appeal for readers of all types of crime fiction.
Do you promote online through other means? Website? Blog?
I have a website (www.shedrow1.com) that has experienced good traffic, especially during the last month. I also have a fairly active page on Facebook, and I will be starting a blog soon.
Who maintains your website?
The website was developed by Equus Media, and they maintain the site. I also have the “site groom” feature that allows me to input changes and additions directly.
What are your experiences with offline booksignings? Do you have much luck selling your book through that method?
Since my book was only recently released, I have had only a single book signing at the Borders in Saratoga Springs, NY. The store sold about 25 copies at that event, and the store manager seemed quite happy with that. Before my book was released, I made a real effort to attend as many signings as I could, including some by some fairly well-known authors. Frankly, I was surprised by the relatively poor turnout at some of those events. Nonetheless, I personally like to interact with readers in that setting, and I will continue to do so. But from a pure marketing standpoint, I have to wonder about their effectiveness.
Here’s a fun question. If money was no object, how would you promote your book?
Oh, I would take out a full page, four color ad in The New Yorker. It only costs about $130,000 or so for a one time placement!
Thank you for this interview, Dean. Do you have any final words?
Sure, be sure to check www.shedrow1.com for some great contest offerings as well as book excerpts, photos and reviews. Then order the hardcover or eBook on Amazon or BN.com, because you will need to have read the book to be able to enter and answer contest questions. And thank you!
Let's Talk Virtual Book Tours 
Nice things you had to say about us, Dean, and thank you! Good luck on the rest of your virtual book tour!