So Living Dead Girl hits its last set of tour stops tomorrow, and I just wanted to share a few thoughts on book blog tours in general. Would I recommend one? Yes, absolutely...as long as you go into it with realistic expectations. Obviously the first thing is to research who you're handing your money to before you do it--that should go without saying, but as I've discovered there are TONS of tour companies out there, and I'm not sure they're all worth the cash. So a bit of research definitely goes a long way. I chose Bewitching because I had other other friends who used their services and were pleased. What I found was a well organized tour company, and for the money I spent ($75 I think??) I got a fair amount of exposure and a few reviews. On a whole, I'm very happy with what I got and I'll definitely go back for book two.
I think the real key to remember is this--a book tour isn't a magic formula to zillions of sales. I have no idea if I even gained any readers. What I did get is exposure. That's twenty-plus blogs who posted about my book, and my feeling is, the more people who talk about it or even just know about it, the better. Another big thing is reviews. Sure, the publisher sends out copies to reviewers, but they're a small independent publisher with limited resources. There's only so much they can do, so a lot of that falls on me.
ANY indie author will tell you that it can be extremely difficult to find people to review your book, particularly when you're approaching review sites on your own. They're inundated with requests, so many never get back to you...and all that time spent sending requests, I could be doing other more productive things. Plus, I'm kind of lazy. It's like querying all over again, because you've got to research the sites you're approaching, then send them info with your request. VERY time consuming, and I don't have much of that to spare. But I'm babbling...
With the book tour I signed up for, I was guaranteed at least some reviews, which I got. And no, you're not paying for reviews, you're paying for the tour company to find the bloggers willing to do it. So there you go :)
Happy Sunday, everyone!
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Tour Schedule
Schedule Living Dead
Girl by Nessie Strange
March 31- April 14
March 31
JeanzBookReadReview
March 31
Bibliophile
Mystery
April 1
happy tails and
tales
April 1
The La La Land of
Books
April 2
Laurie's Paranormal
Thoughts and Reviews
April 2
Paranormal Romance and
Authors THat Rock
April 3
Sapphyria's Book
Reviews
April 3
Midnight Musings
with Bertena
April 4
Share My Destiny
April 4
Nicky Peacock Author
April 4
Paranormal Romance
Fans for Life
April 7
Shut Up &
Read
April 7
Fang Freakin' Tastic
Reviews
April 8
Sabrina's Paranormal
Palace
Guest post (letter
from Jen, Letter from the reaper: his thoughts on being a reaper)
April 8
The Avid Reader
April 9
Book Liaison –
April 9
Mama Knows Books
April 10
Crazy Four Books
April 10
Mousehead & tales
April 11
Pembroke Sinclair.
April 11
The Library Mistress
April 14
Urban Fantasy
Investigations
April 14
More Romance Please
April 14
Clutter Your Kindle
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Random Saturday Night Stream of Consciousness
I really am a terrible blogger, aren't I? Actually, I'm an even worse Facebook page-er. At least I'm consistent, right? So what's going on?? Well, a few things...Living Dead Girl is going on tour starting next week, so I've been busy preparing interviews and guest posts. I've also been trying to light a fire under the sequel. It has occupied my mind a lot lately, which is GOOD thing, because it means the story is taking shape. Unfortunately there's just not enough time in the day to get it all down. It's kind of like having a million gallons of water building up and ready to squirt out of a really tiny hole. Wait, what? Scratch that analogy, it's stupid. BASICALLY, sometimes I just feel like the world's slowest writer and I can't keep up with all of the things my brain is throwing at me :) Other than that...I have a very soon-to-be 13 year old in the house, which means I will officially be the mother to two teenagers O.o. I think that's scarier than any scenario I could write about.
Anyone ready for the Walking Dead season finale? I don't know, man...Terminus gives me a majorly bad vibe. Seems like any time they find a 'safe' haven, the shit hits the fan. Will this one be different??
Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!
Anyone ready for the Walking Dead season finale? I don't know, man...Terminus gives me a majorly bad vibe. Seems like any time they find a 'safe' haven, the shit hits the fan. Will this one be different??
Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!
Friday, March 14, 2014
T-F-GIF
Well, I've managed to break a REALLY long streak of not getting sick with a pretty nasty (flu??) bug for most of this week. Fever, chills, sneezing, sore throat, etc...yuck! And I still feel like absolute crap. Unfortunately I had to drag myself into work through most of it, so this weekend could not have come fast enough.
I did finish off a couple anime series recently--Shiki (which really put the 'horror' back in vampires...but with a twist); Sankarea (a cool take on zombies and funny too). Definitely recommend both of them if you're into anime.
Keeping this short today. Hope everyone is well!
I did finish off a couple anime series recently--Shiki (which really put the 'horror' back in vampires...but with a twist); Sankarea (a cool take on zombies and funny too). Definitely recommend both of them if you're into anime.
Keeping this short today. Hope everyone is well!
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Preoccupied :)
Wow, just when I think I'm keeping up with things, a couple weeks slide by and it looks like I've dropped off the planet! So my daughter and I are prepping to go to Anime Boston 2014 in a few weeks. Last year was our first year going, and while it was fun, it was also slightly overwhelming because we went with no plan in mind. We missed out on a couple things we wanted to see because we weren't in the right place at the right time, and many of the events and panels fill up fast. This year I hope to be a bit more strategic about it.
Getting there, well, I'm weighing my options. Boston is about a forty minute drive away. I can either drive and park (yikes! You have no idea how much driving in that city freaks me out!) Parking at the Prudential Center is expensive, but I'd have my car and we wouldn't have to rely on a train schedule. Which is the other option--we could take the T. It's cheaper, but we'd have to walk from the subway station, and ride on the train in costume. It would also take longer. Thankfully I have some time to decide...
As far as the event itself, there's no schedule up yet, so I'm thinking of other things right now...mainly cosplay costumes and how not to break the bank doing it. You can buy plenty of premades, but more than half of those shops are located overseas and when all is said and done, you're talking shelling out a couple hundred bucks just to get a costume. Mama doesn't have that kind of a budget...especially when you figure in admission passes, parking, etc for the con itself. So, time to get those creative cogs turning. It's kind of like a creative scavenger hunt right now--finding articles of clothing and material that I can transform. Hit up Salvation Army thrift store yesterday and found a few things to get me started, and I'm setting out this morning to see what else I can find. Wish me luck, lol! :)
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Couch Sitting
So in anticipation of the next new Walking Dead episode...
I was super psyched for the second half of this season to resume. When I sat down to watch last week, I was a little underwhelmed. I mean, there was this HUGE event at the midseason finale. We knew the characters would need to leave the relative safety of the prison and journey back out into the world--basically knocked back to where they were in the beginning. But...I dunno. While it wasn't necessarily bad, I found myself annoyed at times. This episode focused mostly on Rick and Carl (interspersed with Michonne and her flashbacks), presumably right after they left the prison. They were separated from everyone else, so there's no sense of who really made it and who didn't. Rick was still badly injured, and they were looking for food and a safe place to stay. And Carl? I wanted to smack him. He had REALLY bad timing with trying to rebel. I get that he was angry with his father...but really? So in a nutshell, this episode was mostly character building with not a lot else going on, and while I didn't hate it, I just wasn't feeling it either. Am I the only one who thought this??
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Hearts on Fire Blog Hop!
Welcome & thanks for stopping by!
Living Dead Girl might be Jen's story, but a big part of it was her meeting the ONE who completely changed her life. While her story takes a rather unfortunate turn, Jack was a bright spot in her life, no matter how brief...
Jack
pulled me toward him and circled his arms around me. “Are you going to clock me
if I kiss you right now?”
I
shrugged. The thought of it sent my stomach fluttering.
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I
shrugged. The thought of it sent my stomach fluttering.
He
lowered his head and whispered in my ear. “I take it that since you’re here
with me right now, it’s because you want to be with me.”
I
angled my head back to meet his gaze and his lips brushed against my cheek.
“Yes,”
I whispered back.
He
smiled wryly. “So you do feel that way about me.”
I
bit my lip and nodded.
When
he did kiss me, it was slow and gentle. His arms tightened around me, and we
just stood there, hugging. It was liberating. Like I could finally relax and
allow myself to admit that I was doing something I wanted. It wasn’t for anyone else. I’d fought it for so long, but
I knew without a doubt that this was where I was supposed to be. His body was
so warm. Finally, he broke the embrace and turned around and got down on one
knee with his back facing me. “Come on,” he said.
“What?”
“Get
on. I don’t know how you’re still walking in those things.”
I
glanced down at my feet. The blisters on the backs of my ankles were raw and my
toes felt crunched. I’d been so hopped up on adrenaline that I hadn’t even
noticed how bad my feet hurt. I climbed onto his back, locked my arms around
him, and he hoisted me up.
Want to read more? Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Living Dead Girl
Be sure to check out these other blogs, and enter for your chance to win more great prizes--including a really cool heart pendant!
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