What fun we’re having this week on our second blog tour. Today, I get to talk about my long writing career. You’ll learn how I came to shift gears after years of writing nonfiction and finally dip my toe into the sea of fiction. Laura Thomas, at FU Only Knew (http://fuonlyknew.com) took the time to review three books in the Klepto Cat Mystery series. Be sure to check out her comments and my side-story.
We’ve been talking about how to set up a blog tour. You can do an Internet search to locate blogs related to the theme of your book and contact the hosts. You can use directories of blogs to find appropriate stopovers for your tour. Or hire a blog tour service to set up your tours. (See my July 18th post for resources.) But what’s the secret to locating reviewers for your particular book?
Many bloggers will review books. In fact, when you’re seeking appropriate blogs sites for your blog tour, be sure to include reviewers for the genre/theme of your book in your search. Here are some directories of book reviewers:
http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net. They also have a print book that comes out every other year—The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages. It contains over 775 pages of reviewers in every category, and the majority of them review self-published books.
Here’s a list of book review sites: http://writersresourcedirectory.com/Book_Reviewers.html
Here’s a list of 352 book reviewers http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers
Do reviews generate sales? Let me ask you, is your book getting the attention and making the sales you would like? Are you getting large royalty checks and/or selling dozens or hundreds of books through your website? Why not try getting more exposure for your book by getting it reviewed over and over again. It doesn’t cost you anything but your time. And it could just help you pay next month’s rent.
You see, the thing that many authors can’t wrap their heads around is the fact that a book that no one knows about isn’t going to sell. Someone has to spread the word—let readers know the book exists. Without this effort, a book will languish and die.