 Are you going to sell a kazillion books by setting up a blog tour for your new release? No. Not even close. If you sell a handful of books, be happy.
You'd think that blog tours would help you sell books (which we ALL would love to have happen), but it just doesn't work that way. I've accepted that fact. I've booked blog tours and have gone into them realizing that yeah, I probably wouldn't sell enough books to make back the money I spent on the book tour. So why do one then? Why spend that money? For me, it was for the reviews. Garnering reviews can be a daunting process, and yet, reviews are probably the ONE thing a book hinges on in the marketing place (besides a decent cover and professional editing). Readers look at reviews before making a purchase. With SO many books out there, readers want to know they're getting a decent product and reading reviews can help them to make that decision. Yes, reviews can be bought (we've heard the stories) and reviews can be exaggerated. (I'm not going to go into any of that right here. That's another post for another day). I'm just going to stick to the importance of book reviews and what they do for an author. THEY ARE IMPORTANT. That's all there is to it. You've got to have them. Good ones, average ones, even the negative ones to balance the whole thing out. I pay for blog tours simply for those reviews. I need them. I want them. I gotta have them. Getting exposure on a blog is great and getting your name and book in front of readers who otherwise may never hear about you any other way is important too, but that's not why I sign up for blog tours. I'm all about the reviews. But lately, something just isn't clicking for me any more. The process is broken, and I'm not sure why. (Again, not talking about hack reviews or any of that). To be blunt: reviews on a book bloggers blog (say that 10x fast) is nice...but that same review on Amazon is EVERYTHING. Yes, EVERYTHING. Book Bloggers Blog = helpful Barnes and Noble = helpful iTunes = helpful Goodreads = helpful Amazon = SUPER DUPER ULTRA POWERFUL INTENSELY WONDERFUL EVERYTHING!!! (95% of sales come from Amazon for most authors) Here's the problem: Not all book tour reviewers will post their glowing (or even not so glowing) review on Amazon. Some won't even post it anywhere other than their blog. I've booked three tours in the last five months with THREE different book tour companies and roughly 1/3rd of those reviewers (combined) took that awesome review and posted it on Amazon. It's posted on their blog but not where I REALLY need it. Why? I have no idea. Why not ask the blogger to post it on Amazon? I DID. I even had the tour company ask the bloggers as well. Nothing. For an example: I booked a tour for DESERT FLOWER with TWO different tour companies. It started in the middle of February and the tour runs until the end of March. Combined with these two tour companies there would be 30 tour stops with a guaranteed review at every stop. WOW!! Impressive. That would be GREAT!! I'm nearing the end of the tour, but have already had 25 stops to date. Now go click HERE to see how many reviews are up on Amazon. Yep. And FOUR of those didn't even come from my blog tour. Those four came in organically. So why aren't the bloggers placing those well-thought out, beautifully written reviews up on Amazon? I have no freakin' idea. I had a similar experience with my SURVIVOR ROUNDUP tour back in December. Did you know that there are some great and wonderful advertising opportunities for authors to participate in but only if they have a set number of reviews on their book? It's true. If you don't have the reviews, then say bye-bye to those opportunities. This is why I fork out money for a blog tour, so I can make sure I have those reviews in place so that I can participate in those events. The putting myself in front of potential readers is great. Having a wonderful review out there on someone's blog is great, but having that review placed on Amazon is ULTIMATE. BUT... if I'm not selling enough books to cover my book tour costs (which I understand) AND those reviews are not ending up on sites like Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, etc... then why in the world would I want to spend a couple hundred dollars anymore? The value, for me, is gone. I also know that I'm not the only author who has experienced this too. So, what to do, what to do? Honestly, I'm not sure. I'll have to come up with another idea to get those much needed reviews. Fortunately, I have some time to figure it out before my next book release :) * I LOVE book bloggers! I do. That's not what this blog is about. I'm just trying to understand what is happening, why those reviews never end up on retail sites where they are needed, and if paying a good chunk of change on a book tour is worth it anymore. What do you think of blog tours in general? What has your experience been like? Do have any guesses as to why book reviewers/bloggers don't post their reviews to retail sites where authors need them? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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 Marketing books is hard work. You try one thing, then you try another, and then you cross your fingers and pray that maybe, just maybe, all that effort, time, and money helped you to sell a book or two.
There is no for sure way in which to do it either, and often times, when you finally find something that may work, a kazillion other authors have jumped on board and end up nullifying the whole thing (Just look at KDP Select, for instance). Marketing and promotion is a crap shoot at best. But the good news is that you can keep trying different things until you find that ONE thing that works for you. Years ago when I was about to publish my first book, I made a few jokes about the best methods for marketing. (See the post HERE). At the time, it was funny to poke fun at the whole process. Now that I'm fully immersed in it...it's not so funny anymore. I may have to resort to using the liquor or monkey idea (Read all about it HERE). But I do think that I've hit on something that may not produce big sales, but has brought my name to the attention of people, who otherwise, may never have heard of me. I put my info on my vehicle. ---> Why the heck not? I got the crazy idea from seeing other cars out on the road advertising their business and said, "Let's give it a try!" I'm constantly in my car, driving all over the place. We go on several vacations a year, driving to and from our destinations. I mean, if The Pet Poop Patrol can drive around all day with THAT signage printed all over the cars and trucks, then why can't I advertise I'm an author? Cheesy and rather dumb? Maybe...but let me tell you, I've had MANY people approach me and ask about the types of books I write just by seeing the sign. Did they go on to buy my books? I will never know, but I have a conversation starter and that's what counts. Just this morning when I dropped my children off for school, a parent approached my van and asked me about being an author and about the books I write. We talked for a good five minutes or more (I was slightly embarrassed as I was wearing my PJ's...oh well) but I'd never met this father before. Now he knows about me and my books. This cost me nothing to do. A friend printed it up for me on her machine and I slapped it on the back of my car. Most marketing costs a lot more than nothing, believe me, I know (been there and still doing that). So when it comes to marketing and promotion...you do what you gotta do and then hope for the best. What crazy things have you done or seen when it comes to marketing your books? I'd love to hear all about it. There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.  I've been asked several different times, "What is your writing method? Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?" My writing method is simple, really. I just sit at my desk, make sure my favorite diet caffeinated beverage is at my side, make sure my beta fish is fed so he doesn't stare at me as though he wants to eat me (his bowl is on my desk...dang it, he's staring at me right now. See pic below), then I place my fingers on the key board and mumble inside my head, "Please, oh please, oh please!" That is it. That is my whole writing process in a nutshell. All of my books have been penned this way. I don't have one scrap of paper with a plot or idea or a character sketch written down. Not a one. For me, the idea of actually writing ANYTHING down on paper, or using the Scivener software to plan out my novel, just about gives me an anxiety attack. Extreme, I know, but I have no other way in which to explain it. Okay, maybe I do. I would describe it like this: you know when you put your head under water and for the first little bit it ain't so bad? Then after a few seconds you're like, "I don't think I like this. I think I like air better. I want air. I REALLY want air. I NEED air! I need it soon! GIVE ME AIR! I think I'm dying!" That's kind of like the feeling I get when it comes to plotting and outlining a novel. I've taken several writing courses where the push has been to outline. What's going to happen first? What will happen next? How is it going to end? What are your character arcs? If I'm being honest here, which I am, then this is usually the part of the class where I take a nap or draw a picture while everyone else is scribbling away. Now don't get me wrong, I do have some basic ideas or story lines in my head before I begin. And then in between writing I do a LOT of daydreaming. Tons. I love daydreaming. Wait. What were we talking about? Just kidding. I think about my characters and about my story all of the time, but I never write anything down. You want to know why? Because things change. There have been so many times where I "think" I know where the story is going only to end up having a character do something RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of writing a scene that changes everything. She's pregnant? What the heck? I didn't see that coming! Cool. Or, as in the case of my current work in progress, Nuns with guns? That's awesome! Thank you muse! Characters show up out of the blue, twists and turns happen that I didn't plan for, and the story takes on a life of its own. (See DESERT RICE, for example). So why in the world would I EVER want to change that? I don't. I won't. I can't. This writing by the seat of my pants works for me. No, it's not perfect. Far from. I think because this is my method of writing, I tend to be a slow writer. I find myself swimming around in the writer's block abyss from time to time. But even knowing that sometimes there will be struggles, I still don't think I will ever try and write an outline. *shivers* Writing, for me, is magic! Getting to see where the story is going as I write it is such an amazing feeling, one that I would never want to risk losing. Is it possible to plot and still experience magic? I'm sure other writers do, and I would never suggest that one method of writing is better than another (though I know many writers and one very stubborn/non-writer type husband that thinks there is). Do whatever works for you. If writing everything down on index cards works for you, then do it. If staring out a window is your thing, do it. If eating chocolate and drinking Pepsi is a must have (don't judge me), then go for it. Whatever process works for you to make sure you produce the best work YOU can, then do it. Plot away and create binders of character sketches and arc outlines, go for it! But while you do that, I'm going to eat leftover Valentine's Day chocolate and stare out my window for a little bit. Then I'm going to try and kill some zombies in my book and see what happens from there. So what is your process? What works for you? Are you a plotter or a pantser or somewhere in between? Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by.  This is my desk Beta Fish. He doesn't have a name. Help me name him. Give me a suggestion below in the comments. If your fish name is chosen, then you will win some lovely Swedish Fish (so yummy). |
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