Summer Book Crush

Hot sun, hot sand, cool drinks, dark tans. Ahhhh. But your summer won’t be complete until you land a new BOOK BOYFRIEND, right? Lucky for you, we’ve got you covered!  

  SUMMER BOOK CRUSH offers 50+ titles in many genres. This means 50+ chances to (fictitiously) fall in love. And the best part? Each of these gems is only 99¢, but for a limited time only. The SUMMER BOOK CRUSH event starts on June 26th and ends (yes, even the best things in life end at some point) on June 28th. So don't wait up! Mingle with our BOOK BOYFRIENDS and invite all your friends to participate too. There are plenty of BOOK BOYS to share!

  
 Find your summer’s fling between the pages of a book. And don't stop on one - after all we have many BOOK BOYFRIENDS for you to mingle with.

* HAPPY READING * HAPPY SUMMER *

Boost Book Sales with a Blog Tour or Blast

Happy Hump Day! 

Here today is author of The Kings series, Tawdra Kandle.

Tawdra also runs Promotional Book Tours, a public relations firm that creates buzz for your book with Virtual Book tours.


Once upon a time, writers who published their work went on multi-city tours to promote their books. They traveled on planes and trains, visited book stores in major cities and sat for hours signing books and posing for pictures with their fans.

Those tours are, by and large, a thing of the past. Nowadays only the most famous best-selling authors are treated to real-life tours.

Self-published and small press writers have discovered that in this brave new world, it is more efficient and effective to do cyber tours. The advantages are numerous: the promotion can reach thousands of readers without the author leaving home.

A typical tour includes stops on a variety of blogs over the course of several weeks. A stop can be a review, an interview, an excerpt of the book or a guest post from the author. All these options give the book and its author tremendous exposure.A smaller investment is a book blast, which is a one day promotion, often on release day, carried on a number of blogs. There are no reviews, excerpts or interviews, just your book info and links, cover pics and author follow information. It’s a short-term publicity play that can help boost your book’s visibility.

Any author can book a tour or blast through a book promo company, but the impact this publicity has on sales and branding is largely dependent on the author. How can you maximize your time in the cyber sun?

First, always be clear about expectations. Find out how many blogs will carry your book and a general idea of their followings. Make sure the promotion company running your tour or blast has a plan to cover non-posting blogs. Be clear about the time posts will be up and what kind of complementary promotion will accompany each stop. (For instance, most bloggers promote their posts on Facebook and Twitter; find out if the promotion company itself also posts and tweets.)

Before the tour or blast, provide the touring company with all the material requested, including all of your social media links, your website, buying links for your book and the cover image. Also provide any excerpts of your book, guest posts and answers to interview questions that are requested by the bloggers.

Frequently, these tours and blasts are accompanied by giveaways, which both draw an audience and give the bloggers an incentive to complete their posts. Find out what kind of prize the company prefers you to offer; the prize is almost always the responsibility of the author. Send a picture or accurate description of your giveaway goodies!

Once the tour is underway, you can provide the best support by following along and commenting on the stops. Thanking the blogger for posting is always appreciated!

Being responsive and accessible is the best way to make the most of your tour or blast. It’s a fabulous way to build your name visibility and boost book sales. . .all without getting out of your pajamas.

     

Have you done a virtual book tour of any kind?

The Shocking Truth About Multi-Tasking

Happy Monday everyone! Today we have a guest that I've been hoping to score for MONTHS. 

Shannon O’Neil is the author half of Duolit: The Self-Publishing Team. Along with Toni (the geek half of the duo) she helps frazzled writers get focused with book marketing tips, motivational advice, and promotional ideas for introverts.

5 Tips For a Smashing Blog Tour

I got tons of emails after Nancy Straight's post where she suggested going on a blog tour, asking for more information on what the heck it even means to take your book on a virtual tour. 

Well, dear readers, the girls from Kismet Book Touring are here to give you 5 tips for planning a blog tour so that you can get out there and get noticed!

Getting Your Book in Front of Readers

As you probably know, I'm a huge fan of Laura Pepper Wu of 30 Day Books. She featured today's guest a few weeks ago on BOTH of her blogs, so naturally my ears perked up. Jenny Ladner Brenner must be one to watch! 

And, now since Laura was gracious enough to introduce us, I am proud to present Jenny, author of The Dinner Party, to you!

COVER REVEAL: Avoiding Responsibility by KA Linde

Would you agree that 2012 has been the year of the Contemporary Love Story? I use the term "Love" loosely.

I have read more contemporary romance books this year than paranormal romance, and that's a first for me. Books like Avoiding Commitment by K.A. Linde have been loaded onto my Kindle, causing many late nights (read early morning) bedtimes for myself and my Book Club girls!

Understanding Metadata for Authors

So many of us here in the social media world are scrambling to figure things out, sometimes it can be downright overwhelming. Well, here's my go-to lady who knows her stuff about Relationship Marketing and the Self-Publishing world-at-large. 
Rachel Thompson has published two of her own best-selling indie titles and is a Social Media Consultant that makes this whole publishing thing look like hop-scotch. Welcome to Finding Bliss Rachel!

Six Questions with Jennifer Snyder

 A few months ago I found the blog of author Jennifer Snyder. I obviously read a lot of blogs, but the thing that impressed me about Jennifer's was that she posted her monthly sales from the start of her self-publishing career. This gives you realistic expectations of what your results might be like after you put your book up for sale.

The Future of Publishing with Joanna Penn

This week's video is an interview with Joanna Penn, who has been the biggest inspiration in my choice to self-publish. She has self-published two novels and three non-fiction books as well as created various courses and products to help others avoid the mistakes she's made during her time as an author. 

It seems I introduce everyone as my special guest, and that is true because I'm truly honored that my guests give me their time to be interviewed. But, Joanna is extra special to me because essentially everything I do is based on studying her website and podcasts closely. 

The Importance of a Great Website

Laura Pepper Wu is co-founder of 30 Day Books, a book studio that provides marketing tools and resources for authors. 

Not to mention a fabulous friend and inspiration to yours truly.

Six Questions with Eva Marquez

Eva Marquez is the author of the newly released Mature Young Adult novel Sweetest Taboo.

I've seen her book mentioned a lot during the past few months, so I knew I wanted to interview her so that I could delve into her marketing strategy.

Is Paranormal Dead? with Lynn Rush

I was introduced to Lynn Rush

by my friend Kendall Grey. I joined Kendall on one of Lynn's Twitter Parties at hashtag #Rushed. She holds fun contests and I won a copy of her latest book Violet Midnight. Since I'm the type of girl who's never satisfied I decided to take it one step further and ask for an interview!

Are Self-Published Books the New Query Letter?

Erin Kern is the author of the Trouble Series of romance novels. Like many of my writer friends, she began by querying agents and ended up going on her own after several rejections. I hope you're as inspired by her story as I am, especially if your dream is to eventually sign with a large publishing house.

Six Questions with M Leighton

If you look at the Amazon Top 100, you'd see this author's name more than once. M Leighton is a NYT bestseller and her fanbase is seriously rabid. She's got more than thirteen books published now, with highly anticipated sequels in the works.

Sit back and enjoy her interview, and maybe save a few of her tips to memory on this lovely Fall Saturday.

Getting Exposure with Christina McKnight

Christina McKnight published her first novel, Only in Her Dreams last month. I invited her for an interview to get the perspective of an author who has just made the transition into authorhood. 

I'm so excited for you to hear what she has to say about her journey thus far. It comes down to just getting your name out there and getting exposure!

Five Secrets to Successful Self-Publishing with Denise Grover Swank

Last week I came across a post by Denise Grover Swank about reaching her 150,000 mark as a self-published author. She said she didn't even realize it was coming, and I thought- this is someone I need to learn from. 


I was over the moon when Denise agreed to share her story and some tips to growing your backlist and being a successful self-publisher. One of the biggest things I've learned from Denise is that while we might not all be Amanda Hocking, we can all have a career as an author if we JUST DON'T QUIT!

Building Author/Blogger Relationships with The Autumn Review

Authors need to be aware of the golden resources that are at their finger tips. One of the most important of these is the Book Blogger. 

Not only should they be loved, but they should be respected! Autumn of The Autumn Review is here with some insight from a bloggers perspective!

Six Questions with Samantha Young

Samantha Young is the best-selling author of several Young Adult novels and most recently an Adult contemporary, On Dublin Street, which I read in one night. It was worth the lack of sleep, because Sam writes amazing characters and really pulls you into her story-world. 

On Dublin Street was released August 30 and has sailed up the chart, currently holding an impressive #9 on Amazon. 

Your Book is Just the Beginning

Just a quick note and an infographic.... 

Are you tired yet? I love this stuff, but man-- it really is a lot! 

Thoughts?

Six Questions with Amber Argyle

The first time I heard of Amber Argyle was when chatting with book blogger Misty of The Book Rat. She told me that she generally didn't read Indie Books, but that Witch Song was an exception because of the positive feedback she'd seen.