Image Credits:-
Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Book cover images are from Chapeltown Books. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes, as were some Salisbury photos. AI images avoided.
It has been a busy few weeks since Seeing The Other Side was published by Chapeltown Books on 16th July. There was the launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, a book event at Salisbury URC, a blog tour and I hope there will be more things to come.
I think one thing which should be shared with all new writers is it is helpful to develop (a) a thick skin, you do need to accept not everyone will like what you do, and (b) stamina!
On the plus side having a writing schedule has helped me plan things out, which in turn has taken some pressure away. I know I can do this at that point and so on helps me to make better use of my writing and marketing time.
The Blog Tour
The blog tour was a first for me. I had an “unofficial one” for Tripping The Flash Fantastic where a couple of people kindly reviewed my book over the course of a week but it wasn’t “planned” as such. It worked out that way and was useful.
For Seeing The Other Side, I did go for a planned blog tour and used Lynsey Adams’ Reading Between The Lines Book Vlog for mine. I’ve often been on the other side of the fence here, interviewing authors here, and those have acted as part of their tours. It was lovely to be on the receiving end here.
The tour ran from 7th to 13th September and on some days more than one person reviewed my book, giving me lots of lovely links to share. I was interviewed too by Wendy H Jones on The Nuts and Bolts of Flash Fiction and I’m always pleased to have the title Queen of Flash!
Also, in a first for me, one of my stories inspired some “fan art” from my reviewer. Loved the art. Vanessa Knipe of The Grass is Greener was the fan art provider!
I’ll share at the end of this post the links to the blogs I was on.
Later, I hope to use some of the quotes from the interview and reviews, along with graphics I’ll create in Book Brush, to generate more advertising material for my books. Marketing is an ongoing task but the trick is to enjoy what you do here as that makes it easier to sustain in the longer term. It can be creative in and of its own right.
Would I have this kind of blog tour again? Yes. Not only has it been fun but I have noticed my Amazon rankings improve as the tour has gone on so it has led to book sales. I always sell more on Kindle than paperback but flash fiction is ideal for e-readers so this makes sense and, in any event, a sale is a sale!
Advantages of a Well Organised Blog Tour
It almost goes without saying you do need to check out the background of tour organisers. They should have a good track record.
The chief benefits to the author of a good tour are:-
Someone else organises it! That saves time and effort – you will have other marketing activities to be getting on with!
They will also have more contacts than you so their reach will be wider than yours could be.
The blog tour will give you plenty to share on your social media platforms, website, newsletter etc.
The tours don’t have to be mega expensive. Mine hasn’t been. I consider it good value and the coverage has been great. But always check around. Do check with other authors. You do want a quality tour so dead cheap isn’t necessarily best but equally the higher end – what are they delivering for that?
When you have found a blog tour organiser you think suits, do check out their track record. You should easily be able to find whom they’ve worked with in the past. Look at their “campaigns” here. You should be happy with what you see here.
The Book Event – Salisbury URC
I took part in a book event at Salisbury URC on Saturday 5th September. This came about thanks to having connections at Salisbury URC. Indeed, a family member has taken services there. Over previous conversations, I’d mentioned having a new book out and was asked did I want to join one of their monthly book stalls, which is a great fund raiser for them? Of course I did!
I was seriously impressed by the range of books they had to sell – for children and adults – and the quality. I was also encouraged to see there is still plenty of interest in reading, especially from the younger generation. One phrase that has come into fairly recent usage has been to describe something secondhand as pre-loved. I like that. These books were pre-loved and, better still, were going on to be loved again by someone else! You hear so much about reading for pleasure being on the decline, especially amongst the younger generations. To quote George Gershwin, “it ain’t necessarily so.”.
As for my table, I was pleased to chat to many people, sell books (of course) and to hand out business cards (I often find they lead to Kindle sales later). I read a couple of stories though it was difficult to do more than that because the church is right on the road front. Fabulous for footfall. Not so good for reading stories! I had a lovely time and have been invited back to take part in their Christmas Fayre in November. Have happily accepted that. Books, as we all know, make excellent presents.
Ironically I didn’t get to use my card machine at all but hope to for the Christmas Fayre.
Other Events, hopefully
I have put in a pitch to give a talk at Chandler’s Ford Library but have yet to hear back on that. Am also still waiting to hear about an online launch via my publisher. I do plan, whether any of these things go ahead or not, to have an online event where I can share stories and take questions but that will need to wait for a while.
The good thing with online events though is they don’t have to be time dependent. Also, an author keeps on marketing their work so it is not as if you ever have “one shot” at these things. Just as well really because it would be difficult to fit in everything all in one go.
Book Tour Blog Links
I must say a huge thank you to Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog for organising everyone. Also a huge thanks to everyone who hosted me and the fabulous interview, summaries of my book, and reviews. To find out more, including about the fan art, check out the links below.
Lynsey Adams (it was so apt she kicked the tour off)
Wendy H Jones – The Nuts and Bolts of Flash Fiction
Vicarious Living (Maressa Mortimer)
Sheena McLeod – (All About Books)
Vanessa Knipe – (The Grass is Greener) – the fan artist!
Donna Morfett – one shared review on Instagram, the other on Facebook.
Anita D Hunt – Peskie Dreams
Celtic Connexions – Melanie Robertson-King
Conclusion
As you will have gathered from the above, my experience of the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side has been fantastic. Other than going out on book events, it is the first time I’ve effectively paid for advertising and it has worked well.
Every author has to decide what kind of marketing is likely to work best for them and their work. Chatting with other writers is a great place to start research here. Wendy H Jones also has an excellent book out called Marketing Matters. I keep a copy on my desk. No one writer can know it all and books like this are so useful.
Last but not least, good luck with the promotional work you do. It is hard work but I aim to enjoy the marketing I do. It makes it sustainable for me in the longer term and you do need, I think, to consider your writing in those terms. It isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon and the same goes for the marketing side.
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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