This isn't a blog post so much as a public service announcement, so if you're a regular reader, you can safely move on to the next one.
I've been getting a lot of requests recently to either host blog tours for people I don't know, or else write reviews for books. To save people who are considering this the trouble of emailing, here is my policy on this stuff:
I don't host blog tours. In fact I don't do blog tours myself either. I do from time to time write guest posts, and I enjoy doing it. I'd love to do more, the only difficulty being that I have a few deadlines to keep.
I don't do book reviews.
While I do frequently mention books that I've read, it helps if you've been dead for 2,000 years or more. Slightly less deceased authors who get mentioned tend to be either long-time readers whose success I love to celebrate, writer friends whom I know from fan conferences, writer friends whom I know from across the internet, or books whose awesomeness is so directly relevant to what I typically write about that it's a no-brainer to talk about them.
The blog began as my place for book research overflow . It's expanded slightly since then, but that remains its primary purpose. I know my own books are plastered all over the page, but that's because this is also my place of business, sort of. I used to run two separate web sites: one my author site for the books, and one my blog, then realized that made no sense and merged the two.
I suspect the single most useful piece of author information on this site is my email address down the right hand side. Any number of fans have used it to email me, and I love to hear from readers, so don't be shy!
For what it's worth to people interested in book marketing, I'd say overwhelmingly the two most effective things are word-of mouth recommendation from people who've enjoyed your books; and the public libraries. Libraries are grossly underrated. It's amazing how much of my fan email is from people who discovered me at their local library.
2 comments:
How does one find new authors? Lets all share stories.
I originally found Gary Corby books by seeing an article in the SMH, about a new Australian historical novelist, with mysteries set in ancient Greece.
That's pretty good, I thought.
But I never can remember things - like names. However, about two weeks later, I am in Abbey's Bookstore in Sydney. A better bookstore shall never be found. They had a nice little display on the shelf - SIGNED COPIES, of a book apparently set in Ancient Greece. "It's that one I read about", I thought. I bought it, started reading it on the train at Town Hall, and have been a Gary Corby fan ever since.
Hi Orange!
That is very, very cool. Thank you so much for telling us.
Abbey's is indeed a superb store. The lovely people there are real book people.
I always wonder who will end up with the signed copies I leave behind in a store. It's like putting a message in a bottle and then tossing it in the sea. And now I know who has one!
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