Saturday, March 8, 2014

Blog tours to pimp new releases. Do they work?

Do blog tours work?
I guess it depends on how you look at them. For me, if 1 or 2  people comment, it was a lot of extra writing for nuthin'. Boo Hiss. I could have spent that time writing my next book.
But here's the thing. You might get 20 comments. Five from people who have never heard of you and are suddenly interested in what you write. You never know. It's like word-of-mouth advertising, which is the best by far.

Well, here's how I chose to solve the problem, and it was all inspired by a sprained thumb. I came back from my January vacation with a couple of annoying, but not life threatening injuries. I told my publicist it would be a pain (literally) to type all those blogs for the usual release tour she was scheduling for March.  I proposed an excerpt tour.

She agreed to try it and went in search of bloggers who wouldn't mind allowing this new concept. The result is my abbreviated March blog tour. Only 6 stops, but each one posts a scene from my new book in chronological order! Followers get to read the first two chapters--free!

Not only that, but we sweetened the pot prize-wise too. Instead of 1 book, we're giving away all 3 books in the Flirting with Fangs series, including the brand new one. Just comment to put your name into the drawing. I'll offer the same prize here today, even though this is my own blog home and not part of the excerpt tour.

I think the idea is already showing signs of success. So far, there have been 20+ comments at the first two stops. So...without further ado, here's the deets:


Intro: When her workplace burned down, Claudia should have taken it as a sign to move on—and not just professionally. She’s been secretly in love with her mysterious boss, Anthony, for years. There’s no way she should help him rebuild his business if she wants to keep her heart intact.

The flames that destroyed Anthony’s beloved bar are nothing compared to the heat he feels every time he lays eyes on Claudia. But he can’t have her. It’s against paranormal law for a vampire to date a human.  Besides, he has some powerful enemies and it would be too easy to use Claudia as a pawn.

Scene 1 is posted on Amazon in full, so I started the tour with scene 2 and put scene 1 on my website for those who don't use Amazon. Also, for those people, there are 5 Buy Links are on my website www.ashlynchase.com, and my news blog has the whole schedule.

Here's what you've missed so far:

6-Mar
Under the Covers Book Blog
http://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/

      
7-Mar
Casablanca Authors
http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/

Next week, we'll pick up with the 4th scene and continue the tour:
11-Mar
Debs Book Bag
http://debsbookbag.blogspot.com/ 


12-Mar
Star-Crossed Romance
http://star-crossedromance.blogspot.com/ 


18-Mar
The Reading Cafe
http://www.thereadingcafe.com/The Reading Cafe


20-Mar
Fresh Fiction
http://freshfiction.com/pages.php?id=blog

Anyone who comments on each stop is eligible for yet another prize! A $10.00 B&N gift card to buy my next book!

So...what do you all think of my wildly innovative new concept?

 

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad to hear the idea is working. I find it also annoying to have 2 comments but when I look at my stats there were over 200 visits - wish people would at least write Hello! - or Hi!

Natasha Moore said...

I love sharing excerpts. What a great idea!

I know we hear that many more people read a blog post than comment, but it still feels sometimes as if we're talking to no one.

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

You're both right. I don't see the # of visits at other's blogs, so only counting comments it can be disheartening.

Maybe the extra big prizes will inspire shy readers to comment.

Mary Kirkland said...

I think that's a great concept. Just remember that not all people who read the post are going to comment so even though you might not get a lot of comments you may be getting more readers. I've found so many new authors to read and really like when an excerpt is given on a blog post so I can see if the author's writing is something that I'll like. Excerpts are great.

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

Thanks for your feedback, Mary!
Sometimes just hearing a 'yes...it's worth it' helps!

Alison B said...

Smart idea Ash! You rock!

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

Thanks, Alison! I
Hugs!

Ash said...

And the winner is...Mary K!
Congrats, Mary.

Mary Kirkland said...

Thank you so much!