BC: Debriefing From A Blog Tour—Part II

Yesterday we talked about the history of the Christian Fiction Syndicate—a blog tour for Christian novels. Today—my own experience on a blog tour (shortened to blour, because it just sounds so right).

Sometime last February, T.L. (Tony) Hines put out the word to his Syndicate folks that Web of Lies was their featured book for April. I was willing to send out free copies to whoever wanted to do reviews (this is optional for the author). I received about 15 requests for books, and into the mail they went. Then numerous bloggers wanted to interview me. So I said okay.

Man, was that a lot of work.

It takes time to type answers and make an interesting interview. It takes energy to do this for one interview after another. Fortunately for readers the bloggers were creative in their questions, and very few overlapped. This led to unique interviews on each site. However, it meant all the more work for me. But I wanted to make each site interesting for any reader who hopped from one to another.

Once those interviews were done, I could finally relax. For the three blour days, on my own blog I simply listed all the various blog URLs that were featuring me for that day, and gave teasers as to what the interviews contained. (e.g.--One of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. And it was pretty dumb.) Then I hopped around on the various blogs to read comments and make sure to leave responses.

During the blour, Web of Lies moved to #6 on Technorati’s most talked about books list. That was pretty amazing. It was only a couple books behind The Da Vinci Code. Sales numbers on amazon.com also dropped significantly for those three days.

All in all, a good experience, and worth the time. I met new bloggers, they were introduced to my work, and their blog readers were introduced to me as well. I also think I picked up new readers for my own blog along the way.

If you’re a blogger, I certainly recommend signing up to be a part of the Christian Fiction Syndicate. You’ll learn about new books and have an interesting extra topic to cover each month. For authors, I recommend going on a blour, with a caveat—don’t schedule it close to a deadline. It really does take time if you grant interviews. Fortunately, I’d recently turned in a book and had adequate time for all those questions.

Any bloggers out there who want to be a part of the Christian Fiction Syndicate? Go to this page on T.L. Hines’ Web site. Enter your email address, and you'll be put on a mailing list that tells you which upcoming books are going to be featured. If you’re an author and want to be featured—go bug Tony. And tell him I sent you.

~ Brandilyn Collins, Seatbelt Suspense™
http://www.brandilyncollins.com/
http://www.forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com/