S.M. Stevens's Blog, page 22
January 21, 2020
Blog Tour Preview
Next week marks my virgin foray into the wonderful world of blog tours.
Blog what? you might ask. A blog tour, I repeat.
What is a Blog Tour?
A blog tour is essentially a virtual book tour. In the old days, and in the today days for big-name authors backed by big-name publishing houses, authors travel from city to city to participate in events at local bookstores, schools and libraries. You know the type of event I refer to: the author sits at a table and signs copies of his/her/their new book. Sometimes the author reads from the new book, sometimes there is a Q&A session.
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But publishing houses are less willing to invest in those tours as readers are less willing to venture out to scheduled events. Even the lure of meeting an author face-to-face often isn’t enough to build an audience. I’ve done a bunch of these events and while I don’t expect a huge audience at this stage in my career, bookstore owners have confessed to me that even better-known authors are finding it hard to draw a crowd.
So a virtual tour is a much-needed tool in the book promotion world.
How A Blog Tour Works
How does a blog tour work? Bloggers who write about books — meaning they post actual book reviews, author interviews, excerpts and extracts, etc. — commit to posting one of those types of content about a new book on a specific date. The dates are set in advance by the author, publisher or publicist scheduling the tour. Bloggers then sign up for a tour date that works for them.
Blog tours typically last one to two weeks. One or two posts might appear on each day of the tour.
For example, here’s the schedule for my upcoming Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Blog Tour.
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Typical Blog Tour Content
Bloggers pick the type of content that works best for their schedule and readers. Or sometimes they let the scheduler choose. Of the 14 bloggers participating in the HAHG Blog Tour, 8 will post reviews of the book, 4 will post interviews with me, 3 will feature guest posts written by me, and 2 will run excerpts from the novel.
(The numbers don’t add up to 14 because some bloggers will post more than one type of content.)
Plus, one blogger will host a giveaway contest for a free copy of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.
Guest posts usually address the content of the book, or the writing of the book. The three guest posts I have penned cover (1) why I chose to portray “lesser abuse” of an everyday heroine in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, (2) why I wrote the story in the first place, and (3) the narrative choices I had to make in bringing my co-narrators Astrid and Shelby to life.
The Beauty of Blog Tours
It makes perfect sense that virtual blog tours are replacing traditional author book tours. For starters, bloggers from all around the world can easily participate. Bloggers from the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland and Australia are taking part in the Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Blog Tour.
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As with most things digital, blog tours reach far more readers than a traditional event ever could. And blog tours have leveled the playing field, allowing less well-known authors to grab some of the spotlight that previously only shone on the household-name authors.
So subscribe to my blog if you haven’t already, to get in on the fun of my Blog Tour when it starts on Monday, January 27. (Use the box to the right.) Or follow me on one of my social media platforms for tour updates. (Links to those also to the right.)
If you’re an author looking for help scheduling a blog tour, there are many wonderful bloggers/blog tour schedulers offering those services. Shoot me a message if you’d like some suggestions.
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January 20, 2020
"Horrifying at the Right Moments"
This reader review of my book Horseshoes and Hand Grenades is from a few weeks ago, but I’m just now finding time to post it. (I’ve been moving.)
I completely respect the reviewer’s different take on modern sexuality, and appreciate that the story of Astrid and Shelby resonated with her. Here’s her review:
Great read that’s horrifying at exactly the right moments — I was gifted a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. All I can say is wow… I want to throw this book at men who have no idea what we women go through on a daily basis. Stevens does an amazing job of portraying this through engaging characters who are enjoyable to read about while being completely and unexaggeratedly human.
Even as someone with pretty old-school views about casual sex who might not necessarily agree with the presented view of a good relationship in this day and age, I think this novel is incredibly important for spreading awareness of how serious the problems are at the opposite end of the spectrum and promoting solidarity to help overcome them.
Sexual assault and victim blaming are enormous problems we still haven’t resolved, and spending time with these characters can truly put anyone in their shoes.
Clare Urbanski, the reviewer, is an author as well. Read about all her novels here, and her new novel The Witch’s Apprentice here.
Read the review as posted on Amazon here.
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January 19, 2020
HAHG on Cheryl Holloway's Book Blog
If you read this blog regularly, or even occasionally, you know that I’ve done quite a few interviews about my new novel Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, and about my career as an author. I love doing these interviews, as I’m passionate about the message in HAHG. But I of course often find myself answering similar questions from interview to interview.
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So this interview with the amazing Cheryl Holloway was particularly rewarding, due to the new questions she came up with, such as: Was it difficult creating believable situations and issues or did you take them from real life and elaborate?
(Answer: I wish it were difficult, but sexual harassment is so pervasive that there was no shortage of content to draw from!)
Cheryl also challenged me to think about the process of bringing my characters to life, something I honestly hadn’t given much thought to since the manuscript was accepted by TouchPoint Press.
When she asked which character was the hardest to develop, the answer was easy:
Shelby, for sure. She is a confusing mixture of practical and tough plus, sentimental and fragile. (So, she’s a typical woman?)
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Like many book bloggers, Cheryl Holloway does much more than review books and interview authors. She is a contemporary romance author, journalist, award-winning editor, writing instructor, accountability writing coach for debut authors and experienced blogger! Learn more about her on the Cheryl Holloway website.
And read her interview with me on her blog here.
#WomensFiction #HAHG #AlmostCounts #MeToo #TimesUp
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January 12, 2020
A Little Book Problem
This past Friday night, I enjoyed virtual drinks and convo with Julie of the lovely book review blog, A Little Book Problem. She makes a mean vodka gimlet as well as whatever drink that is in the photo!
Check out Julie’s Friday Night Drinks post to learn about my go-to hangover cure, the sports detail she and I share, plus tidbits about gorillas and Keith Richards. All in all, a wide-ranging talk, also including of course information about Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, which Julie will be reviewing in the near future as part of my upcoming Blog Tour. (More on that later.)
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#MeToo, #TimesUp, #HAHG, #AlmostCounts
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January 7, 2020
"Ramona Interviews" S.M. Stevens
Ramona, host of “Ramona Interviews” on WCCA-TV, conducts a lively, fun and thought-provoking interview as I found when taping this segment about my new novel Horseshoes and Hand Grenades recently.
Here are a few comments made by Ramona in the course of the interview (paraphrased):
It was easy to read. I didn’t feel depressed when I read it.
I didn’t find any glamor which I liked. Because they were everyday characters, I didn’t get caught up in their fame or unique lives.
The trauma experienced by Shelby and Astrid is carried in them whether they realize it or not.
And here’s a taste of her questions plus very short versions of my answers:
What inspired you to write Horseshoes and Hand Grenades? Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, and watching people ask unfair questions of victims that they don’t ask victims of other types of crime.
What message do you hope to convey? (1) I hope the story convinces sexual abuse and harassment victims that their experiences matter regardless of how subtle or severe they were. “Almost counts.” (2) I hope it helps non-victims understand why victims speak up or don’t, and when they do, why they do.
How did you choose the title? It refers to the old saying Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. In the end, that’s not true–almost counts in other things, too.
Thanks to “Ramona Interviews” for having me on the show!
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January 3, 2020
Fun Photo Friday: Paddling Down Main Street
Today’s Fun Photo Friday shows my daughter on the local TV news in Guatemala, as she paddle-boards down the main street of Panajachel during heavy rains!
She’d much rather be featured on TV for her blog, Budget Travel with Gabby, but this is a start haha!
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December 30, 2019
Going Home Again
Who says you can’t go home again?
A few weeks ago, I returned to my hometown of Gorham, Maine for the holidays, and a book event at my high school friend Karen’s new venue, Grand Central Wine Bar.
Having a new bar in Gorham is a very big deal. This town is so small that when I was in high school, we didn’t even have enough students, or enough money, to put together a football team….although that worked out great for soccer-lovers like my three older brothers.
Today, Gorham has both football and soccer teams. It even has girls’ ice hockey!
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I admit I was feeling claustrophobic in this small town by the time I was 16, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate it. In fact, when deciding where to raise my two daughters, I looked for a similarly sized town.
And I love going back to see family and friends who still live there. Karen, the owner of Grand Central Wine Bar, recently returned to Gorham after years running clubs and restaurants in other states. So she seriously went home again!
I also had the pleasure of being interviewed about my new novel Horseshoes and Hand Grenades by the local newspaper, the Gorham Times. And in case you haven’t already guessed, that paper did not exist when I was a kid either!
Read the Gorham Times interview here.
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December 27, 2019
Fun Photo Friday: Penguins in Sweaters
I LOVE PENGUINS. These adorable birds with their devoted and caring parental instincts and their striking black-and-white outfits have always been on my Top 10 Favorite Animals List.
And while I prefer seeing photos of them in their natural state, you have to admit this photo of them in colorful handknit sweaters is pretty darn cute!
Even if you rate anthropomorphism up there with treason and other high crimes, the rest of the story might warm you up a bit. The sweaters were put on young penguins affected by oil pollution. And they were knit by Phillip Island Penguin Foundation volunteers including this 109-year-old man.
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At least that’s what Huffington Post and other media outlets report.
Happy Fun Photo Friday!
(All photos from Phillip Island Nature Parks)
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December 22, 2019
The Global Community of Book Bloggers
Book review bloggers are doing for authors what YouTube has done for musicians: Making it possible for aspiring unknowns to make it big and become well-known, often well-loved artists.
Gone are the days when record house and publishing house executives wielded all the power. Today, the people have much of that power, as the Internet and social media make grassroots promotion of an author or other artist an everyday occurrence. Individuals now have more sway in determining who makes it big than ever before. These individuals are spread across the globe, and they reach people across the globe.
In the book publishing world, we have book review bloggers to thank for injecting this populist, grassroots fever into the industry. More people than you can imaging are turning their love of books into blog platforms where they bring authors and readers together.
Since TouchPoint Press launched my Contemporary novel Horseshoes and Hand Grenades in late September 2019, I have been gobsmacked, to use one of my favorite British terms, by the outpouring of support I’ve received from book review bloggers. These blogs are much more than book reviews. Many also post content including author interviews, book excerpts, guests posts by authors, and “cover reveals”. And many are authors in their own right.
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A dozen or so of these gracious bloggers will be participating in my first “blog tour” from January 27 – February 2, 2020. I’ll write more about that later.
So if you go to my Author Interviews page, you’ll certainly find a good number of traditional media interviews: newspapers, TV and radio. But more and more, you’ll find information about me and my books living on book review blogs.
In the past, I’ve shared some specific blogger posts on this, my own blog, and I share virtually all blogger posts on my social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn). Here are links to some recent blog posts about Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. Countless others have helped spread the word that “almost counts” through re-tweeting information and posting other promotional type content.
Don Jimmy Reviews (Ireland) posted an excerptMeet The Authors posted an interviewChat About Books (U.K.) posted an interview and excerptB is for Bookreview (Belgium) posted an interview and excerptChickLit Central (U.S.) featured Horseshoes and Hand Grenades on its BookshelfJeri’s Book Attic posted an excerpt.
Please visit these sites and consider subscribing to those that catch your fancy. Or follow them on your social media platform of choice. Because what goes around comes around.
I also want to acknowledge Anne at Random Things Through My Letterbox; even though Horseshoes and Hand Grenades isn’t a great fit for the blog (many book review blogs focus on select genres), Anne was very generous with her advice out of the goodness of her heart on a recent occasion. It’s a perfect example of the support that makes the new global community of bloggers, book promoters, authors and readers so incredibly fantastic and, at the end of the day, powerful.
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December 20, 2019
Fun Photo Friday: Rainy Day on the Farm
Today’s Fun Friday Photo really cracks me up. My daughter took this while doing a workaway on a South African farm. It shows the farm animals taking shelter during a rainstorm.
When I professed surprise that farm animals couldn’t stand a little rain, she explained it was a heavy downpour.
The funniest parts, if you look closely, are the 2 puppies snuggling on top of a piglet, and the goat taking cover under a boogie board.
Video courtesy of Budget Travel with Gabby
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