R.J. Blain's Blog, page 81

Character versus Plot Driven Stories

Characterization is something I have to tackle all of the time with my editorial clients. It’s something many of my clients want help improving. Even clients who feel like they have a reasonable–or even good grasp–on their characters will look for more ways to make these people real.

I’m going to begin with a very simplified explanation of the difference between character-driven stories and plot-driven stories:

Plot-Driven Stories:

Because this happened, this character experienced that.

Character-driven Stories:

Because this character did this, that happened. And because that happened, this happened to this character.

Public Service Announcement: These are my opinions, and they come with no legitimate authority or references. This is my take on it, and my opinions, and I encourage you to use your head and come to your own conclusions.

Second Public Service Announcement: This post rambles, goes off topic, and somehow, once again, fixates on one of my favorite characters in modern literature.

Some of you may be nodding. Others may be confused. If you’re nodding, you probably understand everything I’m about to go into here. If not, keep reading. The rest of this post is going to focus on the specifics… and really, what is written above does cover everything.

This Character can be a villain or protagonist. So long as a character in the book is the one influencing the plot and creating the plot, you have a character-driven story. The first ‘this character’ doesn’t have to be the second ‘this character’. An antagonist can take the first action, thus impacting the protagonist.

That’s character-driven.

If stuff happens to the character because you’re bored with the story and nothing is happened… you probably have a plot-driven story.

Characters come first. And because characters come first, the novel is richer because they’re directly facing the consequences of their own actions. And others can face the consequences of a character’s actions. That’s perfectly fine.

On to the lengthy (and quite possibly unnecessary) explanation:

Green is characters. Blue is specific events. All red words are there to draw attention to the order things happen. This and that are the progress of events, experiences, and so on.

In plot-drive stories, events happen to characters. Characters come after and second to the event. Things happen to them.

While there will be times and plots where things happen to characters, it shouldn’t be often. There’s one time I can think of where this should happen–character versus environment plot lines. A volcano erupting is a good example of this. Unless a character caused the volcano to erupt, it is a situation-driven plot. Then the character-driven plot should take over as the character deals with the problem.

Storms, as well as other environmental factors outside of any character’s control, also fall into this category.

For now, though, we’ll pretend these don’t exist. Most plot lines should be character driven.

Even if that character happens to be the bad guy. 

Now, I’m going to dive into the most important part of this explanation, in my opinion:

Why are character-driven stories so important?

I don’t know about everyone else, but I read novels because I want to read about the people in the books. If I wanted to know just about the events in the books, I’d find a spoiler site, sorta like the ones they have for movies.

It’d save me a lot of reading time, that’s for certain.

Characters are what interest me, not necessarily plot. However, good characters create interesting plots. Good doesn’t mean ‘good’ in the sense of good and evil, but rather ‘strong and engaging.’

Not everyone is going to agree with this… and that’s where personal tastes come into play. Some people want plot-driven stories.

Many, however, want to read about the characters.

I’ve been talking about The Dresden Files quite a bit lately. Why? Because I love Harry. He’s such an engaging, interesting character. The plot is secondary to me finding out what Harry is up to and if he lives and oh my gosh did that really happen to Harry? Noooooooo, Harry! Don’t do that, stupid!

I care about Harry Dresden.

(I say as I fan myself off because oh boy is Harry a nice bad boy.)

I’m connected to Harry because he is a good character. A lot of the plot in the Dresden File is Harry paying the price for his stupidity. And that makes everything so much more engaging.

I know everything that Harry does is going to majorly impact Harry later.

But let’s face it, Harry Dresden is a jerk. He is a chauvinistic male pig. He’s sexy in a lot of ways, because while he’s a jerk, while he is a complete and total asshole at times, he cares about his friends. And whatever you do, don’t come between him and the people he cherishes.

He’ll destroy you.

And I can relate to that. He borrows trouble all of the time. Trouble often borrows him too, for use as heavy ammunition.

He may be a jerk, but he’s a fun jerk. He’s funny, he’s sweet and caring at all of the right times. And even when I want to slap him for making stupid decisions–like getting it on with that Mab wench instead of with m–err, nevermind. Moving on.

I’m invested in this character. He’s the type of character I’m thinking about long after I’ve finished reading the book.

Things don’t happen to him. He happens. That’s it. Other characters target Harry and their plots tangle him up in a bunch of things. Harry deals with the consequences of those actions.

Nothing happens because it just happen. Someone is always behind the events in the novel. Even if that someone is making a foolish error–like messing with Harry Dresden. (How dare you hurt so much of a hair on Dresden! I’ll destroy you!!)

Now, making a likable, sympathetic character is a totally different matter.

But my advice? Start with creating a story where people happen to each other, and the plot is actually the consequence of actions.

When I was learning characterization, this was the first step for me. Once I figured this out, something awesome happened:

I realized writing a story in this fashion was that much more fun.

And that’s why most of us read, isn’t it? To have fun, to experience things through characters…and to get away from the real world for a bit.

Even if that real world happens to be absolutely horrifying and full of intense moments.

Nooo, I haven’t been re-reading the Dresden Files again in anticipation of Skin Games… what gave you that idea?

Random Rambles: Why is it OK to Damsel Men but not Women?

(c) JordyR (Creative Commons – Flickr)

In fantasy, whether high fantasy, urban fantasy, or any sub-genre of this niche, there is a phenomena that really bothers me. I’m going to talk about my thoughts on this, in a rather haphazard and emotional sort of way.

Note: I’m a bit woozy from allergy medicine. Spelling and grammar and good tastes are optional. If I’m gonna go off the deep end, fall off my rocker, and otherwise implode, I’ll do so with a complete lack of style. Booooo-yah!

Here I go.

It is okay to damsel strong men, but it is not okay to damsel a strong woman.

Seriously? What the heck? Hell, insert the f word here. Loudly. In all caps. I absolutely freaking hate this mentality. Hate it. Loathe it. Strong characters, regardless of gender, always need something or someone more powerful than them. It’s a balance. It’s what keeps them strong, fighting, and interesting.

The good guys can’t always win, and for some reason, people think winning is strength. Especially when it is a woman doing the winning.

Screw that. Just screw it. Hard. With something long and sharp.

To take this a step further: Strong men who are damselled are viewed as forward motion in many fantasy novels. Why? They are treated as though they’re real people.

When strong women are damselled?

How dare the author compromise the strength of a woman! How dare they! The fabric of the entire universe is about to tear! Not even Dr. Who can save us now!

That’s essentially what it boils down to. A strong man needing rescued is a man who bit off more than he can chew. He needs help and he gets it.

That’s okay.

A strong woman, however, is a different story altogether. If she can’t do it by herself, she’s viewed as weak. She needs help or rescue?

She’s weak.

She fails to do what she needs to do?

She’s weak.

She doesn’t win? Screw that, she’s weak. Only winners can be strong, if you happen to have been born with breasts and a nice ass.

Men? They can lose. It’s viewed as adding character. Backbone. Earning strength.

A woman? Weak! Useless! Sooo stereotypical. Against the demand and criteria that women be strong under any and all circumstances! I’ve talked about this before.

I told you why I don’t set out to write ‘strong’ women. Inquisitor has a lady in it who I view as very strong. She’s got backbone. She’s quirky. She’s a hard worker. She’s a lot of things. She’s funny. She’s a human.

She wins.

She loses.

And when she loses, she’s considered weak! How dare I write a weak woman character who loses, thus ruining all of her hard-earned strength!

Losing is not a loss of strength. Losing means someone did better.

The villains of a novel have equal motivation to try to win. And they should have their fair chance. If the main character, man or woman, screws up…

… you better the hell believe it that they, strong or not, need rescued sometimes.

If a character deserves to be in a compromising situation requiring rescue, they need rescued.

And for their sake, I hope they earned the love and respect of other characters–or proved their worth–to get the rescue they need. If not, well, I hope they enjoy facing all of the consequences for their actions.

Strength isn’t about winning or losing. It isn’t about whether or not a character is ‘damselled’ and needs to be rescued.

We all need rescued sometimes.

There is always, always someone stronger than we are, whether it is in terms of pure physical strength, emotional stability, or something else intangible, including intellect and wit.

So, why is it a problem if a woman fails and needs to be rescued, but it is considered character development if a man fails and needs to be rescued?

Seriously, grow up. There is nothing wrong with a woman needing to be rescued in a novel, if she earned the position she is put in, and she earned the love, respect, and admiration of those who rescue her–man or woman.

If a character has earned love, it makes sense that those who love her will come running to save her, no matter what the cost.

Sometimes those who love this woman, this strong, beautiful, vibrant woman, will rush and hurry to the rescue before she needs it–all because they love her.

There is nothing wrong with that.

It’s beautiful. And it applies to men too. If there is someone who loves, admires, and cherishes a man enough, it makes sense for their loved ones to go rushing to their rescue at the first sign of trouble.

Because people who are perceived as strong are the very ones we worry the most about when they get in trouble!

As humans, we question how someone can be so strong, and if the next amazing feat they do will be their last. We worry, and because we cherish these strong individuals, when we see them in trouble, it is natural for us to go running to their rescue.

Because they are strong, we find the will and the courage to become strong ourselves.

Any woman or man who creates this glorious phenomena deserves to be rescued. That’s it, that’s all. Gender has absolutely nothing to do with it. If a strong woman has truly earned love, respect, and admiration, the people she has touched should come running to her rescue should she need it.

She’s not perfect.

If she were, she wouldn’t be strong. She’d be brittle, and she’d break apart at the first sign of trouble. That is the true damsel in distress, the true woman who breaks because someone dare challenge her–and win.

The same applies to a man. Strength isn’t in victory.

It’s in the losses. It’s in finding someone who is so treasured and valued because he or she does the right things for the right reasons–or even the wrong things for the right reasons…

Strength doesn’t mean you don’t need to be rescued sometimes. It’s a whole lot more than that. Needing to be rescued does not mean you’re a damsel in a distress. It doesn’t mean you’re weak.

It means you lost. Someone outsmarted you. Someone did better. Someone was stronger, more powerful, and wiser than you.

That doesn’t mean weak.

So, to all of you who view a damsel in distress as someone weak… screw that noise.

Everyone needs to be rescued sometimes.

The question isn’t about whether or not that’ll happen. It will. Jim Butcher had it right, I think. I’ll paraphrase something Michael said to Harry Dresden:

What comes around goes around. Sometimes you get what is coming around. Sometimes you are what’s coming around.

Being the loser doesn’t make you weak. Needing to be rescued doesn’t make you weak. It does not cheapen a strong character.

What it shows is whether or not that character, to others, was worth rescuing.

There is something to the dislike of a damsel in distress. I understand that. But don’t attach this phenomena to the cheapening of a strong woman or man. It’s not.

It’s a consequence, and if the character lost, they lost.

I think people hate the damsel in distress because of the too-often occurrence of the cliche being written for no other reason than to put them in a compromising position.

But when a character faces the consequences of their actions, male or female, rescue may be needed.

They can’t always be what comes around.

There is a big difference between a woman or man facing the consequences of their choices and action, requiring rescue as a result, and a woman or man being turned into a damsel in distress for the sake of a plot point.

And it doesn’t make them weak. Outmaneuvered, outwitted, outgunned, and compromised, yes.

But never weak.

Damsels in distress happen.

But I think it’s time to start recognizing why it happens, and stop thinking that it means a woman is weak and that it builds character for a man.

 

Random Rambles: What have I gotten myself into?!

If there was ever a recipe for disaster, I think I’ve found it. I really meant to take a day off today. I slept in till 1:30, and it was glorious. I mean, I slept. That’s the first thing of importance. I passed right out and was out like the circuit upstairs in my house that I haven’t had the time or money to fix.

Did I mention that the circuit in question controls the lighting in my main bathroom? Baths by candlelight due to necessity!!

It began with an email. I neglected it yesterday. It was a request for guest posts and interviews from the blog groups I’m working with. I’ve managed to finish one interview and one post. After I finish these random rambles, I’m going to finish the next post.

But this led to an evil rabbit hole. It’s a deep one, too. There was an email with the links of participating bloggers for the release launch and awesome extravaganza! So of course, me being me, I couldn’t let it go. I had to start the spreadsheet tracking all of the blogs and websites featuring my book.

(Want to be in this awesome spreadsheet? Click this link and check out all the tours and stuff you can join!)

Did I mention I was supposed to be not working today? I’m supposed to be drafting my fun project. (I’ll get there, but I must go down this rabbit hole just a little deeper, just a little deeper…)

Then… Along Came a Hot Dog.

(Have you seen Along Came a Spider? Seriously, I’m not into movies and stuff, but this movie floored me. I loved it. Anxiety attacks and all, but still loved it.)

In this version, the hot dogs have been waiting all week for their chance. I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner tonight, and he meekly replied, “Hot dogs?”

I was all over that like fruit flies on last week’s banana. Word to the Wise: Don’t leave a banana out for a week. Been there, done that once. Never again. Bananas are the Grand Master Summoner with a class specialization in fruit flies.

I don’t normally like hot dogs. Today, though? Hot dogs, get in my belly now!

What I didn’t mention up there earlier is that I didn’t sleep well last night. After tossing, turning, coughing, and generally feeling miserable, I drifted off around 5 in the morning. Was up, wide awake, in go go go go go mode at 6 AM or so. Finally got back to sleep around 7:00-7:30. Was up again at 8:22 AM when the alarm went off.

Got husband out the door to go to work and promptly passed out.

So this happened, sometime around Late O’Clock and Why. Can’t. I. Sleep!! O’Clock.

Her name is Princess, and she’s my cat. I think my husband wasn’t snoring and was quiet, so I reached over to check if he was still alive. Instead of reaching my spouse, a pair of paws snatched my arm and pulled me to her. A cute little kitty face nuzzled against my wrist. Purring increased in volume.

She wouldn’t let go. For ten minutes, I was trapped, hand against the softest kitty belly in existence. Her fur reminds me a lot of Cashmere, except better.

There was a moment where she went into these kitty convulsions. She pulled my arm as close to her as possible, snuggling and trying to merge her face with my arm. She curled around my hand, writhing in feline bliss.

I managed to snap this photograph with my iphone, one handed. It was quite the feat.

But this picture is now special to me. It’s an image of kitty love.

Now, back to work. The launch day shenanigans won’t prepare themselves… and I want to write later! The disaster part? The sheer number of hours I’m investing for the launch day. I never thought it would be so intensive, not for a moment.

Random Rambles: Late Night Musings

I’ve never really been a public person on my blog. I almost always talk about things writing or reading related. Well, screw it. It’s 3:30 in the morning, I’m wide awake, and I think it’s time to defenestrate that quirk of mine… at least for tonight.

My internet name is RJ Blain. But as of today, feel free to call me Rebecca, Becca, or Becna, if you wish. That’s my real name.

Rebecca.

Names matter. A long time ago, I learned why my mother and father named me as they did. My two given names, when converted to old Hebrew, means “Precious Gift.” Or, at least, that’s the story one of my parents fed me.

I always wondered about the irony of that name. Some people take the name they are given at their birth and make it their own. I’ve always been embarrassed by my name — especially the middle part of it. Me? A gift?

Nope, nope, nope, nope. Never bought into it. When I was being teased and bullied in school because I was, heaven forbid, different I definitely didn’t feel like a gift to anyone–or precious.

Sometimes I still flinch when someone calls me by my name. Maybe part of that stems from the fact there were more than a few in school who liked to call me Brussels Sprouts because of my name.

Now, granted, I like that delicious vegetable now, but once upon a time, offering me these on a plate was an instant way to cause tears and depression.

Speaking of tears, I cried a couple of times today, to be honest. Some were happy tears. Some weren’t.  One was due to reading about how one woman decided how to cope with her husband wanting a divorce.

Marriage for me hasn’t been sunshine and rainbows, cookies, or a lot of things nice. We have had good moments, but we have had our bitter ones too.

I came away with something important today–wisdom. Maybe even a little bit of courage. But most importantly, hope. If this woman could do it, so can I. Because what she did isn’t hard to do. That’s what moved me so much.

She suffered, but she did so with grace and hope.

And she saved a marriage most others would have abandoned because it was difficult. Because it wasn’t working easily.

I’ve been married for over ten years now. I’m looking forward to ten more.

I don’t have kids. More accurately, we don’t. It does take two for that sort of thing… I do have four cats, though. Two of them are getting quite old. One is horribly obese, but we are having nightmares trying to get him to lose weight.

Cutting his food intake and trying to force exercise isn’t working. He’s the first pet my husband and I acquired together. We don’t know how much longer we’ll have him.

We’ve already had the talk about what we’ll do when he gets sick and dies. It’s inevitable. We’ve been trying to help him lose weight for a while, but the cat is so stubborn and smart. And when a 30 lbs cat doesn’t want to do something… he doesn’t do it.

He should weight 20 lbs. He’s a huge cat even before the chubby cat syndrome. His head is so big my hand can’t cover it all.

Hopefully we can find some way to make him lose weight that actually works.

To switch topics again, I saw something on the internet that made me want to do something. I already contacted two charities about it. It’ll cost me some money, but it’s for a good cause.

There are programs where you can send books in so prisoners can read. I’ve known a sad, high number of men and women who have ended up in prison for little things. Things I strongly feel should be handled with community service instead of incarceration.

Prison ruins lives and changes people. Some deserve it. Some don’t.

But whether they deserve it or not, I do believe they should have access to books and reading material. I’ll put my money where my mouth is and send a copy or two of each book to the various prison book groups I’ve found from the American Library Association website. I was going to originally send these books to libraries, but…

Well, while it isn’t a wise career choice, I think it’s the right choice.

I just hope one or two people manage to find a little escape from reading my book. It’ll delay my plans of contacting various libraries and trying to get my book in the public library system, but I’m okay with that.

On my birthday, I’m going to leave the addresses of the prison book charity websites up so people who want to can send books over or donate.

It might even become a thing for me to gather titles for these charity groups and send a box every year. Not just my books, but books the prisoners are requesting too.

That sort of thing is important to me. They don’t have the chance to get books of their own. And that makes me so sad. Books should be available to everyone, even prisoners.

Perhaps especially prisoners. To some of these men and women, books are the gateway to their lives once outside of prison.

I won’t go into it more than that–I have opinions, and a lot of them.

Crap, I just talked about reading. Defenestration in progress! Of who or what, who knows though. Your guess is as good as mine.

Okay, new subject. Greed.

What? Greed? Now that’s an odd subject.

I pains me to admit this, but I’m greedy. I am. I see something I want, and I lust for it. I want things. I have ambitions. Ambition is just another word for progressive greed, really. I want to be a bestselling author. That, by default, makes me greedy for the money of readers. Ack. That sounds terrible. True, though.

I have two strange forms of greed I want to mention in particular: Writing journals and gemstones.

The journals are obvious to those who know me. I want an entire bookcase full of unique journals.

But the gemstones thing is different. Loose, cut stones, uncut stones, or stones in crystalline structure. Gemstone sculptures. You name it, I want it.

But there is one type of stone I truly love. (Accepting donations.) This is smoky quartz — charcoal to black in coloration, in natural structure.

It is a common stone. Nothing special, not really. But it’s still beautiful to me.

I also love citrine, which is the smokey quartz’s yellow cousin.

Quartz: Common, but beloved.

Okay, I’m also greedy in other ways, but that’s a secret.

On to a different subject. This might come across as controversial.

I don’t have ADD or ADHD, for all I have flitted from subject to subject in this post. I’ve taken an official IQ test which ranked me as just above threshold for genius IQ. I’ve mostly wasted that intelligence, at least in terms of what society deems acceptable. I’m an introverted extrovert. (In short, I need interactions with people and tend to be extremely outgoing once I’ve been forced outside of my bubble…. but after a few hours I must retreat back in my bubble to recharge or I get extremely upset and agitated. I’m sure there’s a term for this as a syndrome, although I have no idea what that means.

There was no real point to this blog post, and that’s okay. I just wanted to talk.

Good morning. How are you? I’m Rebecca–Becca or Becna, if you prefer. It’s nice to meet you.

You’re Invited!

On May 16, 2014, you are cordially invited to come celebrate my birthday with me–and join me for Inquisitor’s launch day extravaganza! 

There will be a shocking amount of things to see and do, including raffle giveaways, interviews, guest posts, and of course, the general celebration of the official release of my Urban Fantasy Thriller!

If you want to get in on the action, there are a lot of ways you can join in.

Readers and Book Lovers

Watch this space. On May 16, I will be releasing a master schedule of all of the sites participating in the release day extravaganza. There will be raffles (prizes!! Amazon gift certificates!!) and blog posts, interviews, and more!

If you’ve read and loved the book, come on over and tell other readers what you think about it. Everyone is welcome to come, and you’re encouraged to visit as many participating blogs as you can to meet up with other readers and fans!

Did I mention prizes?

No RSVP is necessary. Just come on over, show up, and maybe bring a few friends along with you! We’re going to party on the internet! Help spread the word about the novel’s release. If you are the type of person who wants to have read the book a little early, it’s already available for sale. But, shhh. That’s supposed to be a secret.

If you decide to host a feature about my novel on your blog, please contact me at blain . rj @ gmail.com (remove spaces) so I can include your site in the master list!

For Book Bloggers

If you’re a reader, writer, or just love books, there are lots of ways you can come and participate in the release day extravaganza!

If you want to participate in an official blitz, blast, or tour, signups are here:

My Addiction is Reading Blitz Signup – You can feature Inquisitor on your blog through this handy sign up page.

Book Blast Blog Tours Signup — This is another option for book bloggers to pursue! Features a $50 amazon card giveaway!

Fire & Ice Book Tour — If you want to participate in a full tour, Fire & Ice will be hosting me for the week of Inquisitor’s official launch.

Worldwind Book Tours — A $50 gift certificate giveaway is included with this tour group, which is a huge boost to traffic when used in conjunction with social media.

Bewitching Book Tours — A single day release party!

Alternatively, you can email me at blain . rj @ gmail . com (remove spaces) for a promotion kit for the novel.

Thanks so much for your interest in helping me take the internet by storm on May 16! (Happy birthday to me!)

For Book Reviewers

If you’re interested in reviewing Inquisitor and can have your review ready before May 22, 2014 (the end of the tour cycle) please email me at blain . rj @ gmail . com (remove spaces) for a copy of the novel. Please note that I’m interested in working with established book reviewers.

As always, thank you so much — I look forward to meeting with all of you on the 16th for a virtual party!

Supporting Authors: A Reader’s Guide on How to Help Your Favorite Authors Succeed

Most of the things I post on my blog are for writers. I’m flipping the coin to the other face today. Today, I’m a reader. I’m a reader who has, in the very recent past, started to try to find ways to help my favorite authors succeed.

To my surprise, it’s actually a lot easier to help an author than I thought. But for whatever reason, it never really occurred to me to do these things.

This is my quick and (surprisingly) easy guide on how you can help your favorite authors succeed. This may sound arrogant, but every reader matters when it comes to helping make your favorite authors succeed.

Buy their Books

This is the obvious way you can help: Buy their books.

Every sale is important. I know, this makes it sound like all an author cares for is your money… but book sales are what makes an author sink or swim.

If you know someone who enjoys reading, buy a copy of one of your favorite books for them. Not only do you earn brownie points with your reader friend, but you help your favorite author(s) at the same time.

The frugal reader in us loves going to used bookstores, but remember this: Used book sales don’t actually help your author succeed. If you find a great read at a used book store, consider buying the book at retail, even if you do so to give it as a gift to someone else. Those retail sales determine if an author’s publisher keeps them around.

Publishers don’t care about those used book sales. The issue of used book stores isn’t as dire for independent authors because most of them don’t have a presence in brick and mortar stores.

There’s nothing shameful about buying a book twice. (Says the reader who owns three or more copies each of her favorite books… one for the car, one for the tub… one she lost and couldn’t find… oh, crap, lost the second copy… better go buy a new one… and the e-book version.)

Participate in Author Giveaways

Whenever you see a giveaway featuring your favorite authors, participate! Participation is a quick, easy way to show your support for an author–and you get a chance for goodies!

Don’t Destroy, Donate

Used book stores are a great way to unload books so you can get more books. I think most of us with library collections have done this. If you need room for new books, or you’re going digital, consider donating your used books to charity. Some readers just can’t afford to buy books. Donation can get your favorite author’s book into the hands of people who love to read but can’t afford the luxury.

Buy a Book for your Library

Really love a title? If it is by an independent author, they may not be in the distribution system for your local library. Go to your library. Show them the book. Ask them if they are accepting donations of copies. If so, buy one or two for your local library.

Libraries are a great way for voracious readers to connect with great writers.

Some libraries will accept used books in really good condition, but your mileage may vary.

Review the Books you Love

This is the easiest way you can help your favorite author. Review their books. Be honest, including what you both love and thought could be better about the book. It doesn’t have to be a long review–a paragraph or two is truly enough–but making this sort of effort helps them a lot. When you review the book, cross post to Amazon and Goodreads. If you have a blog, post it there so people searching the internet can find your review!

Reviews help sell books. If you love a novel and it doesn’t have many reviews, adding your review can help the author connect with more readers.

And a good review makes an author feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Review all of the things!!

Review the books you don’t love, too. If you feel an author has a lot of potential but missed doing something to make you love the book… tell them in your review. Not all authors read their reviews, but quite a few do. Who knows? With your feedback, maybe their next novel will be better!

And if there is a book you view as just awful… review it and let other customers know.

Readers deserve good books, and there is nothing wrong with warning someone about a really bad book. (Bad is relevant, but in this case, I really do mean things like an unforgivable amount of typos, formatting errors, and so on.)

Remember, it doesn’t need to be a long review–just an honest one!

Talk about your Favorite Authors

If you use sites like Facebook, Google+, GoodReads, and Twitter, don’t be shy–talk about your favorite authors and their books.

Word of mouth is the most powerful form of support you can give your authors.

Post your Book Reviews on Social Networks

An author becomes popular because people talk about their books. You don’t have to write a long review. You can invest a couple of minutes, and plug the link to your networks. Within five to ten minutes, you will have spread word about these books. If your friends end up reading the book and loving it too, encourage them to write a review and spread the world.

One person–you–can make a huge difference an author’s career.

Talk a Friend into Reading

Word of mouth is a reader’s super power. If you talk a single friend into buying the book, and you convince them to talk a single friend into buying the book, it creates a very powerful chain of people talking about this book. If you talk two people into buying the book–and convincing them to tell their friends about it–you can make a huge difference.

Real life example: One of my friends knew I liked the Jack Ryan series. She told me about the Mitch Rapp novels.

I ended up buying all of them. Every last one of them. The whole kitten kaboodle. One person made a difference. I have since coerced quite a few people into buying Mitch Rapp novels, too.

And if you both read the same book, that’s a connection you now share with each other.

Read

That’s the most important thing you can do. Keep reading, and share your love of books.

Multi-Services Review, Part 2: Organizing your Release Day Extravaganza

Releasing Inquisitor (Yes, that is a buy link you’re seeing) has been quite the adventure. My original plans involved a stealthy soft-launch release of the novel, going undercover to get buy links for the bloggers participating in the official release day extravaganza.

That all changed when I had an idea. I’m still new to promotion. The idea of selling myself (and my work) is still hard for me to accept at times. I like to experiment, however.

It’s an interesting blend of character traits, and it usually manages to get me into some form of trouble or another.

What sparked the idea was the fact that Inquisitor sold a copy before I knew it had launched on Amazon. This startled me quite a bit! I figured people were finding the book somehow anyway, so I would make the most of it.

I decided for the soft launch of the novel, I would turn to my normal roost, the Google+ community. Google+ has been a huge support for me as I’ve been working on this novel. There were a lot of people wanting to read the book and help with its release there.

I decided to go for gold and posted to the community that the novel was in the first stage of release.

Doing this made me realize something: It is a smart business move on my part.

I’m going to talk about how I’ve been handling the organization of my release day extravaganza. If you think this will work for you, by all means, steal my ideas! Make them yours–make them better, too.

Your mileage may vary.

There will be two different step-by-step instructional guides in this post. The first group of steps is the basic workflow of planning a launch extravaganza, as experienced by me.

The second group of steps is how to keep track of everything you’re doing in the first set of steps.

This is less of a review of services and more of a making the most of the services you’re going to be using.

We, as authors, can be our worst enemies, especially when it comes to promotion. I feel that in order to make the most of a service, you need to have a solid approach to using them. A review of a service’s strength isn’t enough, in my opinion.

Step One: Determine your official release day.

Your soft release will happen several weeks before your official release date, but your soft release date is when you are ready versus the official’s you must be ready.

I picked May 16. Why? That’s my birthday. Happy birthday to me!

Why: A hard, official deadline ensures that you are ready for your book release. When you hire a tour group to promote your novel, you need to be ready when you say you will be ready. There will be a lot of people depending on you. In my case, there are over one hundred different bloggers who are relying on me to have ARCs and a buy link ready for them.

Setting this hard, cannot-be-missed deadline is important.

Step Two: Set your budget. Add $50.

This lets you know how much you can afford to spend. The addition of $50 will let you cover those little but unexpected opportunities. I overshot my budget by below $50 because I stumbled on a sale from a group I had worked with before. It hadn’t been anticipated, but I took the opportunity because it was there.

Why: The idea of promoting your novel is to establish your brand, your name, and sell your books. Budgets help you stay financially stable. Most of us don’t have a huge budget to spend.

There is no guarantee you will make back your investment. Throwing money away is a very real risk. There are a lot of reasons someone might not buy your book. Promotion gets your name out there. It makes readers aware of your novel.

It does not guarantee a single sale.

Step Three: Research and hire book tour group(s)

It’s hard to tell how a book tour group will work for you and your novel. It involves a lot of luck, picking a good team, and knowing if the tour group has bloggers who will like your style of novel.

Research each and every tour group. Ask questions. Here is a short list of things I look for when researching a book tour group:

Is the book tour group listed in any scam listings? If so, read all entries. Remember: Authors who produce 1* material will use tour groups… and the bloggers will react accordingly. Use your judgement. Research who is making the complaints.
Does the book tour group come recommended? Recommendations are a huge boon when picking a tour group. But remember, just because a tour group works for one person does not mean it will work for another person.
Has the book tour been around for a while? This is important, because it takes time for a tour group to establish a strong blogger base.
What sort of traffic does the book tour group push? Check their Alexa ratings. Look over the blogs associated with the tour group.
Is the tour operator responsive? If you’ve inquired, and you haven’t heard back from them for a week… this is not a good sign. Expect 1-3 days for a reply. Some operators will often use auto response messages if they aren’t answering emails for the weekend.

After you are satisfied that the group is a good fit for you, hire them. Don’t enter an agreement with any company you don’t feel 100% comfortable with.

Why: Because you and your book are worth the extra effort–your comfort levels with the groups (and how you spend your money) is really important. If you aren’t confident in the group, you likely won’t be happy with the results.

P.S.: Read all material from the tour groups. If they say engage with the bloggers, do that! It helps. Watch the comments of the posts, and be ready to say ‘thank you!’ when necessary.

Step Four: Bust tail on your novel

Most independent authors work on their book right up to their release date. It’s one of the freedoms of being an independent. We can turn our books into selling products when we reach that moment we believe the book is done.

This date becomes your soft release date. When it’s ready, let it go.

Why: Your book is ready for sale. Why not start making money? You also get access to your buy link on Amazon at the same time. When your book is available for sale, readers can also leave early reviews.

Step Five: Hunt Reviewers

These individuals are outside of your book tour groups. Find people who are willing to leave reviews of your book on amazon.

Why: Reviews help sell books. If you have buy links, reviewers can post their reviews of your title. When you have your official release extravaganza, you will have an advantage: Potential readers will be able to see reviews right away.

Tip: Ask your fans and readers to leave reviews of your book. And remember–don’t be one of those writers who flips if you don’t get the perfect review. If you’re criticized, learn from it or not. That’s your choice. But if you flip on a reader or fan, you’ll be doing yourself a lot more harm than good.

I find saying ‘Thank you’ is sufficient. If there is an opportunity to talk to a reviewer about a really positive review, with an emphasis on connecting over a common trait, do so! Just avoid falling into the trap of arguing with a review. It doesn’t end well.

Step Six: Fulfill all of your obligations to your tour groups

This means making sure you have all of your interview questions turned over to the tour group, that you’ve written all of your guest posts, and so on. Try to have these as quickly as possible, as this makes the job of the tour organizer that much easier.

Why: Tour groups can’t do anything to help you with your novel release if you don’t give them all of the resources they need. That means you’ll have to invest work and effort into your book. Guest posts and interviews can be stressful, but the sooner you sit down and finish it, the happier you–and your tour group operator–will be.

Step Seven: Wait for the official release day extravaganza!

Waiting, I think, is the worst part of the whole thing. Patience is a virtue.

Personally, it’s a virtue wasted on me, but I’m going to do it anyway. Ignore the gnaw marks on my desk.

Why: Because it’s hard to change scheduling for tens to over a hundred different people. Strict deadline must be strict.

Organizing your Release Day Extravaganza

When working with multiple blog groups, independent reviewers, and other individuals who want to help you make your launch a success, you need to be organized. Forgetting even one person can be a PR nightmare for you. You don’t want to piss off your readers, your fans, your friends, and people who are trying to help you succeed at your writing career.

Step One: Create a Spreadsheet

If you’re only working with one or two groups and a very limited number of book reviewers, you might be able to remember everything without a spreadsheet.

At the time of this post, I’m working with over 125 different bloggers. This includes a list of 19 individual reviewers and book bloggers.

I can’t remember all of this, not without a lot of help. So, in order to stay organized, I created a spreadsheet. It is really simple.

On sheet 1, I have the following columns:

Tour Group / Individual :: Buy Link Sent :: ARC Sent :: Cost :: Giveaway :: Giveaway Cost :: Total Cost :: Number of Bloggers :: Type of Stop (Review, Tour, Blitz, etc) :: Link to Group / Individual’s Website

On Sheet 2, which is dedicated to individuals, I have the following columns:

Name :: Post Type(s) :: Count (number of expected posts) :: ARC Sent :: Buy Link Sent

Your mileage may vary, and you may want different columns for your spreadsheet, including contact information, email addresses, and so on.

Step Two: Set up a Calendar

Each tour group and blogger will have different requirements for when they need materials from you. Setting up a calendar to remind you to send over the material is a great way to ensure you don’t miss anything.

Step Three: Update all of your sheets / organizational tools immediately

Don’t wait. Don’t push it off. Make sure you keep your spreadsheet, calendar, or organizational tool of choice up to date. It really sucks if you have to dig through all of your emails in order to make sure you didn’t miss anyone because you got lazy one day.

I may have had to do this twice already. Take it from me, it sucks. Especially if you’re working with the volume I’m working with for this release.

After Everything is Finished…

Consider reviewing all of the services you used and posting it to your blog. It can help other writers in the future, and it’s really difficult to find good references and reviews of author services.

Just try to be objective. Did the service work for you because you were active and engaged with the organizers? Is it possible the service failed to work for you because you didn’t fit the bloggers using that tour?

Look at all of the possibilities. These type of services are highly dependent on your book. If you don’t have a book that appeals to the audience you’re selling to, you won’t see much movement in terms of sales. This is why matching your book with the tour group is so important.

It isn’t always better to cast a wider net.

Good luck with your novels, writers.

Review: Morningside Fall by Jay Posey (Angry Robot — Science Fantasy)

Morningside Fall by Jay Posey

Morningside Fall by Jay Posey is a a novel that slips between a variety of different genres. For the sake of simplicity, I’m defining this novel as a Science-Fantasy Western.

Morningside Fall is the second novel in the Legends of the Duskwalker series.

About the Book

The lone gunman Three is gone. 

Wren is the new governor of the devastated settlement of Morningside, but there is turmoil in the city. When his life is put in danger, Wren is forced to flee Morningside until he and his retinue can determine who can be trusted. 

They arrive at a border outpost to find it has been infested with Weir in greater numbers than anyone has ever seen. These lost, dangerous creatures are harbouring a terrible secret – one that will have consequences not just for Wren and his comrades, but for the future of what remains of the world.

New threats need new heroes…

The Short Review

I really liked this book. It has a lot to offer, and I think it’ll appeal to a very wide audience. It has the action and adventure I associate with a good western-themed novel, and it also has some really interesting science fiction and fantasy elements. I found the front end of the book to be a little slow, but once it takes off, it’s a real nail-biter.

This is a 4 to a 4-1/2* novel, in my opinion. Almost ranked up there among my favorites, but not quite.

The Long Review

Before I begin the actual review, I want to make a note for potential readers: Read book one, Three, first. If you’ve already read Three, you might want to consider re-reading it before diving into Morningside Fall. I know some readers will happily dive into the middle of a series and figure things out as they go, but this novel has a good number of references to Three.

This isn’t a bad thing. Jay Posey doesn’t spend a great deal of time covering old ground. I like this about the novel, because I get frustrated when there is too much exposition regarding what happened in a previous novel. Some readers might find this disconcerting, however.

I’m going to start with the one thing I viewed as a flaw in this book before I wax eloquent about all of the things I really enjoyed about this novel.

I found the start of this novel a little slow for my liking. It took me a couple of chapters before I really got sucked into the story.

Part of this is my fault.

Wren is a young boy–younger than ten years old. He’s in the unfortunate position of being Governor of Morningside. This dichotomy of age, role, and maturity level threw me for a loop. Sometimes, Wren is exceedingly mature and wise for his age. It strained my suspension of disbelief quite a bit. Then there are the moments where Wren acts exactly like I expect a child of his age to behave. This also exists in Three, though I found it was to a lesser extent.

I don’t usually read a lot of books where one of the heroes of the novel is so young–especially as a POV character. But, Posey does a really good job balancing these bursts of wisdom and maturity with Wren’s behavior as a child. Wren has circumstances, and a lot of them.

He’s a good character.

It just took me longer than I like to get behind him and get used to how he is portrayed in Morningside Fall.

With the exception of my personal issues with Wren, the characters in Morningside Fall are what really make this novel stand out. They’re different. They’re unusual. They are interesting. Posey’s portrayal of all of the secondary characters is what really brought this book together.

When combined with the plot, featuring problems created by the characters and problems from outside influences, it’s a really powerful combination. After the first quarter or so of the book, it becomes a real nail-biter. It took me several sittings to finish the book, and the closer to the end I got, the grumpier I got about having to go to bed. I ended up losing a lot of sleep one night to finish because I couldn’t go to sleep wondering what would happen next.

I like when a book does that to me.

What really drew me to this book was the mix of elements. It’s post-apocalyptic. It’s a western in styling. It’s science fiction–sometimes rather hard science fiction. It’s a bit of a fantasy, too. The blend of fantastical elements with the science fiction ones, which are in turn harnessed to the western post-apocalyptic setting is a matter of brilliance on Posey’s part. The setting is a character, and by the time the novel ended, I felt like I had walked through the desolation right along with Wren and the other characters.

In closing, I want to mention one more thing: I specifically avoided spoilers telling what this story is about, instead relying on the book blurb from the novel for the introduction. This is the type of story where I feel spoiling the events–even the little things–will really take away from the reading of the book. Little things matter in this novel, and the impact of a single conversation or a small event is often huge.

This is definitely a book I’ll re-read again. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys a young hero, an action adventure, science fiction, post-apocalyptic, and soft fantasy. I think because this novel so seamlessly melds these elements together, it’s a great introduction series for those wanting to try a hybrid novel out.

Morningside Fall defies genre in all of the right ways. This book isn’t quite one of my absolute favorite novels out there, but it’s close — 4 to 4-1/2 * close.

Recommended.

Note: I received this novel as an ARC from Angry Robot Books in exchange for an honest review.

Why I Don’t Write ‘Strong’ Women

I started the process of talking about this on Google+, but I felt this is a discussion that really belongs on my blog. You can read the original post here. 

In the original post, I begin by stating that I am amused when people get upset over the lack of strong women in two of my novels.

The two books in question are The Eye of God and Storm Without End. 

These novels are traditional and epic fantasies. The Eye of God is more of a traditional fantasy, focusing on one region, while Storm Without End is far more of an epic, telling the story of how a few good people–men and women–can change their entire world.

I write stories that are realistic to the situations of the men and women in the societies they are from. While this will earn me negative reviews–it already has–I do not write in strong women for the sake of writing in strong women. The odds are against women in this world. If they want to be strong, they have to get off their skirted asses and make themselves strong.

That is not easy for them. In The Eye of God, women are treated like slaves. They are prizes, adornments, and property. The so-called ‘free’ women must work from the shadows, using diplomacy, coercion, and silky words to manipulate their men. Power, for them, is a poison-laced cup given on the sly. It is not in strong–or strong as we see it–personalities.

The strong women of this world become slaves in all things, and if they do not bow to the will of men, they die in the arena.

It takes a very special sort of woman to rise above that, and that sort of woman is rare. I write them to be that way; rare, prized, and a force capable of changing their world.

But they must earn it. It can’t be cheapened by handing it to them on the grounds that they were born with breasts. There, I’ve said.

I don’t write women who are strong for the sake of writing strong women. Women make their appearances as their personalities allow. A woman who becomes strong in a culture and world like this has to be special. Special women, women who are willing to risk everything, do not come along every day. They often do not live long, either. That’s an unfortunate truth about history.

I look deeper than the feminist approach of needing a strong woman in a fantasy world dominated by men. These cultures are realistic, and even in modern society, there is a dire lack of truly strong women.

I do not write women who are strong for the sake of their inclusion. When a woman comes along who rises above the men, it is because she is special. She has something that lets her stand up against the history of her past and her upbringing. She has something that forced change on her. Women are not born strong in a world where men are expected to live and die by the sword to protect their families–their women, and their children.

Women must be motivated to break free of the chains of tradition and heritage.

In Storm Surge (Book 2 of Requiem for the Rift King), they begin to rise–quite notably among mercenaries. And these women are not shining, they’ve endured a lot to get where they are, including coping with rape–a very realistic issue for a woman in a male-dominated group in this sort of world and era.

And these women are all the more strong because of what they’ve endured, but I don’t just write a strong woman character in for the sake of writing one in–they need to have reasons to endure the risks and consequences of participating in a war in a society where men are viewed as superior. They are a society where in court, their words are their swords, and their influences are often not known, manipulating things to their liking from the background.

The story doesn’t take place in the societies where women are equals and strong; it takes place in the societies where change is needed, not where change has already happened.

And some people just will not like that; nor will they want to sit around and wait for these women to finally decide the only way they’re going to get change is if they reach out and seize it on their own.

I may be a woman writing epic fantasy, but I don’t give my women in these novels anything.

They have to earn it.

This is a choice I made on purpose with my novels. I may be a woman writing epic fantasy, but because of that, I want truly strong women. I don’t want women who have power, strength, and courage handed to them in order to pass the Bechdel test for novels.

I want people to see weak women who rise above it all. At the end, I want people to see these women for the strengths they have earned. When a woman rises, only to fall as consequence of being something rare and special, I want them to reach for a tissue because they understand what the world has lost. I don’t want a strong woman in my novel who is there just because society thinks all women deserve to be strong.

I want to create real women, women who claw their way from the bottom and rise to the top. I want to see them struggle, endure, and become more than just a weak woman in a world dominated by men.

If anything, I have a higher expectation for my women in my novels. They must, time and time again, prove their worth–to themselves, and to the men who have been raised to believe it is their duty to protect or use women.

I’m going to take a minute to draw your attention to the cover art for Royal Slaves. This is for Book 2 of the Fall of Erelith. The Eye of God is the first book of this series.

Royal Slaves is where the women begin to rise, and where change begins. It started in The Eye of God, although it is extremely subtle. It started with the salvation of a single woman, who at the time, had a spark of stubborn pride–it was that spark that sent her to the arena to die.

She was spared, barely. And her salvation becomes the seed of her rising above her status as a slave to become something more. But she is still a slave, to her past and to her culture. But she will be given the chance to become something far more than a beautiful slave–if she makes the right choices, and works hard to become something more than what she is.

I am not afraid to write real women. I am not afraid to write strong women, either.

I am afraid of writing a story adhering to the expectations of society. No, I will not write in strong women for the sake of writing strong women.

I will write women who are the product of their environment and society.

Then I will give them the chance to become strong.

It is up to the women to decide whether or not they become strong. I will not give it to them. It is something they must earn on their own, through their actions, through the things that happen to them that force them to change, and through the choices they make.

I am not ashamed of this, nor will I be. I will not cheapen the women in my stories because they’re women.  But when they rise, they will burn in a blaze of glory–for better or for worse.

And it is my hope they will be remembered because a truly strong women in this sort of world is a rare and special thing.

There is nothing wrong with a ‘weak’ woman. They are real, they are products of their environment. But they haven’t made the choice to rise above it all and seize their strength with their own hands. I will not write women who are added in as strong for the sake of having a strong woman in the story.

When you find a strong woman in these novels, she made herself that way.

Go ahead, ladies and gentlemen. Have the strength and courage to write ‘weak’ women. Then give them the chance to become strong.

It’s far more satisfying to see a woman rise above the odds and become something special, than to read and write about a woman who was made strong for no reason other than society thinks women should be strong.

That’s the price of writing a truly strong woman in a world where women are not expected or raised to be strong. Most women will be weak. They will have bowed to the yoke society has given them. And they will take pride in what we perceive as weakness; they believe they are good women, doing the right thing. And we are shocked, as always, that women are content in these roles they have been given.

When a woman makes herself strong in one of my novels, I want my readers and fans to remember her, because she is special and she is rare. I want my readers to see all of her, from what we perceive as weakness, to the strength many desire. And I want my readers and fans to appreciate her more because of all she endured to become strong, and understand the price she paid to become that way.

And when her flame goes out, I want her to have risen so far above expectation that it is understood that the world has lost something truly precious.

And to me, that is what a strong woman is: Someone precious, who can’t be replaced, who can’t be found under any old rug, and who has earned everything she has gained with her sweat, tears, and blood.

And if that means having one hundred weak women for each strong one, so be it.

I will not be afraid to write women as they are: Diverse–weak, strong, and somewhere in between.

Multi-Services Review, Part 1: Preparing for a Release Day Extravaganza

On May 16, 2014, I will be releasing my third novel, Inquisitor. Unlike my other two novels, Inquisitor is a paranormal urban fantasy. Because of the popularity of the genre, I made a very important decision for myself and my career:

I decided to pursue a launch party extravaganza. What does that mean? Instead of focusing my efforts on one service, I am approaching the launch of this novel using several outlets at the same time. I’m combining book tours and single-day blast promotions to spread as much word and hype about the novel as possible. I am also looking into potentially doing a press release in order to spread word of the novel in other venues.

That venture is still up in the air, as I do not know anything about this branch of marketing. It’s taking a lot of research. I’ll go into that a little later, however.

First off, I want to talk about the basics and the inherent flaws with my release day extravaganza.

Unlike my other experiences, I am running a lot of promotions at the same time. Unfortunately, I do not have the capability of tracking the performance of each specific campaign (or promotion) that I am running. This means some may do well, others may not. I’m looking at the entire extravaganza for the end-game result.

My hope is to learn if the time and monetary investment will pay off in the short term and the long term.

Here is what I am doing so far:

I’m working with two blog tour groups for 7 day blog tours.

I am working with three other groups for single-day blast tours.

I am working with bloggers and book lovers directly to help spread news of the release. If you’re interested in hosting my novel on May 16 as a part of the release party, please email me at blain . rj @ gmail . com (remove spaces.)

I am considering investing in a press release to spread news to traditional medias, including newspapers and other print resources. This is something I have to think long and hard about, as I do have a limited budget on what I can use for this. (It took quite a bit of extra work on the side to be able to afford this experiment at all.)

I will not reveal the amount of money I have invested or will invest in this project just yet. Why? Because the numbers aren’t confirmed yet, so I’m not comfortable with saying them. However, I will state that I have already invested over $200.

Preparing for a Blog Blast / Release Day Promotion

Creating a release day promotion is a little different than a standard book blog tour. Unlike a standard tour, which is typically scheduled after the novel has been released, these tours are scheduled prior to release. For an independent author without the ability to set up preorders, this is a little tricky.

Before you contact any blog tour group about a release day promotion, there are a few things that I recommend you do:

Set a definite release day. This cannot be changed. This is not flexible.
Prepare promotional material in advance. If you have your materials ready, you look like a professional. Tour groups want to work with professionals.
Research the tour groups. Not all groups are created equal, and you want to use the groups with the most sway for your release-day promotion.

1: Setting a definite release date is important. You won’t be working with five or six bloggers. You will be working with hundreds of bloggers. Imagine having to apologize to each and one of these individuals! Or, worse — making a tour group you paid good money to have to apologize to these individuals.

It is a good way to be banned from using these services again. Just because you want to hire a service doesn’t mean that the group has to let you hire them. Abusing their services and their hard work is a good way to get blacklisted.

Make sure you’re 100% capable of being 100% ready for your release on the day you set.

2: Preparing the promotional material in advance means you can just attach everything you need for each and every tour group or blogger. No thinking, no hassle, just attach everything and send. This makes sure your posts are all uniform, and you don’t have to invest nearly as much time.

You will want the following promotional material:

1 to 3 or so excerpts from the beginning of the book. Try to stick within the sample limit on Amazon.
An author biography
Blurb for the novel
All Social Media links (Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest if applicable, etc)
Cover Art
Review Copy — if you don’t have it ready, have a set date it will be ready.

Each tour group has different requirements, so make certain you follow all of the instructions you are given.

3: For a large-scale release promotion, I tried to stick with reputable groups with a lot of social media and blogger sway. I also stuck with groups with a good reputation. To find out a group’s reputation, I researched their blog group on the internet. Over half of the groups I selected came from recommendations from other authors.

Working with Blog Tour Groups

In order to do a truly large-scale release promotion, I feel it is necessary to work with outside groups. It takes a lot of work to get a group together. One of my tour groups is putting me in touch with over forty bloggers. This is a staggering amount of work on the coordinator’s part.

Working with nine people individually has cost me a couple of hours. I don’t have the time to work with hundreds of bloggers. That’s why I hired several different tour groups to help me.

When you’re working with a blog tour group, there are a few things you will want to do (and remember.)

First, you want to reply to organizer questions as quickly as possible. Second, you want to make sure you pay your invoice when it is sent to you. Request that the company invoices you so you can use the invoice as a part of your taxes. Finally, make sure you give them all of the promotional material they need as soon as you can so they have time to organize your tour.

Because you have to do this with each and every group and blogger, I really recommend that you make a spreadsheet tracking which groups you are working with and where you are at in the process.

Make sure you do not delete any of your emails from the tour groups or bloggers you are going to work with. You may also want to make use of google calendar to track when you need to send interviews and guest posts to bloggers who need that material.

So far, working with five different tour groups and nine individuals, I have invested some 6-10 hours of work. I expect to invest another 4 or so hours before I’m finished setting up all of the tours.

Future posts in this series will cover specific tour groups and the types of blog tours available for someone releasing a novel.