Now that the blog tour is over, here is what I thought

I found Lola of Lola's Blog Tours kind of by accident. I had emailed another potential organizer whose details I got from a link on a book blog, but she never answered me. I knew from browsing book blogs, though, that many organizer logos and links were listed, so I looked at a few and found her. She answered immediately! I knew she was the organizer for me.

I had never done a blog tour before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The way it works is that interested book bloggers sign up to post something about your book or series on a particular day during the tour, which in my case lasted two weeks. They can post a review, an excerpt from the book, an interview, a guest post written by you, a top ten list or similar (also written by you), or just a promo. In my case, there was a good mix of these. On some days, multiple bloggers posted. On others, no one did.

The tour organizer creates a media kit with your book cover images, author photo, blurbs, social media links, buy links, author bio, and electronic copies of the book(s) for reviewers. She also asks for the fonts from your book cover if there are any custom ones. From this she makes up a tour banner for use on all the bloggers' Web sites, as well as some explanatory copy about the tour and the books. In my case I also wanted to do a giveaway, so she set that up for me. She uses Rafflecopter. That made it easy for me, as there's a fee for using it. Since she was already a member, I didn't have to worry about that.

I sent out paperback copies of the first two Amanda Lester, Detective books to those who asked for them, but not the third one because it hadn't yet come out and I didn't have any hard copies. Lola sent Kindle copies of the third book to those who requested it. Some of the bloggers signed up to review just the first book, some the first and second, and some all three. That was very generous, considering that each of my books is in the 400-page range!

I was asked to write two guest posts and one top ten list: my favorite mysteries. In one case the blogger asked me to post on a particular topic, how I do my covers, and in another case, she said whatever I wanted to do was fine, so I came up with a post about how I create my crazy character names.

I also selected excerpts from the three books. It was hard not to pick passages with spoilers in them, but in the end I found quite a few good ones. I wanted to make sure the bloggers had a range of choices. Here is what I sent:

Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy mystique excerpt (Professor Also shows the kids how to develop their detective's mystique)

Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy gluppy things excerpt (Amanda and Nick find some horrible-looking gelatinous creatures outside the school)

Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy dead bodies class excerpt (the pathology class is very gross)

Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy American English vs British English excerpt (Amanda, who is American, and Amphora, who is English, have a bit of trouble communicating)

Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis silly plates excerpt (the decor gremlins have come up with a ridiculous way to eat lasagna, and the kids struggle with it)

Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis glitter explosions excerpt (Professor Pole introduces the kids to chemical reactions, and boy, are they awesome)

Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis two clowns excerpt (clowns are supposed to be nice, but these two are cheeky)

Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle Crocodile's flat excerpt (Amanda and Eustace Plantagenet examine the apartment of a deceased criminal named Crocodile Pleth)

Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle Gordon saves Ivy excerpt (who knew Ivy was allergic to bees?)

Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle newsagent excerpt (sometimes you have to bribe a newsagent with pizza if you want information on local zombies).

Most of the hosts posted on their scheduled day. A few were a bit late, and some kind of disappeared. However, I came away with some awesome reviews and some lovely publicity, and I'm very, very happy with the results! It's a lot of work--you have to tweet, FB, Goodreads, post comments, etc. constantly during the tour--but it's worth it!

Here are the posts:

Ogitchida Kwe’s Book Blog. Reviews.

3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too!. Reviews.

Domestic Chanteuse. Excerpt.

T’s Stuff. Excerpt.

Cassandra M’s Place. Reviews.

Just Lei: Books. Excerpt.

Always Me. Excerpt.

Crazy Beautiful Reads. Excerpt and top ten mysteries list.

Lola's Reviews. Guest post, "Lights, Action, Book Cover!"

Mel's Shelves. Review.

Night Owl Book Cafe. Review.

Around the World in Books. Excerpt.

Absurd Book Nerd. Review and excerpt.

Sweet N Sassy Book A Holics. Excerpt.

Driftless. Reviews and excerpt.

Creativity and Crazy. Excerpt and guest post, "Paula B’s Crazy Character Name Generator."

I am so glad I did this. I will definitely be doing more tours. Thank you to the most amazing blog tour organizer, Lola of Lola's Blog Tours, for a rip-roaring success!!!!!