All writers have slow news times and yet the voracity of social media means we always have to create news. My relationship with Frost means I’m very lucky as I can write about other people and still have plenty to share. But there comes a time when you have to focus back on yourself, even when you really have nothing to say.
I always knew that if I had a new book out at all this year it would be much later on, so there came a point when I was actively looking for something to celebrate. With three books becoming two when Endeavour Press went into liquidation and I decided not to sign with the successor company my writing CV suddenly seemed a little empty. Should I dash off a quick novella, write a few short stories to give away? No, I’m writing new material anyway and don’t want the distraction. So I decided to focus on what I already had.
On 1st August my debut novel, The Cheesemaker’s House, will be five years old. Sales are still ticking along nicely, but I wanted to give them a boost and celebrating the anniversary seemed an excellent excuse to do it. I’d been impressed by the results achieved for my Chindi Authors’ buddy Helen Christmas by Rachel’s Random Resources so I decided to sign up for one of their book birthday blitz packages followed by a mini blog tour.
Rachel is an experienced book blogger who has recently started to offer a variety of promotional services for authors. I was concerned that as The Cheesemaker’s House was so old and has had so many reviews there wouldn’t be a great deal of interest but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Within eighteen hours of announcing the tour on her website no fewer than 28 bloggers had signed up, 23 of them promising a review, and I couldn’t have been more delighted.
I’d agreed on a multi-content tour so over the last week I’ve been answering Q&As, writing guest blogs and choosing extracts from the book. It was strange going back five years and telling the book’s story all over again but I’m really hopeful it will reach a new audience and it was such fun to do.
While I am more than happy to pay for Rachel’s services to organise the tour I would never actually pay for a review. This week – like many other weeks – I’ve had emails asking me to do just that. I won’t, because I believe it’s wrong on so many levels. Especially as I’m yet to see a review anywhere that says ‘this review was paid for by the author’.
It’s an issue that’s been bubbling around on social media recently as well, as yet again bona fide book loving bloggers have been attacked for ‘undermining the market’ by giving free reviews. Excuse me? Although some bloggers have book marketing related businesses on the side (as Rachel does) their reviews are the product of being total and complete bookworms who just love to share their passion. And that’s important. Because it’s why we can trust them.