So what is a blog tour, again?
As I am known to do from time to time, in early March I was hanging out on Twitter and lamenting the difficulties I was having in promoting Immortal. It’s not a simple thing, this self-promotion stuff. Simple example: perhaps more than any other social network, Twitter is the place you go to find people who do what you do too. (As opposed to Facebook, which is more about finding people who used to know you once.) 
As a writer, I am connected with a very large collection of other writers, which extremely fantastic when one wants to talk about having gotten a particular sentence right on the third draft, finally, after only two years. But it’s might not be the best collection to have if you’re trying to move copies of a published novel. Why? Because that’s what most of your writer friends are trying to do too. And while another writer will love to commiserate at length on the angst that comes with getting a sentence perfect, bemoaning sales numbers for your novel, when it’s already done better than their novel, is not a good thing. It is, sometimes, even a rude thing.
Helping each other
So as I was lamenting my sales difficulties, it was suggested by two Twitter friends (@BryanThomasS and @TheNewAuthor, whom you should all stop everything for right now and follow) that I try a blog tour.
“How do those work?” was my second question. (My first was “a what again?”) I had never run one, participated in one, or followed one before. But I couldn’t deny the genius behind the concept. Here I was with a very large collection of fellow writers, all with blogs and many with review pages, and I could offer them traffic.
Well, and a free copy of Immortal if they needed one.
I would like to thank…
The people who participated in this blog tour are all generous and worthy of your time and attention, and I strongly suggest you find them, read them and follow them. Many of these writer/reviewers jumped in on this tour not knowing ahead of time if the book sucked; they took a chance that it did not.
Visit the tour page to see everyone’s contribution. Every interview is different, none of the excerpts are the same, and the reviews all agree that Immortal did not, in fact, suck.
What happens next
I will be appearing in late July at the Indie Book Event in New York City with copies of Immortal, a table all my own, and plenty of free time. Many more details will come regarding this trip in the coming weeks.
The writing contest sponsored by Angela Perry for a signed copy of Immortal has concluded, and the winner will be announced soon.
The reverse bucket list contest that is at the end of the GeekDad article is still open. A follow-up article is expected on or around the 15th of May. There is still time to go there and be clever.
And finally
Coming tomorrow, I will be posting a special preview chapter of Hellenic Immortal. Keep your eyes peeled to this site; it should show up sometime around 9 AM EST, provided the auto-scheduler does its job.
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As you all know, Immortal initially debuted in October of 2010, with rollouts (ebook etc.) taking place over the subsequent month or two. By this time last year the book sales were in full swing and I was setting up an April blog tour to promote it.
