Opening the Door

They (the ubiquitous they) always say that you should write with the door closed, and publish with the door open. But although I’ve published, my door has been closed, so I guess it’s now time to open the door and let the people in.

To help me with that, my virtual blog tour lady, a wonderful woman by the name of Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours has set up a virtual blog tour for me in March.

Before I give you the deets (see the banner and the link at the bottom of this post), I’ll explain what a virtual blog tour is. In the old days, when you “launched” a book, you, as the author, were required to tour the country or the area or whatever, doing a book tour, which included book signings, interviews, cocktail parties and the like.

But in this day and age of virtual pretty much everything, one trend is to do this online, including reviews, interviews, and giveaways. Since a lot of reviews these days are done online anyway, this trend makes sense to me. And, since I just wrote a historical novel, finding a woman who focuses on blog tours for historical novels was a perfect fit.

One thing of note is how easy Amy has made the process. I told her what I would like, she picked out about 25 review blogs for me to look at, and then, without me having to do much else (or worry at all), she provided me with the following setup:

• 12 Blogs
• 6 Reviews
• 3 Guest Posts
• 2 Interviews
• 1 Spotlight
• 5 Giveaways

Isn’t that amazing? Without even leaving my green chair, I am will be, in the very near future, a viable presence on the interwebs.

Now, it might be that the book won’t be received very well, or people might take umbrage at my treatment of the topic, or the three people who do manage to make their way through the book will feel that their time has been wasted.  (I mean, who knew that 171,000 words would equal a book that weighs two pounds? Thank goodness the ebook versions weigh almost nothing.)  Or, it might be that the book makes a good impression, and people like it, and I sell a few. I’m good either way.

Okay, let’s face it. A runaway best seller status would be fine too! As would a movie deal, and an interview on Ellen.

But regardless of what happens out there in the interwebs, I’m going to keep writing.

Here’s the link to information about the Virtual Book Tour.

And here’s the beautiful banner designed by Amy. Ta da!