Omigosh. I can’t believe it’s finally over. This may have been the most painful thing wonderful experience I’ve ever had as a writer and I hope I never have to put myself through this can’t wait to do another one.
I just came off a month-long blog tour. 45 stops in 30 days. The over achiever in me says “Yes! Awesome! Bring it!” But the real-person side of me just wants to take a step back and sleep.
So, what did I learn? A lot. Would I do it again?
Well, at least not in the same way.
Did we get the word out? Yes.
Did we sell books? Yes.
Was it worth it? I’m not really sure yet.
I don’t think I am going to take on a blog tour this aggressively again. Will I be aggressive? You betcha! But the rest of my life shouldn’t suffer for it.
Before I dig into the things I’ve learned, let’s discuss the result…
Don’t get me wrong, this was not an overall bad experience. My fear is, though, that I may have lost some of my following because I was not “here”. That is what is really bothering me.
Soooooo… In the future, I will not be wreaking havoc across the internet for thirty days straight. I will take it easy so I can still enjoy my life, because I can’t write when I’m stressed, and that just doesn’t work for anyone, does it?
I’m going to cut back a bit on blogging too, so I have enough time for my extensive goals for 2013… but I have some great things planned.
Mondays will be my days for posting about whatever pops into my head… The fun rants on my writing, my world, or whatever.
Tuesdays will continue to be Write a Story with Me, which is still going strong, and new people are signing up. This has been a HOOT!
Wednesdays and Thursdays I will take off, unless I have a book review or something exciting that I can’t wait until Monday for.
Friday is something brand new I’m going to try out as a gift to everyone who’s supported me through all this. #FreeFridays will feature a different author every week with a giveaway. They may give away a book, an ebook, chocolate, dogs, cats, whatever. But it’s a chance for them to promote their book, and a chance at a freebee for all those who comment. Should be fun. By the way… since this is the first #FreeFriday, everyone who comments today will have a chance to win either For the Love of Christmas or Make Believe on ebook. (your choice) Yay!
Saturdays will be open to my whims, and I may not always post. But for the next month I will be featuring the continuation of author/Editor Danielle Ackley McPhail’s advice on the do’s and don’ts of how to submit your manuscript. It’s great stuff we can all learn from.
Sunday will return to Sunday Snippets, where I will showcase a snippet from my current work in progress, and invite you all to do the same. It’s a time to share a little, and see what you guys think of it. I’ve thought of making this a weekly blog hop, but it will be very informal, and I won’t kick you off if you post more than six sentences. Yeah, I’m nice that way. If you want to sign up, click here and be sure to hop around to other people’s sites to see their snippets.
Okay! Now that all of that is out of the way….. What I learned:
A few things to keep in mind when you set up your own blog tours:
1. Just because a person says they will host you, and you do the interview, doesn’t mean they will post it. Just say’n. Be ready for it. It’s embarrassing to send people to a post and have it not be there.
2. Confirm, and make sure you get confirmations. I sent out interviews and sent confirmation emails, but in one instance I didn’t get a response for the confirmation. Not sure what happened to my emails, but the host never got either, so the post ended up late. My fault for not following up better on that one.
3. There will be posts that it seems no one has read. I try to tell myself that not everyone who reads posts comments. I hope some people read some of those guest posts, because I thought they were pretty good! Try to keep your chin up. No all stops will look as successful as others, but you won’t know unless the host lets you know the number of hits.
4. Some tour stops will be AWESOME. Make a note of those people and become buddies. Luckily for me, I’m already buddies, so everyone else has to suck up to them J
5. Scheduling, doing the interview/post, telling people where you are that day, and following up and answering questions on all those other sites is time consuming and exhausting. Be ready for it. No matter how well you think you have prepared… well, you know how it is.
6. Don’t forget about Facebook. I forgot about Facebook. Oh well.
So, there you have it. The good, the bad and the ugly – and what I learned through all this monotony. For the most part, it was fun, and if I were a full time professional writer, and didn’t have another job, a part time job, a poodle that needs to be brushed, three kids with homework and a husband, it would have been no problem. But for me, I think a more leisurely pace will be the ticket for the next one.
Thanks for sticking with me! And Here’s to an AWESOME 2013! What do you have on tap for this year?
Don’t forget one commenter below will get their choice of For the Love of Christmas or Make Believe on ebook!
It’s GREAT to be back!
Jennifer M Eaton 
Congratulations on your blog tour! I just published my first book and I’m getting ready to plan my first blog tour. Not really sure how to begin, but I’m glad I read your post. I learned a few things. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Good luck with it. It’s quite a journey.
Thanks. 🙂
Nice to have you back! … maybe you could consider doing one guest post a month, or even per week, next time?
Free Fridays will kind of be like that. At least I won’t have to come up with something on my own. 🙂
I can imagine that you are exhausted. 😦
I can totally imagine a blog tour being exhausting. I hope it translates into readers for you.
I sure hope so!
This was one exciting and exhausting blog tour, I’m sure – I don’t know how all of you did it, and so well! Props and kudos! I’m so glad I was able to have a tiny part in it, and really enjoyed following you around on the tour, lol. My goals this year are to continue with my middle-grade novel, publish a second collection of poetry I’m working on (it’s called, “Essence of Woman” right now, but that may change), and also have a couple of other projects that I’m working on in secret. LOL. All the best on the success of your books, and on all your writing projects in 2013! Love and hugs, Julie 🙂 xox
Go you! Good luck!
I think part of your drop off could have been people taking time off for the holidays. I noticed a definite drop in new posts by fellow bloggers and in visits to my blog in the last half of the month. As JKellerFord already noted, it looks like today’s post is doing just fine!
I’ve got to laugh, though. Your “reduced” blogging schedule is far more than I could ever handle! 🙂
Ha! You know, I tried to do this before, and I’m a little naurotic. When I only got 50 hits on a day that I didn’t post, I FREAKED. This time, I’m going to try not to look at the number here, and focus on my word-counts instead. 🙂
Coingratulations on finishing the tour! If you’re like me, the first time you do something, you make all kinds of mistakes, and I’m glad to see you listed them and won’t forget them the next time. There’ll be a whole new set of learning opportunities the next time you do one of these, naturally. There always are. 😉
Yeah. There’s always something isn’t there? I just hope next time is less painful.
*Blushes* at point number two 😀 It seems my email inbox doesn’t think you’re as awesome as I do 🙂 (If you want to know about hits… well… in the several hours your interview has been up it’s had about 250 hits. Which is like a record for my blog 🙂 Now get some sleep.
Really ? Awesome sauce! Thanks!
That’s quite a plan, Jennifer! I’m looking forward to dropping in to your blog and participating. Will get back to you with hits from my blog…didn’t even think about it!!
Georgie 🙂
Thanks! I like to let people k is about their hits. Luckily enough I haven’t been embarrassed by them yet. Thanks again for hosting me!
Congrats on finishing it up. You majorly impressed me with your dedication and fortitude, and I appreciate you summing it up for the rest of us. I’m not sure how you manage to get everything done in a day that you do!
Now go get some rest! 🙂
Zzzzz zzzzz zzzzzzz Snort! Zzzzzzz zzzzzz
🙂
🙂 Shhhh, she’s sleeping. Kids! get the whip cream away from her nose! Chloe, stop licking her toes, I don’t care if daddy DID put gravy on them.
Woe…. Daddy put gravy on my toes? I think I’ll sleep with one eye open.
This post read my mind. I was wondering how much you think your extensive blog tour paid off. Thanks for your take on it. I need to keep building my “friends” on the internet. Easier said then done. But thanks to your tour I did find some interesting people to follow.
Awe that’s great! There really are a lot of great blogs out there. I wish I had more time to read them all!
from the looks of all your likes, I don’t think you lost anyone. The universe loves you, Ms. Eaton. I have to admit the one tour was exhausting; I can’t imagine doing two at the same time. Heck, on this tour I forgot to provide a blog post. Didn’t discover that one until the day the post was supposed to show up. I like your plans for the new year. I, too, may back off here and there. I need to finish so many novels and short stories I’ve started. I’m not going to let another year go by only to say at the end “I wish”. Good luck to you and all your plans. You’ll get there, I have no doubt.
Thanks! I hope we’re celebrating together again this year!
No hopes. We WILL!!!
I’ve had it happen a few times when the blogger didn’t stick to the schedule or even forgot to post altogether. People have lives and I get that. Blogging is something people do for fun.
The Free Fridays sounds like a great idea. I’d like to sign up to be an author.
Great! I’ll add you to the list!
Sounds extremely time consuming! I would be interested to know how many sales this generates. Good luck with it all. I hope to epublish Martini Bond and write my second play this year.
Awesome! Good luck!
Well done, Jennifer. 🙂
I take my hat off to you Jennifer, for getting through this with that kind of workload. I dare not start to think how I’d scrape up the time to do all that.
Well done! 🙂
Thanks Richard!
great post–the ups and downs are interesting
Sounds exhausting – well done for making it through! And don’t worry about the lack of comments on some posts – the majority of readers won’t comment, so the views are probably far higher than you think.
Oh, and if you’re looking for someone who’s not ashamed of some blatant self-publicising to volunteer for one of your #FreeFridays, please bear me in mind… absolutely no idea what I could give away, but I’ll work on it! I have some rather nice socks I don’t wear that often… 🙂
Hmmmm socks. Could be interesting.
I don’t think the number of comments on a post always reflects how many people are reading it. There are times on my blog where I’ve had tons of hits, and people even recommended the post on other sites, but it got almost no comments. People have busy schedules and may choose to read the post, but not reply to it. I admit to being guilty of this myself. Several times I’ve bought books based on a review on someone’s blog, but I didn’t actually comment. I’ve been told by people that they have bought books based on my reviews, but hadn’t commented publicly. The important part is that you put yourself and your work out there. People will see it!
Good luck on your future goals and hope this year is a good one for you.
Thanks Susan–and double thanks for confirming what I hoped was true. 🙂
I don’t think anyone could doubt how exhausting and time consuming it must have all been, but you definitely got the word out, and you’ve made it through!
I loved having you guys over at my place as part of the tour, it was definitely a successful post from my point of view.
For this year, my main writing goal is to finish the non-fiction book I started many months ago and keep not going back to! I’ve also set up a second blog which I announced on my blog today, that may be a bad idea in terms of taking up more time, but we shall see!
I thought about creating a new blog to talk about fun things I come up with to do with my kids. I even have some posts written up for it. But it’s that time thing. I knew it would be more than I could handle and write novels as well.
No kidding. I have no idea how you have time for everything to do. I find with a full time job and a house to take care of, I don’t have time for much else. Nobody would fault you for doing a little less though. You won’t hear anyone say on their deathbed, “I wish I had worked more and spent less time with my family” 🙂
Ha. Too true. But I do know a certain amount of sacrifice is required. I find that I don’t miss tv as such as I thought. Sometimes I listen to it while my family watches in the next room… And if I hear explosions I get up and watch with them for a while.
Wow, I’m the first to comment:-) Guess since it’s almost 2am, the early bird gets the worm! Loved hearing your thoughts since I’m about to embark on this myself. I like what you have planned for your blog in 2013 and welcome back!!
Thanks Jaime and good luck on your tour. Are you starting it this month? January 24th right? Two days after Jack and Jill Volume one releases. Wahoo! Über luck to you. Let me know if you’d like to stop by and promote your book on a Friday.