Virtual Book Tours: The Good, the Bad. . .the Ugly

I don’t like to “assume” that people know things. You know why :)

So, let’s be real about book tours and accept a few truths about them.

1. If you are self-published, no major chain bookstore or discount store will shelve you, much less host your signings. I know, it SUCKS. You may not have known that before you signed the dotted line. Let’s remember that next time.
2. If you indie publish, you’re not going to get rich doing book tours alone. Let’s say “rich” is $500,000. Bookstores take between 48%-50% of your retail price at signings. At a $12 retail price (you’d get a little over $6 max), to get “rich,” you’d have to sell 83,000 books. Forty books per signing (for an unknown author) is GREAT. But, at that rate, you’d have to visit 2,100 cities. Mainstream published authors get no better than 15% per copy. You’d have to sell almost 300,000 books.
3. You can book your own tour, but it’s A LOT OF WORK. You need: a.) a PR person or adequate substitute, b.) a press kit (headshot, media release, synopsis), and most importantly, c.) a proven tie to the area for a regular tour. To solicit a book blogger, you will have to submit to them, not unlike what you would do for an agent. And there’s no guarantee you can be successful without some sort of prior established relationship.

There are many benefits to virtual book tours. No travel expenses helps if you’re on a tight budget. You’re reaching out to a different crowd than your “warm market.” Promotion can be entirely online and for free.

You can do it for a wide range of costs. And, if someone google searches your book title, the SEO results will be lovely, which adds to your credibility as a writer.

Kick the tires, though, before making a commitment. In evaluating an opportunity to go on a virtual tour, there are factors to consider.

• Extra cost. You have to pay for the shipping materials, the book itself, and the postage. For me, this ran about $8 for every physical copy I had to produce. And most book bloggers still prefer them that way. If you do 20 bloggers, that’s $160 in addition to the fee you pay the book tour people.
• Prominence of book blogger. How many people follow the blog of the reviewer? Read through their blog archives. Is there author-reader interaction?
• Timeline. Will the reviewer commit to having your review by a certain date? If not, are you OK with that?
• Commitment. What is the reviewer volunteering to do? Post a review of your book? Post a Q&A with you? Both? You don’t want to pay for a blog tour expecting one thing and then receive another. Remember, they’re voluntarily reviewing your book. Even if they don’t do what they agreed to do, there’s not much you can do about it.

Next time, let’s evaluate a few companies and see what they have to offer you.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

Review of B.J. Robinson's Last Resort

Last Resort by BJ Robinson

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Last Resort in 140 characters or less: Girl meets boy. Girl denies obvious interest. Enter abusive ex, girl’s rival 4 boy. <3, shots, property damage. Co-conspirators? Suspense!

In Last Resort, the debut title on Desert Breeze Publishing from B.J. Robinson, Faith Roussell settles in a small, fictional Florida town after leaving a broken and abusive relationship.

Faith’s best friend, introduces her to Matt: a clumsy cowboy destined to win Faith’s heart. But the flirtatious Lilly, who rivals Faith for Matt‘s heart, makes her affection for him known while Faith openly denies her own.

Meanwhile, Fred, Faith’s jilted ex, pursues her with a vengeance. He wants Faith back at all costs -- enough to threaten her life on numerous occasions. But is he acting alone? Maybe, maybe not.

Last Resort is written in descriptive language that paints the picturesque southern backdrop well. Yet, it is not so thick that it makes for dragging exposition.

The romance, well-penned sensory details, and build-up action sequences are where Last Resort shines. Matt and Faith’s repartee is believable and light on the syrup. I easily bought into their courtship.

But elements of the book’s dual plot were lacking for me. It’s credible in spots, not so much in others. But Robinson baited my hook REALLY WELL in the book’s final acts.

If I sat down with B.J. and had three questions, I would ask the following: Why wasn’t Fred a prime suspect at first? Why did he willingly let Faith go in the first place? And if she “escaped” from him, wouldn’t the first place he would think she went is her old hometown?

For a story rich in southern charm, romance, and a redemptive Christian message, Last Resort fits the bill.



View all my reviews

DIY Publishing versus Self-Publishing: Good and Bad

I’ve changed book religions. I used to believe mainstream publishing (manuscript+query=agent; agent+publisher = SUCCESS!) was the way for me. It is not, at least not right now.

I advocate Do-It-Yourself (DIY) publishing over self-publishing. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

The DIYer’s trump card is that, while he did publish himself, he is not considered a “self-publisher.” He uses the same printer of a self-publishing company. He totes books around everywhere he goes. His books are Print-On-Demand — just like that of the self-published.

But he is not self-published.

When you self-publish, no major brick-and-mortar bookseller will carry you. Even in your book was the next great American novel, who would know it? If a reader can go to a building and see your book, it adds trust to your name.

The only difference between DIYers and mainstream publishers is that you put out one title a year and
they crank out 20. Because of that distinction, brick-and-mortar bookstores will carry you.
This Friday, let’s talk a little about how simple DIY publishing really is and how much the investment is worth.

Be blessed,

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

So You Think You Can’t Write?

In my experience, most people say can’t when they mean won’t. When I tell people what I do, most say, “I can’t write a book.”

Maybe they don’t write well, never learned to type or are devoid of ideas. They might have a hectic home or work life.

If I was a betting man, I’d wager the problem is verb confusion. They think they can’t do write a book, when the reality is they won’t.

So you “can’t” type. Even hunters-and-peckers can write 31 words in an hour (barely half a word per minute), right?

Would you say you send e-mails about 31 words long every day? I do.

OK, writing 31 word e-mails once per hour 8 times a day produces almost 250 words — a double-spaced typewritten page.

Multiply that by 251 days (assuming you don’t e-mail on weekends). In a year, you have written 62,250 words. That’s a full-length novel — longer, in fact, than my second novel, The Revelation Gate.

Well, maybe that’s not your excuse. You can manage the typing, but those are e-mails and you can’t think of an interesting book topic.

Sure you can.

What type of movies do you like? I watch action, adventure, and larger-than-life fantasy. That’s what I write. Write what you know, or study what you like and write it. Everybody has a story to tell.

Your mindset could be blocking a potentially lucrative writing career.

Author Brian L. Thompson is the president of Great Nation Publishing and author of the Christian fiction thriller The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

Synopsis

So, since I've been gone for a minute and we've just joined Facebook (like button us!), I figure I should put up another post -- this time, with a little background and a short synopsis of exactly what it is I'm asking you to support.

The Lost Testament started as a conversation between me and my then-girlfriend/now-wife Heather, who had just come back from a plane trip home. She spoke of a woman she sat next to on the plane who had the most interesting life. She had interviewed members of the Aryan nation (particularly brave since she's part Hispanic) and victims of crucifixion. She also mentioned a "Last Testament of Jesus Christ" and wrote down a verse of it on Heather's notebook, which she still has. This woman helped inspire the character of Violet October.

I think it was an issue of a magazine where you can start off a good story by asking "What if?" So, I asked myself, "What if this 'last testament' was written AFTER the resurrection and someone found it?" "Wouldn't that erase, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Christ's divinity? (probably not)" "What if the man who found it was a preacher passing for white?" You get the point.

Simply put, "The Lost Testament" is the story of Darrion James, a minister who leaves his home, divorced and penniless, following a public scandal. En route to starting his life over over down south, Darrion meets an enigmatic Jewish writer who hands him a notebook. She claims they are scriptures written by a resurrected Jesus Christ. He becomes a believer, but not soon enough to save her from a grisly demise.

Darrion translates the words, which he comes to call "The Lost Testament," and spearheads a spiritual revival with them reminiscent of the 1906 Azusa Street revival meetings. As a result, lives are saved, transformed, destroyed, or lost.

I'll keep you updated with the latest. God bless.

Great Nation Publishing

So, it's been a while. . .

I have had quite a few people come up to me and say the "The Lost Testament" was already a book. I've previously mentioned knowledge of this. I don't think it'll be a problem, as the other book is in a different genre. You'd like to come up with a brand that's all your own, but, at the same time, I don't believe I would have had this vision for so long if it was going to ultimately fail. Call it optimism, or whatever.

Great Nation Publishing is now officially on the map. In deciding to become my own publisher, I believe I have been called to start my own company. We have an EIN, registration with the state, a business license, a DBA, a bank account, a seller's permit, and a mailing address, so we're ready to go. That's why this blog entry has been so delayed. It's a tremendous amount of work for one person to do part-time or even full time. Right now, I am searching for a PR person to help me promote, and I believe I've settled on a web/logo designer. I've seen the proof and it's SICK -- almost exactly the way I pictured it in my spirit.

June 29 is the release for intimate friends and family, which is also when I will start media promotion, with a wide release and launch party a month later. I'll keep you posted.

The Lost Testament?

It's official.

After some prayer and careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that renaming "The Last Testament" to "The Lost Testament" is the right thing to do.

Another fiction work recently released called "The Last Testament" has a "Da Vinci Code"-style plot and, according to the synopsis on Amazon.com, very little in common with my novel, except the archetype of a hidden scripture authored by Christ. "The Book of Love" is close too; same archetypal hidden scripture and action packed.

And, there is actually "The Lost Testament," written about 14 years ago with, you guessed it, a plot surrounding a hidden scripture by Christ.

It happens. Someone comes up with a hot plot, genre, or topic and everyone jumps on it. Perhaps, if I had stayed the course, you'd be reading my Last Testament years ago instead of "The Lost Testament" this summer.

I believe it had to happen this way. Only a few people saw the early drafts of this book, and trust me, they were not good. One of my good friends and former co-workers Bob Yost said the original version was detestable and, he being a former minister at the time, called me onto the carpet as a Christian for writing such filth. I've always carried that with me, Bob, as a motivating tool to write a book free of much of the garbage in books today.

Besides, none of those books are Christ-centered or African-American, which I believe will prove to be the difference. I believe some Christians are tired of reading how Christ supposedly didn't rise from the dead and that the church is some large, multi-media, secret society-laden conglomerate bent on controlling the world through intimidation and secrecy. This "Lost Testament" is evidence Christ did rise. . .and while there's no explicit secret society involvement, it leads one to wonder: what REALLY happened to Violet October and who did it?

I'm a little nervous, as I replaced a character with another villain, upped his villainy, and added the interesting-to-write character of Violet October. But hey, isn't that what editors are for? See you soon.