Need Promo Advice: contemplating paid blog book tour &/or free giveaways

Hi all, [I also posted this in the "Promote Your Book" group, but it is still a rather small group so thought I'd post it over here as well.]

I'm contemplating 2 options (a paid blog tour and/or a free day/week) for promoting my book, and wondered if any of you have words of wisdom before I dive into one or the other.

I read a few articles on organizing a blog tour on your own, but most of the book review sites I've researched/contacted so far either don't do e-only books or are booked for months on end (some well into 2013). So, I was contemplating paying the Women on Writing folks to set up a blog tour for me. They said they can probably fit me in in July/Aug. Has anyone done a paid blog tour? Did you think it was worth the money in terms of increased exposure/sales?

As for a free day/week - have you tried that? Did it lead to increased sales after the free period? I know giving away a free book is great to drive interest for other books an author might have, but this is my first book, so is it still a good idea?

Thanks for any words of wisdom you can share.

Jackie

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jackie Bouchard on April 27, 2012 at 1:44pm

Oh, that's great to know! Thanks for the tip. I'll sign up.

Wow - Redbook and Ebony! Very cool!

Permalink Reply by Kitty K. Free on June 23, 2012 at 3:32pm

Thanks for the info about HARO!

Permalink Reply by Odessa Rose on June 23, 2012 at 3:52am

Excellent advice and information.

Permalink Reply by Janet McAdams on April 25, 2012 at 6:57pm

Hi Jackie,

You might check AuthorBuzz. They have a package esp for ebooks.

Permalink Reply by Jackie Bouchard on April 26, 2012 at 10:00am

Thanks Janet. I'll check that out today. :)

Permalink Reply by Nissi Mutale on April 28, 2012 at 4:06am

This is a great question. I think the most important thing to do is keep the reader in mind. Who did you write it for? Where is the best place to find your target audience?

Permalink Reply by Jackie Bouchard on April 28, 2012 at 9:25am

Yes, Nissi, I think you are so right! In fact, the other day (after I posted this question) I had an epiphany. I rememberd reading that Kate Jacobs (?) had so much success with Friday Night Knitting Club because she connected with knitters on various sites/online communities. Since my ebook "What the Dog Ate" is a romantic comedy for dog lovers, I started contacting female dog bloggers a couple of days ago. I've only contacted a few so far, but they've been much more responsive/enthusiastic about reviewing the book than the vast majoritey of the book-bloggers I've reached out to. Hopefully this is the way to go!

Jackie

Permalink Reply by Kitty K. Free on June 23, 2012 at 2:52pm

Hello, I did a give-away on Kindle, Memorial Day and saw a spike in sales for about 2 weeks after. I only have one novel as well, I do see the benefit of having more than one book when doing a give-away, and I can only imagine how much I could've sold if I had more than one title, but I've had the most sales after that give away. There's also a guy on the website www.fiverr.com (one of my fav websites) that will promote your Kindle book give away to 10 different sites for $5. I'm going to do that soon to see how that goes. Hey, it's only 5 bucks:)

Permalink Reply by Jackie Bouchard on June 23, 2012 at 3:05pm

Cool. Thanks for the info Kitty! I'm working on getting a print version together of my book, and when the print version is ready, I plan to launch it with a free week or weekend for the e-version.

Good to know you got a sales bump, and I'll check out that site!
Thanks again,
Jackie

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