My learning curve to finding today’s vast online readership:
Most everything about being a first time author is a great learning experience. When I began writing “Sterling Bridge” some fifteen years ago, the internet was still in its infancy. Napster was still a big peer-to-peer file sharing enterprise on the verge of a landmark intellectual property lawsuit that would become one of the first to address the need to uphold copyright laws on the worldwide web, where possible. It made it a safer endeavor for artists and authors to share their work to the world, get credit, and keep earnings worthwhile. There would not be much incentive to create if the endeavor was not supported financially, after all. It was the era of the meteoric rise and also the catastrophic fall of many dotcom companies. Even the Internet required some substance behind the ethereal contributions. As we know the internet was far from dead. Google is still poised to take over the world. Okay, not really, but it does seem that the internet and a few key players, like Facebook, have an impact in our everyday lives. Today, during the explosion of the information age, eBooks are becoming all the rage.
For a writer, Amazon is a great distributor that has changed the industry. Yes, of course, there is still a place for libraries, newspapers, and physical bookstores, but here on the Internet is where every writer can best gain and interact with an audience and grow interest in quality work. It is becoming more and more the case. Some of us people today live in virtual worlds as much as we interact with people face to face. For a writer, it is becoming more effective to go on blog tours to reach people across a greater sphere than to sit across the room in readings or signing tours. Make no mistake, I still want the human interaction of sharing my book at a launch party celebration, reading to book lovers in city libraries, and/or enjoying the excitement of lines of fans or even just one on one opportunities to sign personal copies in packed stores for the holidays, but reading a book is usually a quiet moment between an individual and the pages of a book and the Internet can reach that person as well as any other way.
Recently, I caught the vision of what a blog tour can be. There are some great bloggers reviewing books and sharing their insights. I’m pleased with my book. I know it to be a great story regardless of the ability of the writer to tell it, but I didn’t spend these many years not to tell it well. And I didn’t take all of this time to not see it reach as many people as could be interested in it. The bloggers are catching on. I’m excited for their reviews. There will be lots of people looking for a good read as the weather gets colder and we gather indoors for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Maybe you are one of those persons. To wet your appetite, check out what bloggers have to say about my book, beginning November 10th, the release date of “Sterling Bridge.”
Meanwhile, there are some great blogs featured on my tour from November 10-25. Come here often and see what other blogs are out there. You might even find another book you will like to read.
Here’s my blog tour link: “Sterling Bridge” blog tour
My letter to blog reviewers of interest to me:
Greetings,
I am the author of “Sterling Bridge,” an historical fiction film novel (a short 140 page read) about a little known story of a true Utah hero during the Great Depression. It is being published by Cedar Fort in November. Although I am a first-time author, Cedar Fort tells me they anticipate a great family story like this, for all ages, will have wide appeal.
Your blog caught my attention and I would like to give you one of the first looks at my book by offering you a free copy in exchange for your honest review. We are looking for some great blogs like yours to feature as part of a blog tour. Would you be interested? Could you verify how many followers you have (blog+social media)?
The blog tour will run beginning November 10 through November 26 (Thanksgiving Day). Is there a day you prefer over another? We will hope to assign two blogs per day, and spots will fill up quickly.
Please respond by Monday. Cedar Fort will want to send you a pdf (or possibly print) copy of my book to you right away so you will have time to read it before the date assigned you.
Thank you much,
“Sterling Bridge”
