Guest Post from Isaura author Ruth Silver

Title: Isaura (Aberrant 3)

Author: Ruth Silver

Publisher: Patchwork Press/Lazy Day Publishing

Published On: December 4th, 2013

Cover Art: Erica Crouch (paperback), Lazy Day Publishing (eBook)

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Synopsis:

With Joshua’s recent disappearance, Olivia has little choice but to head into the dangerous Gravelands as the new government wrestles with fixing the damage to society. Joining forces with her estranged father and a girl from Haven, they go on a search-and-rescue mission to find Joshua and bring him back alive. If traveling through outlaw territory isn’t frightening enough, Olivia learns she has exposed her secret and is hunted by her allies.

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eBook: Kindle | Nook

Excerpt:

“I'm fine!” I pushed harder on the gas. “They can't be that far ahead of us.” I just hoped we were headed in the right direction.

We drove another twenty minutes north as I moved off the dirt road and onto grass. I glanced back at Rane. “Do you think Craynor could have found a place in Haven to keep Joshua?”

“I don't know. Not much was left. There could have been a cellar or basement abandoned that didn't get struck. That's how I survived,” Rane admitted.

It at least gave me hope. As we drove north, the rain stopped and the clouds parted. Cresting a hill, I slammed the brakes as we jolted to an abrupt halt.

“What the hell?” Gavin's voice echoed as the seatbelt restrained him and his arm shot up on the dashboard to steady himself. A few feet away, I saw outlaws with weapons pointed in our direction. “Hurry up!” His voice threatened in my ear as I slammed on the gas, but our car wasn't going anywhere: the tires had blown from spikes in the road.

Locking the doors hadn't helped. They busted the car window and flipped the lock, opening the door, dragging all three of us out.

eBook Cover

And Ruth is here with a special guest post. Tips about authors and blog tours.

Authors and Blog Tours

by Ruth Silver

Quite often, I get asked by other authors how I promote and market my books. There are tons of dystopian novels in the young adult genre. How can I differentiate myself? The biggest factor: letting people know about your book. If they don’t know it’s out there, they can’t read it. So, how do you get people to know you have a new book out there: Blog Tours.

You can create a book blog tour yourself, or hire a tour company to do. I will warn you, if you hire a tour company, do not pay them more than 45 days in advance of the start date to your tour. Why? If you’re paying via Paypal (and every tour I’ve seen, so far it’s all Paypal), you can dispute your payment if the tour host vanishes. Sadly, I had this happen during the Moirai tour. I won’t name the tour company, but I will say that I was disappointed by their lack of professionalism. They were supposed to e-mail book bloggers with both copies of my books (Aberrant & Moirai). It never happened. They had two months from the time I paid until the tour. The only e-mail sent to the tour hosts was to sign up. Nothing else was done. Many of the tour hosts had booked other tours for that date. Even a few had emailed about rescheduling or confirming their date, they received no response. My point is, if I had paid within 45 days (I was at 60 days), I could have disputed the transaction and got my money back. Now, that doesn’t mean if you’re not happy with the tour you should dispute the transaction. If you received the service that you paid for, then they’ve held up their end of the commitment. There are times that book bloggers don’t post. If you’re concerned that the tour will just be a bust, then you should ask for referrals from authors that have used their services.

If you decide to save the money and do the tour yourself, here’s a few things to keep in mind:

• Create a sign up form (Google Docs is excellent)  

• Offer an HTML post. Book bloggers often prefer HTML because it’s already set up and ready to go. It makes their life easier. If you don’t know how to do HMTL try it in Wordpress under Post. If you’re an author - you need a website!
• You’ll want to contact book bloggers. The best thing to do is create a spreadsheet. Get their contact information from their website (email address, name, whether they’re taking requests, genres, etc). Don’t contact someone that isn’t your genre. Specifically, if you’re an erotica author, don’t go asking a YA book blog to host you.
• It’s best to try and do a tour that isn’t reviews only. You’ll have more people offering to host a spotlight/excerpt then write a review. There isn’t enough time in the day for book bloggers to read every book that is offered to them.
• Follow the rules of the book blogger. In most cases, book bloggers don’t want you to send them an e-ARC without talking to them and asking for it.
• Also, if you’re asking a book blogger to review your book, you need to provide them with a copy. Don’t expect them to buy it.
• Get organized. Contact the bloggers that have agreed to host your tour, and get interview questions and anything else you need. Then write up the posts and be sure to send them everything. If you forget, no one else will do it for you.