Writers tip - blog tours.

I have been sidetracked recently with personal issues and so unable to post regularly but hopefully I am back in the saddle. I thought I would do a little post about blog tours. If you have not heard of them, the idea is that a host company takes your book and you on a virtual tour to other blogs.

The host who have contacts push your books via blog sites, readers, and other contacts to provide a relatively cheap form of promotion. It is worth checking that your host pushes your type of books. YA fiction and fantasy do seem to do particularly well. Touring is a paid pursuit so be aware in to check prices and what you get for your money and whether such a pursuit is going to pay dividends. The other option which is the one that interests me is becoming a host for blog tours.

The tourer will push readers to your site and the hope is that whilst there they will also pick up your book. I have not honed this craft yet but will be trying it for some months to see whether the tours provide any residual publicity for my own books. thus far nothing but it may be that I need somesort of attractive hook somewhere on my site pushing the reader to it as well as the tour so all an experiment.

Goddess Fish and Lightening Book Tours are two I have come across who seem reputable. I have hosted a tour here and on shardpubs.blogspot.com recently and am doing more. I would welcome views from others on the success they have had with tours. don't forget there is nothing to stop you setting up your own tour with blog mates if the idea attracts you. good luck.

My book the first in the Cusworth and Kaelly mystery series is available on the side icon click to go to Amazon for Hoxton Kirby Vampire Investigators and Declan Munro's thriller with a twist Nightingale vale, also on the side icons. We are also at Shardpubs.blogspot.com

Indie reads at Shardpubs: Kindle owners lending library

Indie reads at Shardpubs: Kindle owners lending library

David Pereda's However Long the Night. A good read.

Highly Recommended. I was somewhat nervous of doing a professional review, what if I don't like the book? However, as I had the opportunity to choose the books that interest me on this tour, I was delighted to settle down with David Pereda's book However Long the Night and discover myself pleasantly transported to another country, namely Cuba, and a different world. During my research I discovered the book was the Winner of the Lighthouse Book Award for fiction and the Royal Palm Award for fiction, The book in short is a sweeping romance with the depth of suspense and political and historical intrigue. This gives the book weight. The main character Cid, is a man who discovers that the whole edifice of his success is a lie perpetrated by his own father. Much of the book is set in Cuba and the writing which is sweeping and descriptive evokes the warm sensuality of the country. I have been to Cuba myself and so it was a secondary pleasure to be transported to a living breathing Cuba, rather than the one portrayed for the consumption of holiday makers. It will certainly make me appreciate my experience there all the more. The story is exotically sumptuous. The account transports one on the journey of a Cuban family forced to leave Cuba during the boatlift of 1980. The story is focused on Cid who arrives as a teenager in the United States. He goes on to become successful as an architect in Miami with all the accoutrement of the role. The book however avoids predictability by launching us into a world of intrigue surrounding his father's past in Cuba. I will not go into the details as it will spoil the story. Suffice to say Cid's journey risks danger and intrigue. As a skilled writer David Pereda manages to keep the mystery of the story suspended thus engaging the reader to the very end. I was hooked by the three dimensional complex character development and the swirling description. As a writer myself I have certainly learned a thing or two. I have nothing but admiration for the quality of the writing and the awards previously won are well deserved. I give this book a well deserved 4.5. The story will stay with you and give you a satisfying excursion into pastures new crossing as it does the area between fiction and faction. Certainly a page turner and one to add to the library. I would be tempted to read it more than once as there is bound to be more to get out of it with each read. Also reviewed on Shardpubs.blogspot.com