Monday, January 13, 2014

Sharing: BLOG TOUR WITH THE BOOK CLUB


I am sure each member of The Book Club has been reading all their lives and can afford to buy their own books. Despite that, they were ready and willing to write about my book and do my interviews – all from the heart.

When Rubina Ramesh suggested a Blog Tour for my book DOUBLE JEOPARDY, I vigorously nodded my head and agreed, not quite understanding what she meant in totality. As I had mentioned before, the woman is a go-getter. What I had not mentioned is that she is a Superwoman! I have been through a whirlwind over the past 10 days and have enjoyed every minute of it thoroughly.

For those who came in late, about Rubina Ramesh in her own words:

RUBINA RAMESH is an avid book reader and book critic currently based in Phoenix, Arizona. Born in Bihar, India to a Bengali family, she has been a constant traveler - Bangalore London, The Netherlands, Malaysia, Houston and now Phoenix. In all these her constant companion has been books which turned her into a regular blogger on various sites and also led to her own blog of book reviews. Currently she is working on her book's manuscript while she looks towards bridging the gap between Indian and western authors and promote Indian authors in the western blog hops. Her book reviews can be read at http://rubinaramesh.blogspot.com/

I would like to share my learning and experience during the blog tour. There are three parts to this, namely, Spotlight, Review & Interview. Let me explain in terms of my book.

A Spotlight is when a member displays the information about my book along with author information, pictures and banners on his/her blog. Adite Banerjie & Dola Basu Singh did that for me on their blogs. Thank you ladies!

Click Here for Adite’s Blog Link

Click Here for Dola’s Blog Link

We all understand what a Review is, of course. What happened during the blog tour was that Rubina brought together a number of writers and bloggers to review my book. They all gave me their honest views and gave my book exposure among all their blog readers, facebook friends and twitter followers. Some of them put up their posts on PinIt and other social media networks, increasing the viewers by a number of times.

What is even better is that this group of reviewers posted their reviews on Amazon, Flipkart, Goodreads, etc. where my book is on sale. Rubina Ramesh, Neelesh Gajanan Inamdar, Vishwas Manjula Byrappa, Sumeetha Manikandan, Sridevi Datta & Jaibala Rao reviewed my book. Thank you so much Guys!

Click Here to read Rubina’s review

Click Here to read Neelesh’s review

Click Here to read Vishwas’s review

Click Here to read Sumeetha’s review

Click Here to read Sridevi’s review

Click Here to read Jaibala’s review

The Interviews were a class apart. I feel quite thrilled that so many people wanted to interview me to begin with. And the questions were all different and very interesting – I am sure for many of the readers and especially aspiring authors too. Thank you Rubina Ramesh, Sonia Rao, Ruchi Vasudeva, Jaibala Rao & The Tales Pensieve for those interviews.

Click Here to read Rubina’s interview

Click Here to read Sonia’s interview

Click Here to read Ruchi’s interview

Click Here to read Jaibala’s interview

Click Here to read The Tales Pensieve’s interview (also by Rubina Ramesh)

RESULTS OF THE BLOG TOUR

Now, coming to the most important part of the blog tour. Social Media Marketing is here to stay. As I had mentioned to someone the other day, it’s like distributing free cups of Nescafe to sell tons of it. It’s as simple as that.

I share some copies of my book with writers, authors and bloggers. In return, they give me their valuable feedback while getting their blog readers to know about my book. Great exchange, I feel. More than that, they post their reviews on Amazon, Flipkart and some of the other websites where my book is on sale. Fabulous deal!

As I mentioned before, the interviews were a different ballgame altogether. The questions were varied – each one talking to me from a different angle. Amazing interactions!

I must say it was a roller-coaster ride the past ten days that I thoroughly enjoyed. The best result was when my Twitter followers increased tremendously. I was – am – amazed at the response to the promotions.

The sales – well, I will know the actual effect after a couple of months. I am not worried. I have done my best to promote my book. God, I am sure, is taking care of the rest.

The selfless work that has gone into this is by this great team of The Book Club. I am sure each of them has been reading all their lives and can afford to buy their own books. Despite that, they were ready and willing to write about my book and do my interviews – all from the heart.

I THANK THEM ALL FROM THE DEPTH OF MY HEART! Love You Guys! HUGS!


2 comments:

  1. Lovely Book Tour. Thanks to Rubina, we got to know more about Sundari & read many more bloggers/authors and their perspective. Because of this I started following more blogs. :) Talk about sleeping(reading) on the job. Sundari to blame ;)

    All the best to all of you people. Keep up the good work !

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Nilima. You have been with me throughout this tour - following the blogs and giving your feedback. Thanks for all your support! :D

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