A virtual blog tour was something that was totally new for me in connection with my new book, WHERE DO I GO. It was like sending your baby out on a trip all by herself before she has learned to walk. Will she end up crawling back home, bullied by the world. Still, there’s no point in writing a book and not letting people read it, especially strangers. That’s where we learn if we are connecting with our readers. It can’t just be family and friends, although their reaction is a great bellwether in the beginning. But having worked with this blog tour, which was specifically meant for historical fiction readers, I heartily recommend it. Spoiler alert: all the reviews were wonderful. But in addition to telling me how I touched them and that they enjoyed or were moved by the story, the details that each reviewer talked about let me know where I had succeeded and areas I might think about expanding the next book around. Even those of us who don’t get reviewed by the NY Times need to hear how people are reacting to our work. A blog tour gives you the opportunity of having several reviews from diverse reviewers from different geographical locations which is both helpful and when you get 5 stars plus, very gratifying.
