Mon 23rd Jan – Alex Banwell
click HERE to read Alex’s review
Tues 24th Jan – Maressa Mortimer
click HERE to read Maressa’s review
Weds 25th Jan – Liz Carter
click HERE to read my guest post on Liz’s blog
Thurs 26th Jan – Susan Sanderson
click HERE to read Susan’s review and author interview
Fri 27th Jan – Claire Musters
click HERE to read my guest post on Claire’s blog
Sat 28th Jan – Ruth Leigh
click HERE to read Ruth’s post and author interview
Sun 29th Jan – Natasha Woodcraft
click HERE to read Natasha’s review
It is no secret that I dislike marketing and struggle with anything that looks like self-promotion. So when I learned about blog tours last year before my book was even published, I made a mental note of the possibility. Blog tours seemed a nice, gentle way of letting other people promote my book – nothing too difficult or scary there, surely…
I was wrong. Once I committed to undertaking a blog tour I realised it was going to require me to approach published authors who I really respect and ask them if they would be willing to review my book! How pushy! How cringeworthy! The push to actually get published took all of my attention, and then I tried to conveniently forget about any marketing – to move on to writing another book. But when I prayed about what to write next, I felt God’s clear leading to do a bit more work with Friend of God first – to give it a bit more of a helping hand to get to the people He intended it for.
So I put on my ‘big-girl pants’, took a deep breath, and approached some people. Now the thing is, these are all lovely people, most of whom have already encouraged and helped me with my book, so I had no reason to fear a hostile response from them – but still I dreaded asking: making myself vulnerable and imposing on their good nature all at once. Of course, once I got over the fear and actually asked, the responses were universally positive. A couple of people were too busy but offered to do some one-off reviews later in the Spring. Everyone else was happy – sometimes thrilled – to be asked, and gladly agreed. Some wanted to interview me via email; some wanted guest blog posts from me; there is even a Podcast in the offing that may come later. But all contributors are positively (and honestly) helping my book on its way. I feel truly humbled by their kindness.
Rachel Yarworth, Writer 