Dicussion Post: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Or When Should I Give Up on Blog Tours?

So, recently I've been feeling more and more overwhelmed by all the tours I keep signing up for. Not only that, there have been several that I have signed up to review, and then not enjoyed the book enough to keep reading/listening to it.

The title of this post comes from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

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A few weeks ago, I got an email from the person in charge of one of the tour companies letting me know that I had said I would review a book way back in March I think, and I never did it. So they were going to have to send a link to my review or I wouldn't be able to participate in any more until I did.  At first I could have sworn that I'd sent them an email saying I didn't enjoy the book and wouldn't be reviewing it.  But I went back and looked through all my own emails and couldn't find anything saying I'd sent that to them.  I do remember the book, and I remember when I gave up on it.  It was also right at the end of the school year, so I must have thought I'd emailed, but then forgot with all the crazy end of the school year stuff.  So I ended up just emailing back and saying it was fine if they just took me off of their list for promos.  I mean, the few books I'd gotten from them I hadn't liked enough to even finish, so it probably wasn't worth either of our times for me to stay working with them.

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However, after the tour manager reached out to me about another tour I'd signed up for, I emailed back saying I'd thought I wasn't able to participate.  She let me know that she had been sending out a lot of those emails, and doesn't know for sure why I got it, that she still had me listed to keep being a part of the tours.  So that issue is solved.   Who knows what end it was on, probably mine, but it is good to work with someone who is willing to work with someone who is usually dependable.

The other thing, is that there are some tours that have the posts already almost perfectly ready for you to post in an html that they send out, and I love those!  I will mention one that does such an awesome job of it, Xpresso Book Tours.  I love participating because her html documents are almost perfect.  I only usually have to change a few things that are personal preference for my own posts, or maybe insert a review or whatever the extra promo I've got from the author might be.

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But I have had to make myself stop signing up for more than one tour a day, for a while this year I got kinda crazy.  Even still, these are all the groups I still get emails from and occasionally post for:

1.  Xpresso Book Tours
2.  Rock Star Book Tours
3.  Jean Book Nerd Blog Tours
4.  YA Bound Book Tours
5.  Social Butterfly PR
6.  InkSlinger Pr
7.  Enticing Journey Book Promotion
8.  Fantastic Flying Book Club Tours
9.  Pump Up Your Book
10.  Silver Dagger Book Tours
11.  Book Unleashed Tours
12.  Reading Addiction Blog Tours
13.  Audiobookworm Promotions

Now those are all I can think of at the moment, so you can see why I feel like Castiel in the gif above.  And I'm not even listing when publishers contact me to participate in tours, or authors themselves ask me to promote their book. Then there are blog tour groups that have gone out of business, one of which was a favorite of mine. And I've not  listed the one that I mentioned above, since I will no longer be working with them anyway.

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So, I hate to give up several of them, because I never know when they might have a book I really want to read or be a part of their promotion.

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What blog tour groups do you work with?  Have you had any really good or really bad experiences you want to share?  Any thoughts on this post at all, I'd love to hear from you!

Now, excuse me while I go do some more writing to reach my goal during NaNoWriMo!!

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Blog Tour and Giveaway: Shattering Truths (Deadly Veils #1) by Kyrian Lyndon

Book info:
Title:  Shattering Truths
Author:  Kyrian Lyndon
Series:  Deadly Veils #1
Publication date: January 30th, 2017
Genres: Suspense, Young Adult

She was left fighting her demons alone . . .
For sixteen-year-old Danielle DeCorso, the old house in Glastonbury was an eerie place to grow up. Coping with mental health challenges exacerbated by a traumatic family dynamic, Danielle watches from the window for two men in a dusty black sedan who keep circling the house and harassing her with phone calls. The two predators drugged her and her cousin, Angie, and then lured them from Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport to a secluded cottage on Long Beach West. She remembers feeling dizzy, the room spinning. She recalls screaming, crying, fighting, and then slipping in and out of consciousness. Angie, however, has no recollection of the incident.
When Danielle attempts to jog Angie’s memory and convince their best friend, Farran, that the two strangers had victimized them, no one seems to believe her. Alone in her pain, Danielle remains guarded, obsessed, and withdrawn. Soon she is sinking deeper into a tumultuous world of adolescent isolation and change. Grief, guilt, and anger send her spiraling into an even darker place.
Tormented by terrifying nightmares, she fears she will lose her sanity, or possibly her soul. Is she having post-traumatic stress hallucinations, as one of her friends suggest, or are her recurring nightmares as real as they seem? Trapped in an unyielding emotional bondage, Danielle continues the fight to reclaim her power. Startling revelations awaken her newfound spirit, inspiring a once naïve girl to grow into a woman of defiance and courage.

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Excerpt:

“So who are members of the Lynx?” Farran asked. “Tell me.”

“Hang around. You’ll see.” Billy took a hearty swig of his beer. “Man, they’re not fucking gods to me. Excuse the language. You always gotta watch what you say about them and who you say it to. If any of the Lynx is in trouble, they’re all there. They stick together. What, I should be grateful I get a nod from them while most of the patrons, regular customers for years, are ignored?” He took another swig and looked toward the door. “Speak of the devils … here comes the leader of the pack.”

We followed his gaze to a tall figure bustling confidently through the crowd. The guy looked more like a glam metal rock star than a biker and was clad in a sleeveless, black-studded vest, tight jeans, and boots, his magnificent head of dark hair falling two inches below his shoulders. I thought I’d have to pick up Farran’s jaw—and Angie’s.

Farran was salivating. “Damn! Is he drop-dead gorgeous or what?”

“Enough to make you forget Dave Navarro and every single one of The Lost Boys,” Angie concurred.“ I mean, those cheekbones, too—like they were sculpted to perfection!”

He was svelte more than herculean, with a well-toned physique that included muscular biceps adorned with tattoos. I figured him to be six-foot-one, and in his early twenties.

“Wait,” Farran said, glancing at Shannon. “Is that the guy you’re seeing?”

“Who, Valentin?” Shannon giggled. “Uh, wait a minute. Come with me.”

Farran, Angie, and I followed as she led us to Valentin and hugged him.

He hugged her tight in return.

“This is Valentin,” she said.“ I go out with his brother, Nico, but he and I are close friends.” During the subsequent introductions, she provided my full name.

“Ah, Joey’s sister,” he acknowledged.

I could see the tattoo on his left arm was a dragon. On his upper right arm, he had what appeared to be a king cobra amid a myriad of roses and flames.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said.

“The pleasure is mine,” he returned.

His dark eyes drew me in with their formidable intensity. I felt a chill in their power to seduce without effort. It was as if his soul was burning, and I could see its fire through the darkness. It forced me to look away.

 

Author Bio:
Kyrian Lyndon is the author of Shattering Truths, the first book in her Deadly Veils series. She has also published two poetry collections, A Dark Rose Blooms, and Remnants of Severed Chains. Kyrian began writing short stories and fairy tales when she was just eight years old. In her adolescence, she moved on to poetry. At sixteen, while working as an editor for her high school newspaper, she wrote her first novel, and then completed two more novels at the ages of nineteen and twenty-five.

Born and raised in Woodside, Queens, New York, Kyrian was the middle of three daughters born to immigrants —her father from Campochiaro, Italy; her mother from Havana, Cuba. She has worked primarily in executive-level administrative positions with major New York publishing companies. She resides on Long Island in New York.

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