Blog Tour How-To: Interview with Jessa Russo

Jessa Russo

To tell us more about how to put on a blog tour, I am happy to introduce the author of Ever, Jessa Russo. Jessa got such a great response for her blog tour, she had to extend it. Let's find out how!

You've put together an impressive tour for your debut novel, Ever. What steps did you take to get this done?
I think it’s safe to say that I pretty much just winged it. I knew I wanted to do a blog tour, and I knew I couldn’t pay for it. So I started asking my writing buddies on Twitter and Facebook, etc. I happened to have a few tour-hosting requests come in around the same time, so I asked those authors to do a trade. I had an AMAZING response. So much so that I have doubled-up some days and extended the tour into November, when I’d originally worried about filling just October. Writers are awesome, and the writing community as a whole is so, so supportive.

Did you do all the work yourself or did you use any paid services or ads?
I did all of the work myself, even down to making the blog tour banner (in case you couldn’t tell by looking at it.) I think that the sites that put together these blog tours are professional and worth it – if you have the extra money to invest. Unfortunately, I do not at this time. Maybe for the second book in the series.

I know it may be hard to tell, but so far, what type of promotion has seemed to be the most effective?
I think it’s still too early to tell, but I have gotten a fairly good response to selling signed copies directly from my blog. People seem to like having that option.

If you could go back and do your release again, would you change anything? Is there anything you'd like to do differently for future releases?
I can’t think of any complaints, or anything I’d change, except maybeeeeee a bit more build up to get people amped for the release. But I was just so excited and wanted my book to be in the world. Plus, with a brand new book from a no-name author, it’s hard to really get people excited. Hopefully *if all goes well* there will be more hype for my next book. (Yes, I’m crossing my fingers and praying. Lol)

What is the most important piece of advice you'd give an author who wanted to promote an upcoming release?
Just that: PROMOTE. Promote, promote, promote. This is your baby, and you are responsible for showing it to the world. Don’t sit back and hope that someone else will take the reins. And above all else, ask for help. Your friends in the writing community will help you – in fact they’ll want to – you just have to ask. Don’t be scared. We don’t bite. Well, I don't at least.