Blog Tour How-To: An Interview with Krystal Wade

Krystal Wade

This week I'm posting on blog tours and D-I-Y book promotion and I'm happy to present an interview with book promoter extraordinaire, Krystal Wade. Krystal has done a great job getting her Darkness Falls series all over the web. She did this fueled purely on her own sweat and tears, and probably a lot of caffeine. Krystal is a mother of three, editor for Curiosity Quills Press, author of three books (with more on the way), and has a full-time day job 45 minutes away. She is living proof that if there is a will, there's a way. Let's find out how she managed to launch an amazing book tour along with everything else on her plate:

You've done a great job getting the Darkness Falls all over the web. What steps did you take to get this done?

Step 1: Give up sleep
Step 2: Give up sanity
Step 3: Become a chatty cathy and make lots of friends
Step 4: Hope, wish, dream, guess, make mistakes, fall asleep at work, run through insane emotions, etc
Step 5: Participate in everything I can, even if that means over-committing myself to things.
(P.S. If someone has found a better way, please let me know.)

LOL. I'll let you know if I find the secret to cloning. I haven't yet. Did you do all the work yourself or did you use any paid services or ads?

The only paid service I'm using is a Goodreads ad. I have two ads under one campaign, and it cost $150 ($.50/click). I've noticed an increase in how many shelves my book is on on Goodreads, but have not seen a significant uptick in sales yet.

What type of promotion seems to get you the most actual sales?

Books sell best by word of mouth. So, placing books in the hands of "fans" for free and then having them tell their friends about Wilde's Fire (Wilde's Army and Meadow) seems to work best.

What mistakes have you seen other authors make in promoting their books?

You know, I don't have much time to watch other authors. I think the key is just to never stop promoting. Even when you release another book, keep promoting the first.

What is the most important piece of advice you'd give an author who wanted to promote an upcoming release?

Line up guest spots well in advance of your book's release date. Write generic posts you can share with whoever requests. Don't forget to sleep, and don't stress if you don't hit #1 on Amazon. Start at the bottom and work your way up.

Wonderful information Krystal! You can be sure I'm taking notes.

Wilde's Fire (Darkness Falls)

“There is no pain in this death, only peace, knowing I am going to die with the one I love the most.”—Katriona Wilde. Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she’s ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out: her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her. What’s worse, she has no control over her new future, full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made. Will Kate discover and learn to control who she really is in time to save the ones she loves, or will all be lost?

Wilde's Army (Darkness Falls) 

“Hello, Katriona.” Those two words spark fear in Katriona Wilde and give way to an unlikely partnership with Perth, the man she’s been traded to marry for a favor. Saving her true love and protector Arland, her family, and their soldiers keeps her motivated, but the at-odds duo soon realizes trust is something that comes and goes with each breath of Encardia’s rotting, stagnant air. Now, Kate must unite her clashing people, and form an army prepared to fight in order to defeat Darkness. When so many she’s grown fond of die along the journey, will she still be Katriona Wilde, the girl with fire?