I met Camy last year at Mount Hermon through some mutual friends, but we unfortunately did not have much time to get to know each other. I do remember always seeing a smile on her face or catching her laughing, though! Camy’s energy and passion are evident even through her blog, and I admire and appreciate her desire to help other writers.
1. How long have you been blogging and why did you start?
I originally started blogging because I like to talk! LOL Seriously, I love journaling and writing and the idea of my stuff out there on the world wide web. But a year or so into blogging, I realized how great a marketing tool a blog can be if done correctly. I took a few workshops and talked with professional blogger friends and started targeting my blog toward my marketing “brand” and my reader demographic. Now, I blog about fun, funny stuff and Asiana, which fit with my tagline of “Romance with a kick of wasabi.”
2. How do blogging and/or blog tours fit into your overall marketing plan?
I blog 5 days a week, and I draw readers to my blog with both fun content and Christian fiction giveaways. People are usually drawn to my blog because of the book giveaways, but most keep coming back because they like my posts, which I try to make entertaining and targeted at my reader demographic. I’m hoping my blog readers will go out and buy my book and tell other people about it.
I did a very successful blog tour last September for my debut novel, Sushi for One, and I’m about to launch another one in March for my second novel, Only Uni. I like to have original content on each blog so there’s something interesting for people to read at each “stop” on the tour. Lots of new readers found out about my book and my blog through the blog tour. I like blog tours because they don’t really take that much time and it’s fun to interact with readers.
3. What are three (or less) keys to your success in promoting your books (or other products) through blogging?
1) Blog in your marketing brand. I blog about fun stuff–nothing serious–because my books are humorous women’s fiction and romance novels, not deep literary fiction books. I also blog about Asiana, since my novels all have at least one Asian American character. I think this is key for people who use blogging for promotion.
2) Blog consistently. It’s best to blog at least 5 days a week, but some people blog 3 days a week and their blogs do well, also. Some people are frightened away by that kind of time commitment, but I have two tricks I use: (a) Each post is only 250-400 words max–any longer, and readers’ eyes start to glaze over, and (b) I take one day a week and do all my blogging for the entire week. It’s the most efficient use of my time, because I can crank out 5 short blog posts in a couple hours, max.
Have fun doing it. I always tell people that if they try blogging and don’t like it, then don’t do it. People can tell if you’re not enjoying blogging, and a bad blog is worse than no blog at all.
4. What do you think are the Big Mistakes writers make when blogging for promotion?
By thinking that a blog is ALL ABOUT THE BLOGGER. It’s not. Really, it’s all about your blog reader. I focus my posts on my readers and encourage interaction. Of course, I talk about things that happen to me, but I always try to have something for the reader–something funny, entertaining, informative, or a chance to respond. Randy Ingermanson has a good phrase he uses–“value added.” Your blog should have “value added” for your blog readers–something for them, a reason for them to visit your blog.
5. What does a blog tour accomplish, if anything? What data or analysis has led you to believe that?
My blog readers liked my last blog tour because the different stops enabled them to see different aspects of my books or my personality that interested them. I also gained a lot of publicity about my book, which I enhanced with a newsletter contest running concurrently with the blog tour. The blog tour got more people aware of me, my books, and my contest, which gave away an iPod Nano and lots of Christian fiction books. I had lots of people sign up for my newsletter as a result of the publicity about it from my blog tour.
I’m doing something similar in March–right now, I have a newsletter YahooGroup contest for huge boxes of Christian fiction books, and only newsletter subscribers can enter.
6. What should be the goals of a blog tour and how do you track whether or not a blog tour is successful?
For me personally, my blog tours are primarily to entertain. While I know the tour is publicizing my book and my contest, I mostly want to just entertain whoever’s reading. I think that when I go into the blog tour with that attitude, it makes for a funner tour. I also like giving away copies of my book during the blog tour, because who doesn’t like a free book? LOL.
Blog tour success is relative. I think a tour is successful if I have lots of people signing up for my newsletter or if I see a jump in my blog readership, but those are just numbers. I love it when people say, “I won a copy of your book from your blog tour and couldn’t put it down!”
7. What are the components of a successful blog tour?
I firmly believe that original content on each blog is really important. Otherwise, the blog tour just becomes a bunch of blogs posting the same piece of advertisement, and that’s not fun for a blog reader if they’re coming from your blog on the stops on your tour. You don’t need to write a book–short guest blog posts or a limit of 5 interview questions is usually good, in my opinion. Also, original content allows the blogger hosting you to insert their own blog’s marketing brand in the questions they ask you or the topic of your guest blog post. A tour with original content generates excitement about each stop on the tour from blog readers, and that’s always key.
8. Any other additional thoughts on blogging and blog tours?
Even though I like blog tours, I don’t think authors or anyone else promoting something on a tour should feel that they HAVE to do it. Same thing with blogging–people don’t HAVE to blog in order to market. Lots of people will disagree with me. However, I firmly believe that a bad blog is worse than no blog. People can choose what to read on the web, and why would they choose to read your blog or your books if they don’t like your blog content?
Thanks for having me here!
Thank YOU for being here, Camy! I appreciate all of your insight.
Be sure to check out Camy’s blog. In addition to great content, helpful reviews, and insightful interviews, she also runs a ton of give-aways!
To read the other interviews in this series, click here.
You can read the summary posts and discussion of what I’ve learned through these interviews over on my personal blog, click here.
This is a helpful series. Personally, it’s helpful to see how “success” is defined. I like how Camy defines it with fun.
Heather – Glad it’s helpful. And Camy is LOTS of fun!
I’m with Camy on the original content piece. That’s what is missing from most blog tours. It is why I said (will say in the upcoming interview!) that I tune out when I come across a blog tour. Most feel like “the same advertisement”, as Camy says.
It would be good to hear about how Camy encouraged original content.
Thanks so much!
Camy
LL – I do agree with you, but it is so hard to get people to write original content. I think it’s how you approach the tour – is it more like a press release sent out on the social media “newswire” or is it an author stopping in to visit each site like a traditional book tour?
C – Thank you!
An interesting perspective about the author stopping by. I wonder why it doesn’t particularly have that feel and what could be done to highlight that aspect.
[…] selling. If you only want to sell, set up a website or an Etsy shop . . . or put it on eBay. As Camy Tang points out, “. . . if (you) try blogging and don’t like it, then don’t do it. […]