8/03/2013

Blog Tour Visit from Donna Huber!

An Interview with Donna Huber:



Some Background & Biographical Information:
Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the blogger behind Girl Who Reads where, in addition to book reviews and author appearances, she writes the popular blogging advice series, Tips on Thursday. She has worked as a freelance publicist since 2010 assisting publishers and authors with their marketing and publicity needs. Most notably, she was the publicist for The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House edition of Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker by E. L. James. 

When she is not doling out blogging advice or promoting the next bestseller, she can be found spending time with family (particularly the four legged, furry members), rewatching Downton Abbey and Harry Potter, or trying to make a dent in her never ending to-be-read pile.

The Interview:
{this is an interview tool I created especially for writers - JS}
Q) Tell me about your book.
A) Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour is a how-to manual for authors. Though written for authors, it has useful information for bloggers who want to host better tours and tour companies who are looking for ideas.

Q) What kind of research did you do for this book?
A) A lot of my research for Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour came from my own experience. I'm an experiential learner. I have to do it to truly understand. I participated in a few tours with different companies as well as did reading on best marketing practices and then I would apply what I liked to tours I organized. Thankfully I've had a few authors who were willing to experiment with me.

Q) Do you work with an outline, or just write?
A) Since my writing background is as a blogger, I tend to just write. When I decided to turn my tips post into an ebook, I did a simple outline so I would know which posts I needed to pull together.

Q) What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
A) I don't really have a schedule when it comes to writing. I have a full-time day job as an administrative associate, but I'm also a freelance publicist. So after a full day at the office, I come home and put in another 3 or so hours doing PR for authors. Then there is my blog. I typically set up the week's posts on Sunday afternoons. If I want to work on a book, Saturday is it. When I decided to put together Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour I didn't have any pressing PR work so I spent a weekend pulling it all together. And then the next two weekends revising.

Q) What do you do when you are not writing?
A) I do a lot of reading. As a book blogger I'm always getting asked to review someone's book. I love it since I get to discover a bunch of new to me authors. I have two dogs and two cats so there's often a lot of time spent cuddling. I also have a niece and nephew nearby and spend just about every other weekend with doing something with them.

Q) What book are you reading now?
A) That's a loaded question as I rarely read only one book at a time. Right now I have 3 books in progress - Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (this is just for me), Hickey of the Beast by Isabel Kunkle (a book for review), and I Couldn't Love You More by Jillian Medoff (my pool book, but also for review).

Q) Is there any particular author or book that particularly influenced you?
A) I think I first got the idea that it was possible to turn a blog into a book from Rachel Thompson (author of Broken Pieces, Mancode, and A Walk in the Snark). Coral Russell, author The DIY Guide to Social Media and eBook Publishing, along with Donna Brown, author of Double Take Tales, really encouraged me to turn my Tips on Thursday into an ebook. They were among the first to plant the seed that I might one day write a book. There have been a half a dozen or so other authors who have encouraged me and supported me in this process.

Q) What do you think makes a good story?
A) Good characters are really important to me. If I care and connect with the characters, I'll go along with an implausible plot line just to find out what happens to the characters.

Q) What project are you working on now?
A) I'm not really working on anything right now. I've been busy with book events for a few of my clients. But I'm always working on content through my Tips on Thursday series and when I get another slow month I'm going to work on another how-to manual for authors - creating marketing plans.

Q) What’s the best thing about being an author?
A) I know technically I'm an author, but it isn't what I consider myself. I think of myself as a blogger first. But probably what I like most so far is knowing that I'm helping others. Some many authors can't afford to hire a tour company or a publicist and I like knowing that I've given them tools to get their book noticed.

Q) What is the hardest part of writing for you?
A) Finding time is probably the biggest challenge. I always worry about whether I've explained things well enough or not. Also, I have a lot of information in my head, but until someone asks me about it I don't think about. Trying to pull out from my brain what I know can be difficult sometimes.

Q) How long does it take you to write a book?
A) I wrote Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour in a weekend. Well, sort of. I actually wrote the post that the book is based on a year before. I've been writing my tips posts for almost two years.
Q) What has been the toughest criticism (and the best compliment) given to you as an author?
A) I've gotten a lot of compliments on my knowledge of the subject and how I clearly laid out to organize a tour, which is something I really worried about.

Q) Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
A) It's never too early to start marketing your book. That doesn't mean talking about your book all the time, but creating a presence so that people know who your are when your product hits the market.


About her new book:
From the publicist who introduced the world to Fifty Shades of Grey, Donna Huber is now revealing her secrets to successful blog tours. She shares tips and tricks learned through organizing over 30 tours, blasts, and promotional events for nearly 50 independently and traditionally published titles. 

Secrets revealed in this quick read include,
Planning stage decisions
Different types of tours
Recruiting bloggers and keeping requests organized
Best practice communication tips 
Tricks to making a great guest appearance
How to organize a fun (and legal) giveaway
Actions to take during the tour
Next steps once the tour is complete
Virtual tour and other promotional opportunities
When to hire a professional

In this easy to follow manual, Donna does not stop there. She spills even more of her blog tour secrets to help authors get the most out of their events by providing,

Tour checklist
Tour invite tips
Step-by-step guide to creating tour graphics
10 broad guest post topics
25 sample interview questions

Donna's Book, "Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour" is available now, and you can find out more about the book and/or buy a copy using the links and information below:

Social Media Links:
Twitter 
Facebook 
Blog 
Goodreads

Buy Links:
Amazon(US) Amazon(UK) 
Smashwords
Kobo

Good Luck Donna!

Jamie

1 comment:

Girl Who Reads said...

Thanks for hosting me.