Taking Aim at the Comfort Zone

I hope you will excuse any nonsense that appears in my post today. The cold seems to be winning at the moment.

Scheduling the blog tour is going pretty well. I read about someone else's experience while setting up his blog tour. He said that about 20% replied to him. My ratio is probably slightly higher than that, so I’m happy. For the most part, the blogs that responded are the ones with the most followers. I thought that was interesting.

I sometimes have these moments of nervousness, like the most introverted part of me suddenly realizes that I've ventured slightly farther out of my comfort zone. But I'm working through it. I know that if I ever want to write novels to make a living I need to be out in the world, making sure that people can actually find the books.

A few people have actually asked for review copies, which also makes me nervous. I'm terrified of reviewers. I've never solicited reviews before a book release before, mostly because I have a fear that my work won't stand up to a certain level of scrutiny.

I've seen reviews (hopefully not by professional reviewers) that were over the top cruel. They were for authors other than me, but when I read them, I internalized them as a potential thing that could happen to me.

However, when the first request for review copy came in, I did not say ‘no thank you’. Because I am doing my best not to live like a total coward, I said yes. The book isn't quite ready for all that yet, but I've started a list of people who get pre-release copies either in preparation for an interview or a review copy. Hit me up if you want one. Bloggers get preferential treatment. : )