Yesterday, I completely revamped the blog’s home page, which is listed as What It’s All About. This reflects some changes in circumstances. There’s nothing staggeringly revolutionary about its content, as it mainly indicates what the blog is all about (if you hadn’t guessed). The significant change is that, sadly, there is no longer any intimation that there will be, or is, an entity known as either Imagineer ebooks or Imagineer Books, in publishing terms.
Blog Tours: Why No More?
I’ve been watching numerous blogs about reading and writing, and some other things, and one thing has begun to be an annoyance: the Blog Tour! Every day, a considerable number of blogs I liked enough to follow all have the same on them! The reason why is quite simple. Seeking to provide a service to others,and perhaps hoping to acquire more readers, they have joined blog tours. I’m sorry, but it’s killing the blogs! What used to be a very rich tapestry of very different posts has become a round of ‘more of the same’. I know that we all have times when coming up with new posts is difficult, if not impossible, but I’ve reached the conclusion that I’d rather not post anything, if that’s the case! I don’t want Imagineer-ing to become just another stop on the tour, especially as many of them now seem to have so many subscribers, there’s a significant degree of duplication on each day. It was bad enough seeing the same thing each day, even if it had changed location!
In fact, the way blog tours are being carried out – the sheer volume of them – smacks of the hard selling tactics I’ve already stated I detest! I’m not convinced that this helps sell books. In fact, I have to wonder if it actually works against sales. I know that few people visit as many book blogs as I do, and that each blog usually has its own portion of unique-to-them readers, but there’s something that’s not being noticed here. Twitter, Facebook and probably other social networks are receiving messages about what these blogs are offering each day – and so we get another kind of mass duplication! Wave after wave of posts/status updates/tweets/etc pour out to assault the accounts of folk who simply want some idea of what’s new and noteworthy in the book word! Instead, they get assaulted by the same thing from all over.
So, I’ll not be accepting offers of blog tours, or applying to join in with them, or putting any of my books on them.
Tease Time!
My novelette, Part 1 of G1: The Guardians, Shade of Evil, will be rereleased very shortly. Not only does it contain corrections to a few errors, it also has some important amendments to the characters. Not only that, it has a brand new cover! Obviously, this 2nd Edition will be appearing in both ebook and paperback formats.
In addition, Part 4 of the series is just around the corner! It has been edited and necessary changes have been made to the manuscript. Of great excitement to me, personally, however, is that it now has a cover! Again, this will be released both as an ebook and a paperback. Naturally, being a novel rather than a novelette or novella, I’m afraid that the price will reflect that fact, but then it has taken a great deal more work than any of the others in the series! The release date is set to… [drum roll, please…] 10th September. Mark it in your diary!
I will do a Cover Reveal for each book at the appropriate time!
While I’m talking about this series, I’m delighted to say that I’ve had a wonderful 5 star review of The Sigil of Ahriman (Part 3)! I’ve also received a delightful 5 star review of my horror short story, In Night’s Shadows. I’d like to thank both reviewers for their kindness and generosity!