Over the past two weeks I've contacted over 70 blogs looking for hosts for my upcoming blog tour promoting the release of my second novel. So far I've had nine responses and I'm sure that there'll be more, but it has taken up an awful lot of my time.
Today I came across a great blog offering free blog tours. I had already sent Forever YA a request, but then found a post on Goodreads. So if you write in this genre and you're planning a tour, make them your first stop. It could save you many hours of your precious time.
Then I came across something that made me sit up. I have spent hours searching twitter, Goodreads and Google for book bloggers, particularly YA to host a leg of my tour. I have lived in a small South Wales valley town all my life. Wales has a population of approximately 3 million and Merthyr Tydfil about 50,000. So almost all of my connections on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter are from other parts of the world.
So to find someone from my home town was quite a surprise. Robin Jones has a story to tell on his blog SmallTownBoy. He tells about his addiction to heavy drugs which very nearly cost him his life and how he has since managed to turn his life around. Now he is trying to write a book about his life and is looking for some practical help and advice.
Merhtyr Tydfil has a rich heritage. It is the home of the railway - Richard Trevethick's steam locomotive made the first ever journey on a track and started 500 yards from where I live. It was at one stage the steel producing capital of the world and an industrial giant. Times change and sadly for Merthyr not always for the better. The town suffers from the same economic and social problems as many other towns across Wales, the UK and probably many other towns and cities across the world.
If Robin's story can help to inspire other young people who find themselves in a similar situation, then it is a story that must be written.
You can follow Robin's story on his blog and follow him on twitter. Let's give this SmallTownBoy some support! It might just save a life.
About Me
- Richie Earl
- My name is Richie Earl. I'm a forty-something Indie Author, writing YA fantasy novels. I have self-published two books in the Tales of Finndragon Series: The Legend of Finndragon's Curse and Return to Finndragon's Den. In creating One Thousand Worlds in One Thousand Words, I hope to give other authors some valuable exposure, and help them find readers and success.
No comments:
Post a Comment