I Love Immediately Professional People

The other day we had an exterminator come over to help advise us on a critter problem we are having. You never know what you’re going to get when a service guy shows up at the house. You can have extremely competent  and professional to low class and rude or anywhere in between. The guy that showed up the other day was a member of the former class, extremely competent and professional, so much so that he might have been the club’s president. Even as I opened the door, as soon as the words “nice to meet you” finished coming out of his mouth, he was pointing out to me things I’d never noticed about my house. He basically did a preliminary inspection prior to ringing the doorbell. It felt like I was in an interview and the candidate had not only prepped but made cookies for me.

Why do I bring any of this up? Cause several people, particularly over at BookBlogs, have asked about hiring someone to run a blog tour for releasing a book. Is it worth it? What’s involved? Who should you hire?

A blog tour is basically an online promotional event designed to help generate sales of a book. Last year when I tested the waters with Toe the Line I tried to organize my own blog tour and generate my own sales. This time around I’m allowing a professional the chance to do it. So far I’ve been as happy with my choice as I was with the exterminator the other day. Already, just a few days in, Sage, the person I’ve contracted, has produced material which I think is worthwhile, professional and hopefully will be effective.

The banner above was designed by Sage and is supposed to be used by the blogs that will review On the Edge. I like it. I like mine too (see this post for comparison), but Sage’s banner has a lot going for it. First, I like the fact that she’s used the desert theme from my novel in the image. Secondly the desert floor looks like a huge puzzle which goes along with the genre of the book, a mystery/thriller. Finally, I like the fact that she used orange and blue as the primary color schemes, mostly oranges. I read about the orange/blue contrast technique years ago. Ever since I can’t stop seeing it whenever I see movie posters.

So long and short, I’ve been impressed with Sage already. I would recommend her and will continue to review the experience as it progresses.