The first week of my blog tour is over. Sitting in front of a hotel window overlooking Lake George in the Adirondacks I have some time to reflect on how it went. At the end of Day 1 Deena of A Survivor’s Thoughts on Life emailed me asking me if it turned out okay and expressing the hope that my other stops would turn out better. I replied:
I think the blog stop worked out fine. It gained some exposure for both of us. I know several people read the post even if they didn’t write comments. Some people emailed me privately. One has asked me to write a book with him on friendship. You cannot tell right away how successful a marketing campaign is or isn’t. Some books sold.
Book marketing is hard work. I had to take time to read my hosts’ blogs and write a post for them to use on their blog. My hosts read my book, wrote a review and helped moderate the comments. During the blog stop I monitored comments and responded to readers as close to real time as possible. I also twittered about it motivating people to read the posts and comment. I offered the incentive of a drawing for a free book. Mary Morgan won the drawing for re-tweeting the announcement and Cat M won for writing a comment.
Day One of the tour I stopped at Aida Calder’s Forgetting the Former Things and at Deena’s A Survivor’s Thoughts on Life. Both women posted reviews of my book on their blogs. I then posted my reaction. Several women followed me at Forgetting the Former Things, commented and retweeted my messages about the virtual book tour. Deena asked me questions throughout the day and I responded.
My third blog stop was at The Apostle Wive’s Club. A few women who had commented at Forgetting the Former Things followed me there. Before “meeting” the owner of the blog I had never given any thought of how the Catholic Church responded to priests who broke their celibacy vow and married. Their reaction appears hypocritical. Over the past decades the Catholic Church has covered up sexual abuse and reassigned offending priests. Why are they so forgiving of pedophiles but not of priests who fall in love and marry?
The fourth tour was at Book Hookup where Donna Sundblad asked me to write about what inspired Not of My Making. Read The Healing Journey
The blog tour has gotten me out of my comfort zone and I have “met” several interesting people. That has been one of the unplanned benefits of book marketing. Immediately following my de-churchings I became mildly agoraphobic and withdrew into myself. Book marketing forced me to be assertive and outgoing. I wasn’t going to sell many books if I withdrew into the safety of my home.
If you missed the blog stops you can still read the posts about Not of My Making, spiritual abuse, friendship and book writing. They are located at:
Forgetting the Former Things
Haunted by the Ghosts of Spiritual Abuse
Aida Calder’s Review of Not of My Making
A Survivor’s Thoughts on Life:
Interview with Margaret W Jones, Ph.D.
Is Shunning a Form of Emotional Abuse
Deena’s Review of Not of My Making
Not of My Making, Initial Reaction to Book
I Met Someone Today – Divine Appointment?
The Apostles Wives Club:
Margaret Answers Your Questions
Book Hookup:
What Inspired Not of My Making?
Week Two of the Tour will start May 2nd. Please join me. The schedule is:
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2-May |
Sat |
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2-May |
Sat |
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3-May |
Fri |
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4-May |
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4-May |
Mon |
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TBA |
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[...] See Dr. Jones’ Blog Tour post for a summary of her Virtual Tour to date, and her thoughts on the different stops she’s had [...]
[...] I am very grateful that our leaders have stepped up to the plate, desiring to do things Yahweh’s way, unlike the leaders that Dr. Margaret Jones’ describes that she had to deal with. Boy am I glad! I would never wish on someone the things she experienced. You can read more about what she dealt with in her book which I reviewed here. She also has a blog here. [...]
Hi! I have been trying to read along with your blog tour. It seems to be going well. I am very glad for you and really appreciate the things you have written along the way. Very insightful!
I hope that you write up something along the lines of what you wrote on futurist guy’s blog. You seem to have a pretty good handle on what is needed to help leaders in congregations to prevent and help eliminate (as much as is possible, anyway) abuse in the congregational relationships.
I liked the questions futurist guy asked. One of my goals is to put together a seminar for clergy and religious leaders. Futurist guy with his questions helped move me one step closer to that goal. One Survivor are you involved with church leadership?
Yes…I thought he asked really good questions, too. Very insightful. I would love to see you go for that goal.
Hmmmm…am I in leadership? Well, not in the way most would think.
I have been in leadership previously, but have no official position at the moment…nor do I seek one.
I think there are some who just naturally look to me as a sort of leader simply due to the fact that I have walked along time with Him. They seem to think that I have some wisdom, although I see how much I still don’t know and understand. I definitely have strength of faith, which also seems to draw some.
I do have a little bit of influence with some leaders in the sense that I have a prayer email that I sporadically send out to ones I know, both in person and via the net. So, in a sense, you could say that I have their “ear”. However, I am always careful to make sure that it is never a burdensome thing for them, if you know what I mean. The emails are sent without expecting any response and I have never moved beyond simply praying for them, although I do have some other interactions with some of them.
I am also part of a webgroup that includes some leaders (although I am not sure how many). I mentioned that one to you previously. There might be something you can do in connection with that group that might be beneficial to both leaders and to congregants who have been around congregational/leader abuse. If nothing else, they do have many pages of resources where you could possibly list your book and anything that you might write up for leaders regarding this subject. I know that there have been some workshops done on the site.
i think Book Marketing takes more effort compared to e-mail marketing and social media marketing.;.`
I suspect all marketing is hard work. The internet provides opportunities for authors to promote their book without the backing of a large publisher. In addition to the blog tour I have done presentations and set up a booth at craft and vendor fairs. I’m always looking for ways to promote my book. What makes it harder than writing the book is book sales depend on the acceptance and behavior of other people.