Sunday, October 23, 2011

Welcome to the Farsighted virtual book tour!


I'm one of many hosts on author Emlyn Chand's virtual book tour for her new novel Farsighted. Today, a guest post; Tuesday, an excerpt!

This is a guest post by Emlyn Chand, author of Farsighted



Let's face it - the publishing industry is changing. We can all pretty much agree on that, right?

What we've got on our hands is an oncoming era of enlightenment (I prefer that to the often-touted “revolution”). ‘T wasn’t long ago that being a self-published author was practically as shocking and horrific as being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts circa 1700.

“What damnation have you wrought upon yourself? Upon us all?” The traditional pub villagers would cry as they rushed for their pitch forks and torches. “Be gone with you, unnatural creatures!”

And those unkind words were enough to send us packing. They didn’t have to chase us out of the village, for we never had any real magic, we were never any real threat.

Until…

We opened our eyes. We saw the true powers we possessed, and we saw the villagers for what they lacked.

We are able to manipulate our circumstances. We have more control than any who’ve gone before us. Self-publishing truly is magic.

But we can’t just walk around all blasé, showing off our green skin and harry warts while levitating our way through the park. That would be a mistake. We need to put on a little bit of concealer and keep our feet on the ground. We wouldn’t want to scare them away.

Similarly, a self-published or indie author needs to put on a bit of a show. We need to know when to conform to the “village” way of life and when to do our own damn thang. If we can get them to come in for a closer look, they might understand our allure. Then they’ll stop being so afraid.

Our make-up isn’t Maybelline to cover that green skin (I ♥ you, Elphaba). No. We apply our foundation by writing a truly fetching and well-edited manuscript. We dab on the blush when we take the time and expense needed to don an attractive book cover. Our lipstick is a professional, personal, and functional web presence.

Don’t we look pretty? We do, I tell you. And we’re all the more beautiful for knowing that we possess something so much deeper within: creativity, stick-to-it-ness, bravery, and of course – magic.

If you really examine the state of the publishing industry, it’s not the traditional house execs that populate the villages. Oh, they’re definitely the mayors, the cryers, and a few other choice townspeople. But if you want to see who lives in the village, go and knock on a few doors.

It’s the readers, bibliophiles, book addicts. They’re the ones who built this town. The mayor would have no village to govern if ‘tweren’t for them.

And thank God for it!

We arrived on their doorsteps – beaten, bloody, in need of a hot meal and a bit of rest. They may have been put off by our bedraggled appearance, but they ultimately let us in and showed us the true nature of their hospitality.

I kind of like this town; I think I’ll move in ;-)

 

Blog Tour Notes



THE BOOK:  Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t.  When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider. Get your copy today by visiting Amazon.com’s Kindle store or the eBook retailer of your choice. The paperback edition will be available on November 24 (for the author’s birthday).

THE CASH PRIZES:  Guess what? You could win a $100 Amazon gift card as part of this special blog tour. That’s right! Just leave a comment below saying something about the post you just read, and you’ll be entered into the raffle. I could win $100 too! Please help by voting for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll. To cast your vote, visit the official Farsighted blog tour page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Thank you for your help with that.

THE GIVEAWAYS:  Win 1 of 10 autographed copies of Farsighted before its paperback release by entering the giveaway on GoodReads. Perhaps you’d like an autographed postcard from the author; you can request one on her site.

THE AUTHOR:  Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. Visit www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!

MORE FUN: There's more fun below. Watch the live action Farsighted book trailer and take the quiz to find out which character is most like you!

 

 

6 comments:

eden.kaye said...

great first post! if you're interested, i did an interview with the lovely emlyn chand for my first post of this awesome and exciting virtual book tour.
http://little-red-reads.blogspot.com/2011/10/start-of-farsighted-blog-tour.html

xo stephanie

Emlyn Chand said...

Hi Karen. Hi Stephanie! Thank you both for your support today. I <3 the indie blogging community :-)

Unknown said...

Great post! :-)

Please stop by my blog (http://ttoria.blogspot.com)
when you have a chance. There is an excerpt from Farsighted on there and my review will be posted on the 30th (Oct)

Thank you

TToria
xo

:-)

Anonymous said...

Emlyn, you were right - I loved the post. Great analogy! With the discussion in Amazon's Kindle forums among some anti-indie readers about finding ways to exclude indies from their search results, that just highlights how importance it is for us to have that professional appearance. Indies who don't hurt the entire community. Those of us who stay professional help the overall reputation of indies.

Emlyn Chand said...

I saw that discussion on the Kindle boards and shared with the Novel Publicity facebook page. We had a conversation of our own about the incendiary bias that was displayed there. The absolute WORST thing is that some indies attack other indies. That makes us all look bad! There are some wonderfully supportive authors and bloggers out there too. Together we're changing things. Power to the people :-)

Pamela T. said...

I'll be sure to check out your book, Emlyn. Wishing you much success!

p.s. As for the topic of this guest post, I couldn't agree more. I'm a strong contender for Queen of the "unnnatual creatures" pageant with my indie book. You can find out why here: http://indiereader.com/2011/01/indiejourney-pamela-tsigdinos/