Guest Blog Post — Ty Johnston

 

Hello, I am Ty. No, not Ty Schwamberger. I’m Ty Johnston, the other Ty. I write mostly epic fantasy, though I do pen a horror story from time to time.

Ty, Schwamberger that is, has been kind enough to allow me to take over his blog for a day while I’m out in the blogosphere this month on a blog tour. Each day of February I have appeared on a blog. Today being the last day of the month, and it being a leap year, that’s 29 blog posts.

29 posts sounds like a lot to some people, especially in such a small amount of time, one month. It might even sound crazy, but I’ve loved every minute of it.

Which is what I’m writing about today, the fun of blog touring.

I did my first blog tour back in November of 2011, and I enjoyed it so much I decided to do another. Initially I wanted to do a tour as a way to help promote myself as a fiction writer. In November I had an e-book fantasy novel released, that novel titled Ghosts of the Asylum, and this month my latest novel, Demon Chains, was made available to readers.

Back in November, I quickly learned I wanted to keep doing blog tours not for promotions, but simply because I loved doing them.

Blog touring is a lot of work, especially when one is appearing each day of the month on the blogs of others. First you have to find other bloggers who are willing to host you for a day. Then there is the matter of scheduling, and of course all the posts have to be written.

Most writers who take part in a blog tour do not have a post each day of a month as I have done, but appear once or twice per week. I decided to shoot for the moon and to go for a slam dunk, to spread out my blogging goodness as far as possible and to as many blogs as possible. To that end, the majority of blogs I appeared in this February are not the same blogs I posted with last November.

Also, for anyone considering a blog tour, there are groups out there online which will help to set up a tour for you. I prefer to do things myself because I want to retain control, and I like keeping track of the details myself.

Why do I find blog touring fun? Because I get to meet lots of people online I might otherwise have never known. Some I’ll only be in contact with once or a few times, others will become casual friends, while still others might become longtime friends. That was what I quickly learned in November, and is the main reason I did this tour for February.

The key is not just to have one’s posts put up, but to return after the postings. To check the comments. To respond. To see what others have had to say. This is how new acquaintances are made and sometimes long friendships are built.

As I wind down my tour, this being my final guest post, I want to thank all the other bloggers who have hosted me, and that includes Ty Schwamberger. I also want to thank all the readers who have read and taken the time to comment upon my many posts. Without my fellow bloggers, and without the readers, there wouldn’t be the fun, the excitement of a blog tour.

Ty Johnston’s novels include Demon Chains, City of Rogues, Bayne’s Climb and Ghosts of the Asylum, all of which are available for the Kindle, and most are available for the Nook and online at Smashwords. To learn more about Ty and his writing, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.