My last couple of rambling posts on my ideas for the Magic Appreciation Tour provided a lot of nuts-and-bolts information, but I think the big picture might have gotten lost in the detail. I’ll try to remedy that with this post.
What is the Magic Appreciation Tour?
The Magic Appreciation Tour (MA Tour) and Book Sale is a Web site that helps fantasy readers find out about new authors and get great deals on Magical Fantasy books.
The term “Magical Fantasy” refers to any fantasy book that includes a force or power that readers would recognize as magic. The book might be considered an urban fantasy, epic fantasy, romantic fantasy, or whatever. The critical element is that it has magic of some kind.
Who does it serve?
The MA Tour serves both readers and authors.
It serves readers by collecting magical fantasy books in one place and displaying them in a format that makes it easy to find the books that interest them. It also gives readers the opportunity to learn more about the authors of those books.
It serves authors by showcasing their work on a site that is dedicated to their genre and by helping them form new, supportive relationships with other authors.
How do readers participate?
Readers participate by visiting the Book Sale and Author pages of the MA Tour Web site.
The Book Sale page shows the cover and blurb for every participating book, along with links to buy, see reviews, and learn about the author.
The Author page shows a picture (or avatar) and a bio for every participating author, along with links to visit the author’s blog, read interviews of the author, and read guest posts by the author.
How do authors participate?
Authors participate by making their book available on the MA Tour site and by engaging with other participating authors through their blog and social networking during the month of the tour (the spring tour will be in March).
Authors offer their books for 99 cents during the month of the tour. Note that the MA Tour site does not actually sell books: buy links take readers to either Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords. Listing books on the MA Tour site is NOT a violation of the KDP Select terms, as long as the buy link goes to Amazon.
Authors also participate by connecting with other authors in the MA Tour and exchanging blog posts and social networking mentions. By pooling their social connections, authors help each other get the word out about their books and make new friends.
What does it cost?
Participation in the Magic Appreciation Tour is free for both readers and authors.
The retailers are the ones who pay: the buy links include an affiliate code that allows me to earn a small percentage on each sale. It won’t be enough to cover the cost of setting up and operating the site, but it will help me buy books from my fellow authors. 😉
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So, there you have it: the Magic Appreciation Tour in a nutshell. Please read the other two posts about the MA Tour (see links below) if you want more detail on how the site and social networking aspects will work. If you still have questions feel free to ask them in the comments.
Are you a Magical Fantasy author? Come join the fun! You can learn more and register for the Tour right now on the Magic Appreciation Tour Web site:
Related posts:
The idea of the tour sounds good. I hope the tour takes off and is still going strong by the time I get published.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Ken. I hope it takes off too! I’m just glad I got my book done in time for it. 😉
I’d love to be a part of this tour. I tried your contact me button and it’s not working. Could you send me an email through my website or through the email included here. I’ve got a YA that would fit in, I think.
Thanks so much and thanks for giving writers an opportunity like this. 🙂
Stacey
Hi Stacey:
Sorry about the contact link not working. That’s what I get for not testing it! Thanks for alerting me to the problem.
I’ll send this information to you in an email as well, but you can sign up for the tour right now on the Magic Appreciation Tour Web site.
Here’s a link to the site:
http://www.MagicAppreciationTour.com
Here’s a link straight to the registration page:
http://www.MagicAppreciationTour.com/Register.aspx
Thanks for your interest, and welcome aboard!