Tasty Info
Tasty Book Tours specializes in Contemporary Romance, Romance Suspense, YA/New Adult Romance, Historical Romance, and Paranormal Romance, but will always be willing to mix it up with other genres.
Within a year in business, Tasty Book Tours has been in business almost Two Years and have booked 600+ tours
Tasty Book Tours has affordable packages for any author looking to promote a New or Upcoming Release, or to bring a bit of spice back to a Backlist Release. If you are looking for Tasteful Book Promotions, please think Tasty Book Tours.
Links
Contact: Lisa Filipe
Tastybooktours@live.com
Tastybooktours@gmail.com
http://Tastybooktours.blogspot.com/
www.Tastybooktours.com
Hi Lisa,
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to sit down with Toot’s for this unconventional interview *grin* If you don't mind, let’s dive right in and pick your brain about your blog tour company, Tasty Book Tours?
First, for people who may not know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Well what can I say about myself… A New Yorker at heart now living in North Carolina, Romance Reader to the core, Wanna Be Writer and Wife…Oh and Mommy to two beautiful little ladies.
Tasty Book Tours....
In your own words, tell us a bit about Tasty Book Tours?
Tasty Book Tours is my virtual tour company, started in Feb 2013 after deciding that being a stay at home mom didn’t mesh well with my work-a-holic nature. Tasty Book Tours is affordable, efficient and organized (well…as organized as I can be with the little ones underfoot). I work with authors and publishers to promote new and previous romance releases and to help broaden the readership for the authors.
When did you start it and why?
Like I mentioned, I needed something to occupy all that free space in my brain when I left my job to raise my daughter. An author friend had just started a new job with an airline and had two new releases coming out at the same time. I told her I would contact a few bloggers I had become “friends” with online, and see if I could scrounge up a tour for her. And so Tasty Book Tours was born, and thank you to that Author friend, Jaye Shields, who was the one who came up with the name!
Recently you held your first book event as well, tell us about that?
OMG...Never again! HA! Ok, I wasn’t supposed to be nine months pregnant at the time of the event, but life throws curve balls, and you gotta roll with them, right?
Let just say that it was an experience, one that I might want to try again one day, cause ‘Never Say Never’. I got to meet some amazing women, both authors and readers, and couldn’t have been more honored when one of the authors said it was the best conference they had been to (WHAT?!? I think she might have been drinking)
Will you be doing it again and how can author/readers participate?
If I do decide to host another Tasty Authors Weekend, it won’t be for a while. I have so much going on with the kids, and the company, and I would like to one day finally finish that damn WIP!
When you decided to take the plunge into all these ventures, did you do research into it or did you jump right in?
A little of both I guess…I think I jumped first and then had to back track to try and build some structure. It has really been all about trial and error, and I have come a LONG way from that first tour to over 700+ tours in the last two years!
I am currently looking into new ideas, but I find that sticking with the basics is what makes me happy and I am ok with that. I don’t need to offer a million different things to be successful!
What sets your tour company apart from others?
I don’t know…me I guess. My organization, my one on one approach with authors/publishers, being available and returning emails (a pet peeve of mine).
Maybe I don’t offer an HTML with every tour (which I actually HATE, cause I love the individuality of the different blogs), and maybe I don’t have 1000 bloggers that host my tours, but I have hosts that are LOYAL and RELIABLE and I have two assistants that keep me going! I couldn’t ask for more!
Any advice for authors and/or bloggers?
Advice..humm….for Authors, do what works for you. If you use a Street Team, if you work with a Professional Tour Company, if you run your own tour, do what feel right for you. Make sure from the first meeting (or email) that you feel comfortable with the person running the company, as around for recommendations from author friends and bloggers for companies that they like to use. All about the word of mouth.
For bloggers, my advice is to try and stick to only a few stops per day at your blog. If you are signing up to host a tour stop, the author is grateful for the Promotion for their release, but when their post gets lost between the fifteen posts you have for the day, I don’t think that is fair to them or the other authors whom you are hosting as well.
When blogging isn’t fun anymore, take a break. Take some time away from the tours, and the all-consuming madness that blogging can become and find what you loved about it to begin with!
How can people contact you or your company for more information on your services?
Check out the site for more information on services and pricing, or to see who is touring with Tasty, www.tastybooktours.com, or email me,Tastybooktours@live.com
Personal......
What was the very first tour you promoted?
Jaye Shields CONFESSIONS OF A SEX DEMON
What is your favorite part of running a blog tour company?
Probably all the great people I have “met” between bloggers and authors/publishers
What's your least favorite part?
The hours. When you work from home, and with the two little ones, I work during the day answering emails and checking posts and then I work at night once the babies go to bed, until about 2am. So, there really is no Time Off, or Days Off, or Sick Days, it’s like being a mom! Ha!
You also do a lot with Avon and Harper Collins, how did you become involved with them (you know we had to ask cuz we’re Avon addicts *grin*)?
I have no idea…I don’t even remember how I got involved doing Avon Tours, but I LOVE working with the team at Avon. Those girls ROCK, and it has been fun growing together.
Can you tell us about one of your most memorable moments of being a tour coordinator?
Well, I guess it would be that Joanne Rock, who was one of the Keynote Speakers for the Tasty Authors Weekend, was so inspired by the response to her workshop on Marketing, which is what she has a degree in, that she wrote a book for authors called, SELF PROMOTION SIMPLIFIED, and I was asked to give a quote for the book.
http://www.joannerock.com/self_promotion_simplified.html
If your company had to have an anthem or motto, what would it be?
The song “Call Me, Maybe” is stuck in my head. I guess I feel as if people want to use me, Great, and if not, no biggie!! I am all about helping the authors find what they are looking for, so if it’s not me, I am always willing to give a recommendation or two!
Where do you see your company in 3 years?
I really don’t know. I would like to eventually write my own romances, so I might take another crack at the writing thing once the ladies are a bit older. I don’t know how long the professional companies will be in business, with many bloggers stepping up to the plate, creating companies, or offering to run free tours, that might just over take the industry. We will just have to see!
A few random questions....
Most Memorable Book Memory -
Probably reading my first “Bad Boy”with a motorcycle ,Spencer ,in THE WIND BLOWS BACKWARD by Mary Downing Hahn.
Favorite Movie -
Pride & Prejudice (Keira & Matthew) or Sixteen Candle (Um..Jake Ryan..Need I say More)
Favorite Song -
When I Come Around by Green Day is my all-time favorite
Favorite Food -
Yellow Betty Crocker and Chocolate Icing, or Blue Cheese Bacon Burger
Favorite Color -
Blue
Lastly, what are 5 things fans don't know about you or the company?
(1) I am an obsessive list maker
(2) When I was in eighth grade, I wanted to attend Notre Dame to play football
(3) I eat PB&J almost every day for lunch
(4) I am a bit of a control freak (ok…maybe more than a bit)
(5) I am a fan of the old school secret baby Harlequins
Lisa Filipe is a Reader, Blogger, Reviewer and Aspiring Writer. She is the creator of the romance review blog, A Tasty Read Reviews (Adult Romance). Creating Tasty Book Tours is just another creative outlet for her to help upcoming and seasoned authors promote fabulous romances to fans, old and new.
Links
http://www.tastybooktours.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tasty-Book-Tours/117036921803279
https://twitter.com/TastyBookTours
Contact: Lisa Filipe
Tastybooktours@live.com
Tastybooktours@gmail.com
http://Tastybooktours.blogspot.com/
www.Tastybooktours.com
Interview
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to sit down with Toot’s for this unconventional interview *grin* If you don't mind, let’s dive right in and pick your brain about your blog tour company, Tasty Book Tours?
First, for people who may not know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Well what can I say about myself… A New Yorker at heart now living in North Carolina, Romance Reader to the core, Wanna Be Writer and Wife…Oh and Mommy to two beautiful little ladies.
Tasty Book Tours....
In your own words, tell us a bit about Tasty Book Tours?
Tasty Book Tours is my virtual tour company, started in Feb 2013 after deciding that being a stay at home mom didn’t mesh well with my work-a-holic nature. Tasty Book Tours is affordable, efficient and organized (well…as organized as I can be with the little ones underfoot). I work with authors and publishers to promote new and previous romance releases and to help broaden the readership for the authors.
When did you start it and why?
Like I mentioned, I needed something to occupy all that free space in my brain when I left my job to raise my daughter. An author friend had just started a new job with an airline and had two new releases coming out at the same time. I told her I would contact a few bloggers I had become “friends” with online, and see if I could scrounge up a tour for her. And so Tasty Book Tours was born, and thank you to that Author friend, Jaye Shields, who was the one who came up with the name!
Recently you held your first book event as well, tell us about that?
OMG...Never again! HA! Ok, I wasn’t supposed to be nine months pregnant at the time of the event, but life throws curve balls, and you gotta roll with them, right?
Let just say that it was an experience, one that I might want to try again one day, cause ‘Never Say Never’. I got to meet some amazing women, both authors and readers, and couldn’t have been more honored when one of the authors said it was the best conference they had been to (WHAT?!? I think she might have been drinking)
Will you be doing it again and how can author/readers participate?
If I do decide to host another Tasty Authors Weekend, it won’t be for a while. I have so much going on with the kids, and the company, and I would like to one day finally finish that damn WIP!
When you decided to take the plunge into all these ventures, did you do research into it or did you jump right in?
A little of both I guess…I think I jumped first and then had to back track to try and build some structure. It has really been all about trial and error, and I have come a LONG way from that first tour to over 700+ tours in the last two years!
I am currently looking into new ideas, but I find that sticking with the basics is what makes me happy and I am ok with that. I don’t need to offer a million different things to be successful!
What sets your tour company apart from others?
I don’t know…me I guess. My organization, my one on one approach with authors/publishers, being available and returning emails (a pet peeve of mine).
Maybe I don’t offer an HTML with every tour (which I actually HATE, cause I love the individuality of the different blogs), and maybe I don’t have 1000 bloggers that host my tours, but I have hosts that are LOYAL and RELIABLE and I have two assistants that keep me going! I couldn’t ask for more!
Any advice for authors and/or bloggers?
Advice..humm….for Authors, do what works for you. If you use a Street Team, if you work with a Professional Tour Company, if you run your own tour, do what feel right for you. Make sure from the first meeting (or email) that you feel comfortable with the person running the company, as around for recommendations from author friends and bloggers for companies that they like to use. All about the word of mouth.
For bloggers, my advice is to try and stick to only a few stops per day at your blog. If you are signing up to host a tour stop, the author is grateful for the Promotion for their release, but when their post gets lost between the fifteen posts you have for the day, I don’t think that is fair to them or the other authors whom you are hosting as well.
When blogging isn’t fun anymore, take a break. Take some time away from the tours, and the all-consuming madness that blogging can become and find what you loved about it to begin with!
How can people contact you or your company for more information on your services?
Check out the site for more information on services and pricing, or to see who is touring with Tasty, www.tastybooktours.com, or email me,Tastybooktours@live.com
Personal......
What was the very first tour you promoted?
Jaye Shields CONFESSIONS OF A SEX DEMON
What is your favorite part of running a blog tour company?
Probably all the great people I have “met” between bloggers and authors/publishers
What's your least favorite part?
The hours. When you work from home, and with the two little ones, I work during the day answering emails and checking posts and then I work at night once the babies go to bed, until about 2am. So, there really is no Time Off, or Days Off, or Sick Days, it’s like being a mom! Ha!
You also do a lot with Avon and Harper Collins, how did you become involved with them (you know we had to ask cuz we’re Avon addicts *grin*)?
I have no idea…I don’t even remember how I got involved doing Avon Tours, but I LOVE working with the team at Avon. Those girls ROCK, and it has been fun growing together.
Can you tell us about one of your most memorable moments of being a tour coordinator?
Well, I guess it would be that Joanne Rock, who was one of the Keynote Speakers for the Tasty Authors Weekend, was so inspired by the response to her workshop on Marketing, which is what she has a degree in, that she wrote a book for authors called, SELF PROMOTION SIMPLIFIED, and I was asked to give a quote for the book.
http://www.joannerock.com/self_promotion_simplified.html
If your company had to have an anthem or motto, what would it be?
The song “Call Me, Maybe” is stuck in my head. I guess I feel as if people want to use me, Great, and if not, no biggie!! I am all about helping the authors find what they are looking for, so if it’s not me, I am always willing to give a recommendation or two!
Where do you see your company in 3 years?
I really don’t know. I would like to eventually write my own romances, so I might take another crack at the writing thing once the ladies are a bit older. I don’t know how long the professional companies will be in business, with many bloggers stepping up to the plate, creating companies, or offering to run free tours, that might just over take the industry. We will just have to see!
A few random questions....
Most Memorable Book Memory -
Probably reading my first “Bad Boy”with a motorcycle ,Spencer ,in THE WIND BLOWS BACKWARD by Mary Downing Hahn.
Favorite Movie -
Pride & Prejudice (Keira & Matthew) or Sixteen Candle (Um..Jake Ryan..Need I say More)
Favorite Song -
When I Come Around by Green Day is my all-time favorite
Favorite Food -
Yellow Betty Crocker and Chocolate Icing, or Blue Cheese Bacon Burger
Favorite Color -
Blue
Lastly, what are 5 things fans don't know about you or the company?
(1) I am an obsessive list maker
(2) When I was in eighth grade, I wanted to attend Notre Dame to play football
(3) I eat PB&J almost every day for lunch
(4) I am a bit of a control freak (ok…maybe more than a bit)
(5) I am a fan of the old school secret baby Harlequins
Info
Links
http://www.tastybooktours.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tasty-Book-Tours/117036921803279
https://twitter.com/TastyBookTours
THANK YOU THANK YOU for having me today!
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