You paid for a blog tour, Penang? What, paid somebody to arrange it for you? That would save you time but that money would be better spent on other promotional venues, in my view. And who knows how a blogger on a blog tour will affect sales down the road. The purpose is getting your name out there; the more subscribers a blogger has, the greater the exposure.
Steep discounts game the ranking system while contributing to the growing expectation among consumers of books (and music) that the author's creation should be available for next to nothing and, therefore, not worth much, human nature being what it is. Sure, your name will get out there with all the cheapies and freebies, but the danger is that the name will then be associated with a second-class product. You don't see established authors doing this, and a comparison with these intro discounts and let's say a Proctor & Gamble offering coupons for a new product isn't valid, in my view. I'm concerned about the trend that is working against the potential livelihoods of indie authors and musicians.
BTW, I shared some more personal stuff in my guest post for Big Al's Books and Pals today: 
