Day: October 20, 2018

So you’re thinking of promoting your book by doing a book blog tour?  Awesome!  Given I’m doing one in the next while for Can You Hula Like Hilo Hattie?, I thought we could touch upon—review—relevant blog-tour “pointers”.

You’ve completed your first e-book.  You’ve got it properly formatted and the front and back covers look amazing!  How exciting.  Now, you’d like people to read it . . . create excitement . . . get reviewed . . . make sales.  A book blog tour is a great way to make these goals happen.

Now, if your goal is all about making sales, you’ll want to create a buzz before the book is released.  If you want pre-orders, get started a good two-three weeks before the book is released.  If you want books to be purchased upon release, then start your blog tour the day the book is out.

A tour (which can last from one week to several weeks) takes work.  It’s not simply a matter of sending out multiple copies of your e-book.  You have to plan, network, and organize.

Sure, you can pay someone to do it for you (personally, I’m not Rockefeller-rich—not yet, LOL—so I’d prefer to keep my pennies in Mr. Piggy).  If you’re going to pay someone, make sure he/she is reputable: do that due diligence and thoroughly research blog-tour sites.  Get feedback and also check out “buyer beware” sites.  Remember: you get what you paid for.

That said, there are book-tour bloggers who’ll do this for free—t’is true!  You just need to—yup—do that due diligence.  And network.  Learn who’s looking.  Get to know fellow writers/bloggers.  Read blogs regularly.  Comment and participate.  You’ll be amazed how supportive fellow bloggers/authors can be.  Within no time, you’ll have connections who will help you organize a tour . . . but you’ll still have to put in serious effort.

Whether you go solo or have someone assist, be prepared to have the following items ready:

• review copies of the finished product
• front cover
• bio
• author photo
• excerpt(s)
• posts (for guest spots and your own blog to promote the tour)
• interviews (you’d want at least two, and they should be different)
• tour banner
• book trivia (not necessary, but nice)
• trailer (not necessary, but nice)
• prize/giveaway (not necessary, but it’s been known to increase traffic)
• gratitude—be continually thankful.

Don’t forget to promote the tour on social media.  Make sure to follow-up.

There’s a lot to discover on the Internet about book tours, but don’t get overly caught up in all the details.  Become familiar with “ground rules” and plunge in (doing is the best way of learning).

. . . How do you measure your success?  Track comments and blog/media coverage if you like (not my thing, personally, but to each his or her own).  It all depends on what your initial goals were.  Maybe you’d be delighted with one awesome review or stellar guest post versus several here’s-a-new-book posts.  Maybe you’d be glad with a handful of positive comments.  Success—accomplishment—is all about what pleases you.

Happy touring!