Going on a blog tour
Here’s a new concept for the week: blog tours. Well, the concept is new for me at least. Other writers, it seems, have been packing up their virtual bags and touring round the blogosphere for months now. There are even organisations, like Pump Up Your Book Promotion PR who specialise in these online book tours.
How does a blog tour work?
Instead of visiting bookstores and libraries to promote their new book, a writer will make guest posts on a number of blogs – trying to visit as many as possible within a restricted ‘touring’ period.
At each ‘stop’, the writer will either take questions from the blog author and readers, or post an entry on a prearranged topic. Touring writers will often publish their itinary on their own website, as seen here on Trish Milburn’s blog.
Why go on a blog tour?
As far as I can see, there’d be two major advantages to going on a blog tour.
The first, and probably most important, is that it gets the ‘buzz’ about your book, out to new audiences. Blogs that host tours may have many more daily readers than your own blog or website. If you pick your blogs carefully, you might also be able to reach people who are unaware or unfamiliar with your work, but already interested in your subject matter. For example, if you had written a non-fiction book about scrap-booking, you might want to target craft blogs, blogs by craft store owners, and so on.
The second is that, your appearances may inspire the readers into online action. If you’re on a shortlist for a contest, as Trish Milburn is, at the end of each post you can call for votes. Or, if your book’s available online, you can provide a link to a site where the reader can find out more and maybe purchase a copy.
Over at The Blog Tour Spot blog, there is an evaluation of Mary DeMuth’s tour of 85 blogs in six weeks, as well as more information about blog tours and tips that might come in handy if you’re organising your own.
Your thoughts
Have you seen authors on blog tours? Have you been an author on a blog tour? Do you think that the publicity gained is worth the time commitment involved?
Hey, thanks for the mention. I found your blog when my Google Alert sent me the link to it. The blog tour was fun, and I got to “meet” a lot of cool and interesting people.
Hi Trish,
Thanks for your comment. It’s great to hear that your blog tour went well. Were you familiar with the blogs you visited before the tour started or were they new to you?
Thanks for mentioning Google Alerts too - I’ll have to do an entry about those soon.