By Denise Turney
The first time I heard the term “blog tour” I thought the person I was communicating with was talking about an online radio tour. Turns out my assumption was only partially accurate.
Meet New Readers on Book Blog Tours
Blog tours can include a blend of written and oral author interviews. They can also include book reviews, with some blog tour hosts posting reviews of your books at retail websites like Amazon.com, Google Books or Barnes & Noble.com. During the early days that your book is on the market these book reviews can be particularly influential, helping book buyers to decide whether or not they want to pay for and read your book.
Then again, for book buyers like me, the reviews might not hold much weight as I decide whether or not to buy and read a book based on excerpts I read. I’ve got to get a feel for the writer’s style, the way the writer works with words, causing them to flow like sweet music.
All said — book reviews certainly don’t hurt.
Other rewards and benefits you can receive as an author conducting book blog tours include, of course, introducing yourself and your books to new readers. This is a key takeaway for authors. After all, if you plan on enjoying a lengthy writing career you want to attract new readers. Blog tours definitely helped me to introduce Raymond Clarke and other main characters in Love Pour Over Me to new book readers.
Additional Book Blog Tour Benefits
As an author, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, when you go on blog tours you can reap additional benefits. Some of these benefits include:
- Creating relationships with blog owners (make sure you thank blog owners for supporting you before and after your blog tour runs)
- Opportunities to conduct your first radio interviews
- Reasons to write and distribute press releases about your new books
- Chance to have your name, bio and book information listed at several book blogs
- Additional links tracking into your official book website (helps improve your website’s search engine rankings)
- Opportunities to answer questions posed by blog visitors
As a tip when scheduling book blog tours, I recommend that you pay no more than $50 to $60 for a four-week blog tour. I paid $50 for a four-week blog tour which put my book, Love Pour Over Me, in front of thousands of book buyers.
To get the most out of your blog tour make sure you create accounts at social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Google Plus and StumbleUpon. Share your blog interviews with follows at these social media sites. Also be sure to respond to questions hosts and visitors post on your blog tour.
Also, you may be able to attract more followers to your blog tour if you giveaway prizes and/or free copies of your books. If you’re on Good Reads list your blog tour schedule at your Good Reads personal blog and in the Good Reads events section. Invite your Good Reads friends to attend your book blog tour.
Above all – have fun – lots of it! After all, isn’t that why you write? Because you love it!
Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Even if you choose not to purchase your copy of Love Pour Over Me today, I encourage you to “consider Love.”