Planning a Virtual or Blog Tour
Virtual or blog tours consists of a number of online stops (usually bloggers), all committed to posting about the same topic. The purpose of a blog or virtual tour is to generate “good old-fashion word of mouth” about your book. An author will ultimately increase their book sales, but a commitment to promote online is required.
Authors who want to do virtual tours should:
1) Decide whether they want to coordinate the tour or hire a coordinator. If you want maximum online coverage and you don’t have a lot of time to do it yourself, you should hire an expert. Feel free to check out Tywebbin Blog Tours.
2) Plan to start the preparation for the virtual tour at least 3 months in advance. Why?
· You need time to research blogs that have the readership and traffic.
· You need time to mail review copies to bloggers. If you want book bloggers to endorse your book – you need to give them time to read or review it. The number of books you can provide will help determine the number of participants you can recruit.
· In order for tours to be included on certain blogs, you need to schedule in advance before spots fill-up.
3) Strive for uniqueness. Virtual tours are all about placement to attract readers. Content maybe interviews, excerpts, articles, audio – any type of content that (1) introduces readers to the author and (2) information about the book release.
