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Authors have to wear many hats today, and marketer is one of the bigger ones. Self-published writers have all of their publicity responsibilities on their shoulders but, increasingly, traditionally published authors are in the same boat. Publishing companies just aren’t willing to spend the money to push unknown writers, so it’s up to you to spread the word and get your sales up.
Social media is the go-to spot for almost every type of publicity today, and the most important ones (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc.) should never be missed. The problem with these sites is that you’re already preaching to the choir. If someone’s on your feed, it’s like they’re going to already read your book, and not very likely that they’ll do a lot of free publicizing for you. Posting on social media sites does very little to find and tempt new readers who have never seen your work.
This is where a blog tour comes in. Hundreds of book review sites are eager to find great new books to read and review, and will give you free publicity in exchange for a copy of your book or even a simple blurb. These reviews reach hundreds or thousands of readers who would never otherwise find your work. You can spend days and months seeking out these sites and organizing reviews, but this is time better spent writing your next book. Like many other things in life, it’s easier and cheaper to let the experts do the work.
When you hire a blog tour guide, she’s already got relationships with dozens of different book review site owners. Depending on your needs, she’ll set up everything necessary to have publicity on your book hit on publication day, or any other date you choose. Book tours can be very simple or extremely elaborate, depending on the type of tour you choose. Some of the most common ones are:
- Cover Reveal On this tour, a number of book review sites reveal the (previously hidden) cover of your book, along with your blurb and publication information. This is useful to use pre-publication, to whip up interests and garner pre-sales.
- Review Tour On this tour, review site owners actually read the book and post a review on your chosen date. Often, comments and questions are allowed, giving you the opportunity to interact with potential readers.
- Interview Tour On this tour, site owners actually interview you about your book and publish the results alongside the book review. Again, comments and questions are common, offering a great interaction with your audience.
There are, of course, many variations on these themes, such as holding contests and doing giveaways on review days and sending out bookmarks or other nominal gifts to everyone who signs up for your email list. The cost depends on how elaborate you want your tour to be, but whatever the cost, you’ll reach hundreds of new potential readers with very little effort, while saving important time for what you do best: writing.
