August 6 (P Minus 26): It’s time to set up a blog tour!
Many of the questions that have come through from readers have been about marketing, promotion, and advertising. One of the easiest, most popular, and most effective ways to get the word out about new books, whether you are self-published or traditionally published, is to do a blog tour.
If you aren’t familiar with blog tours, they are virtual versions of a traditional book tour, the difference being that an author makes “appearances” on others’ blogs rather than in person in different cities. The book might be reviewed or the book’s author may write a guest post or do a Q&A.
I have watched friends and colleagues manage blog tours with deftness and much success. One notable example is Christine Fonseca. You can see her blog tour contest for 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids and read her guest post on “Marketing Success Secrets.” The best blog tours are two-way ventures: the author gets publicity for his or her book, and the blogger gets additional readers for his or her blog (and usually a free print or e-copy of the book).
Here are some other good resources for learning more about blog tours:
Janice Hardy’s “Going on Tour? Just go Online With a Blog Tour”
Jan Fischer Wade’s SheWrites posts on marketing and blog tours:
If the idea of self-promotion makes you cringe, know that you are definitely not alone. It helps to keep in mind that the kind of marketing and promotion required of indie authors is not that much different from what traditionally published authors are expected to do these days, even those published by major publishing houses.
If you are interested in being a part of the blog tour for Oscar’s Gift, please fill out the form below (or reply to this post), and I will get back to you with more info. Note that any information submitted in the form goes straight to my email and is not posted publicly.
Oscar and I thank you in advance!
Tomorrow: Formatting books for the Kindle, part 1
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