How to do a blog tour?

So the NYT finally did an article on Author blog tours, which if memory serves, some of us have been doing for a quite a long time... in 2000 I did one that included Salon and BookReporter.com and a few other places  that updated regularly and operated the way blogs do even though then we didn't call them that. Then I did one with Kevin Smokler in 2004 - the first he set up for a novel. And now he's doing the brilliant BookTour.com.  Anyway the timeliness of the Times isn't my point here.

I'd rather be positive and offer up some real info on what you need to do if you want to do a blog tour.

Two brilliant women I know can set them up for you. (Disclaimer - I'm friends with both of them and have worked with both of them)  Meryl Moss Media  can set up any kinds of authors/books and Andi Buchanan specializes  in doing them for  parent centric books. I recommend both of them!

Even if an author is doing a regular tour a blog tour is something to ad to the mix.The value is amazing.

And for authors who can't afford to hire Meryl or Andi, you can do it yourself. Best to get started about four months before your book comes out - and it's free except for the cost of mailing out a few dozen of your books.  It is time intensive - that's why it makes sense to hire someone if you can afford it. That plus people who do it professionally have built up relationships with the bloggers.

What to do:

Read blogs like crazy for a couple of months. When you find one that has the sensibility of your own book and that you think would be a good fit, note the url, check it out on technorati.com, make sure it has good  visitors and linking stats, and note the editors name. Then follow the links that blog offers and see if there are others you can find via that one.

Spend a few weeks and get a solid list of a few dozen blogs and the owners name. It's important not to just write  - dear blogger - but know the blog and get to know the personality of the blogger. Comment on the blog. Get to be a regular. Then when you have ARCs, write the blogger. Offer to come and guest blog. Or to do a Q&A. Or to give an except.

You'll probably get more nos than yeses but every yes will translate into hundreds of people seeing your name and the name of your book. And that's attention that matters.

Comments

[Christa Miller]

I love blog book tours. I've been doing them with Andi's MotherTalk group for several months, and publicists have even started to contact me asking for reviews independently of that. If it fits the tone of my blog (writing/parenting/some combination; or crime fiction that I think would appeal to my readers) I don't pass up a free book!

[Warren Whitlock]

Great post. I love blog tours and recommend them to all my author clients.

Anything that gives real connections with the author is good. Blogging and social networking sites allow an author a way to provide more to the reader, get feedback and participate in cross promotions that can leverage their other promoting efforts.

Warren Whitlock
BestSellerAuthors.com

[Susan O'Doherty]

I just finished the MotherTalk blog tour, and it was amazing. These smart, insightful bloggers introduced my book to exactly the kinds of readers I'd dreamed about while writing the book. I can't recommend this highly enough.

[Susan]

I've done several blog tours on my blog through MotherTalk but I would be glad to do other kinds of author tours: guest blogging, author interviews, etc. The NYT article was great but made me chuckle - like, they finally caught wind of this?

[Kathleen Gage]

Excellent information on blog tours. Good insights into how to determine the best blog to choose.

Kathleen Gage

[Cheryl Kaye Tardif, bestselling author of Whale Song]

Hi MJ:
Your visitors may also want an indepth how-to on how to organize a virtual book tour. After completing my one month tour in August, I wrote an expansive article on the subject, which was then requested by book marketing expert John Kremer.

Read my article Authors Tour the World with Virtual Book Tours on John Kremer's Book Marketing site.
http://openhorizons.blogspot.com/2007/09/authors-tour-world-with-virtual-book.html