How to Have a Successful Blog Tour - Part 1

 

I've asked Colette, my favorite blog tour operator, from ABG Reads Book Tours to offer authors some tips on book tours. Whether you contract with a tour company or DIY, here's her great suggestions:

Having a successful blog tour is a lot like matchmaking - it takes a lot of misses to get it right, but when the spark happens, magic ignites! Here are some tips to take the mystery out of finding readers for your tour. 

•  Timing - The most important part of having a successful blog tour is giving bloggers enough time to put you in their schedule! If you contact bloggers at the last minute, don’t be surprised to get a lot of nos. However, the more time you have to schedule the tour the more bloggers you will be able to find. Most work 2 to 3 months ahead of time, with the bigger blogs sometimes working 4 months ahead for reviews.
•  Approachability - When contacting bloggers be sure to include their name if it’s on their blogs or the name of their blogs in the email. Be sure to have a synopsis of the book and the cover in the email. First impressions are key: I have found putting a one line description after the initial request to join the blog tour works wonder. You want to capture readers attention from the very beginning. Don’t send out mass emails if you can avoid it. Bloggers can tell that they are mass emails and are less likely to respond to them.
•  Genre specific blogs - You want build an audience, and to do that the best way is to find blogs that read the genre that you write in. A lot blogs (like mine, ABuckeye Girl Reads) read cross genres, but there are a lot that only read certain genres like Young Adult, Erotica or mysteries. If you find blogs that read your genre, they will have readers that read that genre as well. If you write Urban Fantasy, you don’t want to go to a blog that focuses mainly on Young Adult. Almost all bloggers have a review policy - all you have to do is read it to see what genres they read. Here is mine: http://lovesromances.blogspot.com/p/my-review-policy.html

Here are some blogger databases to help you find readers:

http://indiebookreviewer.wordpress.com/

http://bookbloggerdirectory.wordpress.com/

http://hampton-networks.com/

http://yabookblogdirectory.blogspot.com/p/ya-book-blogger-list.html

• Originality - Don’t be afraid to be creative!! Instead of doing a typical guest post that just answers one question, think about doing a playlist that goes along with your book or a top ten list that is fun but also tells readers about your book. Think about doing themed guest posts throughout the tour. Take the readers on a tour of the world you created.
  
• Giveaways - A great way to drive traffic to the posts that you do on blogs is by having a giveaway. The giveaway doesn’t have to be about your book. It can be a giveaway that has themes from your book, chocolate, a book bag, bookmarks, a gift card, or a past title. 

Colette’s Bio: 

 
I have a passion for books in all genres, but have a weakness for romances. I started the blog A Buckeye Girl Reads 3 years ago, and through that blog have worked with many authors. I discovered much to my surprise, that I loved helping them get their book noticed by as many people as possible and started ABG Reads Book Tours.  Hobbies outside of reading are sparse, but include: cooking, baking, traveling and writing.  

Find Colette and her Tours
ABG Reads Book Tours
Twitter | Facebook| A Buckeye Girl Reads

Thanks, Colette, for visiting. Please come back and tell us what to do during the tour.