Organising A Book Blog Tour - Alice Jolly
Until three weeks ago I had never heard of a book blog tour. I had also never looked at many book blogs. When I was raising the funding for my memoir 'Dead Babies And Seaside Towns' I had some great support from book blogger Isabel Costello at The Literary Sofa. I was also asked to write for various book blogs. But still the whole world of book blogs remained a bit of a mystery to me.
Then I realised that authors now often have a book blog tour and so I thought - why shouldn't I do that as well? It turns out that basically a book blog tour is a schedule of 'visits' which a book / author makes to a number of blogs. It is rather like the traditional book tour but instead of going to physical bookshops you are 'visiting' blogs. These visits might involve a review, an author interview, books being given away or an author Q & A / interview.
I asked a number of writer friends for advice. I soon realised that the problem for me is that not many book bloggers are interested in literary books. Hundreds focus on romantic novels or crime but most are interested in my kind of book. Not discouraged, I continued with my research. I looked at many blogs - taking note of how many people read those blogs, the kind of books they cover, the quality of the reviews etc. By this process I identified a handful of blogs which looked possible and began to get in touch with those bloggers.
So far the response has not been that good. However, the few people who have contacted me have been so full of warmth and enthusiasm that I already feel that the work I have put in so far has been more than repaid. You've got to love the world of book bloggers. Isn't it wonderful that people spend so much unpaid time supporting the world of writers and readers? Such enthusiasm is heart warming.
But I realise that I do need to take care with all this. What exactly is the value of a book blog tour? Or even a one off review on a book blog? The truth is that it is very hard to know. Is anyone reading all these blogs? Many of them are followed by several thousand people but do those people actually read any of the posts? And even if they do, will reading about my book on a blog encourage people to buy it?
The answer is, of course, that I don't know. I also need to look carefully at issues of time management. Is it better to spend time writing an unpaid blog post or should I just get on with writing my new book? All writers, I know, are facing these same problems. And these problems are not new. However, the internet has created hundreds of new marketing possibilities whose value can be hard to judge.
As always, I suppose that it is all a question of balance. And also of experimentation. I'm spending time now on trying to organise my book blog tour but I will be evaluating the process as I go and working out whether this is something I should do again. If others have experience of book blog tours, advice, or recommendations of bloggers I should approach, then do let me know.
Then I realised that authors now often have a book blog tour and so I thought - why shouldn't I do that as well? It turns out that basically a book blog tour is a schedule of 'visits' which a book / author makes to a number of blogs. It is rather like the traditional book tour but instead of going to physical bookshops you are 'visiting' blogs. These visits might involve a review, an author interview, books being given away or an author Q & A / interview.
I asked a number of writer friends for advice. I soon realised that the problem for me is that not many book bloggers are interested in literary books. Hundreds focus on romantic novels or crime but most are interested in my kind of book. Not discouraged, I continued with my research. I looked at many blogs - taking note of how many people read those blogs, the kind of books they cover, the quality of the reviews etc. By this process I identified a handful of blogs which looked possible and began to get in touch with those bloggers.
So far the response has not been that good. However, the few people who have contacted me have been so full of warmth and enthusiasm that I already feel that the work I have put in so far has been more than repaid. You've got to love the world of book bloggers. Isn't it wonderful that people spend so much unpaid time supporting the world of writers and readers? Such enthusiasm is heart warming.
But I realise that I do need to take care with all this. What exactly is the value of a book blog tour? Or even a one off review on a book blog? The truth is that it is very hard to know. Is anyone reading all these blogs? Many of them are followed by several thousand people but do those people actually read any of the posts? And even if they do, will reading about my book on a blog encourage people to buy it?
The answer is, of course, that I don't know. I also need to look carefully at issues of time management. Is it better to spend time writing an unpaid blog post or should I just get on with writing my new book? All writers, I know, are facing these same problems. And these problems are not new. However, the internet has created hundreds of new marketing possibilities whose value can be hard to judge.
As always, I suppose that it is all a question of balance. And also of experimentation. I'm spending time now on trying to organise my book blog tour but I will be evaluating the process as I go and working out whether this is something I should do again. If others have experience of book blog tours, advice, or recommendations of bloggers I should approach, then do let me know.
Comments
I gather mine was quite a small tour compared to some, but it still took a considerable chunk of my writing time/energy and a fair amount of organising (most of which my publisher handled). I don't know how effective it was in terms of sales, but the book's rankings definitely improved while the tour was happening.
Good luck with yours, if you do one. It's all visibility.
Although each recipient seemed a good fit for my Ophelia novel, none of them even responded to my emails. Frankly, I thought it arrogant and rude of them not to even to drop me a one-line refusal if they weren't interested. It set me thinking what I may have done wrong in selecting and approaching them.
Although I chose bloggers I liked, I can't imagine any of them would be that swamped that they could not extend common professional courtesy to a fellow writer. In any event, your blog has heartened me to try again, Alice.
Like yourself, I'm still green when it comes to this phenomenon. I also noticed the paucity of literary blogs suitable to my work. I'll very be interested in hearing how you fare and if you have any tips. Thank you.
One could easily do nothing but marketing (and eventually run out of things to sell?): there is an infinity of possibilities within social media outlets - and that's before I move out of my chair. It has to be contained. Down, boy!
Evaluating the effectiveness of marketing is another whole area that probably needs its own time-chunk and more skill and dedication that I currently (or will ever) possess.
And all I want to do is WRITE.