Blog Book Tours

Have a Holly Jolly New Facebook Year

2011-12-26T11:09:00.000-08:00

My friends at the BBT Cafe, the social site for Blog Book Tours alumnae, are seeing different things on my new Facebook timeline. Here's a snip of that new two-column set-up:

How do you like the look? How do you expect to use it to promote your books?

Keeping It Interesting

2011-09-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

One of the fastest and best ways to create an interesting blog post is with an embedded video. Here's one from the latest publication at Little Pickle Press, showing the book weaving through the printing process. This is Snutt the Ift by UK author and artist, Helen Ward, working its way into the hands of American children.

Click on the link and watch. Doesn't that give you goosebumps? Does me.

Hit Counters

2011-09-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

There are programs that tell a blogger how well their online efforts are doing. Some people love, love, love full-blown analytics and others are much more comfortable with the basics. For me, as a teacher of very fundamental online book marketing skills, keeping comfort levels and enthusiasm high with my students is paramount. An empowered student is a good student. Many creatives, and that includes writers, don't like working with numbers, but a certain level of skill in measuring efforts is important, whether checking your royalty statements, your Amazon ranking, or how many reading fans you have.

A simple free site like StatCounter can show you what you've accomplished over the last few years of blogging.

If this were your blog, wouldn't it make you feel kind of good about what you've accomplished?

Check your blog visitor stats weekly to get a sense of how well your blog is bringing attention to your books. Are there any kinds of posts that draw more readers? Are you engaging with your fans? If you aren't in casual writing, does that translate to the success of your book sales? I'm guessing for most authors, it does.

What about you? What kind of analytics do you use to gauge the success of your blogging efforts? Is blog popularity (or any kind of popularity) important to gain book sales, do you think?

Comment Tip

2011-09-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

It's important for bloggers to visit other blogs, and leave the occasional comment, especially if they like the blog and see it as a potential host for a blog tour. It's also a good idea to leave a nice little clickable link back to your blog at the bottom of your comment post. You've seen those, right? How did the commenter do that, you may have wondered?

First type this:

But replace http://blogbooktours.blogspot.com with your blog URL.

Then replace Blog Book Tours with your name or your blog's name.

My link will look like this when I publish the comment:

Blog Book Tours

Even though I pasted in the entire string in the red box above. And it's clickable, isn't it?

Now copy and save this tip for future use. Paste the entire string as your signature in a comment window and you should get a live clickable link when it publishes.

Go try it in the comment section of your own blog to make sure it works for you! It may sound a bit confusing, but it's really not.

Elizabeth Zelvin Cyberschmoozes With Us

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

We're bumping up this excellent guest post by Liz Zelvin from several years ago for the benefit of the current Blog Book Tours class which is spending the month of September finding blog hosts for their own tours:

Welcome to Liz Zelvin, author of Death Can Get You Sober. She shares with us tips on developing friendships in the cyber-world to help promote our publications.

Cumulative Cyberschmoozing: The Secret of a Successful Virtual Book Tour
By Elizabeth Zelvin
My debut mystery, Death Will Get You Sober, hit bookstores on April 15 (2008). Since I want to give my novel the best possible shot, I am working hard on a variety of promotional activities. I set up a book tour, and I will be traveling across the country signing books, talking to readers, and most important, meeting individual booksellers face to face, from late April through all of May and June. A virtual tour has a different purpose: to reach and improve my visibility with the many readers who talk about and buy books online.

Setting up the virtual tour was time consuming. But I found it relatively easy to develop a list of blogs and websites that were willing to interview me or host a guest blog, others that offered opportunities to chat, record a podcast, or appear as a featured author.

How did I know where to go and whom to ask? I’ve been networking among mystery lovers for years, on e-lists like Guppies and DorothyL and web-based social networks like CrimeSpace. What gave me the time to build up not just contacts but friendships in the mystery community was how long it took me to find a publisher: more than five years from when I started sending the manuscript out. In retrospect, not a day of that agonizing time was wasted.

All this time, I’ve been schmoozing (a Yiddish word that a friend of mine insists means “to network shamelessly”) in cyberspace and also face to face at book launches, meetings of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and mystery conferences and parties. It helps that I live in New York. It also helps that I make my living in cyberspace as an online therapist and therefore am very comfortable expressing myself in text. I’ve been lucky in having had the opportunity to blog with some terrific mystery writers on Poe’s Deadly Daughters. When I finally did get a publisher, it happened to be one that gives me enormous credibility with other writers.

But anyone can follow a few simple rules that, in retrospect, I think contributed to the effectiveness of my virtual tour.

1. Get out there on the Internet and make friends. Be generous. Post when you can contribute something, not just when you need something. If you like someone’s book, email that person one to one and tell them so. Post comments to the mystery blogs. Don’t just talk about yourself and your book or manuscript or blog. Be thoughtful, informative, and entertaining. These skills will come in handy when you’re ready to write your guest blogs, and they’ll convey that you’re someone it will be a pleasure to help.

2. Keep it fresh. Stockpile blog posts whenever you can. Blogging is like any other kind of writing: it often starts with a spark of creativity, and then you’ve got to do the work. Don’t just write about writing or blogging or promoting books. Write about whatever interests you. During your virtual tour, you’ll want to avoid redundancy—and since you’ll tour around the time your book is published, you won’t have time to write ten or twenty pieces at the last moment. Make sure you say something different or reveal a different aspect of yourself or your work each time. I even write my brief bios from scratch every time, so they won’t all sound the same.

3. Ask your hosts if they’ll interview you rather than host a guest blog. I found every interviewer had a distinctive style and approach. Answering questions allowed me to keep it fresh without having to come up with a different angle every time myself. A bonus: license to talk about myself until the cows came home. I admit I had a grand time doing it. And some of the questions were definitely wild and unexpected. We all had fun, and I think it came across to readers.

4. Keep careful track of the logistics of your tour. A lot of the work, besides contacting hosts and writing the material, was record keeping. I had a master file that included the date of every virtual gig, the host blog or newsletter or website name, what kind of event it was (eg guest blog, interview, profile, podcast, live chat, Q&A), the url I’d need to create a link for the schedule on my website, the contact person’s name and email address, and—most important—the status of the material. Some I wrote and sent months in advance, and the host took on the task of remembering to post it at the right time. Others asked me to send it—or remind them—at a particular time nearer to the event date. All undone tasks appeared in my master file in red, and I duplicated the “Send” and “Remind” dates as notes on two different calendars. Then I posted all the events to the Virtual Tour page on my own website, with active links to the host sites or blogs—a small enough return for their generosity in hosting me.

5. Do it in advance. Get it done. It took me all of February to get my virtual tour schedule set and write the material, with a lot of emailing back and forth to my various hosts. But now it’s done. Unlike a real-life tour, except for the occasional live chat or podcast, when you’ve done the preparation, the work is finished. One or two blog hosts asked me to check in several times on the day my guest blog ran in order to respond to reader comments. And if I hadn’t heard recently from a host I’d set up a date with months ago, I might email to reconfirm as the date approached—or check to see that my blog or interview got posted as scheduled. But basically, once finalized, the virtual tour will run itself.

Elizabeth Zelvin’s debut mystery is Death Will Get You Sober (St. Martin’s, April 2008). Library Journal calls it “a remarkable and strongly recommended first novel.” Her related short story, “Death Will Clean Your Closet,” has been nominated for an Agatha award for Best Short Story. More about Liz, including her Virtual Tour schedule, appears on her website.

And you can keep up with what Liz has to say by regularly visiting her at the Poe's Deadly Daughters blog.

First Day of Blog Book Tours Class

2011-09-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

A major premise of the blog book tours course is that a good author blog is the foundation of a
good blog book tour. Why? Unless the author is a dedicated blogger and has created a great blog for himself, it’s not likely he’ll be able to determine whether a blog host will be an effective tour stop. You must establish a strong comfort level and respect for blogging to engage in a solid blog book tour.

Elements of a good blog is what we’ll cover this week, starting with author blogs, and then reinforcing that these characteristics are what you’ll look for in host blogs.

Here is the entire list which the students will look at individually throughout this week:

Basic Design Attractiveness?
Title and url cohesive?
Consistency and clarity of blog purpose?
Loading speed?
Follow widget in place?
Hit counter?
Bookmarking in place?
FB and Twitter widgets?
Blogrolls?
Linking effective? Tags/keywords used?
Frequent posting 2-3 x weekly?
Quality of overall posts?
Comments section working?
Blog components arranged in optimum manner?
Too many/too few third-party gadgets?
Pages used effectively?
What's great?
What can be improved?
Is it ready for a blog tour?

Most of the criteria is self-explanatory. You might look at your own blog to determine if some tweaking would help make the blog stronger and more appealing to your readers.

Last Chance

2011-09-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

Today, September 4, 2011 is the last day to sign up for the blog book tours class which starts tomorrow, September 5th. If you are an author, have a blog and know how to use it, have at the very least rudimentary skills in social networking (Facebook and Twitter), you will benefit from this four-week course. There is no charge. If I offer it again (and that's a big IF), it won't be until this time next year. Here's what we'll cover:

Week One: Elements of a good blog, how to rate a blog, and critiques of some so
you can practice

Week Two: Learning to cyber-schmooze with potential hosts, ranking other blogs,
and collecting a pool of blog book tour hosts

Week Three: Social networking on Facebook and Twitter and how to use them to
find blog book tour hosts

Week Four: Crafting your tour based on the above-mentioned host pool, contacting
hosts, planning your stops, and writing your posts

Week Five: Questions, answers, brainstorming, and moving over to the BBT Cafe,
our social site

You must show up for class! Don't sign up if you don't plan to participate and work hard along with the rest of us!

September 2011 Blog Book Tours Class

2011-08-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

It looks like the drill sergeant has a job to do for the month of September. We have enough people for a class, and there's still room to invite friends who have a published book they need to promote. Have them sign up for this one-month-long boot camp! We start on September 5th. I'll post what we're covering in the next post, but one thing I'd like to mention that's important:

You must have a blog and know how to use it. We don't actually teach you the ins and outs of blogging. There are plenty of how-tos online for the different blogging platforms. Just Google. We will critique a few blogs and rearrange and add elements to make your blogs more use-friendly. Once you know what a good blog looks like, you'll be prepared to find good blogs to host tour stops. Makes sense, right?

Okay, go sign up! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

Read the Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever if you don't know why you should be doing this.

Start doing push-ups, too, and you may as well set the alarm an hour early to get into shape.

Daily Blog Book Tour Tip

2011-06-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Your blog book tour is in full swing, and you're wondering why your daily stops aren't getting more comments. Even the sign-ups for drawings seem weak. Here's a tip for you: post your host's permalink for that day everywhere you ordinarily go to do your social networking. Don't expect your fans to check your tour schedule to connect. Everyone is busy, and you must remind them. Do not act bashful! Promote at least three times a day during a tour. Updates on Facebook and Twitter disappear very quickly, so repeat performances are a must.

Don't be shy when promoting your new book!

Little Mountain with Bob Sanchez

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today we're happy to help kick off a blog book tour for Bob Sanchez's novel, Little Mountain.
~~~~~~~~

And we’re off!

Thanks for hosting the kickoff of my Little Mountain tour, Dani, and for all you do encouraging others on their tours.

As much as I love to write humor, some books leave no place for it. Little Mountain has no humor and barely even has a mountain. It does have a Cambodian who becomes an American homicide cop and has to solve a crime that brings back haunting memories.

I used to live near the scene of the crime: Lowell, Massachusetts, where thousands of Cambodian refugees settled beginning in late 1979. My wife and I sponsored such a family and became well acquainted with some of the issues they and their host city faced. My first-ever and never-to-be-published novel, Freedom Country, was about a young Cambodian girl surviving the Khmer Rouge horrors and coming to the United States. I did all the research I knew how to do, short of traveling to Cambodia myself. Not having seen the country and my being a tyro at writing fiction pretty well sunk that ship. But what came out of Freedom Country was a better understanding of Cambodians’ plight and much-improved writing skills, thanks to many workshops and critique groups.

Little Mountain was the next novel I wrote, although it’s the third I’ve published. Humorous, wise-guy fiction exerts a strong pull on me as well, hence When Pigs Fly and Getting Lucky. The owner of Fjord Press phoned me one Saturday with glowing comments about Little Mountain and saying that he wanted to publish it. He even provided me with some free line edits, which were excellent.

Then he went out of business, and Little Mountain languished on my hard drive while I pursued other projects. Recently I decided to bring it to life, so I found one more great critiquer, hired an artist to design a cover, fixed nits in the writing until I thought my eyes would fall out, and published it.

I sent one of the first copies to my brother Steve. He soon called me and asked if Sam (the hero) could also change water into wine, which puzzled me. Then he explained that Sam gets a cup of tea in one paragraph and finishes his coffee in the next. (Nice trick, huh?) Well, say what you will about self-publishing, I was able to upload a correction in just a few minutes. Try doing that at Random House!

I hope you’ll visit all the fine blogs on my tour. Please post a comment for a chance to win an ebook or signed paperback copy of one of my novels. And thanks for visiting!

Bob’s tour schedule
Bob’s Blog
More background on Little Mountain
Purchase Little Mountain

R is for Rules

2011-04-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Going right along with the Quiet Rule, is the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do onto you. The following embellishes a bit. From a children's store called Recess, where the owner and Mom has this list of rules sitting by the cash register:

Rule #1: Never give up.

I love this rule. I say this to my daughter all of the time. If we are feeling like the world is getting us down and things are getting difficult we can think about this simple rule. Don’t give up! Just keep reaching. Life is not easy.

Rule #2: Be nice to one another.

How profound! This is such an easy rule and so easily forgotten. To simply be nice to someone can truly make their day. Treat others as you would like to be treated and most likely someone will do the same for you.

Rule #3: Think good thoughts.

Another great one. Why waste time being negative? Be positive and feel better all around. Think the best thoughts possible about people and difficult situations. Take a moment and picture yourself doing something you love. It is a great stress reliever.

Rule #4: Try to do better.

A favorite of mine because I am an over-achiever! Do your best and then some. The effort is usually well worth it. Try to improve yourself in small ways and see what the outcome is. Try new things and don’t fear failure. Just do your best!

Rule #5: Say please and thank you.

It brings a smile to my face when I get the chance to interact with a polite child (or adult!) Everyone is in such a rush these days, but take the time for a simple please or thank you. It will be well received.

It’s like I said. This is a simple list with basic concepts. It brings me back to the purity of childhood. Obviously we want to teach our children these simple rules, but what a great reminder to use them daily as adults. Keep these rules in mind during your busy week and see how often it helps you through!

I agree!

Q is for Quiet

2011-04-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

I DON'T KNOW WHAT PEOPLE HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT BY NOW THAT TYPING IN ALL CAPS MEANS YOU'RE YELLING!

Be quiet. It applies to life online as well as for real. Don't yell. It's impolite.

P is for Promotion

2011-04-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today at the Blood-Red Pencil, Maryann Miller and I discuss how difficult BSP is for authors and how the rest of us can help. It's all about liking each other. Go read what I'm talking about.

Rana DiOrio at Little Pickle Press has another effective tactic for promoting her blog. When LPP writes about other people, they not only include links to mentioned sites, but after the blog publishes, Rana emails the mentionees and asks them to stop by the blog and leave a comment. Here are examples of emails she sent for today's blog post:

Good Morning!

We feature you today in our blog post about the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival:

http://bit.ly/g3QpFO

Please stop by and leave a comment!

Thank you,
Rana

***

Good Morning:

We just wanted you to know that we have a very favorable mention of your business in our blog today:

http://bit.ly/g3QpFO

Please stop by and leave a comment.

Thanks so much,
Rana

***

Good Morning:

Just thought you'd like to know that we extol your organization today in our blog post about the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival:

http://bit.ly/g3QpFO

Please stop by and leave a comment!

Thanks so much,
Rana

It takes only a few moments to send these reminders, but the benefits in the way of traffic and comments to the blog can be great. Don't miss an opportunity to gently encourage someone to read your post about them!

O is for Oops

2011-04-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

It's also for, "oh, dang, I don't have a blog post for the A-Z Challenge and I'm out of town."

So here's a picture of an orchid I have in bloom right now.

Talk about pulling something out of an orifice!

N is for News

2011-04-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

There are two kinds of news that come to mind: personal news about you, and what’s happening in the world. Both are great things to write about.

If you’re an author or a publisher, the public can’t get enough information about what you’re doing from day-to-day. Readers want to know what your word count is, what other novels your moodling, what conference you’ll be attending next. The same goes for publishers, and recaps of recent events with photos are always a boon to blog traffic. Don’t forget to share information about yourself on your blog!

World news works a little differently, because when you write about a current event, not only do you share your opinions but you also tap into a huge and sticky web of similar posts on the Internet. Linking to outside news sources is a great way to increase the notice-ability of your blog. If you’re writing about an earthquake, for example, Google the word and see what news articles are first in your search results. Then mention the keyword and link to that article in your post. Also try to add the keyword to your blog post title and label. When it comes to news and blogging, relevance and timing are important to factor into your scheme, so don’t hesitate mentioning important world events when possible.

M is for Murder

2011-04-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Right about now, most of the A-Z Challengers are probably thinking this project is murder! About halfway through a blog challenge is when the going gets tough. It’s easier than usual for me having a narrow focus, that is, using letters of the alphabet throughout the contest. So today is M, and originally I’d planned to host a tour stop for Susan Wittig Albert’s new mystery novel, Mourning Gloria. But the tour has been pushed to later since the author is still on a live tour. I’ll talk about Murder Must Advertise instead.

MMA is a Yahoo!Group for mystery authors to share promotion ideas of any and every kind, and there’s no better place to find creativity and kindred spirits. I encourage you to join the group, even if you don’t write mysteries. Their discussions and suggestions apply to all writers, including (and maybe especially) self-published authors. Don’t waste a moment joining the group. It is a moderated forum, and each comment must pass muster by the list owner, so no worries about any wild and off-topic discussions. This is about marketing your book, and that’s what you’ll read about. But you’ll also meet a great group of people. Kudos to award-winning writer, Jeffrey Marks, for starting the group twelve years ago. Tell them Dani at Blog Book Tours sent you over when you join!

L is for Length and Other Lessons

2011-04-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

I manage the blog for Little Pickle Press, and using some of the techniques I’ve mentioned in the past days, we’ve managed to consistently achieve 100-200 visitors a day, and now have a Google 3 ranking. Because the LPP Team shares lots of information about children’s book publishing (and environmental sustainability), it daily becomes more of an authority blog, with lots of guests from related industries. One of the challenges I encounter editing guest posts is length.

How long should a blog post be? 350 words is probably optimum for an average post. 500 words is getting too long and probably should be split into two consecutive posts. I also try to mix it up during the course of a week. It’s better to have five posts day-after-day, rather than two long posts during one week. So think about this when planning your weekly posts. Are you driving your readers away because it takes too long to read what you have to say?

The average length of time a visitor will stay at your blog is 1 ½ minutes. That’s your window of opportunity so grab them and impart your message. Or lose your reader. It’s not a lesson you need to learn the hard way.

K is for Knowledge

2011-04-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I talked about increasing blog traffic and building a voice of authority through your writing. What do you know that sets you apart from other bloggers, something that might attract a very narrow, but perhaps large group of readers?

What brings people to this blog is information about blog book tours. So that narrows my readership to authors who want to promote their new titles on the Internet.

In the past five years, I’ve become something of a sage (I hesitate to say "authority figure" as it sounds so unfriendly) about blog book tours, and it all started as research for my own book promotion. I didn't invent the idea by any means (it goes back at least 20 years to author, M.J. Rose). After many years of promoting a business with related traveling, hotel conferences, and other “face-time”, I knew I didn’t want to do any of that to promote my own book. It was too expensive, too time-consuming, too strenuous at my age, and an environmental nightmare. It was this last issue that decided my interest in online promotion, and it was a short jump to the blogging platform and it’s obvious potential, that led me to researching and planning online tours.

Five years later, I still think blogs, blog book tours, and other Internet platforms like YouTube and podcasting, are powerful book promotion tools, which have changed the publishing game, and tilted it in favor of the author. If you’re interested in a quick how-to be sure to read my Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever and then consider taking a class to plan your own tour. Not only will you pay less out-of-pocket to plan your own tour, you’ll have a better one. Because nobody knows your book as well as you do, and nobody cares more about its success. Sign up for the next class here, and acquire the knowledge you need to build your own blog book tour.

J is for Jumpstarting

2011-04-12T06:00:00.001-07:00

One of the most frustrating things in the early days of a blog is getting daily readers. Even bloggers who post every day don’t always get the results they want very quickly. This is where a group effort comes in handy to jumpstart results.

In the blog book tours classes, we usually have a blog-a-day challenge for one month. This serves several purposes.

It develops a good habit in the blogger, because infrequent blogging is the death knell of even the most attractive blog.
It increases traffic to a blog through visits from team members, and consequently makes the blog more noticeable to search engines.

Both of these elements are vital for jumpstarting a blog. Projects like the current A-Z Challenge, the basis of the blogs you are currently reading, are even more powerful. (Click on the link at the top of the page.) Almost 1,200 bloggers are teaming up in the same project, egging each other on, visiting member blogs, back-linking to each other. The Google ‘bots must be going crazy. Which, of course, has us all jumping for joy!

I is for Improvement

2011-04-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

There was a time that WordPress was touted as the professional blogging platform, but Blogger has added so many features and improvements over the last year, that they are almost as powerful in a business environment. The most notable improvement is a new and flexible Designer feature, which not only includes countless templates to personalize the blog, but also a myriad of fonts, page elements, and colors. As well, gadgets that include statistics and email subscription sign-ups have been added, and with the upgrading of the spam feature, there’s really not a lot more to change for the average blogger. It amazes me to see blogs out there still using the old, original Blogger templates.

All these improvements are great tools to help create an attractive and entertaining blog, and you’ll want to use them to bring people back. Increasing traffic should be one of your goals, and with steady work, you should be able to regularly get 100 visitors a day within a year. In that time, you should also gain the Google ranking we mentioned a few days ago.

Why is this important? The more visitors to your blog, the more influence you have, whether promoting your opinions, teaching a lesson, or promoting your book. You become an authority via your blog. So think about that other “I” word – Influence – and how much of it you can develop on the Internet through your written word. Let’s review these interesting concepts:

Improve your blog
Increase traffic
Influence more readers
Internet is the road to achievement and success

H is for Help

2011-04-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

How-to blog:

I often have folks sign up for my classes thinking they'll learn to blog. You have to know how before you sign up - the point of the class is to learn about blog BOOK TOURS. So you need to be fairly adept at blogging to sign up. The best way to learn how to blog is to simply Google "how to blog". Then see what comes up. Here's one example to try on YouTube, and you might have to search around for updated links since last year's Blogger upgrade, but the information is at your disposal. Seek and ye shall find.

Hit counters:

Everyone needs one and two favorites are Statcounter.com and Sitemeter.com. I prefer Sitemeter, and like to show actual hit count since a good high number makes the blog more attractive to readers.

Holiday blogging prompts:

Last week, I found a really great site that lists all those crazy holidays we're always hearing about like National Naked Rat Day and National Black Licorice Week. This site lists hundreds of those holidays by month, and what great writing prompts for your blog! Go here for more and be sure to bookmark this site.

Hurdles like word verification:

I've noticed during this month's A-Z Challenge that quite a few of the blogs have word verification and moderated status activated. I would definitely get rid of the word verification, as I and many people, don't return to blogs that create comment hurdles like that. I've even turned it off on this blog, despite having the blog shut down for six months by Blogger for excess spam visits. Bloggers new spam filter is really quite adequate for the job. If you're still not sure, then moderate comments, but even this is a mental hurdle for your fans. You'll lose too many to make it worth the bother. Remember, you WANT comments, because it makes your blog stickier to the search engines.

Hint-of-the-Day:

Collapse your archive in the sidebar. It's ugly, takes up too much space, and nobody uses it anyway. Make it a nice tidy little box like mine in the sidebar. See it? Now compare it to yours. Which is better?

Finally H is for Happy blogging!

testing

2011-04-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

Blog Book Tours Blog

G is for Google

2011-04-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

There is so much about Google to talk about, it's hard to know where to start. Let's make it short and discuss two things:

Google ranking is one important gauge of how popular or influential a blog is, and you should know your ranking, as well as any potential blog book tour host's. If you're planning a blog book tour, try to find blogs that have a Google ranking of 3 or 4. Blogs don't often rank higher than 5. To get your ranking, visit PR Checker and follow the easy directions.

You should also set-up Google Alerts for your book title, your name, and perhaps some key words associated with your brand or book. This allows you to monitor what's going on on the web related to your interests. Setting up Google Alerts is as easy as checking your ranking, and you automatically get daily or weekly updates in your mailbox.

Was that useful information? Do you already do these things? Leave a comment and share what your blog's ranking is. I have a widget in the sidebar letting all visitors know I'm a Google 4, which makes me a prime host for blog book tours. I'll be doing more of that starting in May, and will feature children's literature and cozy mysteries, as well as non-fiction related to organic and sustainability topics. Be sure to add me to your blogroll for future reference!

F is for Friends

2011-04-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

F is also for Facebook and Followers on Twitter. At the BBT Cafe, which is the social site for graduates of the blog book tours classes, we are friends in the true sense of the word, and continue to support each other in book marketing endeavors long after the classes end. It wasn't by design - this just evolved over time. So here's what you can expect on the weekly collaborative promotion menu:

Monday: We support each other on Facebook by posting our link and reminder at the Cafe site. Then we go to each other's Facebook pages, click the Like button on a status update we really do like, leave a comment, and most importantly, click on the Share button so that the link publishes on our own Facebook pages, and increases the readership of that author's post. Needless to say, most of us create status updates that are informative and easy for our friends to share. Something relevant. Something other authors would find interesting. Something that won't embarrass the rest of us.

Wednesday: We visit each other blogs and leave comments so that Google will notice how Fantastic we are.

Friday: We leave #FF (Follow Friday) suggestions at the Cafe and link over to Twitter to post fellow tweeter @ links so others can follow them, too. We also let people know why they should do this. Here's an example:

Be sure to #FF @Blogbooktours for great posts about blogging and promoting books. #books

The # is called a "hashtag" and if you go to Twitter and search #FF, you'll get everyone who is playing the follow Friday game - and you'll likely find some good folks to add to your own Twitter list.

It all sounds confusing, but it only takes a few weeks to get the hang of all this social networking stuff. If you don't understand, you have friends who will help you.

Yep. You got to have friends. Sing it loud and strong!

E is for Elements of a Good Blog

2011-04-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our class members spend a good deal of time adding elements to their blogs for reader convenience and to make the blog more "sticky" with search engines. Arrange your sidebar elements in an order that's most useful to the viewer. I promised yesterday I would bump this post up, so here's the information I use over and over.

Let's take a look at the sidebar on this blog.

1. We start with a short description of what this blog is about - it's a quick profile.

2. Because the blog is the public newsletter for our blog book tour classes, many of the posts are useful to others interested in our topic, and so we have a share/bookmark button right beneath the profile. This is so readers can click and easily send the information on this blog to their friends on Facebook or any of a number of other online communities they might participate in. Click on the button, and you'll see the drop-down menu. This is an AddThis button which happens to be the neatest and most effective. There's a reason it's rated #1. A later addition is via Blogger at the bottom of each post.

3. Next we make sure it's easy for our readers to engage with us on Facebook and Twitter. Those are basic links to our sites there, but you can also find pretty third-party widgets which add sparkle to the blog. I just haven't decided which one I like best yet. Always have your assorted links and sites cross-referenced on all your sites. Everyone is trying to connect at many levels these days.

4. Then make sure you have a few "subscribe" links for readers who use aggregators to keep track of their favorite blog updates. See the ugly RSS feed buttons in the sidebar? I'm looking for a nicer one like this. This symbol is almost as recognizable as the golden arches.

5. Google Friend Connect essentially works in a similar albeit limited way (and also has a certain psychological pull when many people follow the blog). Networked Blogs is another way to get a notice when someone updates a blog - it feeds through to Facebook and Twitter automatically.

Start with a few of these basics up high in the sidebar of your blog, and then add more as you see features you like on other blogs you visit. Why up high? Sometimes your readers are in a hurry and will only read the first post, so make it easy for them to share or stay connected by putting the handiest tools at their disposal. Don't make them search all over your blog. They'll appreciate you for it, and come back for a visit.

Even if you're not really sure what all these widgets, gadgets, and buttons are about, place them on your blog anyway. Many of your readers know how to use them, and what we're talking about is service and convenience to them.

The rest of the way down the sidebar? Lots of blogrolls - clickable links to sites that you like and that support your blog focus.

You might have an archive link which you'll want to collapse into a neat and tidy button. Intersperse other information and links as you wish lower down the sidebar.

You can also add a gadget on Blogger that magically makes all your most popular blog posts appear. See it at right? I also have links to related information like the Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever.

The last item on your list should be a hit counter and I prefer being able to see the visitor count. There can be any number of other items, but these are the very essential ones in that order.

And don't forget a contact link - if you don't want your email address on the front page, then consider adding a contact page under your header that readers must open for additional information about how to reach you. It can be most frustrating for a reader seeking more information about you and your books (or services or other products), to not find a way to reach you.

And remember that you have lots of options for additional information categorized under Pages underneath your header. I've even included the A-Z Challenger participants under their own tab!

This post was last published on July 17, 2010. I'm now going to change the date so it appears on April 6, 2011. Because I can, and so can you.

D is for Dates

2011-04-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not talking about the ones we all wanted on Saturday nights when we were young.

What I mean is the date you might find on a letter... or on a blog post like this one. Do you notice anything? I have a day of the week above right and a time at the bottom of this post. But no actual date. Why? Because many of the posts are timeless, and apply to many situations or from one blog book tours class to the next. There is no need for me to rewrite the post. Often I bump a post up by going into Post Options and changing the date so the blog post reappears at the top of the blog. Clever, no?

You can do the same thing. An added advantage is that the blog never looks stale to a newcomer, who might wonder why I haven't posted anything since last month, if the month stamp could be seen.

Tomorrow, I'll bump a prior post I use often that explains the Elements of a good blog. Stay tuned.

C is for Copyright

2011-04-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobsters

It really gripes me when people copy my blog posts, even when they give credit to me. Whether I have a copyright notice or not, it's my intellectual property, and there are definite copyright laws that define "fair use". Stealing my words to make your blog look smart isn't fair use by any stretch of the imagination. Some of my blogs like the Blood-Red Pencil, because they include more than one author, carry this copyright notice:

© 2008-2011 Blood-Red Pencil Authors

The contents of these pages, including text and images, are the sole property of the authors and may not be used, reproduced, or reposted in any manner without written consent. All rights reserved.

What I'd really like to say is more akin to this:

You steal my text or pictures, I'll have my attorney send you a bill. I don't run cheap. If you don't pay up, I'll send Guido to take care of the problem. Get my drift?

But that brings up another C-word. Civility. Be glad I have manners.

Blogging for Books at the BBT Cafe

2011-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

I never really learned to blog. I jumped in feet first about five years ago when my friend, Ann Parker, and I attended a Women Writing the West Conference and they needed someone to photograph and report about the doings each day. So we tried it, rather successsfully I might add, and I was hooked practically overnight.

Today, I still think blogs and all the social networking sites available to us, are the best and certainly most affordable ways to promote books. My passion is also environmental. It takes a whole lot less petroleum to go on a blog book tour than drive or fly around the country using up petroleum. I became so vested in this idea, I learned everything I could about the process until I ended up teaching classes to other authors and hosting blog book tour stops on my own blogs. I now even chaperone tours for others for a fee, although I limit that service to only books I love and read. Children's literature and cozy mysteries are my favorites.

When you're thinking about promoting an up-and-coming title, be sure to sign up for a blog book tours class and really prepare yourself to market this way. Many of the people in the A-Z Challenge can tell you what a difference it makes. I'll hope to see you at the classroom sometime soon! Oh, and feel free to join the BBT Cafe anytime, for ongoing chats about blog book tours, writing, publishing, and anything else we feel like discussing. It's a great group of supportive writing friends, and we always welcome newcomers.

A-A-A-pril Fools!

2011-04-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I need another drink quick!

Anyone who has taken a Blog Book Tours class with me knows there is usually a Blog-a-Day Challenge involved. It's a great way to make your blog sizzle in a hurry, and it is especially beneficial when a group of people are linking to each other, leaving comments, and just generally adding to the support and fun. I've seen blogs go from Absolutely Awful to Ztellar. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, at least in the spelling department.

Special thanks to the pals from the BBT Cafe (our blog book tours alum and social spot) for organizing the A-Z Challenge. Alex J. Cavanaugh and Stephen Tremp, you guys are nuts! I have no idea how I'm going to interact with ~~almost~~ more than 1,000 bloggers over the next month, but as Steve points, at least they are allowing us to take Sundays off, unlike yours truly who had no such mercy in any class. Paybacks are tomorrow's letter, huh?

Please click on the A-Z Challenge tab above to see all the great bloggers playing the game this month. My goal? To make this blog a little stickier with the search engines, possibly set the stage for a Google 5 ranking, and be poised to start hosting authors I like when they have their blog book tours, something I haven't done much up to know. Leave me a message if you have a new book coming out this year. And be sure to follow the blog by clicking at right, friend me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter. The more fools, the merrier!

If These Walls Could Talk

2011-03-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

When it comes to Facebook, your walls actually can talk, and that's why it's important to visit them on a regular basis. Here's a good example why:

The Heartless Contessa Refuses Make-a-Wish Request

I have no idea if this story is true, but when it comes to social networking, it doesn't matter. The Barefoot Contessa, a popular cooking icon, has a fan page that is littered with comment after comment condemning the woman for being the ogre in this story. She has over 50,000 fans and the story is going viral on Facebook. This is not a good thing.

Clearly, nobody is monitoring her Facebook wall, which brings me to the point of this post: go to your profile page daily and clean up house. I even remove posts that are no longer relevant within a week of posting and which have no comments. Also, thank yous from people for friending them. This makes it easier for new friends to scroll through your first few pages to get a sense of what you're about reading posts of relevance.

I felt compelled to leave a positive comment for the Contessa, and left this message on her FB wall:

This is all over FB. You should perhaps do some damage control and start with an explanation, then monitor your FB comments. Social networking tools require daily upkeep.

The same advice applies to us all.

Hot Tip of the Day

2011-03-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

If you are marketing a book on your blog, and expect comments or questions, turn off your comment moderation and Captcha codes - these only create a hurdle for your customers. They won't jump them, I promise you. One presumes if you are actively marketing a product that you will be monitoring your blog live and in person throughout the day.

Also, if you have requirements for the reader like following your blog to get some benefit, make sure the follow link is clear and up high next to your post where the viewer can easily see it. Don't make them work for the benefit you are offering. It will only drive them away, and worse, it could irritate them to the point they never come back to your blog.

You have seconds, seconds, to make your case. Make friends and customers the first chance you get. It will often be the only chance.

Collapsing

2011-02-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

I've been reading and commenting on a lot of blogs lately, and if there's one tip I could give just about everyone, it's Collapse.Your. Archive. You would have so much more sidebar room for blogrolls, book covers, and other interesting information, if your archive didn't drop down into a series of staggered clickable links that none of your readers ever use. See how nice and neat mine is at right. I don't usually place it that high either - it can live down lower on the sidebar below more important topics.

Collapse this. It's more information and clutter than anyone needs to see on your blog. Look how much room it hogs.

If you are using Blogger, click Design top right. Scroll down to the gadget that says Blog Archive and click on Edit. From there, you should see your other options. Then be sure to Save, and you should be all set.

Class Starts Soon

2011-01-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Class cancelled due to lack of enrollment - we must have 20 students. Next class is in April and sign-up is at the classroom link below.

Our next blog book tours class begins on February 1, 2011 and costs $20, minimum of 20 students or the class cancels, maximum of 50 students. The course runs four weeks and daily participation is important, for you and for the entire group. Much of the learning occurs through interaction between blogs, and learning to "cyber-schmooze". Plan to spend one hour per day. Now is the time to sign up!

Click on the link to join the group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

Please share with your author friends as well as publishers.

When to learn about blog book tours

2011-01-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

If you have a book coming out in two or three months (or even later), you should learn how to plan your blog book tour now. That's assuming you want to launch a virtual tour right at book release to capitalize on all the buzz around your new book.

It's a lot of added work to plan a blog book tour. What you don't want to do is learn how to plan a tour right in the midst of all your other promotional efforts. What I suggest is learning how to plan the tour early on, doing all the preparation you can in advance (which includes getting to know potential blog hosts), and then launching a blog book tour on the heels of the book release.

Don't have a blog book tour while you're engaged in live public appearances. You won't be able to do your blog book tour justice. We cover these points and more in our blog book tours class which begins February 1 and lasts all month. If you have a book coming out in Spring or Summer, you might want to do your learning and start preparations now. Click here for more information and sign-up.

Blog Book Tours Class Begins Soon

2011-01-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder to authors and publishers that the blog book tours class begins February 1. It lasts four weeks and topics covered include:

Critiquing and improving your own blog (you must have a blog to join this class)
Finding good and relevant blog hosts
Responsibilities to your blog host
What to expect from your host - and what you don't have to put up with
Using social networking to promote your blog book tour
Crafting your blog stops
Wrapping up the tour

This is an intense month, and you must participate - that's part of the cost of this course. However, you will learn how to create and manage your own tour. I recommend every author try this once. If you decide after that to hire a service, you'll know what to expect from a provider. You'll also know how much time is involved to put together a good tour. It's a winning situation all around. Click here for cost and to sign up. We'll take 20-50 students this go-round.

Permalink Habits

2011-01-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

I nag the BBT students about this incessantly - every day of your tour, change the host blog link to the permalink of that unique post. Do it before the day is over and tomorrow's post supercedes it. This is a habit that many authors don't develop early on - but if you don't do it, you'll be sorry when someone asks for the link later, or you want to reference some magnificent quote that fell from your pen in the interview. Here's what I'm talking about. Today's stop on the Your Fantastic Elastic Brain is here:

http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com

But the direct link to that post is here:

http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com/2011/01/creating-book.html

See how Blogger tacks on the date and post title?

I always go to bit.ly to create a shortened URL like this:

http://bit.ly/fqaloJ

I can use this shortened link more easily when promoting at various social networks where a long URL is a bad thing (like Twitter where you're limited to 140 characters), and often I even customize it, though bit.ly has been a bit cantankerous the past two days. I would have liked http://bit.ly/BBTHel to make the link more memorable, but no luck.

Now here's the complete tour schedule and you can see by clicking all the links over at the blog (not here), that each one goes to it's exact post, not just the blog host's main page. It's a good idea to have a separate tab on your blog that shows your tour schedules like this. Here's a snip from Little Pickle Press.

Make sense?

Don't forget the next blog book tours class starts February 1. Cost is $20 each for up to 50 students with special rates for publishers with more than ten authors. Sign-up is here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

You'll learn lots more than this from the resident drill sergeant - for one whole month of book camp. You can do it!

Typing Tip of the Day

2011-01-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

I'm promoting the latest Little Pickle Press blog book tour all week, and my hand is so sore from typing Little Pickle Press that I finally *duh* created a shortened URL that can be used from now on.

http://bit.ly/lppblog

Gee, what a brilliant idea straight from MY fantastic elastic brain to yours. See the post below to understand what I'm babbling about. Then go shorten your own blog URL.

The Blog Book Tour Daily Routine

2011-01-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

This morning the blog book tour for Your Fantastic Elastic Brain kicked off - beautifully, seamlessly - thanks to the first host at Walking Nature Home. So my job as tour chaperone is to first leave a comment on her lovely blog. Then I test the links on her post, which takes me over to the publisher's blog.

Little Pickle Press has a corresponding blog post that directs people back to the host blog. It also has it's own grand prize drawing and readers have to leave a comment to be eligible. I'll leave a comment, as will other members of the LPP team, as this makes the blog and post more sticky to search engines.

With both of these blogs, I'll go to bit.ly and create shortened URLs that I can use on other social networks.

Next I go to Facebook and post a blurb and link to send my friends to the host blog.

Then I go to Twitter and do the same.

I also share on the Yahoo!Groups I belong to if it's allowed.

I now have the basic social networking for this tour stop in place. I'll promote the above links throughout the day, especially on Facebook and Twitter.

Also important is to ask your friends to promote. The easiest way to do this is have them Like and Share your status on Facebook, and to retweet on Twitter. If you don't know what any of that means, you don't have to do it. :) If you do, try it out by going to my Facebook page and my Twitter account. See how easy and painless that was? If only ten people do this, you have incrementally increased your book and blog exposure by thousands of readers.

You can help all your friends promote their books with this simple and easy method! It takes only a couple of minutes once the routine becomes habit.

In With the New... Class!

2011-01-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

Now that we're well into January, let me remind you that there is a new Blog Book Tours class for authors scheduled to start February 1, if we get at least 20 students. Less than that and we cancel. The cost for the class is only $20 but that doesn't mean you won't pay in other ways.

This course runs one month and I'm a drill sergeant. Daily attendance is mandatory simply because experience tells me a strong group participation enhances the experience and learning for everyone. You know how that was in school. What made your classes most interesting? I'll bet lively participation was a big part of it, and so I insist we have it.

Maximum number of students is 50 - about 35 is best. Get over there and sign up now! You MUST have a blog and know how to use it to participate - we do not teach blogging rudiments - we teach how to use your blog and host blogs to organize a good blog book tour.

Blog Book Tours Class Sign-up

Digital Nativity

2010-12-21T16:59:00.000-08:00

December mini-course for novices

2010-12-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've gotten requests to do a short training for novices about how to comment on blogs, as well as work Facebook and Twitter for promotion purposes. So I have a three-day course at the classroom later this month. Specifics:

Dec. 28 - Commenting and promoting blogs (this is not about setting up a new blog)
Dec. 29 - Using Facebook
Dec. 30 - Using Twitter

This is very rudimentary, but feel free to share with your aunties who are probably your biggest fans and would help promote you if they knew how!

It's free and sign-up is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

Happy holidays!

More Tea and Advice with Pat and Holly

2010-12-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

Pat: Thinking about our previous discussions, I wonder who gets the most from the host/guest connection. The touring author probably won’t get his fans to read every post on the tour, especially if the guest post is geared toward a completely different audience than he is accustomed to writing for. However, if the author’s post is appealing to the host's followers, they will read, perhaps hop over to become new followers for the author, and maybe even order his book. What more should the touring author expect from the host, and what does the host get for all her hard work?

Holly: I think the host should make all of the guests feel welcome, first and foremost. Odds are, the blog host will get a number of new visitors – some will be longtime friends or readers of the author’s and may be completely unfamiliar with the blog. That may be a new feeling for some bloggers – in general, it’s a great feeling, if you want to increase traffic to your own blog.

But as a guest, I’m not going to demand much. I will ask that the host post early in the day; make commenting as easy for guests as they’re willing to make it - perhaps foregoing registration requirements or comment moderation, if they can; and drop by as often as possible to greet visitors and help ensure a pleasant experience. I encourage hosts to promote the book and the tour stop, and I remind them to add “buy this book” links – using their own affiliate links, if they have them – to help promote book sales. That’s the purpose in doing a blog book tour, after all. That said, I wouldn’t come to your house for dinner and request a special menu or a particular wine. I wouldn’t insist on your serving it to me with the TV on, and if you asked me to remove my shoes at the door, I would – even if that weren’t my custom at home.

Pat: I do add a lot of links for my guests, and I also include a short introduction and a summary, sometimes even pointing to a specific blog post or bio of interest. Most of my guests have provided the links for me, but there have been a couple of times I had to do extra work searching out links, proofreading and editing copy, resizing photos, and picking up the slack when the guest did not make an appearance to respond to comments. Should the host assume a guest knows the protocol?

Holly: Professionalism would be nice. Presumably, an author knows the proper protocol for submitting a manuscript and dealing with editorial guidelines. It’s not that difficult. I would probably do a light edit and re-size the photos myself, if need be – but if a deadline’s missed or the writing doesn’t do the author credit (and will likely embarrass us both), I’d feel no particular obligation to host the author on the appointed day. Authors need to be respectful of their host’s time.

Fantastic advice, ladies, and thank you for stopping by. Be sure to visit Holly and Patricia at their blogs, too! If you have a question, please leave it in the comments and we'll try to respond.

Pat and Holly talk about blog book tours and other adventures

2010-11-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Pat: Hi, Holly. Maybe you can help me with my newest blogging adventure. I recently began featuring weekly guests as well as hosting virtual tours (blog book tours) for authors. My regular guests write to a theme, but what about authors on tour? The author is there to promote his book, but as the host, I'm interested in entertaining and informing my followers. Should I provide firm guidelines, or give the guest author free rein?

Holly: How about finding a happy medium, Pat? I can’t imagine an author who wouldn’t appreciate your suggestions. You know your blog and your readers best. The author is there to promote a book, but isn’t the first rule of writing to “know your audience”?

When I’m hosting an author, I’d like for them to bring fresh ideas to the table, too – after all, I’d like to believe they didn’t just pick my blog out of a hat, without knowing what it’s about. Do you ever ask an author, “Why do you think my blog would be a good fit for this tour?” How do you pick the blogs you ask to host you, when you take your books on tour?

Pat: I honestly hadn’t thought about screening author requests. Up to now, I took all guests who would write to my “path to publication” theme. You’ve given me something to think about, which will also be helpful if I decide to do a tour of my own in the future.

Pat: Holly, we talked about the tour from the host’s point of view. But what about the guest’s responsibilities on the day her post is published?

Holly: I’d really like for the author to show up and co-host the event in person. It’s not absolutely essential, of course. I had a lot of fun hosting James Patterson’s Daniel X: Watch the Skies. I knew that he wouldn’t drop by and participate in person, though it would have been fun for my son and my readers. But there were no demands or rules, either – I had free rein. I didn’t love the book, but my son had his own opinions. We played it like the Siskel and Ebert of the literary world, and we had a blast writing the post together. What about you, Pat? What do you expect of your authors the day of the tour stop?

Pat: I definitely like the guest to show up and respond to comments, even if she can only drop by a couple of times during the day. I get up early to make sure the post publishes on schedule, send an e-mail to the guest with the permalink and shortened link, and I post to Twitter and Facebook. I also expect the guest to promote the appearance on her own blog and whatever social media outlets she uses. You’ve done a tour, right? What are your thoughts as author?

Holly: When I’m the author on tour, I like to have suggestions from the host. Communication is so important, but it can be a little awkward at first. Some of the best, most fun and creative ideas have come from first-time blog book tour hosts who admitted they didn’t have a clue what they were doing. We’d brainstorm and toss ideas back and forth, and they’d have an “Aha!” moment and go off and do something new and surprising. I even had one blogger who spontaneously hosted a book tour stop! He did such a fantastic job of promoting my book to his readers – how could I not drop by and participate?

It’s a good to plan ahead, though – you don’t want to be totally blindsided by an author or a blog host. Both should know what to expect on the day of the tour stop.

Of course, the bottom line for both the host and the author should be their mutual desire to provide a delightful experience for the blog’s readers. With any luck, that will convince them to read the book, too. To me, it’s all about the readers – we’re the actors and the stagehands, and it’s not about what we want.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More from Patricia and Holly next time!

What makes for a successful blog book tour?

2010-11-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

Today, several blog book tour students had a chat about all things related to virtual tours, and I thought I'd share the link with you. Diane, Marvin, and Alex did a great job over at Spunk on a Stick talking about what makes for a great blog book tour.

I would like to comment about one aspect that has been changing the past year or so. How far ahead should you contact your hosts before your scheduled tour dates? Of course, you want to find them and get to know them a good bit before your tour. Six months isn't too far ahead to start scoping out blogs and interacting with them. But I don't actually contact hosts until a month or so before the actual tour stops. Then it's easier to get their attention and hold it for a few weeks while everything, including the nature of the visits, falls into place. People are getting shorter attention spans all the time, and most don't want to tie up their blogs schedules more than 4-6 weeks ahead.

I've also noticed lately that bloggers don't answer their emails anymore, so I'm finding that I have to connect with them on Twitter and Facebook at the same time that I discover their blogs. Often, I get an answer on those sites long before I get a return email. The added benefit is I don't feel I'm spamming them with repeated contacts. So this is something to consider. Truth is, if they don't have a Facebook and Twitter presence, their blog might no be that hot anyway. Unless, of course, they're Alex J. Cavanaugh, Mr. Popularity himself. He isn't yet on Facebook. Hard to believe, I know!

Blogging Tip #31

2010-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

So what's in store for November? We'll be talking a bit about Twitter and Facebook and the importance of connecting there. Then we'll take a look at blog book tours from the host perspective because often host bloggers have never participated in a blog book tour and don't know quite what to do. No worries. We'll help you out. This will be good for authors, too, because you'll want to be a host to other authors on occasion to reciprocate, if not tit-for-tat, then in the spirit of literary support. Being on the host side of a blog book tour is a little different. So stay tuned and stop by later in the week.

Oh, and since it's Thanksgiving month in America - thank you for reading and commenting on this blog!

Blogging Tip #30

2010-10-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Blogs are becoming more and more like websites, and authors can use this to good advantage. Here's a great example of a multi-page set-up that's attractive and easy to maneuver. http://bethsorensen.com/ Unless you're selling your books straight off your website, what would be the reason for having one?

And we're getting very close to the end of the blog-a-day challenge. Tomorrow, I'll give a preview of what I'll be covering in November.

Blogging Tip #29

2010-10-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

So the month is almost over and it's time to start planning your blog posts for the next month. Oh, no! Does it never end? What to do, what to do? It's time to start brainstorming and the best tool I have for get my thoughts in a row is to create a mind map. I have a bunch going this week:

One for NaNoWriMo
One for Little Pickle Press and their next blog book tour
One for all my blogs and their monthly theme posts
One for all my holiday preparations

I've written a short post about mind maps over at the Blood-Red Pencil and added links for more information. Go take a look. How about you? Do you have any great tips to keep a spinning brain in its orbit?

Blogging Tip #28

2010-10-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to use your blog as a message board when it's important!

My message for the day: Don't forget to vote next week! If you're a woman, remember that we've only enjoyed the privilege in America since 1920, and in many countries around the world, much later than that. Click here for a real eye-opener.

Blogging Tip #27

2010-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Save your blog posts in a Word file. When you have an older blog, you can lose a lot of writing simply by accident. There are other ways to back-up your blog, but we'll cover those later. That gets complicated. Another way might be the Blog2Print option I just noticed on my Blogger dashboard. I have no idea if this works well. Has anyone tried it?

Blogging Tip #26

2010-10-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

An important part of blog success goes beyond daily blogging. Someone has to visit your blog and read your posts. Even better, they should comment. The search engines love that. So how do you encourage commenting, beyond asking a question at the end of your post? There are four ways that pop to mind:

Add a status update to your Facebook page with a link and share button to your blog
Go to Twitter several times during the day and leave a teaser with a clickable link
Notify friends in online groups and leave a clickable link and ask them to comment
Email people on your whitelist who might relate to the post especially if you are writing about them in that post, and then ask them to share with their friends

You could also call in a few markers, but I wouldn't recommend that. Save those for something bigger. ;)

Blogging Tip #25

2010-10-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Today I have a post up at Little Pickle Press about Green Halloween, a program of the EcoMom Alliance. I really wanted to promote this post because the issues therein are important to me. So I first placed a status on my Facebook wall. Then I went to the Green Halloween Facebook page and told them I'd written about them and left a link that they and their friends could read. (They've already commented.) Then I went to Twitter and left a short, pithy comment and a bit.ly permalink to the Little Pickle Press blog post. Later I'll post again to @GreenHalloween so they pick up the tweet direct. If I had a contact name for EcoMom Alliance I'd also email them. More on that promotion technique tomorrow!

How much do you promote your blog posts? Do you think it makes a difference?

Blogging Tip #24

2010-10-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday, and that means I'm writing blog posts. I'll add them to various blogs and pre-schedule them to publish throughout the week. This seems to work well for me, as I sometimes tend to write longer posts that ought to be split into shorter linked posts to form a little series. How about you? When do you write your blog posts? On the same day or in advance so you know it's done and you won't have to scramble... or worse yet, forget.

Blogging Tip #23

2010-10-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

Three weeks into this blog-a-day challenge, my visitor traffic has doubled, and on some days, I get three times the daily average. This from very short blogging tips that really take little time. Do you see how consistent blogging can boost your blog popularity? How many of you in this challenge are noticing similar results? Please leave a comment and feel free to cite some statistics.

Blogging Tip #22

2010-10-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves quotations so here's my favorite for today:

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” — Mary Lou Cook

What's your favorite quotation? Do you regularly use them in your blogging?

Blogging Tip #21

2010-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today's tip is much less controversial than it was a few years ago: should you edit blog posts that have already been published? It used to be akin to cheating. I always corrected though. I'm a writer and an editor, and when I see a typo or mistake in grammar after-the-fact, I change it. Why? Because the public judges you by your work - in this case, the written word. If you have the ~~opportnity~~ opportunity to correct a mistake, why not take it? You don't even have to be this obvious about it. I figure Blogger included an editing feature for us to use, otherwise they wouldn't have added the feature to begin with.

Who makes up these rules anyway?

Blogging Tip #20

2010-10-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

You've missed a day in your daily blogging and don't want to post two times in one day. What to do, what to do? Click down to Post Options in this blogging platform (I'm sure they all have this option) and change today's date to yesterday. Is that cheating? Not in my rule book. Who would really care by this time next month? If you want to call this my cheater-dawg tip for the month, that's okay by me!

Blogging Tip #19

2010-10-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

So at this point of a blog-a-day challenge, you might be running out of ideas. What are you going to blog about next? When I hit a wall like this, I go to Google and do a search for "what to blog about". How many hits do you think I got for those keywords? Here's the first return with twelve suggestions:

http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2009/02/04/starting-a-blog-12-ideas-for-blog-posts/

Just the first of 1.7 billion other hits! That should keep you busy for a while. ;)

Blogging Tip #18

2010-10-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Since I've been blogging, I've paid close attention to what pro-bloggers recommend on their blogs. Even though I don't "monetize" my blogs, there is still plenty of useful information to build a better blog. One of my favorite online writers and advisors is Tiffany Dow. Tiff is a ghost writer, an ebook author, and gives reams of free advice to help other writers improve their online popularity. What I like best about her writing is the casual, chatty tone that makes a post from her sound like a little sit-down and chat with a friend. Get a taste of it at her blog and be sure to sign up for her electronic newsletter. Lots to learn there!

BloggingTip #17

2010-10-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

This is a cool promotional idea. Have you had a blog book tour? How about a clever promo handout like this one by Little Pickle Press with your book(s) on one side, and blog book tour stops on the other side, complete with blog testimonials from your hosts. Excellent! I've never seen this done before, but think it's a swell concept.

Blogging Tip #16

2010-10-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

It's good to get comments on your blog posts, but getting them is sometimes a challenge. One of the best ways is to end your post with a question. Here's an example:

Once there was a little girl named Bruschetta. She and her best friend, Ravioli and his pet dog, Pesto, lived in a town called Minestrone. What do you think was their favorite meal? Leave your answer in the comments!

Blogging Tip #15

2010-10-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

How do you promote your daily blog posts to drive readers over to your blog? I usually use Networked blogs and Twitter and also promote on groups that allow it. But always be sure it's okay with the forum administrators and be sure you balance your blog promoting with regular conversation. Do not email notices about your new blog post unless readers have opted in - that's too intrusive. Many people get hundreds of emails daily and they don't need a notification of everyone's blog updates added to that load!

Blogging Tip #14

2010-10-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

Another good way to stick with blogging is to employ theme days. If you've decided to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you can create a daily format that makes it easy to narrow your focus. It's also a way to create reader expectation and with a theme, you'll find your readers return time and again to read the latest on that topic. For example, you might have a book review on Monday, an update of your own writing for your book fans on Wednesday, and the publishing news of the week on Friday.

Blogging Tip #13

2010-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Now let's talk about the most important part of good blogging: relevant and readable blog posts. If you're blog posts don't offer something the reader wants to read, you may as well give up. This can become difficult over time, especially during a blog-a-day challenge. You've just experienced one of the best reasons to blog right here: offering tips that help your reader. You can also see that short posts can be a very good thing. Do this every couple of posts and it will make your blogging life much easier.

Blogging Tip #12

2010-10-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

Be sure to do regular housekeeping on your blog. Every few months, check all your sidebar links and make sure they still work, or that they lead to blogs and websites that are being updated. I have to remind myself about this, too, because time does get away from us, doesn't it?

Blogging Tip #11

2010-10-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

What about contact information? If you're offering something to the public, it makes sense that you should provide an email for readers to contact you. Many blogs don't, and it's very frustrating to the reader to have to hunt that down. The best place to give contact information is on a separate page with its own tab that says "contact me". If you offer your email in a blog post, be sure to make it a clickable link rather than type out your email address for spammers to harvest.

Blogging Tip #10

2010-10-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

What about those cute little blogging awards that people give out? Should you add them to your blog? It's hard to say no when someone gives you a gift, and most professional bloggers won't burden you that way. They might offer a badge that you can grab and add to your blog without any pressures. If you do accept these "gifts" find a way to add them without making your blog look too cluttered. Also keep in mind that these third-party widgets can slow down the loading of your blog if you have too many.

Blogging Tip #9

2010-10-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Keep up with latest blogging tips and advice. I like Problogger and ChrisG. Just discovered today is the Fuel Your Blogging site. You should visit them regularly, and connect with them on Facebook and Twitter, too. They all have links at their sites, as any good blogger should!

Blog Tip #8

2010-10-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Be sure you have a hit counter installed. You can use Statcounter, Sitemeter, Google Analytics, and now most blogging platforms have built-in analytics, too. Be sure to use them, if not daily, then at least weekly to see how your promotion efforts impact your traffic. This is particularly vital before, during, and after a blog book tour.

Blogging Tip #7

2010-10-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

Pay attention to the tips and links that your own blogging platform places in front of you! For example, I just saw a link to the Blog World Expo with a 20% off coupon code from Blogger. I linked to the site and found a wealth of information about more than just the expo. Tons of great blogging tips you don't want to miss. This is a blog you might want to bookmark for more information. Oh, and BLOGGER20 is the coupon code.

Blogging Tip #6

2010-10-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Have lots of links in your sidebars, and think of them as added content for your reader. These are outside blogs and websites that support your own theme in some way. I thematically categorize my blogs and many are potential hosts for future blog tours. If you're planning a blog book tour, you should also have a separate list of blogs you've pre-vetted for you tour. Those blogs should demonstrate the same blogging tips we're discussing right now!

Blogging Tip #5

2010-10-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

If you're on Facebook and Twitter to promote your writing, you should sign up at Networked Blogs so that your posts automatically feed through to both sites when you publish a new blog post. Those are two fewer promotion steps you'll need to take, and this is one convenience tip of which I heartily approve. Just be careful you don't accidentally hit the publish button too soon. It'll appear on Twitter and Facebook almost immediately, but not the second time it's re-scheduled. Try to place your networked blogs widget pretty high in the sidebar, too, but below those in earlier tips.

Blogging Tip #4

2010-10-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

I like to include a bookmark/share button like the one at right from Add This, the most popular free bookmarking service today. Even though many blogging platforms include share links in each post, a button like this gives your reader more options to share your posts with others.

Blogging Tip #3

2010-10-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

Be sure you add the widget that allows you to have visible followers like the one at right. Not only is it a good way for your fans to know when you've posted, it makes you look popular when you have lots of followers and that will bring you more followers! This widget should be placed below your Facebook and Twitter connects, but quite high in the sidebar where readers can easily find it.

Blogging Tip #2

2010-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone is connecting on Facebook and Twitter these days. Be sure to have your links high up in the sidebar. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. It just has to be quick and easy.

Blogging Tip #1

2010-10-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's easier for your readers if your blog title is the same as your URL. So Blog Book Tours is easy to find at http://blogbooktours.blogspot.com without too much need to memorize anything. Make it easy for your fans!

The Tale of Oat Cake Crag

2010-09-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have you read any of the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter? The Tale of Oat Cake Crag is the seventh in this series. Susan Wittig Albert kicked off her week-long blog book tour yesterday at Straight From Hel (you can still sign up for the drawing until noon). Today we’ll give you an overview of the rest of the week’s visits as well as some insights about how the tour was planned.

Susan’s fans will be following this tour and signing up for a book drawing each day, and also to be eligible for the grand prize if they sign in at each blog daily.

But they are not the only followers of this blog book tour. When Susan wrote her posts for each blog, she also considered any new readers and what their interests might be. On this blog, a post about the various aspects of a blog book tour would be appropriate. That’s what you’re reading right now. Here are some clues about what to expect on upcoming blogs:

Tomorrow (Wednesday), Susan visits The Blood-Red Pencil where the editors daily discuss all the many aspects of writing. So the post was crafted to explain the unusual Victorian narrative voice that the author employs in these Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter. It’s quite an intriguing concept, especially to the many writers who are fans of this blog.

Thursday, Lorna Barrett hosts the tour stop with her regular feature, Pet Peeves Thurday and you can bet Beatrix and her friends have a pet peeve in this seventh book in the series. Find out about it here and be sure to tell us your pet peeve.

On Friday, the Cozy Chicks host the final tour stop and you’ll learn that cozy mysteries (and their protagonists) might be a lot stronger than their cozy reputations lead us to believe. Beatrix Potter enchanted children with her delightful writing and illustrations, but she made history in another way, too. You can find out how by visiting the Cozy Chicks blog.

Do you have questions for Susan about writing a mystery series with a real-life heroine in the starring role? Please leave them here and she’ll be sure to answer them sometime today.

And don’t forget to sign up for the drawing to win an autographed copy of Oat Cake Crag by visiting the drawing page at http://cottagetales.com/blogtour/drawing_0914.php.

Check out the grand prize if you sign up for all five stops.

To buy a copy of the book, click here.

You can visit Susan at her Lifescapes blog for ongoing news about her books and life in the Texas Hill Country. Be sure to visit her often.

Congratulations to Betty S of Seabrook TX, who won Tuesday's BBT blog drawing! And if you haven't entered yet, today's drawing http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com will be open through Thursday noon.

Next class starts soon

2010-08-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

The next blog book tours class starts the day after Labor Day. Cost is $30. Sign up at our Yahoo!Group classroom. Expect to work hard and learn lots!

And They're Off!

2010-07-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

It's been fun chaperoning Little Pickle Press through their first blog book tour, especially since owner and author, Rana DiOrio is a student in the current blog book tours class and I get to use her as an example of how to do things the right way. ;) Now the rest of the class is closely following the What Does It Mean To Be Present? tour to see what they can learn for their own book promotions.

We started the tour at the fabulous The Smart Mama blog yesterday where Jennifer Taggart talks about her phone conversation with Rana. Both are attorneys, have young children, and are deeply, passionately committed to creating a healthy world for their families. Their blogs were a match made in heaven!

On day #2, we take an entirely different slant at the Blood-Red Pencil with an interview between resident book designer Sherry Wachter and Eliza Wheeler who illustrated the book. We have a lively discussion going amongst fellow artists and publishers.

Tomorrow, Gina Raith at Be Well Together shares her experience of the book and the idea of "being present". It's a concept that adults are also discovering during this book tour so be sure to join us again to learn more.

To get the entire schedule and to sign up for the name-the-next-book contest and prize, jump over to the Little Pickle Press blog. Remember that each of the tour stops also has coupon codes for a special 2-book/free poster for $29.95 offer. The posters are printed on an environmentally-friendly paper called Terraskin.

I'll add more to this post as the tour progresses. So far, so fun!

A Technique For Finding Blog Hosts

2010-07-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

I asked the class to do a little exercise over the weekend - make a list of keywords for your novel, then using as many of those words as you can cram in, write a three-sentence synopsis of your book. Here's what Nancy submitted:

While traveling home, Missie is thrust through a portal where her music plays an important role in defeating a tyrant. Her career must be sacrificed, her life forever changed, to accommodate these Renaissance costumed people of Gil-Lael. Their values are so different from Missie's modern American lifestyle, that she believes she has truly entered a fantasy world.

My list:

music
career
sacrifices
values
costumes
Renaissance festivals
life changes
fantasy
travel

Nancy has nailed her keywords and a description that's clear enough for us to understand the gist of her book. (Polished, this could live on her blog, too.)

Just for yucks, I googled "Renaissance Festival blogs" and the first hit gave me a musical group that ties into that particular book theme:

http://www.cantigamusic.com/blog.html

This blog seems to be relatively active. And she's doing some traveling so that's another keyword connection along with music!

The next step for Nancy is to start a separate blogroll on her blog - either for music or for the festivals that relate to her theme, or both. (She could link to many Ren Fests throughout the country.) Add this blog right into a related blogroll immediately. Then it won't be forgotten or lost forever. Nancy will see the name on her blog, hop over there, and start interacting with this blogger by leaving a comment now and then, or at least staying in tune with what they are doing. (Don't just dump your book info on them though - that's just too tacky.) Always check to make sure a potential host blogger has Twitter and Facebook information and try to connect on those levels, too.
Nancy might also check costume blogs and travel blogs for countries pertinent to her theme. Even if a blog doesn't look particularly good or active, look at their blogroll, because that's where the good hosts often lie... even another layer or two down can yield some real blog gems. One related blog leads to another.

Yes, it's time-consuming, but well worth the effort. You do this a little each day, until you have dozens upon dozens of potential blog book tour hosts in your clickable blogrolls. By the time you're ready to plan your tour, you'll have choices and, even better, relationships established with other bloggers. And that means success for your blog book tour.

Blog Critiques Begin

2010-07-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

The class spent most of last week learning about the elements of a good blog - their own, and the ones they will be seeking out as potential hosts for their blog book tours. Today we start with critiques of the member blogs. Alex J. Cavanaugh has agreed to let me post the review that started off his critique this morning. Go to his blog here and then compare it to the comments below. These are all tips that can help improve your own blog.

Basic Design Attractiveness?

Excellent and right in line with the book theme.

Title and URL cohesive?

Yes. Easy for readers to remember.

Consistency and clarity of blog purpose?

Mostly.

Loading speed?

The header hangs up on my dial-up. It takes quite a while to load but presumably slow connects aren't an issue in outer space.

Follow widget in place?

Perfect - all of them up high and right.

Hit counter?

Yes, and well-placed towards the bottom of the page with actual count showing.

Bookmarking in place?

Positioned with the follow widgets, but maybe could add an RSS feed link?

FB and Twitter widgets?

Didn't see Facebook, but Twitter is there.

Blogrolls?

Yes, very good. Could be organized a bit more concisely.

Linking effective? Tags/keywords used?

Good enough. Could have more linking within posts and between posts.

Frequent posting 2-3 x weekly?

Yes, very good, and a nice mix. Could include the occasional shorter post, or split longer posts into two.

Quality of overall posts?

Excellent, and clearly readers love this blog.

Comments section working?

Yes, and Alex gets enviable comment interaction. I suspect his ability to cyber-schmooze and interact with other bloggers (make friends) results in long-term loyalty. All bloggers should try to achieve this. Then you don't have to look for blog hosts - they beg to host you!

Blog components arranged in optimum manner? (see tomorrow's post for more about this)

Yes, except where noted.

Too many/too few third-party gadgets?

The blog award gadgets are a bit much - I know that it's hard not to accept these tokens of friendship, but maybe add older ones to the bottom of the page, and keep only a few of the most recent at the top?
They are both a psychological attractant and a visual repellent, so may take some clever managing.

Pages used effectively? Can the reader easily learn more about this writer and book?

Separate pages with tabs - with author bio, maybe an excerpt under another tab, a list of your favorite books - these could all engage the reader even more.

What's great?

Almost everything!

What can be improved?

Not much.

Is it ready for a blog tour?

Without a doubt.

Nice job, Alex! We'll expect a great blog book tour from you sometime this autumn.

Day #2 Blog Book Tours Class

2010-07-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we covered the importance of having a hit counter (which tracks your blog visitors) on your blog and a bookmarking button.

I recommend that new bloggers begin with either Sitemeter.com or Statcounter.com because they are simple to install. If you like statistics, you might be happier using Google Analytics, too. Blogger doesn't have a built-in hit counter, so you'll have to add a third-party counter yourself. WordPress has this function built in to their blogging platform.

I prefer the counter to show the number of visitors as demonstrated at the Blood-Red Pencil blog and at the bottom of the page or bottom-most in the sidebar.

The bookmarking button most people like best is AddThis and that should be placed quite high in the sidebar where it is easily accessible to readers perusing your newest blog post. However, place it below your profile or other built-in sidebar feature, as third-party widgets tend to slow down blog loading. I like the AddThis button to be right where it is now to the right of this post. See it? It's very handy and makes it easy for you to share this post. :)

Next we'll discuss the all-important acts of regularly posting to the blog and building relevant blogrolls. The class is frantically at work getting their blogs in shape for the impending critiques scheduled to begin this weekend. When was the last time you posted something really good and well worth reading?

First Day of Class Review

2010-07-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

We jumped right into making our blogs better using our usual list of criteria. Monday's prompts included these points for consideration:

Basic Design Attractiveness?
Title and URL cohesive?
Consistency and clarity of blog purpose?
Loading speed?

Let's discuss the second point. Is the URL consistent with the blog's title? Why does it matter? If you as an author plan to use your name in the http://yourname.blogspot. com then reinforcing this in your blog's title will make it easier for the reader to remember you. So your blog's header might read something like Your Name Talks About Writing. This is a simple form of branding that will serve you well in the long run. You should also try to stick to one name when setting up your accounts on other social networks. It's a lovely thing when a search for Your Name brings up six of your accounts in the first ten hits! So plan carefully early on.

Focus often on the blog's purpose. If you, as an author, use your name (and particularly if you have a pen name) in the blog URL and title, then it makes sense that your blogging will relate to your writing career, even though you may add personal notes to engage your readers. Periodically critique your blog to make sure it's sending the message you want to readers. If a major goal is promoting your books, then don't bury them in layers of unrelated material. This happens over time, especially as you add outside widgets and links. Housekeeping is important to keeping your blog crisp and on-task.

Everyone loves an attractive blog, but graphic templates can be so image-heavy, they take forever to load. Remember that your readers don't all have high-speed Internet, so don't try to get too fancy with your imagery. The best way to test your blog is to ask a few readers to comment about loading speed. Sometimes your blog header will take eons to load. Also be sure to keep third-party widgets a bit lower down in your sidebars, as they will tend to slow down blog-loading speeds.

Take a look at your blog today and assess how you stack up. Tomorrow we'll look at some widgets/gadgets that every blog should have.

Touring in a Virtual World

2010-07-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite students, and certainly one of the most successful when it comes to promoting her books with blog book tours, is L. Diane Wolfe. Diane is a successful professional speaker and author of The Circle of Friends young adult fiction books. Here's what we cover in our classes, and what has worked well for Diane, in her own words:

Successful book promotion requires effort on the part of the publisher and even more so from the author. With the rising costs of a physical tour and the increase of Internet users, a virtual tour is an effective and inexpensive marketing tool.

For those not familiar with a virtual tour, it involves visiting a different site on the web every day for a set period of time. The sites range from websites and blogs to social sites and online radio. The author schedules a visit with the site’s host in advance and invites fans and friends to follow the appearances. This increases the author’s exposure online. The posts also add to search engine fodder for the author’s sites.

How difficult is it to set up a virtual tour? It’s not hard, but it will require time and planning. Here’s a step-by-step guideline to follow:

· Check with your publisher. Find out if they are setting up a tour and coordinate with their efforts. Ask if they’re willing to do giveaways. If they’ve no plans for online appearances, consider setting one up on your own. There is also the option of hiring a virtual tour service, but they charge an average of $150-$3000, so weigh your options.

· Determine your assets. Are you an active blogger? To what social sites do you belong? Do you have a website and email list and/or newsletter?

· Build a list of potential hosts. Always consider where your target audience goes online. Look for websites and blogs relevant to your book’s topic. Seek out book bloggers who cover your genre and author blogs that share your audience. Follow these blogs and comment where appropriate. Look for podcasts and online radio shows that reach your target audience. Select sites with large amounts of traffic.

· Grow familiar with these sites. Read their guidelines for articles, guest posts, and reviews. Determine your best approach to each individual site - article or guest post; interview; book review; giveaway; or announcement. Many of these venues book dates months in advance, so plan ahead!

· Send a polite inquiry to the blog owner, webmaster, or podcast show host. Let them know you’ve been following their site and ask if you can make an appearance during your virtual tour. Be prepared to provide suggestions for articles and guest posts. Always include your book information, bio, and links. Let the person know the date range of your virtual tour.

· Respond quickly to replies. Confirm dates and type of appearance or topic of guest post. If they request a review copy or want to do a giveaway, pass along the information to your publisher. Be willing to acquiesce to their requests!

· Keep a calendar handy. Book one stop a day - two at the most. Make a list of all articles and guest posts required.

· Two - four weeks before appearance, touch base with your host. Send them your complete information - book synopsis and details, links to purchase, a short bio, links to your sites, and a couple of reviews. Send your guest post or article as well, or completed interview. (If you’ve not received your interview, let the host know you are excited to see the questions.) Be sure to include a promotional photo and book cover art.

· Let your fan base know about your virtual tour. Post it on your website, blog, and include links in your newsletter.

· Before the tour begins, check with any unconfirmed hosts.

· The day of your appearance, visit the website or blog several times and respond to comments and questions. If it’s a live podcast, be prepared for questions.

· Send your host a thank you email when it’s all over!

A virtual tour is a win-win for guests and hosts, as both gain exposure to a new audience. The host presents the author to his or her readers and the author brings followers and fans to that site. Not only will this gain exposure, new fans, reviews, and sales for an author, it secures options for future tours. If you’ve been pleasant, professional, and punctual, hosts will be happy to invite you to visit again.

It requires a lot of work in advance, but the rewards of a virtual tour are well worth the effort!

The Next Blog Book Tours Class

2010-06-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

We're having another one, and this one will include a few of my new blog book tours clients. Yes, I'm finally offering to arrange a few tours for authors. But more on the book genres I'm taking on later.

If you haven't taken a class on how to arrange your own blog book tour, now is the time to sign up. As always, it's without charge, and we start with critiquing and improving your own blogs which is where a good blog book tour begins. Sign up here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

You must give your name and book title so I know you're not a spammer - oh, gee, that would never happen in this world, right?

The doors open on July 3rd. Class starts July 5th. Be prepared to work hard!

First read The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever so you get a sense of what we'll be covering.

The Drill Sergeant is back!

Or maybe I'll just be a cheerleader... we'll see how I feel after the holiday. :)

Blog Tips to Consider

2010-06-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

Recently, in a discussion on the BBT Cafe group, I made this comment and felt it was worth sharing here:

I've probably spent more time in the last four years following blog book tours than about anyone else I can think of for the simple reason that I needed to do it in order to teach the classes. I know what a good blog tour is and I know what it takes to complete the ones that are well-crafted and might actually sell some books in the long run.

Two weaknesses in thinking that continue to persist among authors and publishers:

1. That your friends and fellow author blogs are good hosts. Yes, they can be especially if many of your friends are popular authors, but make sure they get at least 100 hits a day. 1,000 would be better. This one issue causes more ire than anything in the entire concept of blog book tours. You have to think in
business terms about this. It is not true that three interested people reading the blog are better than none. When you factor in the time it takes to just craft good blog posts, you might well spend the time doing something else - like writing your next book.

2. That Twitter and Facebook will magically drive readers to your blog for added content about your books and you. Patter on Twitter and Facebook all day long (and if you want people to see you, once a day doesn't cut it), but unless you leave enticements and meaningful links and actually get friends and followers to click, you're not marketing your book well. Simple as that. Your blog is still one of your most powerful marketing tools, but people have to be reading it.

So if you don't have a great blog and your friends blogs are just okay... you might be better off just paying someone who has a collection of good blog hosts to sponsor you on a blog book tour. The tour may not be as personal as if the author crafts it, but it will get more interested readers who might buy your title.

That said, prices for professional tours are all over the map. Before you spend money to have someone else put together a blog book tour for you, follow the tours of at least three services, get their prices for various packages, and by all means, get private referrals from other authors. Shop and compare and ask yourself these questions:

If you're paying $500 for ten blog spots, what are you really getting for that? The same canned book review at each blog? Or are you able to write your own varied blog posts for each host? Will the tour service work with you to design the tour you want for your book? These are just some of the questions to consider and get answers to before you spend any money.

News from BEA and why you should blog

2010-05-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

I've long proclaimed that blogs are one of the cheapest and most effective ways for writers to stay in regular contact with their readers. It's one of your best promotion platforms. More and more, book publishing specialists agree with that view. This comment is from a recent Writers Market eletter:

One thing that seemed obvious this year (at BEA) is that publishers don't think it's a big deal if potential authors have a blog, but they do think it's a big deal if potential authors do not have a blog or e-mail list or some other direct reach to their target audience. If you want to publish a book, you need a great hook or idea, but it's becoming increasingly important to also have an audience—before the book deal.

It's important to have a good blog. That means posting several times a week. The more you post relevant information, the more readership you'll build as is demonstrated by another blog I've been spending lots of time building, the Blood-Red Pencil. It's a group blog with daily posts, and the growth of readership has been excellent, thanks to the quality of the information provided by our blogging members.

Stay tuned for some tips and inspiration to keep you blogging over the summer, and by the time you're ready for your next book promotion, you'll have a blog that supports your efforts in a dynamic way.

Blog Critiques

2010-03-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

Before you choose blog hosts for your tour, you need a good blog of your own. Do you have one?

Here's the list of criteria that we consider in judging a good blog:

Basic Design Attractiveness?
Title and url cohesive?
Consistency and clarity?
Loading speed?
Blogrolls?
Sitemeter?
Bookmarking in place?
Linking effective?
Quality of overall posts?
Comments section working?
Too many/too few gadgets?
What's great?
What can be improved?
Is it ready for a blog tour?

Look at your own blog with those aspects in mind. Is there anything on your blog that could use improvement?

Promotion Strength

2009-11-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

When you're promoting your new book online, you must gauge the strength of your promotions in a realistic way. Hoping that readers will notice you is not enough.

I may be repeating myself, but it bears repeating. You must have a good blog of your own on which you post relevant articles 2-3 times a week. You must then make noise about your new blog posts at social sites like Twitter and Facebook so you drive traffic to your blog. Your blog is then a good platform for launching a blog book tour or other online promotion. Check your statistics regularly - anything over 100 hits per day is okay. More is better.

I can hear you grumbling now. Stop that and just do the work.

Next, pick blog hosts for reviews or tour stops that mimic all that I've mentioned above. Even if a blog doesn't have a hit counter that you can see, there are clues to the popularity of the blog. Does the host post 2-3 times a week? How long has the blog been in existence? Is the host getting comments on a regular basis? Do they have Twitter and Facebook links, and when you go there, can you see they are promoting their own posts and driving traffic to the potential review of your book?

Finally, do all the blogs we're talking about have clear links and instructions to a sales point? It's astounding to me how many promotions don't have a buy button or a suggestion to the customer to purchase the title in review.

Next we'll talk about Twitter and Facebook and how to build your viewership at those sites. You need a serious fan club to sell your books, and you can't just sit around waiting for people to discover you. Following and (be)friending in a regular though non-aggressive way is the method you need to develop.

Royalty Statement Realities

2009-11-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

Just picked up on Facebook and you'll likely see this post again. The author had the courage to talk real numbers about her NYTimes bestselling books. You can see the royalty statements and get a sense of the timeline in getting paid for book sales. It takes a long time for an author to get paid for sales, especially when there is little or no advance. I fully understand why authors have to write three books a year to make any kind of a living at writing. You'll also see why gauging the results of a blog book tour to actual sales is virtually impossible. Click here to read the article.

Bookmark the Genreality blog - there is lots of good writing information there. Today's post talks about the daily routine of writing.

More Numbers To Consider

2009-11-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

One of the most important statistics on your blog book tour are those of your once-and-future blog hosts. You want hosts that get at a bare minimum, 100 or more hits per day. To some of you, this sounds like a paltry number because your own blog may get thousands of visitors each day. But more of you probably don't get anywhere near that many on your own blogs, and building the blog that does seems like an insurmountable challenge. But you must, because this will help you find and choose blogs at least as good as your own.

In the blog book tours classes, we experience great resistance to this concept of finding high-traffic blog hosts. Some people even get downright ornery about the idea, and insist that any blog is good enough, and it's just too much work to vet them for popularity.

Those people should simply pay large sums of money to a tour service to plan an impersonal tour for them. Why? Because it's simply too much work to put into a tour that no one will see if you insist on any old blog. Let's think this out.

You can expect to spend 40-60 hours planning a blog book tour of 10-15 stops. A good portion of that time - up to half - is spent crafting your tour stops and doing the actual writing of the blog posts that your hosts will enter on their blogs. You can figure two hours for each stop, so why would you spend that precious time on a blog that gets 2-3 visitors a day? It makes no sense to gamble that those people will buy your book. Aunt Mabel and many well-meaning friends will offer their services, and by all means humor them if you must. Just don't count them as part of your professional tour of 10-15 really good blog hosts.

Work hard on your blog book tour, but also work smart. That means maximizing the hours you spend preparing a good tour for your very popular hosts.

Next we'll discuss the one most important consideration you must extend to your hosts.

The Numbers Game

2009-11-04T10:50:00.001-08:00

It's all about numbers and how to read them - this is how you gauge the success of your book promotions. I'm not talking about your royalty statement and check, which is the final and ultimate success determiner. I'm talking about statistics. Here are a few you need to get to know:

Your blog's hit counter is important, because it measures who is visiting the very foundation of your blog book tour - your blog. There are several free counters you can use. I like Sitemeter, others use Statcounter, and still more swear by Google Analytics. Get into the habit of using your hit counter daily. Read the reports that each offers. Your first goal is to create a blog that gets at least 100 hits per day. Then you're set up to use your blog as a launching pad for your impending blog book tour. A hit counter is how you track your own progress when building your blog.

Also track your amazon rating, from the time the book is listed with them, throughout your tour, and for months after. The numbers are not accurate, but the change is what indicates whether your promotions are effective. For example, if your title rates in the top two million, but moves to a ranking of 57,000 during your blog book tour, clearly the tour is having an impact at least in the world of amazon. com. Try Title Z for an easy way to track your title's ranking.

Next, we'll talk about another statistic - the visitors at your host blogs, and why this is all-important to the success of your tour.

Will a Blog Book Tour Sell Books?

2009-11-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

Authors often ask if a blog book tour will sell books. How will they know?

The short answer: you won't. In all fairness, how will you know if your live tour and any other promotion is selling your books? Yes, if you are present at a book signing and fans buy, you'll know about those immediate sales. You could set up the same scenario by buying some books at cost from your publisher, and being the sales point for your blog book tour. Then you'd know.

Still, the tangential sales won't be reflected. Maybe the reader will return to the bookstore after payday. Maybe the blog book tour stops were intriguing enough that a reader adds the title to their amazon.com wishlist. How will you know? Especially since your royalty check won't arrive many months down the road. You likely won't see amazon.com sales reflected for 18 months. So it's almost impossible to relate any of your promotions, online and live, to your cash flow when it finally arrives.

The bottom line: every bit of promotion you do raises your name profile and that's really the goal.

Next we'll talk about other statistics worth tracking to gauge success.

Bolstering Your Enthusiasm

2009-11-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

If you need a little help with enthusiasm, whether tackling daily blogging or starting your NaNoWriMo adventure, take some hints from the newest editor at The Blood-Red Penci blog. Here is a list of affirmations that can keep you inspired from day-to-day. You just need to stay optimistic - that's half the battle!

You might also want to check Craig Lancaster's three posts from last week. Craig is on a blog book tour for his new release, 600 Hours of Edward, which was his first NaNoWriMo attempt in last year's contest. It's quite a story.

National Novel Writing Month and More

2009-10-31T18:33:00.001-07:00

The first month of our blog book tours class is always a blog-a-day challenge, and when your blogging starts to flag, a contest is often the way to get the juices flowing again. It doesn't have to be anything formal. I challenge you to blog daily during the month of November!

This month is also National Novel Writing Month, and so it's a good time to make a daily blogging commitment to prime the pump for your daily NaNo writing. Why not join me in a quick morning blog post before you start on that new novel? It's amazing how quickly a good habit is rejuvenated.

For those of you who want a little more support, we have a nice group of blog book tour alums gathering over at the BBT Cafe. Join us over there for discussions, brainstorming, promotion, or any of a number of group projects. You don't have to be a seasoned blog book tour vet to benefit from the camaraderie.

The Easiest Blog Improvement Tip Ever

2009-08-23T14:15:00.001-07:00

Collapse your archive. It's as simple as that.

Blog Power

2009-06-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

Literary agent, Nathan Bransford, asks his blog readers where they heard about the book they are currently reading. Read the comments if you want to know the power of blogging! Click here to leave your own comment.

Blog book tours vs. live book tours

2009-05-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

Both are good. But don't plan on scheduling a blog book tour the same time you are traveling for a live tour. Complete one tour, rest up for a week or so, and then embark on your second tour.

Authors who think they can do a good job scheduling live and virtual tours at the same time, have no clue how much work is involved with a blog book tour. No clue at all. One of the tours won't get the attention it needs to succeed, probably the blog tour, and then the author will complain that the silly idea didn't work for them at all. Gee, I wonder why...

One tour at a time and give each of them 100% of your energy. Easy peasy if you pay attention and follow directions.

2009-05-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

At the Blog Book Tours class, the next assignments for the month focus on the social marketing groups we all know... and maybe hate. These include Facebook, MySpace, Goodreads, and Twitter.

We're starting with Twitter because it's the fastest, easiest, and most powerful for marketing your other websites. It's also less of a time-suck than the more complex social forums. There are other added benefits about Twitter networking that I'll point out later.

In a nutshell, Twitter is a micro-blogging site that allows snappy posts of 140 characters. To participate, you follow other Twitter users and this allows you to see their updates.

You, in turn, are followed by others and those people can read what you have to say. Keep this scenario in mind, because it's the key to how Twitter works, or how it doesn't if you don't "get it". Believe me, many people don't, and consequently feel it's a waste of time.

Let me repeat:

You must follow people to see their updates.
Only your followers can see your updates.

It's crucial you understand this. If you are enthusiastically following thousands of people, but only a fraction are following you back, then only that small fraction sees what you write. Therefore, it's important you spend your efforts offering information that is of value to others, so they will want to follow and read you.

Now, to get started, and before the following and socializing begins, you need a few things upfront:

An email account that is acceptable on Twitter like yahoo or hotmail

A name that coordinates with your other website efforts if possible - I use blogbooktours everywhere I can
A small photo for your homepage and post icon

A well-written short bio

The website link you will send readers to for more information

Now you're ready to set up your Twitter account. Go to http://twitter.com/ and follow the directions, plugging in the information above.

Once you've gotten this far, you're ready to practice entering some updates. Introduce yourself in one, leave a blog link in another, tell us what you're doing today in a third. Do this several times more, perhaps throughout the day, to get Twitter into your conciousness and just to practice writing concise but meaningful messages. Be sure to bookmark your Twitter page to make it one of your regular stops several times during the day, much like checking your email.

Now you're ready to start following people and have them follow you back. We'll talk about how to do that in the next post.

And then you can follow me @twitter!

Tomorrow I'll also post helpful links picked up at Twitter to help you even more. One of my favorites is TwiTip for ongoing updates and tips.

Making room for better things

2009-05-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

There are better things to put on your blog than a long archive list. Why show each post in the current month? Your readers can scroll through your actual posts quite easily. Collapse that thing now!

Then add the new Follow Me widget on Blogger or something similar on other blogging platforms. This is a great way to spark blog popularity. Place it quite high in your sidebar as demonstrated right here. Your widget will look something like this:

Everyone in the B.A.D. Challenge, as you visit each other, look for a way to follow and add yourself to this list. On Blogger blogs, you'll see that all the blogs you follow now appear at the bottom of your dashboards. It's a fast and handy way to see if anyone has posted something new. How many of you knew that?

And they're off

2009-05-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

In the right column, you'll see some of our current class members - these folks are courageous enough to participate in the Blog-A-Day Challenge otherwise known as the B.A.D. Challenge. There will be days toward the end of the month when that acronym will have truth seeping from its pores.

Blogging daily is hard work, and maybe not even a good idea over the long haul. But to get a blog pumped up fast, it's a good tactic to post day after day, to have pals visiting your blog and commenting, and to politely and appropriately promote on your other social networks like Twitter and FaceBook.

Two tricks can really help an aspiring blogger succeed:

1. Plan your blogs so that one long and related post is split over several days. This maximizes your writing efforts and is appreciated by readers who want to stop by your blog for a quick look, but don't want to wade through a long treatise

2. Write the above-mentioned essay(s), and then use the prescheduling feature on your blog to post ahead for the week

To demonstrate, look at my post above, and notice how this essay could easily have been split into two blog posts. Because I write my blogs in a Word file ahead of time, it's easy for me to see these natural breaks.

Extra tip: If you're drafting in a formatted word processing program, copy and paste into the Edit Html window (in Blogger) rather than the Compose window. You'll avoid formatting issues when your blog publishes.

Do you draft your blog posts in a word processing program and then move them to your blog? What are some other reasons this might be a good idea?