This post first ran in 2009 - much still remains relevant. I've changed a few things in red.

At the Blog Book Tours class (which I no longer teach) , 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 (now 280 + photos, videos, and GIFS - use them!)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:

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


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


4. A well-written short bio


5. 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.

Blogging Tip #1

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!

Clickable Links in Comments

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.

The Ever-Popular Thank You Note

Do any of us ever tire of getting a thank you? I don't. This one just landed in my e-mailbox for my participation in a blog book tour, and it's the final step in a successful one.


Hello all,

I just wanted to reach out one more time and thank you all so much for your wonderful posts for last week's blog book tour for Spaghetti is NOT a Finger Food. The book is off to a great start, thanks in no small part to your efforts. Each one of you took the time to put together a thoughtful and interesting post, and all together this added up to seven days of unique insights, original approaches, and interesting comments.

Those of you who hosted a giveaway, remember to send me the name and email address of the winner, so we can give them a gift of the book.

Again, you were great to work with. I appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to making this tour a great success.

Thank you, 

Khadijah

Doesn't reading a thoughtful note like that  make you feel good? When was the last time you got a really great thank you note from someone? When was the last time you wrote one? Please 'fess up in the comments!

Promoting a Blog Book Tour with Social Media

When I'm promoting a blog book tour for myself or another author, my social media procedure goes like this. It's  basically what I teach to my blog book tours classes:

1. First thing in the AM, go to the host blog and leave a comment

2. Click G +1

3. Share on your FB and Twitter (usually there are share buttons right at the blog)

4. Pin to Pinterest (I have the pin bookmarklet on my dash)

5. Go to the host's Twitter account and retweet other relevant tweets

6. At mid-day go to the Twitter account and retweet more

7. Go to host's Facebook account and share the book promotion

8. Rinse and repeat in the evening (by then, you should have a shortened URL from somewhere which is handy)

9. Share on any other social networks you use

A good blog will make this easy for you and you'll notice most of the share buttons I mention in the photo below:

I try to do this at least three times a day because as you know, with as many followers as some of us have, the scrolls roll pretty fast and posts can be easily missed. 

This procedure works very well for anything you're promoting, not just books. The important consideration is frequency over a long period of time - don't post everywhere twelve times in ten minutes! 

End your day by saying thank you to your host blogger! Everyone loves a little appreciation.

Tip of the Day

Turn off blog moderation and word verification, often known as CAPTCHA code, during a daily blogging challenge or blog book tour. I don't find either to be very useful since I monitor my posts daily, and far more often during a busy project. Having these kinds of hurdles in place mostly just keeps people from commenting. Your goal is to get comments! Make it easy for your readers.

Happy weekend, everyone!

How Often Should I Tweet?

It's a common misconception that people on Twitter will think you are spamming them if you tweet about your new book all day long. But let's look at how repeated messages play out.

I'm promoting my other blog, the Blood-Red Pencil, like crazy today because I'm hosting a blog book tour stop over there. I'm interviewing Jodi Carmichael about her first chapter book published by Little Pickle Press.

So to promote Spaghetti Is NOT a Finger Food, the book in question, makes my Twitter page look something like this:

But it's important to remember that my posts won't run sequentially like this on YOUR Twitter page. They'll be interspersed in your Twitter stream among all the other folks you're following and who are tweeting, and the more you have, the less likely you'll see my tweets sequentially. In fact, if you have thousands of tweeps you're following, you may never see my tweets. So don't worry about looking like a spammer when you promote anything. Does that make sense?

Of course, I also like to mix it up by re-tweeting other unrelated information, adding some thoughts and quotes, just being a normal, sharing person along with promoting. The more value I add to my Twitter stream, the more people will like me.

Having said all that, keep in mind that Twitter doesn't like you to re-tweet the exact same thing more than once, so you do have to mix up your words a bit. That can be as simple as posting the same promotion, but with a different hashtag reaching out to various groups. You'll noticed I've used #kidlit as well as #Aspergers.

Tomorrow I'll talk a bit about HootSuite, which I use to queue up a bunch of posts to release on Twitter when I'm busy doing something else and can't tweet live. It's a handy tool.

And, yes, this re-tweet is absolutely true today:

RT @kitereaders: Get "Spaghetti is NOT a Finger Food" for #FREE today on #Amazon! http://amzn.to/10P6Okw  @LPP_Media @Jodi_Carmichael #kidlit
 

Sage: Book 1 by Marian Allen

One of our pals at the BBT Cafe, Marian Allen, has just released her new Kindle book and we're please to help spread the news! You can buy and download a copy of the book for $3.99 here.  I love the cover and font.

When you go to the page, you'll notice something very important. Scroll down a ways and you'll see a "tags" category. If you're an author, get those filled in right away. Not only does it give you control over how your book contents are labeled, you'll increase your searchability at Amazon. The author or her publisher has done this and it looks like this:

Anyone can add to these tags, but getting a dozen or more in place right away gives you a good deal of control over your own book. Don't miss the opportunity!

A Permalink Lesson

Do you like this photo? No, it's not a picture of me. But I'm using it for this lesson about permalinks and their importance during a blog book tour.

Let's use Pat Bean's terrific travel blog as our example. Pat's blog URL is http://patbean.wordpress.com/ which gets you to the main blog page. But if I wanted to have a record of the specific blog post titled, Life Lessons, I'd click on the title and get this expanded URL:

http://patbean.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/life-lessons/

That unique post "address" is what we call a permalink. When you're on a blog book tour, having these unique links to your guest post after the blog goes live, is a good way to promote your book in the future. But only if you can find that post again, and on a very popular and busy blog, that can be a challenge.

Copy and save your permalinks the day the host blog goes live with your blog book tour stop. You'll be glad you did! If you like the picture of this old broad, go to Pat's blog and read about her. And don't believe everything you see.

Blog Popularity and PageRank

Blog popularity, or PageRank, is an important part of choosing blog book tour hosts. You want publicity on sites that are noticed by search engines and real people alike. But how do you check a blog's ranking?

I use PR Checker which works for all search engines. It's easy. Just type in the URL for the blog you are vetting, complete the word verification, and you get a rating between 0 and 10.

Most good blogs are rated between 3 - 5, but rarely higher. They will probably be good hosts for your blog book tour stop. Even a 2 ranked blog might be a good choice if it matches the niche market of your book. As you discover blogs you like, and when you think they will be good matches for your book, vet them at PR Checker and then add them to a running list you'll use later. A little work each day makes planning a blog book tour much easier when the time comes!

Spaghetti Is Not a Finger Food Blog Book Tour

The best way to learn how to build your own blog book tour, is to follow one in action. Here's one that is kicking off today at Little Pickle Press. See the entire schedule here. Why not stop at each guest blog over the next week and see how it works? You can practice leaving comments and sharing the blog post on your social networking groups. Here's more information from today's host:

How To Tweet in time for #blogboost

If you haven't yet dipped into the Twitter pool (and you must to promote your books!), here's a guide from Kathi Flynn that's available for free on Kindle today (1/6/2012) and tomorrow. Download it now by clicking here and start tweeting!

Have We Connected?

You can join my Yahoo!Group, the BBT Cafe, which is all about blog book tours.

Join me on Facebook, too.

Here I am on Twitter.

And don't forget Pinterest.

What about you? Leave me a comment with your links so we can stay in touch!

Photo Friday

Have a relaxing weekend, everyone!

Break it Up

Yesterday I warned you about blog posts that are too long for your hurried readers. How do you avoid posts that are time-consuming to read quickly?

First, just write without regard to length. Say what you have to say. But then really look at your writing with a critical editor's eye and notice where you can split the writing into two or more sequential blog posts. This critical eye will get you a week's worth of posts and return visitors in one writing session! With a little practice, you'll see how the mind naturally links related chunks of information that can easily be broken into segments and published over the course of a week.

I know many bloggers who write their blog posts over the weekend using exactly this approach and you can, too.

Keep It Short

Photo credit: shopwasteland.com

One of the most important tips about blogging is to keep your posts relatively short - no more than 500 words. Blog readers are always in a hurry, and they just won't stick around to read a long post.

Writing short is easier said than done, especially if you tend to procrastinate about blogging. Sounds contrary to logic, I know, but when you don't blog often, you tend to cram in as much information as you can. Who knows when you'll be back, right? Better say it all now, which usually results in a long and rambling blog post.

Don't do this.

Tomorrow I'll explain how you can use this problem to good effect!

Happy New Year!

What better time to spark up a blog than the first day of the year? I've joined the Ultimate Blog Challenge because I know from past experience how important daily blogging is to heating up the popularity of a blog. I often include a blog-a-day challenge in my blog book tour classes.

So what will I blog about for 31 days? How about my journey completing the Blog Book Tours Kindle book? I'll start by offering short daily tips to help you organize your own blog book tour.

Are you planning to have a blog book tour this year? Leave me a message and let me know what book you'll be promoting! I plan to host a few more blog book tour stops at this blog this year, so if you have a book related to these topics, keep me in mind as a host for your tour:

• Children's picture books
• Cozy mysteries
• History mysteries
• Organic and environmental non-fiction

May we all enjoy the best year ever in 2013!

Oh, How I Miss You Blogfest

One of my favorite peeps of all-time, Alex J. Cavanaugh, is an instigator of yet another blogfest. This one I can handle!

Here are the bloggers I've missed lately:

Ann Parker who writes the marvelous historical mystery series set in Leadville, Colorado. The Silver Rush Mysteries blog is so... dead. Ann, where are you?

My own fault I don't visit Susan Wittig Albert's blog more. She always has interesting updates about her life in the Texas Hill Country, and what's new with her latest novels. Yes, she usually is cranking out at least three books, and the latest is a novel exploring the life of Rose Wilder Lane and her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Another fave blog I miss is Crunchy Chicken. I do stay caught up with this author on Facebook, but still... you know that good posts like the most recent one are worth it to fans, right?

Who would I miss if they disappeared? So many to choose from, but here are three:

The Little Pickle Press blog, because I helped bring it to this state of wonderfulness over the past two years. It's a blog any company can be proud of. I certainly am! If you have children who are readers, do bookmark it and visit often because they have great specials on their new releases.

I'd also miss Pat Bean's blog. Pat travels the country in her little SUV with her pal, Pepper and shares stories of her adventures. She's writing a travel memoir that I'm sure will be a bestseller some day.

Finally, a group blog because I love them. One of my faves is Jungle Red Writers because these are authors I read, they post regularly, they write really well. Oh, I'd miss them if they were gone. Please don't go away!

Okay - onward to discover more great blogs. What are your favorites - leave me a comment!

Promoting Your Blog Book Tour

The first day of a blog book tour is always a bit stressful for everyone involved, because it sets the tone for the rest of the tour. Also important is getting the word out about the blogs hosting you and this is a process that you "work" all through the day, each day of your tour. Here's the basic procedure:

1. Go to host blog and make sure the post is up
2. Get the permalink (by clicking on the blog post title to expand the URL which is
the unique URL for just that post), then make a shortened link if you are set up
to do that (I use bit.ly)
3. Leave a comment on the blog
4. Post the permalink or bit.ly to your Facebook page and post a status update explaining a little about the tour stop
5. Share the link with your online groups and mailing lists (no reason your
friends and family can't help, right?)
6. Use the bit.ly on Twitter throughout the day
7. Share on Pinterest if you are set up over there
8. Promote all through the day and be certain to drop in on your host blog for the day and check the comments - then join in the conversation. You should be addressing the questions and comments throughout the day as any good host would

Today, Little Pickle Press kicks off a blog book tour for their new picture book, Ripple's Effect. Here's a link to the first host:


http://bit.ly/U49qE9

You can follow the tour for the next two weeks. The entire schedule is here.



If you have questions or comments, please share them here!

A BIG Blog Book Tour

Today we kick off a blog book tour for Little Pickle Press. Their newest title, BIG, by Coleen Paratore is a colorful children's book that encourages children to think big in ways that go beyond size and stuff. It's a pretty powerful message for adults, too! Go here to read an interview with the woman who creates the free lesson plans to go along with the picture books.

If you're wondering what a blog book tour is all about, the best way to learn is to follow along on one. Here's the entire schedule for the BIG tour.

Hot blog book tour tip of the day: Be sure to change your daily blog URL to that post's permalink so you always have the exact link to the blog book tour stop.