Setting Up a Blog Tour

This is Part I - I will post Part II next Monday.

A lot goes into setting up a blog tour. I’ve done six tours now, on blogs as well as other social platforms, and hosted many, many authors. For those of you about to embark on a blog tour (or plan to one day soon) below is a list of tips and suggestions.

There are two types of tours - the short burst and the marathon. A concentrated book tour should be ten stops in two weeks maximum. (You will burn out yourself and your followers otherwise.) A more relaxed tour consists of a couple days a week spread over a month or so.

Start contacting potential hosts at least two months in advance. Large blog sites tend to fill up quickly.

Select a variety of venues. Don’t just visit the blogs of other writers. Consider your target audience - what sites are they most likely to visit? Mix it up to get the most bang for your buck.

A relationship with the host site is very important. (This is why paid blog tours tend to be a waste of money - you don’t have a relationship with the host.) Follow and comment on the blog long before you ask the site owner to host you.

Look for large sites with lots of traffic and visitors. 500 followers and 20+ unique comments is best. If it doesn’t have a wide following, you won’t get the exposure you need, and interaction is important.

Many sites post guest guidelines - read these carefully before contacting the host. (And hosts, when contacted, please state up front your guidelines and if you require a review copy!)

Contact the host, providing them with your full book information.

Don’t be upset if they say no. Sometimes your book isn’t a good fit for the site or the blogger is already booked.

Be prepared to suggest post topics and send a review copy if requested. Book bloggers will almost always request a review copy and should be contacted many months in advance. (Book bloggers are a special consideration, because even though they may be doing it for fun, it’s still ‘business.’)

Schedule a variety of stops - guest posts, interviews, reviews, giveaways, and possibly podcasts. Don’t offer the same thing at every stop.

You do not have to do a giveaway at every stop. For some hosts, that is their trademark - they always feature a giveaway - and you might steal their thunder. It also takes away the novelty. The Big Six can afford it, but smaller publishers and self-publishers can’t afford to give books at every stop. And while ebooks might be free, don’t devalue the effort you put into your book by giving it out as if it were nothing.

Coordinate with your publisher.

Consider an announcement day for your book or the beginning of your tour if you have many host offers.

If there are issues with the host, graciously withdraw and find another. The success of your tour does not hinge on just one stop.

There is a give and take - you are gaining access to the host’s followers in exchange for bringing your own followers the day of your post. That is the tradeoff. You can also reciprocate by featuring your host on your site either before or after the tour. In general, most of the online community is generous, unselfish, and willing to spread the word about your new book.

Remember, treat your author status as a business. It takes a lot of effort to put together a blog tour. Make yours count by selecting good hosts and smart post topics that will appeal to your target audience. And don’t forget to have fun in the process!

Remember to come back February 23rd for the second part.

Do Looks Matter? With Morgan Mandel

Today I welcome author Morgan Mandel! 

Do looks matter? Even asking such a question seems superficial. Still, in today’s society, though I hate to admit it, looks do play an important role. If you want to look normal, you need to look and dress the part. If you’re going for an interview, you’d wear clothes appropriate to the position to make a good impression, and not what you’d wear shopping at the local grocery store. (Unless you’re more fastidious than I am when you buy food.)

In the everyday world, if you see an unshaven dude with greasy hair and dirty clothes walking down the street, would you steer clear of him, thinking the worse, though you know many criminals look like perfectly groomed citizens?

Would you roll your eyes if you saw a chick with overdone, painted on makeup, scant or skintight clothes? She sure seems an easy mark, doesn’t she?

What if, the guy you’d normally steer clear of on the street turns out to be a decent, hard working man, who works two jobs just to get by and barely has enough time or energy to get from one of them to the other?

What if the chick who looked so easy actually has no idea of the image she projects and is merely copying her favorite rock star’s style, or, perhaps is overcompensating due to an inferiority complex because of some horrible happening or person that shaped her life?

The advantage of books is that authors can sprinkle in clues which peel off the facades of their characters, affording glimpses at what hides beneath. Once readers see past the obvious, the marvelous miracle of character bonding can take place.

In Forever Young: Blessing or Curse, Dorrie, the main character, reverts from 55 to 24, and gets a taste of what it’s like to be admired for her looks. When something happens to threaten them, she’s depressed, realizing her values have changed and not for the better. Another character, which I’ve dubbed the Angel Man because of his flowing blond hair and angelic blue eyes, values his appearance over everything in life, so much so that he feels superior to others less fortunate.

Looks are certainly important to both of them, too much so. To learn more about Dorrie, Roman, and what events led to their views on looks, this book is available at Amazon or Smashwords, also on Nook this week, or next. Can you share an instance where a person’s looks have fooled you? Or, maybe something from a book where the author uses looks to portray a character’s flaws or good points? Or any other instance where looks seem important?

Morgan Mandel
Blog
Website

BIO:
Along with writing mysteries, thrillers, and romances, Morgan Mandel loves to blog and network. You’ll often find her on Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites, as well as at various e-groups. Her previous books, still available, are Killer Career, Girl of My Dreams, and Two Wrongs, all on Kindle and Smashwords.
She’s a past president of Chicago-North RWA, past library liaison for Midwest MWA, belongs to Sisters in Crime and EPIC.
Her next project is a sequel to Forever Young: Blessing or Curse, called Blessing or Curse: A Forever Young Anthology. This book will describe what happens to other subjects who take the Forever Young pill.

BLURB:
Fresh beginnings turn tragic when Dorrie Donato’s husband, Larry, is killed in a hit and run accident a few months after starting a new job at the Life is for Living Institute. Discouraged and desperate after suffering countless setbacks, Dorie accepts an offer by Larry’s boss, the famous Angel Man, to be the first to test an experimental pill designed to spin its user back to a desired age and hold there, yet still retain all previous memories. The pill seems too good to be true. Maybe it is.

Thank you, Morgan, and good luck with your new book!

Please feel free to leave questions here for Morgan.

Struggling with Book Formatting?

Book formatting is one of the greatest challenges for a self-published author. (Forgive me if I don’t use ‘indie’ - it still means a small, independent publishing company to me.) Outside of the cover art, it can cause the most frustration. You’ll either struggle to learn the program/formatting procedure or run the risk of producing a book that appears very unprofessional. (And the three things that mark a self-published book - unprofessional and poor cover art, editing, and formatting.)

This is also a service some smaller publishers outsource rather than do themselves.

One of my goals this year was to focus my efforts on what I enjoy the most. I’ve recently dropped some clients in one area to allow for more in another. I’m learning to play to my strengths, which involve the fact that I am very organized and enjoy detail work.

And that includes book formatting!

I format both print and ebooks. Recent clients include Drake Publishing and author Michael Taylor. I even formatted an ebook for our own Karen Walker. (And it was such a joy to hear her voice!)

If you are a writer, author, or publisher in search of book formatting, please visit my site, Spunk On A Stick, for details and prices. I am very reasonable (believe me, I’ve checked, and it’s scary how much some companies charge) and I guarantee my work. I am not happy until you are happy!

So before you beat your head against the keyboard or shell out $600.00 for a program like In Design, contact me. Trust me, I’ve already shelled out the cash and beat my head on the keyboard enough for both of us!

But you know what? I love it!

And just because... one more photo from our front seat TSO experience:

The Weekend Sillies and Front Row Seats!

 

And as an added treat...
On December 4th, we went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra for the 6th year in a row. We are in the fan club, so always get good seats. This past show was very special - I nabbed us front row seats!

Oh yes - it was AMAZING!