There are several companies who will, for a fee,
help an author take a "book blog tour." For a set price,
they'll guarantee that your book will take a blog "tour" with a
predetermined number of "stops."
When first I learned of this idea, I'll admit I
was a little put off. Would I be paying bloggers to host my
book?
As it turns out, the answer is no. It helps
to think of these entrepreneurs as tour guides. As with a traditional tour guide, you're paying for knowledge and experience.
Most of the people who offer book blog tour
arrangement are book bloggers themselves. Lisa Munley, of TLC Book Tours told me "I was a
blogger for two years before I started TLC with my partner, Trish (also a book
blogger). As bloggers, we were inundated with requests from authors and
publishers to review books. I always found it strange when I would be
asked to review books that I had zero interest in and I thought, why don't they
look for bloggers who would be a better match for their book?”
In other words, pervasive mayhem encouraged a
few entrepreneurs to bring order to the chaos. It is absolutely possible to arrange a blog tour for your own book. But
if you aren’t quite sure how to approach bloggers, or if you don’t know how to
find them, that’s when a blog tour operator can come in handy.
Says Munley: “For most authors, it's tough to
get a book reviewed through traditional media.
It's also tough to know where to begin online. Building relationships with bloggers and
navigating the ‘blogosphere’ is a time-consuming and confusing challenge for
many. Authors could set up a tour
themselves (and many of them do) but if they don't have time or they don't know
how to go about it, we are there to help.
We have an extensive database of registered bloggers, sorted for
preferred genres and interests and analyzed for traffic, and we register book
clubs online so that we can share our monthly contests with them.”
If that sort of management is appealing to you,
consider a book blog tour. Generally, book blog tours cost less than hiring a
traditional independent publicist. I checked prices with several book blog tour
guides and found prices between $350 and $1000.
Those quotes were for different services, ranging between 10 and 15 blog
tour stops.
And what is a blog tour stop, you ask? Says Munley: “Every tour stop is
different. Some include interviews,
author guest posts, or giveaways. Some just review the book. The incentive for a blogger to host a tour
(aside from a free book) is access to the author through email.”
Another book blog tour operator told me she
likes to read the book first, and that her package was for “approximately 15
stops, but at least 12.” This brings us to another point—most publicity help
you can buy is on a “best efforts” basis. No guarantees. Book blog tours, on
the other hand, usually guarantee a number of placements. But they don’t, of
course, guarantee a set number of eyeballs. By definition, any tour operator’s
blog arsenal will contain a highly varied selection of blogs. Some will have a
terrific readership, and some will be newbies.
As a business person (and all authors are
businesspeople, whether they know it or not) it is up to you to decide how best
to spend your book marketing dollars. Hiring a traditional publicist is another
alternative. It costs more (usually several thousand dollars), but may have
wider reach.
And what about that nagging question? Are you
paying for blog reviews?
“I don't think authors are paying for blog
posts, exactly,” says Munley. “And (in case anybody thought they could) they
can't "buy" a positive review, only honest opinions from
bloggers. They're paying for convenience
and for online exposure. They're paying
for a minimum number of reviews and appearances on blogs, yes, but they're also
getting the added benefit of book chatter.
Bloggers talk about what they read in a public way beyond blog posts;
they frequently mention what they're reading on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads,
and other online forums.”
In other words, you can’t buy love. But you can take
it on tour.
BOOK BLOG TOUR OPERATORS INCLUDE:
WOW (Women on Writing)
TLC Book Tours
Booklicity
Hi Thanks A lot about Your Articles ... very Nice
ReplyDeleteFree personal Finance
blue waffle
From a blogger's point of view, Lisa at TLC does an excellent job matching books with reviewers. Thanks for the wonderful post on this subject! You are very correct when you say that bloggers go beyond talking about books just on their blogs. I tweet, post to goodreads, amazon, facebook and other chat groups about books I love.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary!
ReplyDeleteI recommend authors learn how to arrange one tour by themselves - then they know what to expect when they hire a professional service. This was the premise of all my free BBT classes. When I first started teaching the course, there weren't very many great services and they were often very expensive. That has changed, and your best guide is referrals from other authors. Here's a quick guide http://quickest.blogbooktourguide.ever.com which is the basis for the e-book I'm publishing. I hope it's okay to share that link - it does relate to the subject line! ;)
ReplyDeleteAlways such great information here. Dani, you read my mind. I was hoping to hear from an author who'd tried such a service and you mentioned referrals.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, too.
I had no idea such things existed.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why i still have so much to learn around here...
I think TLC is one of the best blog tour companies out there. I also believe you get what you pay for and when I've worked with them as a blogger they have been incredibly professional.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!