The Ins and Outs of a Blog Tour

I'm on a blog tour right now for my latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel, An Axe to Grind.The book was supposed to be out in January and I knew that there might be problems, so I set up the blog tour for March. Guess what? The book just became available last week.

As I've done before, I hired Pump Up Your Promotions to do the tour and the quickly arranged for the blogs to appear appear weekday during the month of March--and some of the blogs required books to review. All of them have different requirements for what they want for the blog--though all ask for a photo and a book cover. Most want a bio and a blurb about the book, others want more information about me as the author, why I wrote the book, what inspired me, that sort of thing.

A few blogs are more interested in the writing process and ask for advice for aspiring authors.

Though all this writing must be done ahead of time, I find it's a lot of fun to come up with new ways to talk about my book. After all, if someone actually follows along on the tour I don't want them to be bored with the same information over and over.

Every day when a new blog is up, I make a point to go visit and offer my thanks. I also go back two or three times during the day to read comments people have left--if there are any. Sometimes people make such nice comments, I leave another of my own.

Another requisite is to promote where you are visiting each day by letting people know. I'll put the blog's URL on all the listserves I'm on as well as Facebook, Twitter and the like.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? Yes, it is, but it's work I can do from home and then get back to my writing.

Does it result in sales? I'm not sure, but I do know my Amazon numbers go down when I'm on a blog tour, and that's a good thing.

I also do a lot of in-person appearances. Since I'm usually selling my own stock, I know right then how that works out. The big difference is that when I have to leave home, I can't do much of anything else, and often I have to stay overnight somewhere. I do enjoy talking with readers and about writing, so that has a plus side too.

Oh, I also have a video about An Axe to Grind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdrZA6B7iFI

If that doesn't work, you can go to my website and watch it.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com