From the Tour Guide
New as of March 1, 2011: Blog Tour Consultations. I recently wrote a short blog post with a few resources for the do-it-yourselfers out there and was surprised how popular the post is! For those of you who would like to set your own course, but might need a little orientation to start, I am now available for one-hour consults. Contact me for more information.
Congratulations, dear author. You are thinking about embarking upon a blog tour!
What a Blog Tour Is:
A blog tour is an excellent way to gain exposure for your book. It’s a big Blog World out there — just surf on over to Ning.com’s Book Blogs and you’ll currently find about 14,000 members. And the Blogosphere is certainly even bigger than that!
Blog tour in a nutshell: the ideal time for a book blog tour, in my experience, is coordinated with the timing of your launch. For a period of (let’s say) about a month, the aim of the author will be to have a predetermined number of blogs feature your new release with reviews, giveaways and/or guest posts. I act as a liaison between the author and the bloggers. This is oversimplifying — for more information on how I work, please feel free to contact me.
What A Blog Tour Isn’t:
A blog tour is not easy. If you, as an author, do not have the commitment or the time to devote to your blog tour, it’s unlikely to be successful. Book blog hosts — the ones I schedule — require input from the author in the form of guest posts, Q&A and other creative contributions.
Virtual Assistance:
Working with a virtual assistant is much like having a personal assistant, only from a remote location. Some of the tasks I take care of for authors include handling correspondence; publicizing live readings; and online research.