NEW RELEASES AND BLOG TOURS

/ D.L. Finn, Author
Red arrow through blog word
Courtesy of Canva

Hi SEers! Denise here to talk about the next step after we celebrate a release—or a blog tour.

 All the formatting, editing, and your book cover done? The release date has been set, and soon everyone gets to read your masterpiece. Whew! But there is one more thing I do that is a part of the dreaded marketing or saturate the blogosphere with the new release.

There are companies out there who will handle your tours for you, but I’m a more do-it-yourself type of person. So, I reach out to my amazing blogging friends and ask for help.

Colorful word tour
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Here are some ideas to help your tour go smoothly.

  1. Know when you want to have your tour. Same day? Over a week or a month? Let your hosts pick what works for them. There are programs to do this or have specific dates available.
  2. Create a banner for the tour and social media.
  3. If you are going to do a book video, it would be good to share it during your tour.
  4. Give each stop something different to read. It could be a paragraph of something connected to the story, or I enjoy including some fun facts. No one wants to follow your tour around and read the same thing over and over.
  5. Have a few excerpts to share with different hosts.
  6. A character interview makes for fun reading during a tour.
  7. Spell check your post, and any pictures used please make sure there are no copyright issues. I’ve had that problem once when hosting a blog for someone and had to deal with a lawyer who tried to take me for a hefty sum.
  8. Include your author bio, picture, and book cover, along with all your important links for social media and where to purchase your book in your blogs.
  9. Ask your host how they want the material sent to them. Some want all the files and pictures separately, and others like it put together in HTML format.
  10. Be sure to thank your host and promote the blog for them.
Courtesy of Canva

Once you get everyone scheduled, and the blogs sent to the hosts, be sure you visit the blog and respond in a timely manner. I’ve been involved where either I’ve hosted, and the person whose book I was promoting never showed, or I was a guest, and the host wasn’t available. Either way, people appreciate you being there if they take the time to visit and comment.

You can also do a cover reveal tour with a pre-order attached before you release. There are many ways to promote a new book, including author interviews and advertising, but a nice way to kick it off is a book release tour.

Do you do book tours for your new releases? Why or why not?

85 thoughts on “NEW RELEASES AND BLOG TOURS”

  2. Pingback: #ReblogAlert – This Week on #StoryEmpire | The Write Stuff

  6. HI Denise, did you say blog tours? I love doing blog tours. I enjoy the challenge of writing the posts and thinking about why I wrote my book in the first place and/or sharing affiliated information. I try very hard to make my posts different and interesting. I never organise my own tours, mainly because I aim to get the posts out of my blogging circle and meet new bloggers and readers and also because I prefer to pay someone else to do the admin. I just struggle with time and I’m happy to turn the planning over to someone else. I also love hosting other peoples posts and tours on my blogs. It is nice, especially if they share to their own blogs and I get to meet new bloggers that way.

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    • Blog tours are a lot of fun once the posts are written. Although you are right it is fun to revisit why we wrote the book. I haven’t tried a place to do a tour yet but having a new audience and meeting new people is a very high plus to that! I love hosting blog tours too and learning more behind the book.

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  7. What perfect timing for me! I’m just finishing the pieces I want to share on the blog tour for Hype, my YA contemporary novel. Now, I just need to get a few amazing authors who are willing to host me on their blog for a day. Great post, Denise! 🙂

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    • Thank you, Jacquie 🙂 It makes it fun to follow along and see new and learn new things on the tour. I can see the benefits of hiring a professional too!

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  14. Thank you, Pete 🙂 Good comparison not showing up to one’s own party. No, there are some things we shouldn’t do in our writing community, this is definitely one of them.

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  15. These all seem like valuable tips and sound advice to me, Denise. You promoted someone’s book, and they didn’t show? Ouch! That’s like not showing up to your own birthday party. There are just some things a person shouldn’t do, and that’s one of them.

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  17. Great tips, Denise. Blog tours take a lot of time to put together and then a lot of time to follow through on. I definitely like the author to stop by and respond to comments. That’s the most important part to me about hosting. And excellent reminder about only using copyright free images – the last thing we want to do is get our generous hosts in a mess of trouble. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Diana 🙂 It is time consuming, but worth it to interact.and have some fun during. Yes, it is so important for the author to drop by respond, they miss out if they don’t. No one wants to deal with lawyers over an image, I’m extra careful now.

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  20. Nice post! Setting up book tours is a lot of work, even if you go through a company, but tours help to get your book in front of a lot more people. And great recommendations for how to be a good host and guest.

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    • Thank you, Judi 🙂 Getting the material you want on the tour is a lot of work but worth it when the tour starts. Good point about using a company and being seen by more potential readers.

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  21. Super Post, Denise. I do tours and have experienced participants not showing up to comment. That is very annoying. I would also add that when you send photos that they be sized appropriately. Sending 2 or 3 GB photos doesn’t help with memory issues. Good job

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    • Thanks, John:) Yes, not showing up to comment with peopke there for them is losing a good opportunity and puts a lit on the host too. Good additional advice about photo sizing. I’ve ran into that issue too and had to resize.

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  27. Thank you, Jan 🙂 I always feel bad for people commenting who aren’t getting a response from the author they are supporting. Authors know this is a part of writing, I wonder if musicians realize how important it can be too. But when I comment, I always remember if the author interacts and it might be a tipping point if I buy any of their books or not. Good policy not to host a non- commenter again.

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  28. This is a timely post for me, because I’m just wrapping up a blog tour. I’ve been fortunate to have had all wonderfully attentive hosts. Tour can be exhausting (it takes a lot of work) but it’s also a lot of fun. I’ve been having a blast promoting my latest book. Replying to comments are crucial (as you noted) and I’m glad you pointed out the issue about photos and copyright. When I’m hosting another author, I always inquire about the copyright on any photos they send me. If you’re the host blog, it’s on you to ensure what you post is issue free.

    Great post today, Denise!

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    • Thank you, Mae:) You had a wonderful blog and are always attentive with comments! Yours was the perfect example of what to do. Yes, we are responsible for what is on our blogs so it is important to make sure what we put on it.

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  29. These are all excellent tips, Denise. It especially bothers me when the person I’m hosting doesn’t bother to come over and respond to comments or answer questions. Most likely, I won’t host that person again. Musicians are the worst. 🙂 With an upcoming release, I take all of this advice to heart! Thank you for sharing!

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  30. Great information, Denise, thank you. Blog tours are demanding to set up, but they are very rewarding. The excerpts give readers a glimpse of the writing style and content. But top on the list for me is learning more about the writer. These two often prompt me to buy the book. Wonderful post. 😊

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    • Thank you, Gwen 🙂 Blog Tours are very demanding to get set up, but definitely very rewarding. It is fun to read the excerpts to get a taste of the author’s style and the story’s flavor, but like you I love to get to know the author better. Sometimes, I need more than one push to try a new author and several blog good stops might do that for me.

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  32. Excellent post, Denise. Blog tours can be fun. I like the idea of a character interview – I haven’t done one in a while. Maybe for my next release. 🙂

    I’m in agreement about comments and the host availability. To me, it’s the height of rudeness not to respond to those who follow your tour and visit. The part about you having to deal with a lawyer had me cringing!

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    • Thank you, Joan 🙂 I love to see character interviews on a tour. It can really push me to want to read the book. I agree about responding to comnents on tour. I think of it as the same thing as writing a thank you card for a gift. If some takes the time out if their busy day for you to support you it is a gift of their time, and you should be able to do the same for them. As for that lawyer, I was hosting for a company who does blog tours. They did not help me deal with it either, but luckily the author had advice for me. Why I’m so careful with photos I use now.

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  33. Hi,
    These are excellent tips that are important for the success of selling your books. I am in the process of preparing my first blog tour so your post is very helpful iin helping me stay on track with what I have to do. Thanks.
    Shalom aleichem

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    • Thank you, Pat 🙂 It is a lot of work to pull it together, but I really enjoy chatting with everyone and sharing some new things about the book. So, I think it’s worth all the work in the end. I wish you a lot of success with your tour and glad this post can be of some help to you!

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    • Thank you, Harmony 🙂 I feel the author who doesn’t interact with their blog comments is losing not only sale opportunities but missing out on possible friendships.

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  36. Several of you at Story Empire have been kind enough to host me on a New Release Blog Tour, and I’ve had great fun being a host. I wasn’t aware there were companies who would do it for you. Presumably, that gives you a whole new audience? More information about where to find them would be gratefully received. Too many of my author contacts have websites, but no idea how to host guests, and the result can be non-interactive, boring, a attract little attention.

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    • We are so lucky to have a wonderful and helpful writing community. I always enjoy hosting other authors. I have hosted for blog tour companies for a couple of authors, but not tried them, so I can’t recommend anyone to you. For the most part I’ve had success at the sights I go to and good support and wishes, but I do understand what you are talking about. I have come across that. Thank you, Sarah 🙂

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    • Kensington set up blog tours for me with Goddess Fish Promotion http://www.goddessfish.com/, The site has several different ways to promote your book. I haven’t used any of them for a while, though, so my information is dated. I will say the tour that used the same information over and over again wasn’t very helpful. A blog that’s really supportive of writers is Dru’s Book Musings. https://drusbookmusing.com/ I’m sure there are more, but I’m out of the loop.

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  37. Pingback: NEW RELEASES AND BLOG TOURS | Legends of Windemere

  38. This is great information, Denise. Organizing a blog tour is a lot of work. I’ve been fortunate to find a few inexpensive tours that put my books into the reader’s hands with great results. Working a full-time day job doesn’t allow me a lot of time to organize such an event, so I’m grateful for these professional tours. Thanks for sharing!

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    • It is a lot of work, Jill. Glad you were able to find good companies to work with and it was successful! It is hard to find the time to do all the things we want or need to with writing. Nice there are options out there to help. Thank you for sharing your experience with professional tours:)

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