Host Your Own Event:
Take A Blog Tour
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When an author writes a book, he or she needs to find a way to get the world to take notice and buy that book. Traditional means for generating buzz about their books work great for extroverts or authors without children at home, but what about authors who are too shy to stand up in public to discuss the topics of their books or don’t want to leave their children at home while they travel the globe promoting their books? How can they let others know about their books and still stay home—where they’re needed most?

In the past, I’ve used the Internet to promote my e-books by visiting forums, message boards, and chat rooms. I’d locate topics related to my e-book’s theme and then briefly answer the poster’s question and complete the post by leaving a two to three line sales pitch in my signature line about how my e-book could help answer that question in more detail. The only problem with this method is that it’s time consuming and there’s definitely a thin line between promoting your product and being helpful.

Interviews have also been a great way to promote my e-books and to build credibility, but trying to locate magazines willing to interview an unknown or up-and-coming author, let alone a self-published author can be daunting. Editors prefer to interview BIG name authors who can sell more copies of their magazine.

Then came the BLOG and a whole new world opened up!

What Is A Blog
If you’re out of the loop, a blog is an online journal designed to entertain and educate the public. They also offer the option of allowing readers to post comments related to each post, thus acting like an interactive forum.

In the beginning, blogs were run by individuals who enjoyed the idea of having a place to share their voice. Today blogs are also run by professionals looking for a way to interact with their targeted audience to build credibility and name recognition while increasing profits.

Hosting A Virtual Book Tour
Authors who use the Internet to market their books are familiar with virtual book tours. Basically, you find a website that hosts author chats, and you set up a time to attend the chat to discuss your book. The problem with virtual chat rooms is that they aren’t easy to find and many readers don’t know about them.

Blogs, on the other hand, can easily be found through the search engines and often have a loyal base of readers. And more importantly, they’re viral. Great posts are often picked up by other bloggers and linked to through articles and websites. You can take advantage of the power of blogs by going on a virtual book tour.

The Purpose Of A Blog Tour
While many authors believe the purpose of a blog tour is to generate more sales, nothing could be further from the truth. While you ultimately want to increase your book sales, the purpose of a blog tour is to generate buzz about your book. If you go into a blog tour with the preconceived notion that you’ll dramatically increase your book sales, you’re setting yourself up for a big disappointment.

Target The Right Audience
A blog tour needs a strategy to be successful and that strategy starts with targeting blogs with target audiences that match your book’s target audience. In other words, if you’ve written a book on restoring vintage cars, you wouldn’t target blogs that discuss the every day life of a child. You’d target blogs that discuss:

• restoring old cars
• rebuilding automobiles
• women mechanics
• topics related to a man’s interests

1. You can request that each blogger post your interview on a specific day and then write up a tour schedule on your website and in your personal blog.
   
   
2. You can make another post on your blog that updates readers as to where your interviews have taken place, as they take place.