Writing 101: Promoting your book on blogs

 

 There are a number of ways to promote your book. The most commonly thought of marketing tool for authors is the book signing. While this can be a big boost for famous people or best-selling authors, many midlist authors find that it isn’t worth the time investment to promote the event.

About five years ago, with the surge of blogging, came the blog tour. A blog tour is simply where an author appears on a series of blogs [usually twenty or more] in the weeks surrounding the release of their book.

This is a relatively inexpensive option [with prices ranging from free to a few hundred dollars] and can lead to increased exposure for your book as well of your backlist.

If you’d like to use a blog tour to promote your book, here are some ways to do it.

1.       Find a group of bloggers who write to your target market. There is no point appearing on the blog of a well-known parenting site if your book’s target audience is unmarried college women.

2.       Consider having someone coordinate the blog for you. These can be time consuming so finding someone who will host your blog tour and handle the administrative side of getting questions and returning them to blogs can be helpful. One reputable place I’m personally familiar with is The Blog Tour Spot.

3.       Many authors increase traffic by offering to give their book away on the various blogs. Here is an example.

4.       Have a way to add people to your contact list. Point them back to your website and promote your backlist.

5.       Offer a link to Amazon.com or other online retailers as well as a photo of the book jacket.

6.       Thank all of the bloggers who invited you over. Remember, you are a guest and you should be gracious.

In the coming weeks we will look at other ways people are promoting their books, many from the comfort of their own laptop, so be sure to sign up and receive the updates from Examiner.com when I post each new article.