Blog Tours... Likes & Dislikes

[Julie Harabedian]

Hi everyone!

Just wondering if I could get some feedback on blog tours. Do you like doing them?

What are some things that you would like to see changed? How many "stops" do you prefer?
Do most author comments on the tours or make an effort to participate in discussions?
Do you prefer posting a review, article, or Q&A?

What are the best & worst parts about them?

I'd love to hear what you all think, you're the experts! :)

Thanks!

PS - If you're currently participating in one, please link here!

[Stacy-Deanne (Novelist)]

Hi,

Speaking from the author's point of view, I LOVE being interviewed and promoted on blogs! I plan to do a virtual book tour when my next release comes out. I think that VBT's (virtual blog tours) are the thing of the future because it's too difficult for authors to try to go on traditional tours. Also, I never cared for doing book signings and always found them boring so online tours are the thing for me. I think an author should try it and from what I've heard, it's exciting and does bring readers and sales.

I'll let a blogging expert address the rest of your thread but I wanted to share my two cents.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[David Gutowski]

I do not participate in book blog tours, I would rather pick and choose the authors I feature on my blog myself (but admittedly, I am a bit of a control freak). Publishers, authors, and publicists are so open to dealing with bloggers these days, that any blogger can request a review copy of a book or an interview with an author.

That being said, blog tours can be a great marketing tool for bloggers, readers, and authors, especially in niche genres (they're just not for me).

[Amy]

I need to cut back on blog tours because the pressue is getting to me to have the books read by an exact date as opposed to a certain time frame.

I"ve had some authors be very involved which the readers seemed to enjoy.

[pussreboots]

Like Amy I don't do blog tours any more because I can't handle the narrow time frame.

[chrisbookarama]

I do the occasional blog tour. I try not to do too many because I hate deadlines. I don't want my pleasure reading to feel like a job.

Chris

[William Bentrim]

Blog tours seem to provide one more method of creating buzz for a book. As long as bloggers are honest in their reviews I don't feel a blog tour is a negative thing for the book community.

Author involvement is a major plus. I think if you are going to write, you should want feedback from the people reading you.

The time frame can present a problem, my pile waiting seems to ever grow but I do feel if you accept a book under the auspices of a tour you should do your best to adhere to their schedule.

Blog tours expose you to new authors and genres, that is a good thing.

I am disappointed that my personal reading preferences of SciFi and Fantasy never seem to be involved in tours or ARCs.

[Stacy-Deanne (Novelist)]

I've seen a lot of fantasy review blogs that have hosted tours in the past. I don't know if they are all still around but there are some.

[chrisbookarama]

Here's a great post on blog tours from the Book Publicity Blog.

Chris

[William Bentrim]

Excellent article thanks for the reference

[Julie Harabedian]

Would it be better if you had a range of Monday-Friday to post the reviews instead of an exact date? I would think it's a lot of pressure to have an exact date, but then again some people might prefer that so they can have an organized schedule.

[Saoirse Redgrave]

I'm actually trying my hand at hosting one of these blog tour events--The Dog Days of Summer BlogTour (quite a few werewolf writers--but certainly not all!) starting next Thursday 6/18/09 (ya'll are invited, of course) with an interview of paranormal author Eva Gordon (The Wolf Maiden Chronicles and Werewolf Sanctuary). I also have Dehanna Bailie, Dara England , Diana Castilleja, Elaine Cordivae, Brigit Aine as well as inspirational writer's coach, guru and all-around nice guy Mark David Gerson and practicing pagan High Priestess and author Deborah Blake who will be talking about magic in writing (she's giving a class on the subject in October).

Main page for the tour is: http://13-to-life-a-werewolf-tale.blogspot.com/

The BlogTour starts Thursday morning and continues until Saturday each week for each different author (except during the days of RWA Nationals where I'll be covering the event for folks who didn't get to attend).

I like the fact that tours are geographically inclusive and open for comments from every participant--not just the folks in the front raising their hands and grunting to be noticed ;-).

I'm VERY excited and hope to do more of this sort of thing to help raise awareness (especially) for authors who are using small publishers and intriguing concepts. I hope to encourage other authors and readers to help with blog tours--although I readily admit to having a lot to learn!

Please stop by, chat with authors, ask some questions about what they are doing and maybe you'll win some prizes...

I look forward to meeting all of you!
~Saoirse Redgrave
Winner Textnovel.com 2008
Author of "13 to Life," a YA paranormal series with first book being released in 2010 from St. Martin's Press! :-)
http://www.Twitter.com/AuthorSaoirse_R