Writing and Publishing News

I hear from my colleagues that, while virtual book tours are fun and they provide exposure for your books, these events rarely result in noticeable sales. This has not been my experience.

Oh, it’s fun! I enjoy the stops, the hosts, the comments, the preparation, the recognition… And my books do get exposure they otherwise may not. But I also realize a surge in sales during the weeks of my blog tours.

I did a blog tour for my Klepto Cat Mystery series in February of this year and sales doubled during that week. I just finished another virtual book tour with the same series during which I introduced my latest addition, The Colony Cat Caper, and sales MORE than doubled during the week. Sales spiked from around 50 sales per day to 120 sales per day.

Consequently, I recommend the blog tour as part of your marketing plan. But don’t do this as a standalone activity. Presumably, you have many potential readers who buy books and learn about books in a wide variety of ways—through newsletters on the topic or in the genre, at their favorite social media sites, at gift shops, through Amazon, at lectures on the topic, at book festivals, by recommendation, etc.

Book promotion is necessary. It must be ongoing for as long as you hope to sell books. And it should consist of many tactics. If you are a new author, you are on the brink of publishing your first book, or you have a book that isn’t doing well in the marketplace, take time to read my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. This will help you create your marketing plan for your book. Without a plan, your book just might not have the chance it deserves.

Order Promote Your Book in print, audio, or for your Kindle at Amazon.com.

Today is the last day of the blog tour for my Klepto Cat Mystery series. So what did I get out of the tour? We’ve covered most of the benefits of a blog tour during the week here in this blog. I hope this has jazzed you up about the possibilities for your own blog tour, where you’ll get exposure for your book or your series and become more well-known as a writer in that genre or on that topic.

Another benefit is the review. Well, this could come under exposure, certainly. During the week, the blog hosts posted reviews of my various Klepto Cat Mystery books at their sites, at Amazon, at Good Reads and other places. They’ve posted at their social media accounts. So what’s that…another 1,000 or 50,000 people who learned about my cozy mysteries during the week?

As Aunt Margaret would say, “Yeowza!”

Okay, so what’s next in my marketing bag for this series of books? I’m thinking about doing Amazon’s free book program. One of my clients offered his Kindle book for free at Amazon and he says there were 34,000 copies downloaded in one day. Now, I have trouble seeing the benefit of doing the free thing for just one book. But when you have a series—offering the first in the series for free could very well entice hundreds or thousands of those 34,000 people to buy some of the others. Hey what if all 34,000 people purchase just one of the other books? So what’s 70 percent of $100,000? That figure rates another Yeowza!!!

I’ll let you know if and when I decide to try this Amazon program. In the meantime, I’d better get back to the writing of book 6—The Celebrity Cat Caper.

Oh, by the way, today’s blog tour stopover is at http://www.kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com. I share more of my personal story and some of my passions (writing and cats).

I’m Patricia Fry and you can learn more about me and my work here: http://www.matilijapress.com and http://www.patriciafry.com. Order the Klepto Cat Mystery books at Amazon for your Kindle here: http://amzn.to/1kAI8I2

My blog tour, featuring the Klepto Cat Mystery series ran all last week. What were the results? Unlike my first blog tour in February, the results were not all that tangible—not yet, anyway. Last time, sales doubled during the week of the tour. That was exciting! This time, that didn’t happen. But that doesn’t mean this tour bombed.

Over four dozen people left comments at the various blog stops. So that’s around 50 new people who know about and are interested in the five books in the Klepto Cat Mystery series. One can assume that there are three to ten times that many who saw the reviews and guest blogs at my blog stops, and didn’t comment.

Add to that the number of potential readers who saw the promo at my facebook page, on twitter, at my blog sites, and the 2,000 who received my latest enewsletter. Remember, exposure is gold to authors. Exposure results in immediate sales, future sales, and residual sales. No efforts to gain exposure are wasted. And the more exposure you can get for your book, the more chances for those coveted sales.

Take every opportunity to get exposure for your book—to promote it before an audience, blog visitors, festival attendees, individuals you meet, etc.

There’s one more stop on my blog tour. Tomorrow, Brenda at WV Stitcher will post my guest post about how I came to write about cats. I think you’ll enjoy it. Be sure to stop in! http://www.kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com

We’ve talked a lot about blogging this week as I’ve enjoyed a busy week during my second blog tour. I’ve been promoting my cozy mystery series, the Klepto Cat Mysteries—featuring my latest in the series, The Colony Cat Caper. But you can also do a blog tour to promote one book.

The purpose of a blog tour is to draw attention to your book, so you will choose blog sites where those interested in the subject, theme, or genre of your book congregate. These are sites where visitors learn about new books, resources, events, activities, and individuals related to areas of their interest. Some people follow certain blogs because they want/need the news and or information the blogger typically shares. Others stumble upon a blog where there’s a post of interest to them. And others learn about blogs when they see one advertised during a blog tour, for example.

Whether your book is for authors, gardeners, travelers, artists, beekeepers, educators, parents, children, or people who love horses, adventure stories, mysteries, etc., you’ll find related blog sites. How do you find them? Well, if you’re an author with books on these topics and in these genres, you should know about them, already. You should be interacting with these bloggers often, anyway. Contact them and ask if they would review your book or if you can be a guest blogger during the week of your tour.

But if you aren’t aware of who’s movin’ and shakin’ among bloggers in your field, area of interest, or genre, you’ll need to start your blog tour from scratch. Locate appropriate blog sites by doing an Internet search and by checking out directories of blog sites. Here are a few:

http://www.directoryofblogs.com

http://blogs.botw.org

http://www.google.com/blog-directory.html

http://www.blogtopsites.com

Something that has surprised me during both of my blog tours (in February and the one this week), is how many readers of cozy mysteries and cat mysteries and visitors to particular blogs have not heard of me or my series. With the promotion I’ve done and the exposure Amazon has given my Klepto Cat Mystery series, I’m amazed that some avid readers of this genre are not yet aware of this series. That’s why it is necessary to promote, promote, promote, and promote some more if you want your book to sell more than a handful of copies.

If you like light mysteries and you enjoy reading about interesting cat and human characters, you must get into the Klepto Cat Mystery series. I’m working on book number 6. Order books 1 through 5 here: http://amzn.to/1kAI8I2

Visit my blog stopover today at http://www.mikishope.com Michele reviews the third in the Klepto Cat Mystery series, Sleight of Paw.

This is the first day of my blog tour for the Klepto Cat Mystery series. Be sure to stop in at the WV Stitcher site today: http://www.kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com Host Brenda has presented a lovely review and she’s given quite a bit of insight into the 5^th in the series—the latest Klepto Cat book—The Colony Cat Caper.

I’ve had a lot of interest from authors with regard to the blog tour concept. Today, I’d like to respond to the questions about promoting a blog tour.

I’d say just promote a blog tour the same way you would promote any other promotional activity. For example:

• Post your stops in your blog and at your social media pages.
• Send out an email blast to your enormous email addressbook.
• If you publish an enewsletter, include your blot tour in the next issue.
• Send announcements to all of editors of newsletters associated with the organizations you belong to.
• Write articles for or send short stories to newsletters and magazines related to the theme or genre of the book you’re promoting on the tour and mention the tour in the bio section.
• Get a podcast gig and make the announcement to listeners. Do an Internet search to find podcast opportunities within your book’s theme/genre.
• If you plan a signing, presentation, or you’ll be attending a conference related to your book, have bookmarks made promoting the blog tour and hand them out.
• Leave comments at other blog sites promoting your tour.
• Talk it up—talk about it everywhere you go.
• The day of each stop on your tour, promote it through your blog and social media.

If you’ve done a blog tour and have something to add to this list, please leave your comment here.

Yesterday, I shared my upcoming blog tour schedule. I hope you’ll stop in and enjoy the fun and frivolity. If you’re a published author, who is trying to drum up readers, you might want to plan your own blog tour. I’ve written about how I set up a blog tour. Refer to the blog posted February 15, 2014. Today, I’ll share some successful blog tour strategies from other authors.

Are you aware that there are blog tour services? That’s right. You can get professional help scheduling, promoting, and managing your blog tour. One author I know uses CLP Blog Tours because they specialize in her genre.

She tells me that, while the service made all of the arrangements, the author was required to write some guest blogs, send the cover image to those who requested it, etc. But the blog tour service did the promotion. This company offers several packages from $20 to over $200. Check them out here: http://www.clpblogtours.com.

This author said that she thinks people often overestimate the affect of blog tours on sales. She says, “If you go in thinking it’s going to drive a gazillion sales of your book, you’ll be disappointed. It’s just one way of raising awareness about you and your novels online.”

However, I shared with you after my first blog tour in February, that the week of my tour, sales for my Klepto Cat Mystery series doubled!

I spoke with another colleague who does blog tours to bring attention to her two novels. She said she does ongoing, informal blog tours. She doesn’t use a service and she doesn’t necessarily book a regimented tour.

She says, “I line up blogs and get permission to post.” She told me, “I don’t pay attention to the order of things. I don’t do tours over a certain day or week. I just do them as often as my schedule allows, sometimes I binge with them, aka, a tour.”

Here are links to a few blog tour services. If you use them, report back to me and, not only will I share your experience with my readers, I’ll give your book a plug.

http://bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com/

http://worldwindvirtualbooktours.weebly.com/services.html

http://sizzlingpr.com/services/