So you’ve written a book. Congratulations!
You’ve accomplished a great goal, but unless you want your book to sit on your bookcase collecting dust, your work isn’t finished yet. Now it’s time to sell your words.
You will probably find yourself doing this on your own. Even authors who land publishing contracts do their own marketing and promoting.
It is your job to tell the world that your book is available and worth reading and you are the best person for the job! No one knows your story the way you do or is as invested in your book as you are. You worked hard to write it, now you have to work just as hard to tell the world that your book exists.
Marketing and promoting a book is a daunting task but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Before you make a sandwich sign and stand on the street corner hawking your book, consider a virtual book tour… it’s affordable, manageable, and valuable.
Affordable… connect with readers all over the world without spending much money.
Manageable… manage your book tour without ever leaving your home.
Valuable… build your author platform while promoting your book.
A virtual book tour is nothing more than you stopping at a different website or blog each day and telling the readers there why they should consider your book. Instead of giving a radio interview or speech on a book tour, you are giving them a guest post… one that you write about you and your book.
By writing a guest post for another blogger, you give them the chance to link up with your virtual book tour and take a break from writing. You get the opportunity to meet another group of readers. If done well, it’s a win/win for both the blogger and the author.
Here are three tips to a virtual book tour done well…
1) Reach out… The goal is to introduce yourself to new readers by looking beyond your normal circle of bloggers and readers. Join a few online groups or writer discussion boards and when you find like-minded bloggers, be brave enough to ask them to host you. Most bloggers are looking for ways to improve their own platforms and one great way to do that is to host guest posts. You won’t know until you ask!
2) Link up… Create a landing page on your blog that lists all the stops on your virtual book tour with a clickable link to each seperate blog. This creates one central location for people to return to if they want to experience more of your book tour and it gives your host bloggers a chance to visit one another… and, again, an opportunity to build their own platforms.
3) Give away… Consider offering a desirable give-away to your readers and hosts. An autographed copy of your book is nice but you may want to include something else to make it more attractive to your readers. Be sure to include concise rules and a clear deadline for the give away and keep in mind you will need to ship the give- away prize as soon as your contest is over.
Launching your own virtual book tour can be much more fun and effective than standing on a street corner with a sandwich sign… especially if you consider how affordable, manageable, and valuable a virtual book tour can be.
About Heidi Kreider
