These may seem pretty basic to a lot of you, but I have seen some self-published and small press authors who aren’t aware, so I thought I’d share.
1) Links – link to everything you can including:
- Goodreads *
- Your website *
- Your Facebook fan page *
- Your Twitter account *
- The book buy links **
- Any other social media links you have.
2) An entertaining post – sounds simple, but you multiple of these across the whole blog tour. Vary them up and brainstorm with your friends. Some good ones to consider include:
- Author interview
- Character interview
- Guest posts (experiment here and come up with some left of centre topics).
- Reviews
3) A book blurb and cover pic – no eye rolling, I’ve seen this missed. The blog tour is trying to sell your book so they need to know what it’s about.
4) Author bio and picture – again, sounds basic, but it’s been missed before. Write it in the third person and sell yourself. Consider getting a professional photo taken, unless you rock at selfies like I do (that’s out on my back veranda) —>
5) Call to action – you should always look to direct people to “do something” like buy your book, add your book on Goodreads or follow you on Twitter. This counts double if you’re having a giveaway (and it is best to include a giveaway for your tour).
6) Buy links – yes I’m repeating this and that’s because it’s SO important. If you don’t have buy links then you are missing out of impulse buys.
*If you don’t have any of the first four links then you should seriously consider starting them up, but only if your committed to the upkeep requirements.
**It’s best not to start the blog tour until the day your book is released if there’s no pre-order option.
If in doubt, there are lots of book PR services companies/blog tour operators around who you can hire to schedule and assist with your blog tour for reasonable prices.
Done a blog tour before? I’d love for you to share your top tips for a successful blog tour.
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