Do Blog Tours Sell Books?

So as most of you know, I've just wrapped up a blog tour for CRASH INTO YOU.  It was roughly 35 stops and spanned about six weeks. It was fun...and freaking exhausting. Writing that many posts about that many different topics and answering comments all while keeping my own two blogs afloat, doing other promo stuff, and trying to draft a novel that's due soon was a bit overwhelming. And that was with hiring Goddess Fish Promotions to do the organizational piece of the blog tour for me--scheduling the stops, giving me the topics, and getting the posts to the right people. (They were fabulous, btw. Very affordable and there's no way I would've been able to manage it all without that help.)

But even with outside help, I found myself having writer's block both for posts and for my WIP. I felt like I was in the middle of a tornado and I couldn't quite get anything done well.  (See last week's post on the 5 Emotional Stages of a Book Launch for more on that.) So now that it's over and I have two more titles to launch this year, I'm left asking the question--was all that work worth it? Is the amount of time the blog tour consumes proportionate to what you get out of it?

I honestly don't know. It obviously doesn't hurt, but it's hard to tell what has an impact on your sales and what doesn't. My gut instinct tells me a review on a book blog is worth much more than a guest post or interview on one. I'm not sure hearing me talk about my writing journey or my family life compels new people to try my book.

I know for me as a reader, if I read a guest blog by an author it doesn't necessarily make me want to buy their book. It may expose me to a book I haven't heard of and if it's something I might like, I may buy. But if the book had been reviewed instead of the author interviewed, it would have the same effect--exposure. And maybe would've have been even more effective because I'm hearing about the book and if the reader/reviewer liked it.

The same goes for blog tour giveaways in my opinion. We're so bombarded with "Free book!" and "Win!" now that it becomes white noise. Yes, there are some people who click and enter every giveaway, but those are often people who aren't going to buy your book if they don't win. They just enjoy the chance to win. And if you give away your own book you're promoting, there are times when people will delay buying to see if they won. That delay could mean you risk them forgetting to buy it when they don't win.

2016 Update:

I continue to do blog tours for each release, but I have pared it down greatly. I do a handful of interviews and maybe 1-2 guests posts. The rest are either book features (info about the book is shared) or book reviews (reviewer was provided with an ARC and asked to give an honest review.) I think the exposure is good and having your book out there and mentioned on social media is important, but there are ways to do it without making yourself insane.

Here are my tips:

1. Hire someone to help - If you can afford it (and prices are usually super reasonable), hire someone who specializes in setting up tours in your genre. They will automatically have more connections to book bloggers than you do and they can do the legwork of getting everything set up. Money well spent. 

2. Focus on getting copies out for reviews. Only commit to a few interviews and guest posts, which can be very time intensive.

3. Focus on sites with good traffic - It's okay to stop by some smaller blogs, but research where readers hang out the most in your genre and work toward getting a post on those sites. And if it's a big site, maybe you do a more extensive post.

4. Be POLITE and PROFESSIONAL - Book bloggers are doing all that work for free and they are under no obligation to help you. And even if you give them an ARC, they are under no obligation to review. Don't be a jerk. And follow their submission guidelines if you're approaching them yourself.

5. Do a giveaway but not for the book you're promoting. - This is a good time to giveaway a backlist book or something that's related to your book. I like doing one big tour wide prize. For my book CALL ON ME, I gave away gourmet brownies because there's a fun scene with brownies in the book.

6. On the day of the posts, promote them on your social media. Help the bloggers hosting you by bringing them traffic. And if there's interaction in the comments, stop by and say hi. (If it's a review post, stay out of the comments though.)

7. Don't stress about sales. - Easier said then done but a blog tour is part of a bigger, cumulative effect of promotion and getting your book in front of people. 

8. Pace yourself - Don't sign up to do 100 stop tour. You'll wear yourself out and people will get sick of hearing about you. I usually do a two week launch tour with 1-2 stops a day.

9. Have a press kit and excerpts ready to go. - Every blogger will want similar things: your cover, headshot, book blurb, bio, excerpts. Have all those ready to go and easily accessible. And be sure to hold a few excerpts aside for "exclusive excerpts." Bigger sites often like to have an exclusive.

What are your thoughts? Do you think guest posts and interviews sell books? Or do you think a review has more impact? How do you feel about giveaways? What kind of post compels you to buy someone's book?

"Revved up and red-hot sexy, CRASH INTO YOU, delivers a riveting romance!" --Lorelei James, NY Times Bestselling author of the ROUGH RIDERS series

CRASH INTO YOU is now available!

Read an excerpt here.

All content copyright of the author. Please ask permission before re-printing or re-posting. Fair use quotations and links do no require prior consent of the author. ©Roni Loren 2009-2012 |Copyright Statement|

The 5 Emotional Stages of a Book Launch

I've almost made it through month one of my debut release. The month has been an exciting, exhausting, and emotional whirlwind. I have lots of blog post ideas spinning through my head about the experience, what I've learned, and what I'd do differently.

But first I thought I'd give you a brief overview of what my debut month looked like.

2016 Update: I'm more than ten books into this journey now and these stages still apply, though I have gotten better at managing them. :)

The Five Emotional Stages of a Book Launch

really happy in #carlton

Week One: Book Release Euphoria

You're so damn happy, you can't feel your face anymore because you're smiling so much. Your book is out there! People are talking about it, blogging about it, authors you're a fangirl of are tweeting congrats to you. You walk into your local bookstore and there it is--your book on the freaking shelf! You vacillate widely between wanting to cry and wanting to break out into song in public. You're so busy, you're lucky if you remember to eat and sleep. But who needs those silly things?

oy in #cat

Week Two: Obsession

You're guest blogging like a madwoman, responding to comments, tweeting about your blog tour, and trying to do you normal writing too. But that's not why you're at your computer. Nope, you're there because now you're obsessed. What's my Amazon ranking this hour? What are reviewers saying? How many ratings do I have on Goodreads? Ooh, is that a new review? What are people saying about me and my book? I need to google myself again. Must. Check. One. More. Time. 

Tired of waiting in #tired

Week Three: Burning Out

This is when the flip side of weeks one and two rears its ugly head. In all your obsession, you've realized not everyone thinks you're made of awesome and sugar cookies. It's inevitable. We anticipate that. Hell, we're writers. We're built on rejection. How much did we see to get to this point? But anticipating it and seeing it on the interwebs are two different things. Rejection up to this point hasn't felt personal. It's been more like structured feedback or the general "no thanks" from the agent. But online, people have no qualms about making it personal, saying mean things, or even making assumptions about what kind of person you are. For some people that stuff rolls right off. For others, it can affect your mood and distract you from whatever you're supposed to be working on. That's why you hear many authors say they don't read reviews. Reviews are for readers not for you. But it's admittedly hard not to look, especially if it's your debut book. If you know you're going to be affected by bad reviews, skip looking or have a friend screen them for you.

sleepy in #sleepy

Week Four: Collapsing in Exhaustion and Cocooning

You're tired. Really bone tired, but also creatively and emotionally drained. You crave to get back to your routine and your life. For me, this meant a bit of cocooning or insulating myself. I stepped away from the week two obsession. If someone brings my attention to something great, I'll read it. Otherwise, I don't need to go out and see everything anyone has ever said about me or the book. And I don't need to say yes to everything. And I don't need to be everywhere at once.

Bruce is a typing boss - Bruce Almighty in #boss

Week Five: Finding Balance and Re-Focusing on Why You're Doing This In the First Place

You realize the reason why you're doing all this stuff is because you love to write. This is the job you want. So you back away from all the hoopla and get back to your keyboard and your story. Then, when your next book come out, this cycle will start again!

So those are my thoughts after four weeks, about 50 blog posts (counting guest posts and my own blogs), comment answering, completing copy edits on two books, plus trying to draft another with a tight deadline. *downs a shot of tequila* 

So what do you think? If you're published, have you experienced any of this? If you're hoping to get published, what do you think will be your biggest challenge during your book release? 

"Revved up and red-hot sexy, CRASH INTO YOU, delivers a riveting romance!" --Lorelei James, NY Times Bestselling author of the ROUGH RIDERS series

Guest Blogging Etiquette 101

As most of you know, my book released last week (squee!) and I've been embarking on a promotional blog tour. That means I'm writing not only my own blogs, but also putting together another 1-2 daily. It's been a lot of fun, but is a LOT of work. I hired Goddess Fish Promotions to help me organize mine because I just couldn't juggle everything on my own, and that's been a godsend. But it still take a lot of time and effort to manage a successful tour. 

So as I go through this, I was reminded of this post I did last year about Guest Blogging Etiquette. Using these guidelines can make the guest blogging process mostly painless for everyone. Hope you find it helpful!

GOOD NEWS ALERT!

- CRASH INTO YOU debuted at #3 on the Barnes and Nobles Trade Romance Bestsellers List!!! I'm shocked and so excited. Thank you SO much to everyone who has bought the book. You guys rock!

Now on to today's post..

Guest Blogging Etiquette 101

So if you've been blogging for any amount of time, you've probably had some experience with guest blogging--either inviting people onto your own site or doing a post on someone else's site. It's a great thing to do to cross promote and once you've got a book coming out, it's often a big piece of your marketing. Blog tours are all the rage because the internet is a great place to find readers and build word of mouth.

I get requests on a pretty regular basis both to be a guest on other sites and from people wanting to do a post here. It seems once you get past 500 or so followers, a good number of people want to hang out on your site. :) That's awesome. I love doing guests posts and I certainly love having people stop by here.

However, there is some etiquette that goes along with this process. Some people follow it and others fail miserably. So I figured I would give some quick tips I've gathered from my experience that may help you navigate the guest blogging waters.

If you are going to ask someone to be on your site...

1. Be polite when asking and give them a clear out so you don't put them on the spot. (i.e. if you're too busy, I completely understand.)

2. Give them an ample amount of time to get back to you, but it is best to give them a deadline

Don't say, "Hey, I'd love you to be a guest, can you get me a post by next week?" Give them a few weeks minimum. And you can give them an open-ended--whenever you can--kind of deadline. BUT, be warned--this may result in less success of getting that post. I am an epic failure at saying "yes" to open-ended, can you guest post for me sometime and then I never get to it.

3. Provide options.

A guest post takes a lot of time. I can whip out a daily post over here in under an hour, but when I know I'm going to be on someone else's site, I feel more pressure to get it perfect, for it to be epic. So, it takes more effort and time. Therefore, if you really want someone on your site, maybe offer to interview them instead of a guest post. This makes it easier for the person to just answer questions and not have to come up with a topic, etc.

4. If you are going to ask for a post (not an interview), provide suggestions for topics you might like to see from them (while also leaving it open for them to choose whatever topic they want.)

It is SO helpful when someone approaches me for a guest post when they say--hey, maybe you could do something on yadda yadda yadda. I may not know what topics they've already covered on their own blog, so this saves me from having to research what's already been covered on that site.

5. Once you get their post and schedule it, email the person on the day (or day before) the post is going to go live.

This a) reminds the person and b) gives them a the chance to do some promotion for you and send people there.

If you want to approach someone to be on their blog...

1. Do your research and know that blog/blogger (at least a little bit).

If someone emails me wanting to post here to promote their book and I've never had any interaction with them, their chances are way lower that I'm going to pay attention. They don't follow the blog, have never left a comment, have never talked to me on Twitter, etc. They're a complete and total stranger. I feel like they stumbled across my blog, saw I had a platform and said--ooh, ooh, let me sell stuff here! My blog isn't here as an advertisement board for anyone who wants to stick a flyer up. (2016 Update: Over the years, you'll notice that the only authors I'm promoting are ones I've read on my own time and want to share. I may occasionally share affiliate links or invite a guest, but I've gone away from doing much else.)

2. Offer the blogger a number of options--an interview, guest blog, contest/giveaway.

Show them that you can provide whatever type of post they need. And just like the reverse of the above, an interview is more work for the host blogger, so don't just offer that. It's also a lot of work to ask someone to review your book. That means they have to have time to read it, like your genre, etc. When people email me asking if I can interview them or review their book, I usually respond with--can you do a guest post instead? I just don't have time lately to come up with interview questions specific to you and your book. (2016 Update: I do not accept review requests or requests for guests posts anymore.)

3. If you get the go ahead to do the guest blog, make sure you send something with quality content, no typos, and include your bio and pic.

Don't make the blogger have to correct your work.

4. Get the post to the person on time. And do not ask them to send you a reminder. 

If they give you a deadline, keep it. And it's your job to remember when it's due--they are doing you a favor.

5. Promote that post on your own blog when it goes live. This helps you and the host blogger.

6. Offer to reciprocate. If they let you on their blog, let them know they are welcome to stop by yours

Overall: 

The key to remember with all of this is to know who is holding the power in the exchange (can you tell I write BDSM romance?) The person who benefits more from what the other person has to offer has to go out of their way to make it as convenient as possible for the other.

For instance, if I want my book reviewed on a big book blogger site--the power is in their hands. I'm the one who has to go out of my way. But if a brand new author who just self-published wants me to do a feature on their book here where I have a big following of potential readers, then I'm the one holding more cards. Sounds kind of snotty, but it is what it is. You'll be on both sides of the equation at some point.

So what do you think? Have you had any negative guest blogging experiences? How do you like to be approached for a guest blog?

"Revved up and red-hot sexy, CRASH INTO YOU, delivers a riveting romance!" --Lorelei James, NY Times Bestselling author of the ROUGH RIDERS seriesCRASH INTO YOU is now available!

Why Only Focusing On Your "Target" Audience May Hurt You

In the world of book marketing--or any kind of marketing for that matter--you often are told to figure out who your target audience is. This group of people is the way to the promised land of success. You need to figure out WHO will buy your books and then target your platform to that niche.

So, using that logic, I should target 25-50 something year old women who are already romance readers. Most of them are probably in relationships. Many will have children. I write sexy so I can cut out the super ultra conservative sector. And on and on it goes.

There is, of course, a lot of logic in this approach. Knowing who your "ideal reader" is can be helpful.

But, what about everyone else?

The reason that Twilight became so successful is because it didn't just get the teenage readers who like vampires and romance. It busted through the genre and got people who not only weren't typical young adult readers to read it. It got NON-readers to pick it up. It jumped the nice lines of its target market and that's why it became so big.

Now, the number of books that do that is small. Phenomenons are called such for a reason. But that doesn't mean we can't use that logic on a smaller scale.

I haven't stuck to reaching out to just that "ideal reader" profile above. By complete happenstance, I ended up reaching out to writers first then expanded a bit with my author blog. I've become friends with people who write and read every kind of genre you can think of. 

I mean, think about it. I host authors like Jody Hedlund on my blog. She writes inspirational/Christian historical romance where a kiss can be considered risque. I write seriously steamy erotic romance with BDSM elements. I am not her ideal reader and she's not mine. But you know what? I buy her books and give them as gifts because I like her and know I'm giving a quality gift to people who ARE her ideal readers.

And I can't tell you how many times I've had someone say to me:

I don't read romance, but...I'm going to buy your book because it sounds really interesting or I read your excerpt and liked it or I enjoy your voice on your blog so am going to try your book.

Those comments give me the squees because there is no higher compliment to me than for someone to say--I'm willing to take a chance on you even though this isn't normally my thing. I love that.

And I find myself doing that with other authors as well. I'd never read historical romance until I picked up Ashley March's debut. I bought it because I wanted to support her as a friend, but then loved the book and have since bought more historicals.

So what would have happened if Jody had only reached out to her "target audience"? I would've never found her or bought her books.

There is benefit in not tightening your network too much. A niche can be good but don't make it too exclusive. I have guys who have told me they are going to buy my book. Everyone in marketing would tell you that's definitely not my target audience, but hey--why the heck not? I read "boy" books. Guys can enjoy "girl" books on occasion too.

So blog and make friends across the spectrum. Don't limit yourself. If you do, you're not just going to miss out on some potential new readers, you're going to miss out on some really cool people and friends.

So what do you think? Do you try to cater to a "target audience"? Have you bought a book way outside your normal preferences because you got to know the author?