A virtual book tour is when people from around the globe talk about your book via their blog and/or social media accounts. Your a course in miracles promotional presentation gets the word out to your personal connections and the people within your local community. A virtual book tour, if planned properly, has the potential of reaching thousands of potential readers around the globe.
I know, research is that assignment from your English teacher that you always hated. It usually involved long trips to the local library and pouring through reference books to gather information. Lucky for you, research can now be done from the comfort of your own lap top.
What are you researching? You are looking for people who have an active presence on the web with a community of faithful followers. If you have written a YA novel, you will want to seek out other authors in that community who would be willing to read and talk about your book. The same is true for your non-fiction how-to manual – seek out those in the industry with an audience that would be willing to chat about your book.
Start by reviewing the blogging community. Google has created a search program just for blogs. Google Blog Search. Search for blogs in your genre or industry. For example – here is a list of the top Fiction Writers Blogs for 2015. Spend time on some of the blogs looking for ones that have reviewed books or interviewed authors. You will also want to look for blogs that accept guest blog posts. This means that you can submit an article to them about your book.
Keep an excel file or chart of those you have contacted and then fill in the details as they become available: Keep in mind that this will be a numbers game; the more people you contact, the more blogs that will be part of your virtual book tour. Every “no” gets you that much closer to the “yes.” Once you have a listing of those people willing to participate in your virtual book tour, create a calendar of the expected dates of review publication and/or your interview. Publish this listing on your website, talk about it on your blog and share the information on your social media sites:
This coming Monday, Ida Notation will be interviewing me about my latest book The Name of Your Wonderful Book on her blog The Name of Her Blog. (Link to her blog). Part of the success of a virtual book tour is that not only do they talk about you and your book, but you are also promoting their blog. Mysteries and My Musings is a fun blog that offers a variety of examples of both reviews and author interviews. Here is a directory of the most recent interviews.
