Continuing with my Blog Tours
from A-Z Theme, we’ll talk about Do’s and Don’ts
Lists might not be
every man’s cup of tea, but they help
keep us accountable. A record of jobs still to be done will help you resist
the urge to give in to panic when you realize you haven’t done something
critical to the smooth running of the tour.
I updated an Excel sheet as I
got confirmation from each host that they would be able to have me on their
blogs. I also included a column for the theme of the article for each blog.
This form can be sorted any way
you want—by date, topic, special features or host. I also backed this up by
putting a date/blog listing in my sidebar, so at a glance regular visitors to
my blog would know where I was on what day. See below.
Raise
a buzz any way you can. Create a Facebook event, announce it on your
blog and on the networks where you think it will make an impact. Every little
bit helps.
Do
compile all information (book cover, blurb, bio (with links), excerpt,
picture, etc.) and send at one time
if you can, to avoid driving both you and your hosts nuts. Tour badges might
not be ready until the nth hour and book links might not go live when they
should. If you explain what’s happening, your hosts will understand and make
allowances for you sending the information when it’s complete. I had some
challenges with the release of Christine’s Odyssey and the bloggers who helped on
release day understood and were patient. I eventually sent complete information
to them, which was much simpler than sending it through in dribs and drabs.
Try to ensure that all links to posts and giveaways are live. If you click
through and don’t land on the page you’re looking for, chances are something
else will grab your attention and you’ll move on. The same thing will happen
with a potential visitor. To avoid this, check all links to be sure they lead
to where they should or that Rafflecopters go live on the correct date.
The tour is underway and you
start to worry whether anybody will come by your opening post to comment. Not
to worry, they will. Do ensure that you
check in every so often to respond to comments. Again, life intervenes and
you may be away from your computer for a while. If this will be the case,
indicate to your host so she’ll be aware and can let visitors know what’s
happening, if necessary. You can also do this if you have a chance to drop by
before the visitors. It’s bad form for the author not to show up at all.
Do
get your buddies in gear to post, tweet and whatever else you prefer. There are
programmes that can take the hard work out of tweeting, such as Auto Tweeter, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck. Basically,
you make a list of tweets, varying the content, of course and schedule them as
you like. Triberr is good for this in terms of getting your posts out. Notify
your tribe mates about time sensitive posts so they will try and have them up
on time.
Do
take time to thank the people who host you. It’s okay to do this in the comment
or in an email if that suits you better. Personal notes always go over well.
Moving on to the Don’ts
It’s tempting to cram in as
many stops as possible; however, in the planning stages it suits you to decide
how much time you plan to devote to the tour and how you will spend it. It
makes little send to schedule a stop everyday for two weeks if it’s going to be
impossible to keep up with visits and commenting. Remember, stress can kill. ;)
Don’t schedule more stops than you can
manage.
I like the personal touch and
visited as many persons with blogs as I could, who left comments on my tour. I
was on a different blog every other day, which gave me time to check on
comments at the last stop and handle those on the current blog.
It’s possible that a host can
either forget they confirmed you, or missed your email with the post for their
specific day. If this is the case, unless the person is a close person friend,
who knows you can turn rabid when things go wrong, give a gentle nudge. It
should be sufficient. If nothing happens, say thanks for your time and move on.
Don’t harass the blogger to get your
post up. If you’re working through a tour organizer, find out what happened
and work with any adjustments that crop up.
That said, remember Murphy’s
Law (whatever can go wrong, will) and prepare
to be flexible. The world won’t end if a post doesn’t go live on time or if
dates have to be shifted.
Try to engage visitors to the
places you’ll be visiting, but don’t
send out the same information (Tweet/Fb post) time after time. People will
get bored after seeing the same message a few times. Use your imagination to
vary the message.
If you can prevent it, don’t use the same article/format (eg. blurb,
photo, bio) for the duration of the
tour. This one is obvious, but it lends variety if you change the format or
posts a little bit. For my Distraction tour, I
wrote articles that were specific to the theme of the tour (Friendship is
Forever) or the blog I was visiting.
That said, remember we live in
a fast world and time is limited. Don’t
write a humdinger of a post (like this one). If you do, you’ll lose
visitors fast. Nobody is going to stick around for half a day reading your article.
Some people do excerpts and that’s fine, but since I have the attention span of
a gnat, I’m not one of those people who’s going to stick around to read, unless
the snippet is riveting.
Don’t
expect the same level of interest on each blog. Neither you
nor your tour organizer have control over this, so relax, enjoy the ride and
the people you meet. Also, don’t expect a huge uptick in sales during the tour.
Product awareness will build as the tour unfolds. I saw a bump in sales toward
the end of my tour and just after it ended. My best guess was that people
waited to see whether they would win a copy of the book before putting down
money to purchase.
In the event that you’ve
planned the tour yourself and have asked your blogging buddies for support,
remember they are doing you a kindness. If they aren’t in love with your book
and say so in their reviews, don’t get
uptight (remember that favour!) and fire off a not-so-nice email or comment
on their blog. Remember taste in reading is subjective. Be polite, say thanks for
their time and effort and get over your angst. There will be other readers who
will ‘get’ and love your baby and besides, you never know when you’ll need
another favour.
Do’s
Do prepare a checklist of
things you need to do.
Do work out a tour schedule on
a spreadsheet that has all details at a glance.
Do announce the tour in as many
venues as possible.
Do compile all information and
send at one time, if possible.
Do ensure that links are live
come tour kick-off.
Do check in and respond to
comments.
Do mobilize your social network
and use corresponding Apps.
Do thank your tour hosts for
hosting.
Don’ts
Don’t overbook and wear
yourself out.
Don’t harass a host or tour
organizer about putting up a post.
Don’t be inflexible.
Don’t tweet the same message ad
nauseam.
Don’t use the same post
everywhere, if you can avoid it.
Don’t write a humdinger of a
post (like this one)
Don’t harbour unrealistic
expectations.
Don’t forget your blogging
buddies are doing you a favour.
This list isn’t exhaustive
despite the length of this post. Can you think of any other do’s and don’ts not
covered here? Do share. Tomorrow we’ll talk about engagement. It won’t be
anywhere close to this length. Promise.
Repeating the same thing over and over is boring.
ReplyDeleteI always grab the exact link and post it n my blog the second the guest post goes live.
Good move.
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed by how organized you are in your approach. I think you've got it right, though. You have to approach the marketing piece in a business like way, which I know can be a tough perspective for some writers.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. I've been coordinating tours for over five years now and I would recommend this post to any of my clients.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the challenge.
Cheryl
http://www.thebusymomsdaily.com/2013/04/blogging-from-to-z-april-challenge_4.html
This is a super helpful list! I'll keep it for future reference :)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of lists, I'm a CHRONIC list maker. I have a list of lists that I need to make. Yes, I'm a little OCD sometimes!
Keep it brief! Overbooking is a problem I see most often. One stop per day - MAX.
ReplyDeleteJulie, true, the marketing end has to be approached in a business-like way.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, thanks for that endorsement.
Samantha, glad it's useful. I like lists too. I get into trouble when I don't stick with them.
True, that, Diane. Wouldn't try to be in two places at once.
Awesome list. I'm keeping this handy.
ReplyDeleteYou are so organized. What did we ever do in the days before spreadsheets and smartphones?
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, thanks for dropping in again.
ReplyDeleteMike, it helped to start with the spreadsheet. It was a godsend when my brain was frazzled. I guess we survived without the doodads when we had to. :)
I've yet to do a blog tour, but these are some pretty solid tips :) I'm with you on the Excel spreadsheets; I love organisation in my blogging activites :)
ReplyDeleteJamie @ Mithril Wisdom
www.mithrilwisdom.com
Great tips, Joy. You are definitely one very organised woman. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list! I think my number one concern is to have variety of posts. It keeps the interest up and stops people getting bored, so it's the first thing I would be planning.
ReplyDeleteNick, I find it works well to mix things up a bit.
DeleteI look forward to your posts every day. I'm learning a great deal, and thinking that this is something I should do.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to put this together. It's wonderful!
See you tomorrow.
Donna
Happy this is helping you.
DeleteYour post today touched me deeply. Thanks again for sharing.
I haven't done an organized blog tour yet, which doesn't mean I've done any disorganized ones, though I've made some casual visits to a number of blogs in my network. Needless to say, I've copied your list - thank you. Hope to see you at MROP sometime - today I'm talking on Disassociation. Best, Belinda.
ReplyDelete:) Coming over to check out your blog.
DeleteWow! That is a comprehensive and complete "Do's and Dont's" list! I am such an inexperienced blogger. You've got some great info.
ReplyDeleteHappy that this is useful, guys! I'll be popping around to everybody. Thanks for coming by.
ReplyDeleteStopping by on the A to Z challenge. And am I glad I stopped by! My first book is due for release this summer and I am at the stage you described in your "A" post - How am I going to get the word out? I will be following your posts to learn as much as I can. Thanks for sharing your experience!
ReplyDeleteI should save this wonderful list to use for a future date. I can see this really coming in handy when the pressure's on. Thanks Joy!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Thanks for the tips.
ReplyDeleteI'm a spreadsheet person myself.
Lists are important and so are schedules. Helped me get my blog in order.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping in and sharing your thoughts. There's a lot of ground to cover when taking on a tour as we writers find out gradually.
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