So the first year my book came out I gave away more copies of my book than I actually sold. That first year I only received two reviews (both of which were people I knew) and had very few interest towards my direction for contest and give aways. I would book physical appearances only in my state and surrounding states at conventions. While most of those were semi successful I lost more money than I made sometimes. I would pay 25-50 for a table. Spend 25 - 50 for gas and food. And barely make enough to cover the table cost. Local and neighboring conventions and book festival were doing well for me but I wanted to expand my book to readers across the world. I have an amazing family to take care of so financially anything costly to promote my book was out of the question including out of state conventions and hotel cost. Online advertising and promoting like facebook worked ok but also could be costly. There is no set budget just strictly click and pay. Depending on how many clicked on your link and visited your site would debate on how much you payed. My book is targeted for a specific audience. Finding honest and excited readers for my book through sites like facebook and comicbook conventions sometimes felt like finding a needle in a hay stack. For about a year I tossed around the idea to hire someone to book a blog tour/virtual book tour. Sweet candy distro and press opened me to the idea. Here are my thoughts on virtual book and blog tours.
The Prices
Different tour organizers have different prices and perks that go with them. This specific package I got was around $75 and included.....
-A group dedicated in hosting contest along with promoting and booking my featured post ,interviews ,blogs and book reviews for 2 weeks.
-My custom tour page and tour schedule
-Custom designed digital tour banner
-All reviews posted publicly including big retail book sellers like Barnes and Noble.
It may not sound like much but usually I pay about that same price to sit at a convention for 8 hours and that's it. Its a good deal.
The Tour
In this specific book tour I had several site host pick up my tour. A host site is a web site that will be featuring you or your work on their page in some form. Some of the pages focused on featuring the book, Others reviewed it and some sites would even post a quick Q&A from the Author. Most host who reviewed it were more than kind to post their review on other sites as well.
Was it worth it?
I believe that a book tour is a tool you can use to POSSIBLY expand your work to new readers and even boost your sales. Book tours do not guarantee increased sales but expose you and your book to a different and more distant audience. I can only reach people I know or people that may know people that I am friends with through social media. I call this a dead end circle. Conventions are a great place to sell your work to a targeted audience but you will only reach those who are attending and have interest in what you are selling. The book tour has the benefit of being online where people can stumble across articles and reviews of your work 24/7. If the cost is under $100 its worth looking into.
Spending money is the risk you take when advertising. If you see no increase in your sales look at it in another angle. You now have more references and featured segments online permanently to help you as an author. If use the tools given you can accomplish anything.
The Prices
Different tour organizers have different prices and perks that go with them. This specific package I got was around $75 and included.....
-A group dedicated in hosting contest along with promoting and booking my featured post ,interviews ,blogs and book reviews for 2 weeks.
-My custom tour page and tour schedule
-Custom designed digital tour banner
-All reviews posted publicly including big retail book sellers like Barnes and Noble.
It may not sound like much but usually I pay about that same price to sit at a convention for 8 hours and that's it. Its a good deal.
The Tour
In this specific book tour I had several site host pick up my tour. A host site is a web site that will be featuring you or your work on their page in some form. Some of the pages focused on featuring the book, Others reviewed it and some sites would even post a quick Q&A from the Author. Most host who reviewed it were more than kind to post their review on other sites as well.
Was it worth it?
I believe that a book tour is a tool you can use to POSSIBLY expand your work to new readers and even boost your sales. Book tours do not guarantee increased sales but expose you and your book to a different and more distant audience. I can only reach people I know or people that may know people that I am friends with through social media. I call this a dead end circle. Conventions are a great place to sell your work to a targeted audience but you will only reach those who are attending and have interest in what you are selling. The book tour has the benefit of being online where people can stumble across articles and reviews of your work 24/7. If the cost is under $100 its worth looking into.
Spending money is the risk you take when advertising. If you see no increase in your sales look at it in another angle. You now have more references and featured segments online permanently to help you as an author. If use the tools given you can accomplish anything.