Last Chance

Today, September 4, 2011 is the last day to sign up for the blog book tours class which starts tomorrow, September 5th. If you are an author, have a blog and know how to use it, have at the very least rudimentary skills in social networking (Facebook and Twitter), you will benefit from this four-week course. There is no charge. If I offer it again (and that's a big IF), it won't be until this time next year. Here's what we'll cover:


Week One: Elements of a good blog, how to rate a blog, and critiques of some so
you can practice

Week Two: Learning to cyber-schmooze with potential hosts, ranking other blogs,
and collecting a pool of blog book tour hosts

Week Three: Social networking on Facebook and Twitter and how to use them to
find blog book tour hosts

Week Four: Crafting your tour based on the above-mentioned host pool, contacting
hosts, planning your stops, and writing your posts

Week Five: Questions, answers, brainstorming, and moving over to the BBT Cafe,
our social site


You must show up for class! Don't sign up if you don't plan to participate and work hard along with the rest of us!

September 2011 Blog Book Tours Class

It looks like the drill sergeant has a job to do for the month of September. We have enough people for a class, and there's still room to invite friends who have a published book they need to promote. Have them sign up for this one-month-long boot camp! We start on September 5th. I'll post what we're covering in the next post, but one thing I'd like to mention that's important:

You must have a blog and know how to use it. We don't actually teach you the ins and outs of blogging. There are plenty of how-tos online for the different blogging platforms. Just Google. We will critique a few blogs and rearrange and add elements to make your blogs more use-friendly. Once you know what a good blog looks like, you'll be prepared to find good blogs to host tour stops. Makes sense, right?

Okay, go sign up! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

Read the Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever if you don't know why you should be doing this.

Start doing push-ups, too, and you may as well set the alarm an hour early to get into shape.

N is for News

There are two kinds of news that come to mind: personal news about you, and what’s happening in the world. Both are great things to write about.

If you’re an author or a publisher, the public can’t get enough information about what you’re doing from day-to-day. Readers want to know what your word count is, what other novels your moodling, what conference you’ll be attending next. The same goes for publishers, and recaps of recent events with photos are always a boon to blog traffic. Don’t forget to share information about yourself on your blog!

World news works a little differently, because when you write about a current event, not only do you share your opinions but you also tap into a huge and sticky web of similar posts on the Internet. Linking to outside news sources is a great way to increase the notice-ability of your blog. If you’re writing about an earthquake, for example, Google the word and see what news articles are first in your search results. Then mention the keyword and link to that article in your post. Also try to add the keyword to your blog post title and label. When it comes to news and blogging, relevance and timing are important to factor into your scheme, so don’t hesitate mentioning important world events when possible.

K is for Knowledge

Yesterday, I talked about increasing blog traffic and building a voice of authority through your writing. What do you know that sets you apart from other bloggers, something that might attract a very narrow, but perhaps large group of readers?

What brings people to this blog is information about blog book tours. So that narrows my readership to authors who want to promote their new titles on the Internet.

In the past five years, I’ve become something of a sage (I hesitate to say "authority figure" as it sounds so unfriendly) about blog book tours, and it all started as research for my own book promotion. I didn't invent the idea by any means (it goes back at least 20 years to author, M.J. Rose). After many years of promoting a business with related traveling, hotel conferences, and other “face-time”, I knew I didn’t want to do any of that to promote my own book. It was too expensive, too time-consuming, too strenuous at my age, and an environmental nightmare. It was this last issue that decided my interest in online promotion, and it was a short jump to the blogging platform and it’s obvious potential, that led me to researching and planning online tours.

Five years later, I still think blogs, blog book tours, and other Internet platforms like YouTube and podcasting, are powerful book promotion tools, which have changed the publishing game, and tilted it in favor of the author. If you’re interested in a quick how-to be sure to read my Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever and then consider taking a class to plan your own tour. Not only will you pay less out-of-pocket to plan your own tour, you’ll have a better one. Because nobody knows your book as well as you do, and nobody cares more about its success. Sign up for the next class here, and acquire the knowledge you need to build your own blog book tour.

G is for Google

There is so much about Google to talk about, it's hard to know where to start. Let's make it short and discuss two things:

Google ranking is one important gauge of how popular or influential a blog is, and you should know your ranking, as well as any potential blog book tour host's. If you're planning a blog book tour, try to find blogs that have a Google ranking of 3 or 4. Blogs don't often rank higher than 5. To get your ranking, visit PR Checker and follow the easy directions.

You should also set-up  Google Alerts for your book title, your name, and perhaps some key words associated with your brand or book. This allows you to monitor what's going on on the web related to your interests. Setting up Google Alerts is as easy as checking your ranking, and you automatically get daily or weekly updates in your mailbox.

Was that useful information? Do you already do these things? Leave a comment and share what your blog's ranking is. I have a widget in the sidebar letting all visitors know I'm a Google 4, which makes me a prime host for blog book tours. I'll be doing more of that starting in May, and will feature children's literature and cozy mysteries, as well as non-fiction related to organic and sustainability topics. Be sure to add me to your blogroll for future reference!

Blogging for Books at the BBT Cafe

I never really learned to blog. I jumped in feet first about five years ago when my friend, Ann Parker, and I attended a Women Writing the West Conference and they needed someone to photograph and report about the doings each day. So we tried it, rather successsfully I might add, and I was hooked practically overnight.

Today, I still think blogs and all the social networking sites available to us, are the best and certainly most affordable ways to promote books. My passion is also environmental. It takes a whole lot less petroleum to go on a blog book tour than drive or fly around the country using up petroleum.  I became so vested in this idea, I learned everything I could about the process until I ended up teaching classes to other authors and hosting blog book tour stops on my own blogs. I now even chaperone tours for others for a fee, although I limit that service to only books I love and read. Children's literature and cozy mysteries are my favorites.

When you're thinking about promoting an up-and-coming title, be sure to sign up for a blog book tours class and really prepare yourself to market this way. Many of the people in the A-Z Challenge can tell you what a difference it makes. I'll hope to see you at the classroom sometime soon! Oh, and feel free to join the BBT Cafe anytime, for ongoing chats about blog book tours, writing, publishing, and anything else we feel like discussing. It's a great group of supportive writing friends, and we always welcome newcomers.

Class Starts Soon

Class cancelled due to lack of enrollment - we must have 20 students. Next class is in April and sign-up is at the classroom link below.

 Our next blog book tours class begins on February 1, 2011 and costs $20, minimum of 20 students or the class cancels, maximum of 50 students. The course runs four weeks and daily participation is important, for you and for the entire group. Much of the learning occurs through interaction between blogs, and learning to "cyber-schmooze". Plan to spend one hour per day. Now is the time to sign up!

Click on the link to join the group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

Please share with your author friends as well as publishers.

Blog Book Tours Class Begins Soon

Just a reminder to authors and publishers that the blog book tours class begins February 1. It lasts four weeks and topics covered include:

• Critiquing and improving your own blog (you must have a blog to join this class)
• Finding good and relevant blog hosts
• Responsibilities to your blog host
• What to expect from your host - and what you don't have to put up with
• Using social networking to promote your blog book tour
• Crafting your blog stops
• Wrapping up the tour

This is an intense month, and you must participate - that's part of the cost of this course. However, you will learn how to create and manage your own tour. I recommend every author try this once. If you decide after that to hire a service, you'll know what to expect from a provider. You'll also know how much time is involved to put together a good tour. It's a winning situation all around. Click here for cost and to sign up. We'll take 20-50 students this go-round.

Permalink Habits

I nag the BBT students about this incessantly - every day of your tour, change the host blog link to the permalink of that unique post. Do it before the day is over and tomorrow's post supercedes it. This is a habit that many authors don't develop early on - but if you don't do it, you'll be sorry when someone asks for the link later, or you want to reference some magnificent quote that fell from your pen in the interview.  Here's what I'm talking about. Today's stop on the Your Fantastic Elastic Brain is here:

http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com

But the direct link to that post is here:

http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com/2011/01/creating-book.html

See how Blogger tacks on the date and post title?

I always go to bit.ly to create a shortened URL like this:

http://bit.ly/fqaloJ

I can use this shortened link more easily when promoting at various social networks where a long URL is a bad thing (like Twitter where you're limited to 140 characters), and often I even customize it, though bit.ly has been a bit cantankerous the past two days. I would have liked http://bit.ly/BBTHel to make the link more memorable, but no luck.

Now here's the complete tour schedule and you can see by clicking all the links over at the blog (not here), that each one goes to it's exact post, not just the blog host's main page. It's a good idea to have a separate tab on your blog that shows your tour schedules like this. Here's a snip from Little Pickle Press.

Make sense?

Don't forget the next blog book tours class starts February 1. Cost is $20 each for up to 50 students with special rates for publishers with more than ten authors. Sign-up is here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

You'll learn lots more than this from the resident drill sergeant - for one whole month of book camp. You can do it!

Typing Tip of the Day

I'm promoting the latest Little Pickle Press blog book tour all week, and my hand is so sore from typing Little Pickle Press that I finally *duh* created a shortened URL that can be used from now on.

http://bit.ly/lppblog

Gee, what a brilliant idea straight from MY fantastic elastic brain to yours. See the post below to understand what I'm babbling about. Then go shorten your own blog URL.

Next class starts soon

The next blog book tours class starts the day after Labor Day. Cost is $30. Sign up at our Yahoo!Group classroom. Expect to work hard and learn lots!