The book blogging community is fantastic and hugely influential, with blog tours being a key ingredient to an author’s promotional campaign. When done right, blog tours can help generate new personable content, reviews & ultimately reach new audiences in the book community.
Working with bloggers can create social buzz around a new release, helping attract potential readers & encourage sales.
Here’s our top tips to make sure your blog tour is a success.
Know who you’re pitching to
When approaching bloggers, it’s vital that you do your research beforehand. If you have a crime fiction novel, there’s no point in pitching to a blogger that only covers romantic historical fiction. It’s important that the blogger feels that you’ve taken the time to know their interests i.e. genre, length, format of the books whether it’s digital or physical.
Luckily, you don’t have to dig too deep to find this information, as most bloggers include a ‘reviews policy’ page on their website, so you can ensure you’re targeting the right people.
Many bloggers will also flag whether they’re accepting reviews or not on their website, so be sure to double check before you approach them.
Get ALL the information
In your conversations with participating bloggers, be sure to get their social handles as well as their blog URLs. In some cases, bloggers might not have a separate website for their reviews and instead prepare to share on their socials in a variety of different formats, such as Instagram grid posts, Stories or Reels.
You also want them to double-check on any spelling of their social handles, blog name so that you’re sharing all the correct information. As they’re avid readers and in some cases writers, they’ll have a sharp eye for any typos, and it won’t look professional to get called out on any mistakes.
Keep an updated spreadsheet at all times
Once you’ve finalised your list, create a comprehensive list in a spreadsheet to stay on top of responses, important notes and updates. Try to be as flexible as possible, as bloggers might need to make last minute changes to the schedule or any information & it’s easier to keep track of this when saved in one place.
Always follow
Don’t forget to follow anyone that has agreed to take part in your blog tour. Not only will this help you spot any content when it gets uploaded, but it’s also an easy way to gain followers & build lasting relationships with the bloggers – important for any future blog tours.
Go beyond just offering reviews
Blog tours don’t have to be limited to just reviews of the book. Consider offering alternative content such as a Q&A with the author, guest blog posts or an extract of the book.
Having a variety of content will make your blog tour more engaging to potential readers & can provide additional content for the author to repurpose in their own promotional materials.
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