Virtual Book ToursMany authors today are going on virtual book tours. By doing so, they can get the word out about their book without ever leaving the comfort of their own homes. Additionally, they can do virtual tours for a minimal expense compared to taking a real-life book tour. So What Are Virtual Book Tours?So what are virtual book tours? Simply put, an author, visits several blogs and other sites on the Internet for a period of about a month. The author might provide a guest post for a blog, do an interview, provide the site with an excerpt from their book, participate in chats, post on forums, write articles, do podcasts or Internet radio interviews and/or provide giveaways to the site.
What Are the Benefits of a Virtual Book Tour?So what are the benefits of doing these tours? There are many.Potentially reach 1000's of readers: If an author goes on a regular book tour he or she might see 10 to 15 people at any one book signing. Even mega-star authors like Al Gore don't get thousands of people coming to book signing events. On the other hand, with a virtual book tour you have the potential of being exposed to 1000's of prospective book buyers. You will have far more exposure on a virtual tour than you could ever generate on a regular book tour. Take advantage of archived content: On a virtual tour the content of your stop at a blog or site is typically archived. This means that long after your tour is over the content you provided is still available online to prospective readers. You have a permanent piece of property on the Internet. And if you stop at 15 to 20 sites you truly increase your leverage because you now have 15 or 20 pieces of property on the Internet. Your content can become viral: When it comes to our health, we don't really want viruses. However, on the Internet, it's a real bonus when some of your content becomes viral. This means that your content is passed around from one person to another and gets to be seen by more and more people. This can happen with a virtual tour. Save thousands of dollars: To take a traditional book tour today would cost thousands of dollars, what with the cost of gasoline and air fare. Additionally, you'd need hotel rooms, meals and probably a rental vehicle. While there are companies that charge thousands of dollars to create and execute a virtual tour, there are other companies that make this service available for a far more reasonable price. And if you're an author who loves to do everything yourself, you can even arrange your own virtual tour and save even more money. You can create buzz for your book: With a virtual book tour, each event builds on the previous one. Each press release also creates more of a liklihood that your book will get noticed. If you include Internet radio and podcast interviews in your tour you can also reach many thousands of people with your message, adding to the buzz. Get recognized as an expert by traditional media: Research shows that 98% of the traditional media are now finding the experts they interview online. By having a virtual tour you can boost your chances of traditional media contacting you as a source for information on your topic. Additionally, if you put information about your tour in your media kit, the traditional media will be more apt to contact you for interviews and events as well. Increase your chances of obtaining speaking engagements: We have had several clients who were approached to do speaking engagements as a result of their virtual tours. This is another great benefit of the tour. You can do your tour in your pyjamas and from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection: If you want to, you can work in your pyjamas or casual clothing and no one is any the wiser. Additionally, so long as you can connect to the Internet, you can work from anywhere in the world. That's a true convenience. You can do much of the work in advance when it's convenient for you: You can prepare articles, provide the books to sites for reviews, even do interviews in advance when it's most convenient for you. That way you can have better control over your time and not have to block out days and days at one time for your tour to be a success. And finally, you can still do a regular book tour if you desire: You can do local media and book signings as well as distant radio and newspaper interviews in the traditional sense as well. There's no reason why you should not do some of the things that you would do on a regular book tour. The trick is to pick and choose those things that don't cost you much and create great results. What Does An Author Do on a Virtual Book Tour?An author might:
Your Virtual Book Tour BlogOne of the many things we do for you is to set up a blog for your virtual book tour. You'll use this blog, along with us to help reach readers.Before the tour:
During the tour:
After the tour:
Our Virtual Book Tour ServicesWe offer a wide variety of services that include or are focused on virtual book tours. Our prices vary depending on the extent of the tour you wish us to create and manage for you. To get a quote on our prices you can call Marg at 780 712-1158 or email her at marg@web-savvy-book-promotion.com
Free Teleclass: An Introduction to VIrtual Book ToursIf you'd like to learn more about virtual book tours, why not take our free teleclass on the topic? To get more information on times and dates, just click here Scroll down the page to find the teleclass and how to register. |