Book Tours vs. Blog Tours

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Here is the thing about book tours. They can be exhausting for the author and don’t necessarily result in exposure that will move your book up in sales. There are many writers who love hitting the open road, traveling to bookstores across the country, directly interacting with booksellers and readers. However, it can be difficult to have the stamina and the ego to take on a book tour. You will go to bookstore signings where there will only be three people in attendance (and two of them probably work for the bookstore). And unless your publisher is paying for this tour, it can get pretty expensive. All-in-all, a book tour is oftentimes not the best use of your time, energy and finances. However, one author that I recently spoke with, did a book tour, ended up in a bookstore with three people there for the signing (and yes, two were book store employees) but the third person was a freelance writer for a major magazine who ended up connecting with the author, writing about the book on the magazine’s website and creating a lot of buzz for this particular author. Sometimes, it does benefit to just put yourself out there. I always suggest that authors reach out to their local bookstores for signings or if they are already planning on traveling somewhere, reach out to bookstores in those areas, as well.

However, a blog tour is a much more efficient way to spread the word about your book without spreading yourself too thin. Blog tours allow you to interact with readers, use social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter) to increase the attention of the blog tours and generate interest for you and your book. Research say that people need to hear a title or name at least seven times before it generates a reaction, appearing in numerous places online is a great way to bring enough exposure to your name to have people react and pay attention.

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