Author Raynetta Stocks
All authors fantasize about the infamous book tour: toting your books from one city to the next doing signings, readings, and book fair appearances promoting your book to an adoring fan base. Typically though, especially for self-published authors, the traditional book tour simply isn’t feasible—on your pockets or your fragile psyche.
The alternative for the modern author is a virtual blog tour. A virtual blog tour is just like a traditional book tour except it’s conducted online. An author can visit various blogs and tap into readership nationwide and even abroad. But the edge a VBT gives you is that it’s virtual: your interviews and blog posts will remain online forever. Readers can view your posts for years, consistently marketing your book—and you never had to leave the comfort of your living room.
Embarking upon a virtual blog tour can be a serious undertaking. Where to look, who to ask and how to schedule are major questions most authors ask. But if you use your resources (primarily the internet), there’s nowhere your tour can’t take you. However, there are a couple things you need to do before you consider a tour.
1. You must have a website. Even if it’s just a free blog site on Blogger or Wordpress. There must be a place to refer your readers back to so they can find out more about you and your book(s).
2. You must network. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are perfect for this. You’ll be amazed how many authors, bloggers, and reviewers you will find who are willing to pay it forward and help you the way so many other independents helped them.
3. Host other indies. Groups like The Independent Author Network and World Literary Café offer memberships and forums for indie authors where you can post opportunities to review and feature other authors as well as be reviewed and featured in return.
Once you’ve done these things, you will find you’ve compiled a pretty large list of people willing to work with you. If you’ve participated in the hosting on independent author forums, you’ve even started to get email responses from interested authors. Now, schedule your tour. Set aside a specific block of time for your tour to run: some authors run their tours for a week, others 2-3 months.
Advertise your dates on your website, and tweet and Facebook your appearances as often as you can. Do this with the authors you feature as well. Any traffic you can drive toward your website is good traffic.
Finally, be consistent. The purpose of your tour is exposure. You must spend the time making people aware of your interviews and appearances; otherwise, your tour will serve little purpose. Be sure to thank those who have reviewed your work or allowed you to appear on their blogs, and be sure to pay it forward should they ask the same of you in the future.
When
your tour has ended, blog about your experience: it’s another
opportunity to point your readership in your tour’s direction. Bask in
your momentary glory—then get started on your next book. Nothing sells
you better like your own words. And if you’ve done your tour right,
your readership will be looking for your next something. Good luck!Author Bio
Raynetta Stocks was born in Washington D.C. in August 1981. She excelled early at reading and writing, passions that endured and thrived into adulthood. She honed her skills entering literary contests and writing plays and prose for various extracurricular groups in both high school and college.
Having written since childhood, Raynetta has composed hundreds of works in a multitude of genres to include children's books, adolescent fiction, short stories, and social essays. Her first work, Barely Breathing, a collection of prose and letters written under the pseudonym Micah Michele and comprised with fellow author J. Mahogany, was published in June 2005. While the work was a tentative first effort, Raynetta continued to persevere as a writer, strengthening her skills by working with talented and knowledgeable mentors.
Now on the brink of the release of her second published work, and first solo effort, she is optimistic and excited about the future prospects in her career. The Grim, a gritty and empowering novel about a young woman's struggle with PTSD, is the spring board by which Raynetta continues reaching for the stars.
She now resides in Maryland with her family.
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