What is a blog tour?
A blog tour is very much like a traditional book tour, where the author would go from town to town to sign their books and meet new readers; except this time, you go from blog to blog. There are countless fiction and non-fiction blogs that have emerged in the past few years, all written by passionate readers who want to share their love of books with other readers. They post book reviews, launch announcements and interviews with their favorite authors. At Reedsy, we've compiled a comprehensive list of over 250 book review blogs, which authors can browse by genre.
If you hire a publicist for a blog tour, they will “pitch” your book to a series of blogs that fit your story. They will work with the bloggers who are interested to schedule your virtual appearances on their blogs in the form of interviews, live Q&As, or book reviews.
A blog tour can be particularly demanding. With your publicist, you will have to work on your “pitch”, write up answers for the interviews, and promote the reviews you receive on social media, all that during a short period of time (right around your launch).
But where can you find a professional publicist with the right blogger connections and expertise to get you the coverage your book deserves?
Look no further, here are the professionals who can help
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Hannah H.
I am an award winning publicist with a decade of experience managing debut and high-profile book campaigns - both fiction and non-fiction.
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TERRY C.
I publicize your books with a quick 6 week roll out or a longer collab over a few months. I score you TV, podcast and radio interviews.
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Ben C.
UK-based book publicity services for authors and publishers for 20 years. Named one of the most influential book marketers worldwide.
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Jodie H.
I am a freelance publicist with 20 years of experience working with almost every major publishing house and countless bestselling authors.
view profileWhy can’t I do this myself?
In order to get blog coverage, you need to have the right contacts and know how to pitch your book to them. That is the value add of a professional publicist specializing in blog tours.
As you can imagine, the most frequented blogs are also the ones receiving most submissions from authors, publishers and publicists. So if you submit to those yourself, without having an established relationship with the bloggers, chances are they will ignore you. By hiring a publicist who specializes in your genre, you maximize your chances of getting coverage: they will know all the bloggers who might be interested about your book and they will know how and when to pitch it to them.
For a few weeks, your publicist will also be your project manager and plan the reviews, interviews and Q&As for you so you don’t have to go through the organizational burden.
How far in advance should I plan for a blog tour?
As soon as you have a fairly good idea of the publication date for your book. Most bloggers like to advertise “new releases” to their readers, so sending them the book before launch can increase your chances of getting coverage.
As a general rule, you should allow your publicist enough time to really plan your publicity campaign, whether it’s for press coverage or for a blog tour. Ideally, this should be at least a couple of months before launch.
How effective are these virtual book tours?
As with any other marketing/promotion channel, it highly depends on your genre, on your book, and on how you do it. By hiring a publicist vetted by Reedsy, your blog tour will be as effective as it can be. This is because we have carefully selected our publicists based on their previous blog tour campaigns.
