Blog tours (also known as virtual book tours) can seem like daunting undertakings, but they don’t have to be. Choosing a reputable and organized company is one way forward or, with careful planning and organization, you can even arrange your own tour.  Here I share a YouTube video breaking down the types of tour and pros and cons of each, as well as a presentation highlighting what to expect.

In Their Own Words: What Do Your Tours Offer?

Diane Saarinen, Saima Agency: “A blog tour is an excellent way to receive exposure for a new book release. We work with popular bloggers to reach more readers. Marketing studies have demonstrated that blogs influence consumers more than social networks, and also indicated online word-of-mouth (WOM) is second only to in-person recommendation. Our blog-hosts post reviews, and usually host a guest post from the author or q&a. Some bloggers will post additional information about the author, such as YouTube video trailers or links to Facebook pages.”

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Pandora Poikilos, Orangeberry Book Tours: “Creativity. Each book is different and needs special attention. While we do organise generic book tours that focus on marketing and social media, we make every effort to make this tour unique and personalised. Once your tour has finished, we don’t stop promoting your book. We will continue to include it in our site and events; every little bit of exposure counts.”

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Emlyn Chand, Novel Publicity: “Our traditional blog tour offers dedicated, high traffic bloggers that are targeted due to an express interest in the author’s genre. The tours are review-oriented, largely positive, and well publicized through our website and Twitter stream. Large incentives for bloggers and commenters also help to generate good will. A live interview via Twitter called a ‘twitterview’ gives readers a chance to interact with the author. Following the tour, the author is given a one-hour wrap-up call to discuss what was learned from the tour as well as marketing strategies he or she can employ going forward.

Our whirlwind blog tour offers over 100 blog posts within a period of 5 days and features reviews, interviews, guest posts, and excerpts. Huge prize amounts draw a lot of attention to the book, the author, and his or her social media sites. Fun contests get people excited and help define the author’s brand; unique advertising opportunities drive sales. This is a great promotion for a book launch or to generate a lot of attention fast.”

This post was originally featured on Grub Street Daily. You can visit to read the full interviews with Diane Saarinen from the Saima Agency, Emlyn Chand from Novel Publicity, and Pandora Poikilos from Orangeberry Book Tours.