On the Red Carpet today I am welcoming back Jo Linsdell who is touring her book on- how to tour a book:)
RED CARPET DAY
Virtual Book Tours:
Effective Online Book Promotion From the Comfort of Your Own Home
If you ask Jo if she considers Virtual Book Tours Still Relevant? she will tell you
I love virtual book tours and they have proved to be the most effective marketing strategy I’ve used for my own books. A lot of people don’t understand how to do them correctly though. I’ve often seen authors complain that their virtual book tour wasn’t worth it. When I ask them about their tour though it usually becomes immediately clear that they didn’t do it correctly. Yep, that’s right. There is a right and wrong way to do them.
Posts need to be designed for your target audience and therefore the sites you’re hosted on need to fit your niche. Posts need to be promoted. You need to reply to comments and engage people in discussions. It’s not enough to just post some content out there. You need to work it to make it work.
There are also a lot of people that don’t understand the full potential of a virtual book tour. They have misconceptions about what can be included. Because of this, a question I get asked a lot is “are virtual book tours still relevant?”. The short answer is yes. In fact more so now than ever before. For a longer answer watch this video.
Jo tell us all a bit about your latest book
Virtual Book Tours are a great way to create a buzz for a new release or to put life back into an older publication. In this book I take you through everything you need to know to be able to set up and carry out a successful virtual book tour.
The book is divided into 4 main sections for easy navigation:
1) What is a Virtual Book Tour?
2) How to organise your own tour
3) Promoting a tour
4) Useful resources
You’ll find it packed with links, tips, and advice to help make your tour a hit.
I think many self published authors would find this book very usefull. Will it be equally so for the traditionaly published author?
Marketing is part of being a writer. Regardless of how you’re published (traditionally or self-published), you will, at some point, need to do some marketing. Virtual book tours are one of the most effective methods of creating a buzz about your book and have numerous benefits. In this book I cover everything you need to know to organise and carry out a virtual book tour. Even if you decide not to do a virtual book tour, you’ll still find this book useful as it’s packed full of marketing ideas and links to resources.
Why did you decide to write a book about virtual book tours?
I’ve done several successful virtual book tours for my own books and have worked with book tour companies and authors for years hosting them on my sites. Over the years I’ve therefore gained a lot of experience in doing virtual book tour both from the author and host point of view. As I often get asked for advice about doing them from other authors I decided to put all the information together and created Virtual Book Tours: Effective Online Book Promotion From the Comfort of Your Own Home
What is the first thing you recommend authors do when they decide to organise a virtual book tour?
Put together a media kit. In creating a media kit you have all the information regarding your book, you as an author, and your virtual book tour, all in the one place. This makes it a useful reference tool for you, but also a valuable tool you can use during preparations for your tour. It looks professional and creates a good impression. I also makes life easier for your hosts as they have all the information they might need for your post all in the one place.
You created the cover art for the book yourself. What was your inspiration for the design?
I wanted a cover that was thumbnail friendly as, more often than not, it gets seen online in that format. That meant the text needed to be easy to read and the whole look needed to be clutter free. Too many details or fancy fonts don’t look good in thumbnails. I also wanted an image that quickly portrayed what the book was about. I choose the theme “sending your book around the world” and played around with some ideas based on this idea. I’m really pleased with how the cover came out.
Why did you choose to self publish using Amazon’s KDP program?
I’ve always been very pro self publishing. For me, it’s always been my plan A. I choose Amazon because it’s the leader in its field. Everyone knows Amazon. Using the site is super easy and through KDP your book can be available to the public in just 12 hours from hitting the publish button.
I like that through KDP setting up a free day is easy. It’s a great way to spread the word about your book and get readers to take notice. I like that you can update your book information as and when you please and have full control over pricing. They also have one of the best customer services I’ve come across. If that’s not enough, they bought Goodreads earlier this year (one of the top sites for book lovers).
You’re best known for your best selling children’s picture books. Why the change in genre?
For me, it’s not about thinking outside the box. The box simply doesn’t exist. I like to experiment with my writing and although I’ve had most success as an author and illustrator of children’s picture books, I’m always trying out new genres. When I get an idea that gets me excited, like this book about virtual book tours, I go with it.
You’re a mum to a 5 year old and a 2 year old. How do you find the time for writing and marketing?
My kids definitely keep me busy but I’ve learnt to make the most of the time I get. I do most of my writing in the evenings once they’ve gone to bed. Sometimes my husband will take the kids out for the morning to give me a break and give me a few hours to work on bigger projects.
During the day I hop on and off my social media pages to network. I have the apps installed on my phone so I can visit and engage with my contacts even when I’m not near my computer.
I use sites like Social Oomph to program some content to post at scheduled times. I do the same for some posts to my Facebook pages. This gives me a constant online presence without needing to actually be online all the time. I also program my blogs ahead of time. When you have young kids anything can happen and so you need to prepare for the unexpected. By having some content programmed in advance I give myself a safety net and so don’t need to stress about keeping up with things as much.
What’s next?
I’m currently working on another children picture story book The Bedtime Book, a series of non-fiction books for writers and authors about using social media, and some new collaborations as an illustrator. I like to keep myself busy ;)
Where can people find out more about you and your books?
On my website www.JoLinsdell.com
A few of the posts on Social media about the book:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have book for any writer’s resource shelf! September 6, 2013
By Author Virginia L. Jennings
Amazon Verified Purchase
I thought I knew everything about Virtual Book Tours until I read this book, I now know so much more! Virtual Book tours are a highly effective way to spread the news about your book, I did one for my own book (The Alien Mind) before I read this book and was amazed at how much more traffic and interaction it brought to my website as well as the boosts in sales and reviews. I can’t wait to apply the tips Jo shares in this book to my future book releases and see how much MORE of a boost these tips will bring!
I think the next thing I want to try out, which Jo discusses in her book, is a virtual book signing!
Jo Linsdell has blown me away with her new book Virtual Book Tours: Effective Online Book Promotion From The Comfort of Your Own Home. This is seriously a book that EVERY author promoting any book absolutely NEEDS to read. You will not be sorry, as a matter of fact, you will want to keep it close at hand for reference. All the steps are clear and easy to follow and there are many tools discussed in this book as well. You will find yourself going back to it repeatedly for marketing advice!
5.0 out of 5 stars THIS BOOK IS A MUST… September 1, 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase
If you are an independent writer and self-promoter of your books, products, or services then this book is a must! Jo Linsdell does a fantastic job designing a blueprint to follow to use to promote and market ones work. The “how to” steps she presents in the book are both effective and easy to follow. Jo has also filled its pages with loads of other marketing resources that any writer or entrepreneur will find useful!
I have completed one virtual book tour for a trilogy of picture books about squirrels, so when the opportunity arose to review Virtual Book Tours I jumped at it, as I wanted to see how well I done on my own tour, where I went wrong and what I could improve next time around.
My virtual book tour was a rather fly by the pants event, so the planning section of the book was quite an eye opener, as it gives additional places to find reviewers and other methods I’d not thought about – like searching on Google – I did a search today for “PR Friendly Mom Bloggers” and I was blown away by the first search result, which was a linky directory with over 500 Mom bloggers, which will keep me busy for a while! There are also other invaluable links I will try out as well.
One area that I could have improved on is that I could have done more interaction with my hosts and their readers, but I did convey my thanks to every host. However, I received an email the other day from a lady thanking me for an interview and a review I posted on this website and it was so enthusiastic and grateful – I’m not sure my paltry thank yous were enough!
I must admit I did try to emulate Jo Linsdell’s media kit for my trilogy of picture books, as I was intrigued by and a host for her Out and About at the Zoo picture book tour, but I really need to try press releases, creating some of the other promotional materials and carrying out the promotional methods revealed in this book.
One piece of advice I will definitely take on board is to re-purpose content – I have a string of reviews and interviews out there on the internet, but they are not all on my media page, in fact at the moment I don’t even have a media page, so that’s a wasted opportunity right there.
This book has taught me that for my next virtual book tours, I will need to try to find more specialized bloggers and hosts in the parenting arena. I also need to have a sharper focus on what I want to achieve from the tour and get used to using social media more to my advantage.
The resources in the book are phenomenal – there are lists of potential hosts, internet radio shows (I’ve not ventured on this ground yet) and much more and the final check list will be invaluable to me.
A very well written and comprehensive book – after reading this, there can be no excuse not give a virtual book tour a go.
There may be a time in the future that I start offering virtual book tours to picture book authors, so I will definitely digest and follow this adviice n perfecting my own tours first.
5.0 out of 5 stars The REAL works begins AFTER you’ve published September 15, 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase
As a writer, it‘s grueling to have the discipline to finish the book. After that, the real works starts with marketing the book. If no one knows about the book, who cares?
Jo’s book kick starts peddling the book to get the word out. Get great links to put her advice to action.
Get must-have tips for book promotion. Go and enjoy the journey.
Linda Gross author of THE CAVEMAN FORMULA
The Caveman Formula. (DT4M, Dating Tips for Men.)
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for writers September 27, 2013
By Jenny
Format:Kindle Edition
I just read Jo Linsdell’s book, Virtual Book Tours, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I’ve read lots of books aimed at helping writers market their books but this one stands out from all the rest. It’s easy to understand and the information is useful, not just filler for a book. It will be my guide as I plan and set up my virtual book tours and I’m sure, because of this book, they will be a huge success. I will be buying the hard copy once it is available. Thank you Jo!
5.0 out of 5 stars Genius!, September 29, 2013
By
Colonel Klink (America)
Amazon Verified Purchase
Miss Linsdell must be a genius. The information in this book is priceless and I will soon be putting it into action.
Details of Jo’s book
File Size: 384 KB
Print Length: 83 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,
Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00ELNAQ92
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Purchasing links:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ELNAQ92 (Kindle)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Book-Tours-Effective-ebook/dp/B00ELNAQ92 (Kindle)
http://www.amazon.ca/Virtual-Book-Tours-Effective-ebook/dp/B00ELNAQ92 (Kindle)
Goodreads link:http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18340947-virtual-book-tours
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/428511413928514
Author website: http://www.JoLinsdell.com
Author Bio:
Jo Linsdell is a best selling author and illustrator, award winning blogger, and freelance writer. She is also the founder and organiser of the annual online event Promo Day (www.PromoDay.info). Her latest release Virtual Book Tours: Effective Online Book Promotion From the Comfort of Your Own Home is now available from Amazon. Find out more about her at her website www.JoLinsdell.com
Contact details:
Email: webmaster@jolinsdell.com
Social Media Links:
Click to tweets:
Must read book about organising virtual book tours! http://bit.ly/VBTKindle #Authors
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wherewritersandauthorsmeet/permalink/375223092606779/
albereta ross writes 
always a pleasure to have you – tis up on triberr so hopefully even more will see the word:)
Thanks for hosting me here Alberta and for helping to spread the word about my book. Thanks also for the awesome feature you’ve put together to go with guest post. I love it!