The Eco-Friendly Book Tour

The Eco - Friendly Book Tour

By Nikki Leigh

Each day we hear that the price of gas has hit an “all time high.” Those words don’t seem to mean much anymore. Unfortunately, any “all time high” will be obsolete within a day or two. We each battle the cost of driving and traveling every day. So, what is an author to do if they want to do a book tour to promote their book?

An Environmentally Friendly Book Tour
The environmentally conscious answer is - a virtual book tour. There are many benefits to a virtual book tour over a brick and mortar store tour. These benefits include:

· Conserve gas
· Save money
· Stay home with family
· No need to leave job in order to tour

We've all had book signings where very few people attended. Sadly, book signings aren't the big attraction they used to be – unless it is a big name author. It can be very expensive and disheartening to plan to book signing and have only a handful of people attend. Does that mean that mid list or small press authors can’t have a successful tour? There is another option. I suggest a virtual book tour or a virtual blog tours.

Define a Virtual Book Tour
A virtual book tour is held on the internet and it includes a series of guest appearances over a certain period of time. These appearances can be on blogs, chats, newsletters, radio shows and Web sites. Each online appearance can include: author information, book excerpts, book summary, book synopsis, a guest post about a topic that relates to the book topic or genre, a guest post about writing, author interviews, character interviews, radio show interviews and much more.

Any author can do a book tour from the comfort of their home. Weather has no effect on a virtual tour. Whether you have two feet of snow in your driveway or sweltering heat, you can still have a virtual book tour. It is critical that you have a computer, an internet connection and electricity - but it can definitely be done.

Find Your Target Audience

I highly recommend that the tour of blogs, radio shows, Web sites, etc are held on sites that have themes which are relevant to the book topic or genre. Writing and reader sites are good choices for part of the virtual tour. Any site that attracts the target audience for the book would be a great place to schedule a tour appearance. I explain this in much more detail when I work with an author to coordinate their tour. The virtual “tour” allows authors to reach many people as they travel through the blogosphere. Many people claim to find the target audience in their tours, but look for proof. Getting in front of the people who are interested in the content and who need your book can be very effective.

What’s holding you back? Do you have a book that you would like to promote? It would be great to get more information about how the tour works and what it could do for you. For more information, feel free to visit the Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tour blog - http://www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/. It can be very beneficial to take time to discuss your book promotional goals to see how a virtual book tour can work for you.

Nikki Leigh – Award Winning and Best Selling Author & Publicist (www.nikkileigh.com) is the owner of Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours – www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com