The Ever-Popular Thank You Note

Do any of us ever tire of getting a thank you? I don't. This one just landed in my e-mailbox for my participation in a blog book tour, and it's the final step in a successful one.


Hello all,

I just wanted to reach out one more time and thank you all so much for your wonderful posts for last week's blog book tour for Spaghetti is NOT a Finger Food. The book is off to a great start, thanks in no small part to your efforts. Each one of you took the time to put together a thoughtful and interesting post, and all together this added up to seven days of unique insights, original approaches, and interesting comments.

Those of you who hosted a giveaway, remember to send me the name and email address of the winner, so we can give them a gift of the book.

Again, you were great to work with. I appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to making this tour a great success.

Thank you, 

Khadijah

Doesn't reading a thoughtful note like that  make you feel good? When was the last time you got a really great thank you note from someone? When was the last time you wrote one? Please 'fess up in the comments!

Snow Day!

And it's too wicked cold to type much - it's the perfect day to read manuscript submissions and drink hot chocolate. So off I go. What are you doing today?

Promoting a Blog Book Tour with Social Media

When I'm promoting a blog book tour for myself or another author, my social media procedure goes like this. It's  basically what I teach to my blog book tours classes:

1. First thing in the AM, go to the host blog and leave a comment

2. Click G +1

3. Share on your FB and Twitter (usually there are share buttons right at the blog)

4. Pin to Pinterest (I have the pin bookmarklet on my dash)

5. Go to the host's Twitter account and retweet other relevant tweets

6. At mid-day go to the Twitter account and retweet more

7. Go to host's Facebook account and share the book promotion

8. Rinse and repeat in the evening (by then, you should have a shortened URL from somewhere which is handy

9. Share on any other social networks you use

A good blog will make this easy for you and you'll notice most of the share buttons I mention in the photo below:

I try to do this at least three times a day because as you know, with as many followers as some of us have, the scrolls roll pretty fast and posts can be easily missed. 

This procedure works very well for anything you're promoting, not just books. The important consideration is frequency over a long period of time - don't post everywhere twelve times in ten minutes! 

End your day by saying thank you to your host blogger! Everyone loves a little appreciation.

Tip of the Day

Turn off blog moderation and word verification, often known as CAPTCHA code, during a daily blogging challenge or blog book tour. I don't find either to be very useful since I monitor my posts daily, and far more often during a busy project. Having these kinds of hurdles in place mostly just keeps people from commenting. Your goal is to get comments! Make it easy for your readers.

Happy weekend, everyone!

How Often Should I Tweet?

It's a common misconception that people on Twitter will think you are spamming them if you tweet about your new book all day long. But let's look at how repeated messages play out.

I'm promoting my other blog, the Blood-Red Pencil, like crazy today because I'm hosting a blog book tour stop over there. I'm interviewing Jodi Carmichael about her first chapter book published by Little Pickle Press.

So to promote Spaghetti Is NOT a Finger Food, the book in question, makes my Twitter page look something like this:

But it's important to remember that my posts won't run sequentially like this on YOUR Twitter page. They'll be interspersed in your Twitter stream among all the other folks you're following and who are tweeting, and the more you have, the less likely you'll see my tweets sequentially. In fact, if you have thousands of tweeps you're following, you may never see my tweets. So don't worry about looking like a spammer when you promote anything. Does that make sense?

Of course, I also like to mix it up by re-tweeting other unrelated information, adding some thoughts and quotes, just being a normal, sharing person along with promoting. The more value I add to my Twitter stream, the more people will like me.

Having said all that, keep in mind that Twitter doesn't like you to re-tweet the exact same thing more than once, so you do have to mix up your words a bit. That can be as simple as posting the same promotion, but with a different hashtag reaching out to various groups. You'll noticed I've used #kidlit as well as #Aspergers.

Tomorrow I'll talk a bit about HootSuite, which I use to queue up a bunch of posts to release on Twitter when I'm busy doing something else and can't tweet live. It's a handy tool.

And, yes, this re-tweet is absolutely true today:

RT @kitereaders: Get "Spaghetti is NOT a Finger Food" for #FREE today on #Amazon! http://amzn.to/10P6Okw  @LPP_Media @Jodi_Carmichael #kidlit
 

Sage: Book 1 by Marian Allen

One of our pals at the BBT Cafe, Marian Allen, has just released her new Kindle book and we're please to help spread the news! You can buy and download a copy of the book for $3.99 here.  I love the cover and font.

When you go to the page, you'll notice something very important. Scroll down a ways and you'll see a "tags" category. If you're an author, get those filled in right away. Not only does it give you control over how your book contents are labeled, you'll increase your searchability at Amazon. The author or her publisher has done this and it looks like this:

Anyone can add to these tags, but getting a dozen or more in place right away gives you a good deal of control over your own book. Don't miss the opportunity!

A Permalink Lesson

Do you like this photo? No, it's not a picture of me. But I'm using it for this lesson about permalinks and their importance during a blog book tour.

Let's use Pat Bean's terrific travel blog as our example. Pat's blog URL is http://patbean.wordpress.com/ which gets you to the main blog page. But if I wanted to have a record of the specific blog post titled, Life Lessons, I'd click on the title and get this expanded URL:

http://patbean.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/life-lessons/

That unique post "address" is what we call a permalink. When you're on a blog book tour, having these unique links to your guest post after the blog goes live, is a good way to promote your book in the future. But only if you can find that post again, and on a very popular and busy blog, that can be a challenge.

Copy and save your permalinks the day the host blog goes live with your blog book tour stop. You'll be glad you did! If you like the picture of this old broad, go to Pat's blog and read about her. And don't believe everything you see.

Blog Popularity and PageRank

Blog popularity, or PageRank, is an important part of choosing blog book tour hosts. You want publicity on sites that are noticed by search engines and real people alike. But how do you check a blog's ranking?

I use PR Checker which works for all search engines. It's easy. Just type in the URL for the blog you are vetting, complete the word verification, and you get a rating between 0 and 10.

Most good blogs are rated between 3 - 5, but rarely higher. They will probably be good hosts for your blog book tour stop. Even a 2 ranked blog might be a good choice if it matches the niche market of your book. As you discover blogs you like, and when you think they will be good matches for your book, vet them at PR Checker and then add them to a running list you'll use later. A little work each day makes planning a blog book tour much easier when the time comes!

Spaghetti Is Not a Finger Food Blog Book Tour

The best way to learn how to build your own blog book tour, is to follow one in action. Here's one that is kicking off today at Little Pickle Press. See the entire schedule here. Why not stop at each guest blog over the next week and see how it works? You can practice leaving comments and sharing the blog post on your social networking groups. Here's more information from today's host:

How To Tweet in time for #blogboost

If you haven't yet dipped into the Twitter pool (and you must to promote your books!), here's a guide from Kathi Flynn that's available for free on Kindle today (1/6/2012) and tomorrow. Download it now by clicking here and start tweeting!

Have We Connected?

You can join my Yahoo!Group, the BBT Cafe, which is all about blog book tours.

Join me on Facebook, too.

Here I am on Twitter.

And don't forget Pinterest.

What about you? Leave me a comment with your links so we can stay in touch!

Photo Friday

Have a relaxing weekend, everyone!

Break it Up

Yesterday I warned you about blog posts that are too long for your hurried readers. How do you avoid posts that are time-consuming to read quickly?

First, just write without regard to length. Say what you have to say. But then really look at your writing with a critical editor's eye and notice where you can split the writing into two or more sequential blog posts. This critical eye will get you a week's worth of posts and return visitors in one writing session! With a little practice, you'll see how the mind naturally links related chunks of information that can easily be broken into segments and published over the course of a week.

I know many bloggers who write their blog posts over the weekend using exactly this approach and you can, too.

Keep It Short

Photo credit: shopwasteland.com

One of the most important tips about blogging is to keep your posts relatively short - no more than 500 words. Blog readers are always in a hurry, and they just won't stick around to read a long post.

Writing short is easier said than done, especially if you tend to procrastinate about blogging. Sounds contrary to logic, I know, but when you don't blog often, you tend to cram in as much information as you can. Who knows when you'll be back, right? Better say it all now, which usually results in a long and rambling blog post.

Don't do this.

Tomorrow I'll explain how you can use this problem to good effect!

Happy New Year!

What better time to spark up a blog than the first day of the year? I've joined the Ultimate Blog Challenge because I know from past experience how important daily blogging is to heating up the popularity of a blog. I often include a blog-a-day challenge in my blog book tour classes.

So what will I blog about for 31 days? How about my journey completing the Blog Book Tours Kindle book? I'll start by offering short daily tips to help you organize your own blog book tour.

Are you planning to have a blog book tour this year? Leave me a message and let me know what book you'll be promoting! I plan to host a few more blog book tour stops at this blog this year, so if you have a book related to these topics, keep me in mind as a host for your tour:

• Children's picture books
• Cozy mysteries
• History mysteries
• Organic and environmental non-fiction

May we all enjoy the best year ever in 2013!