How?

How to do I create a blog book tour? I get asked that question a lot.

First go to The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever and read it. That's a basic overview. Tackle each step listed, one by one, regularly, systematically, and long before your book release.

Then, start improving your blog through regular and well-written posts, a sitemeter, a bookmarking widget, and a blogroll that includes all the blogs you wish would host a book tour for you.

Now go follow some successful blog book tours. There are a few listed in the right-hand column here. As you get ideas, make a list of them and start thinking how you might apply them to your own book tour.

Join a group like Blog Book Tours at Yahoo! Groups and read through past messages. Look at the links at the group and learn from them. Now that you have some foundation about the whole concept, ask questions. Have people critique your blog for further improvements. Ask them for advice. What is it about the concept that confuses you most?

This is the only way to get comfortable with the idea, and believe me, the more you immerse yourself in the idea, the more comfortable it will seem too you.

When do you start this process? The year before your book release. At least three months and that's cutting it short. It's a lot more work than you think it is. Many hours are spent finding the right tour hosts and then planning each tour stop with a well-crafted interview, review, or other bit of entertainment that will engage your fans, and make them want to buy your book. Don't leave this to chance. Don't leave it until the last minute. You get one opportunity to make an impression. Make it a good one.

How many authors out there have had a blog book tour? Would you do it again?

Where?

When blog book tours first became popular, they popped from city to city online, rather than live. That convention soon disappeared when bloggers realized there was no necessity to be tied to physical locations.

Now we rarely know the location of a blog that is hosting a tour stop. Still there is a sense of place that can really add to a blog book tour stop if it's utilized well. One of my favorite examples is at Steve Prosapio's blog.

In a recent series of book reviews, he interviewed authors at real locations with photos to give us serious atmosphere. It was new and cool again. So if the book you're reviewing is very "place" oriented, think about creating this sort of ambience with words and pictures. A strong sense of location could make for a very interesting tour stop.

When?

When should you blog? Well, the answer to that is as personal as when should you write? What's your best writing time? When does your life allow for writing space?

Your blogging is just a part of that. It's "real" writing, and you need to consciously schedule time for it. One day a week? Perhaps you'll opt to write three related weekly posts on Monday. Or daily? Maybe you'll post something on your blog after dinner, each and every day.

The important thing is that you make time for it and do it with regularity. This is part of what will make your blog interesting to readers, and easier for you to accomplish. All the habit tricks you use for other writing apply to your blogging as well. Trust me, it's easier with a plan and discipline.

It's all part of your commitment to succeeding as a writer. Read Teagan Oliver's comments about commitment here.

What?

What are your reasons for blogging? I don't mean the reasons everyone else is giving you, because those will never be compelling enough reasons to make you blog. So what if it's the latest thing? What reasons can you create that make you want to blog?

Have you considered how easy it really is? It's a piece of cake compared to learning HTML and creating a real website. Many people are foregoing a website completely as blogging becomes more sophisticated and at the same time easier for the user.

And what is blogging really? Just another place to publish your writing. Aren't we always on the look-out for more writing opportuntiies and places for our words to magically appear? There's a little button at the bottom of your post that reads, "publish" and that's exactly what it means. Your words are live when you hit that key, and the world can read what you have to say.

There's power in that, even on a blog. Have you thought of it in this way, rather than as a chore you have to do because someone else says so? Writing is work. Blogging is work. But both are part and parcel of being a published author. It's your life's work. Love it, because it's fun and you live to write.

Right?

Housekeeping

It's amazing how clutter builds up everywhere, and that includes on your blogs. Have you looked at your blog sidebars lately? Does any of that make sense to your readers? Two of my blogrolls right here are a mess. They don't make a bit of sense. I need to clean that up this week.

What about your blogrolls? Why do they exist? If you're planning a blog book tour, we suggest you have one blogroll for just your possible hosts. These are sites you've reviewed for potential, visit regularly, and post comments on so they get to know you. They're your social blogs, the getting-to-know-you pals who might give your book a boost down the road.

Do you do housekeeping in your virtual world on a regular basis? How often? It might not be a bad idea to consciously and objectively review your sites on a regular basis. Weekly wouldn't be too often with some of my e-Cleaning needs.

What's in a name?

Maybe a lot. One of our blogging challengers is writing a book out of her genre and is considering a pseudonym. Here's a fun meme to try out some new monikers:

1. Your real name: Daniella

2. Your Gangsta name:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)Danizzle

3. Your Detective name:(fave color and fave animal)Red Feline

4. Your Soap Opera name:(your middle name and street you live on) Mariah Love -- oooh, I feel a romance novel in my future!

5. Your Star Wars name:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Greda

6. Your Superhero name:(your 2ND favorite color, and favorite drink) Blacktonic

7. Your Iraqi name:(2ND letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your middle name, 2ND letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your moms middle name) Aemaida

8. Your Witness Protection name:(parents middle names) Marta Cliff

9. Your Goth name:(black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Portia

I'm tagging these three bloggers, in case you're ever asked to write something ... you know, different:) Like a children's story. Or something.

lj Sellers
Dana Fredsti
Karen Syed

Even if you're not tagged, do the exercise.

Thanks again to 50 Memes!

What's your rank?

That is to say, your amazon.com ranking? One way to measure the success of your blog book tour, is by checking your book's rating before, during, and after a tour. Comparing your rankings over the course of a month will give you a good indication of the tour success. Titlez.com is an easy way to get this information. Go try it out right now, and make a note of your ranking today. Then imagine what you would like your next book's rank to be!