Digital Nativity

December mini-course for novices

I've gotten requests to do a short training for novices about how to comment on blogs, as well as work Facebook and Twitter for promotion purposes. So I have a three-day course at the classroom later this month. Specifics:

Dec. 28 - Commenting and promoting blogs (this is not about setting up a new blog)
Dec. 29 - Using Facebook
Dec. 30 - Using Twitter

This is very rudimentary, but feel free to share with your aunties who are probably your biggest fans and would help promote you if they knew how!

It's free and sign-up is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours

Happy holidays!

More Tea and Advice with Pat and Holly

Pat: Thinking about our previous discussions, I wonder who gets the most from the host/guest connection. The touring author probably won’t get his fans to read every post on the tour, especially if the guest post is geared toward a completely different audience than he is accustomed to writing for. However, if the author’s post is appealing to the host's followers, they will read, perhaps hop over to become new followers for the author, and maybe even order his book. What more should the touring author expect from the host, and what does the host get for all her hard work?

Holly: I think the host should make all of the guests feel welcome, first and foremost. Odds are, the blog host will get a number of new visitors – some will be longtime friends or readers of the author’s and may be completely unfamiliar with the blog. That may be a new feeling for some bloggers – in general, it’s a great feeling, if you want to increase traffic to your own blog.

But as a guest, I’m not going to demand much. I will ask that the host post early in the day; make commenting as easy for guests as they’re willing to make it - perhaps foregoing registration requirements or comment moderation, if they can; and drop by as often as possible to greet visitors and help ensure a pleasant experience. I encourage hosts to promote the book and the tour stop, and I remind them to add “buy this book” links – using their own affiliate links, if they have them – to help promote book sales. That’s the purpose in doing a blog book tour, after all. That said, I wouldn’t come to your house for dinner and request a special menu or a particular wine. I wouldn’t insist on your serving it to me with the TV on, and if you asked me to remove my shoes at the door, I would – even if that weren’t my custom at home.

Pat: I do add a lot of links for my guests, and I also include a short introduction and a summary, sometimes even pointing to a specific blog post or bio of interest. Most of my guests have provided the links for me, but there have been a couple of times I had to do extra work searching out links, proofreading and editing copy, resizing photos, and picking up the slack when the guest did not make an appearance to respond to comments. Should the host assume a guest knows the protocol?

Holly: Professionalism would be nice. Presumably, an author knows the proper protocol for submitting a manuscript and dealing with editorial guidelines. It’s not that difficult. I would probably do a light edit and re-size the photos myself, if need be – but if a deadline’s missed or the writing doesn’t do the author credit (and will likely embarrass us both), I’d feel no particular obligation to host the author on the appointed day. Authors need to be respectful of their host’s time.

Fantastic advice, ladies, and thank you for stopping by. Be sure to visit Holly and Patricia at their blogs, too! If you have a question, please leave it in the comments and we'll try to respond.

Pat and Holly talk about blog book tours and other adventures

Pat: Hi, Holly. Maybe you can help me with my newest blogging adventure. I recently began featuring weekly guests as well as hosting virtual tours (blog book tours) for authors. My regular guests write to a theme, but what about authors on tour? The author is there to promote his book, but as the host, I'm interested in entertaining and informing my followers. Should I provide firm guidelines, or give the guest author free rein?

Holly: How about finding a happy medium, Pat? I can’t imagine an author who wouldn’t appreciate your suggestions. You know your blog and your readers best. The author is there to promote a book, but isn’t the first rule of writing to “know your audience”?

When I’m hosting an author, I’d like for them to bring fresh ideas to the table, too – after all, I’d like to believe they didn’t just pick my blog out of a hat, without knowing what it’s about. Do you ever ask an author, “Why do you think my blog would be a good fit for this tour?” How do you pick the blogs you ask to host you, when you take your books on tour?

Pat: I honestly hadn’t thought about screening author requests. Up to now, I took all guests who would write to my “path to publication” theme. You’ve given me something to think about, which will also be helpful if I decide to do a tour of my own in the future.

Pat: Holly, we talked about the tour from the host’s point of view. But what about the guest’s responsibilities on the day her post is published?

Holly: I’d really like for the author to show up and co-host the event in person. It’s not absolutely essential, of course. I had a lot of fun hosting James Patterson’s Daniel X: Watch the Skies. I knew that he wouldn’t drop by and participate in person, though it would have been fun for my son and my readers. But there were no demands or rules, either – I had free rein. I didn’t love the book, but my son had his own opinions. We played it like the Siskel and Ebert of the literary world, and we had a blast writing the post together. What about you, Pat? What do you expect of your authors the day of the tour stop?

Pat: I definitely like the guest to show up and respond to comments, even if she can only drop by a couple of times during the day. I get up early to make sure the post publishes on schedule, send an e-mail to the guest with the permalink and shortened link, and I post to Twitter and Facebook. I also expect the guest to promote the appearance on her own blog and whatever social media outlets she uses. You’ve done a tour, right? What are your thoughts as author?

Holly: When I’m the author on tour, I like to have suggestions from the host. Communication is so important, but it can be a little awkward at first. Some of the best, most fun and creative ideas have come from first-time blog book tour hosts who admitted they didn’t have a clue what they were doing. We’d brainstorm and toss ideas back and forth, and they’d have an “Aha!” moment and go off and do something new and surprising. I even had one blogger who spontaneously hosted a book tour stop! He did such a fantastic job of promoting my book to his readers – how could I not drop by and participate?

It’s a good to plan ahead, though – you don’t want to be totally blindsided by an author or a blog host. Both should know what to expect on the day of the tour stop.

Of course, the bottom line for both the host and the author should be their mutual desire to provide a delightful experience for the blog’s readers. With any luck, that will convince them to read the book, too. To me, it’s all about the readers – we’re the actors and the stagehands, and it’s not about what we want.
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More from Patricia and Holly next time!

What makes for a successful blog book tour?

Today, several blog book tour students had a chat about all things related to virtual tours, and I thought I'd share the link with you. Diane, Marvin, and Alex did a great job over at Spunk on a Stick talking about what makes for a great blog book tour.

I would like to comment about one aspect that has been changing the past year or so. How far ahead should you contact your hosts before your scheduled tour dates? Of course, you want to find them and get to know them a good bit before your tour. Six months isn't too far ahead to start scoping out blogs and interacting with them. But I don't actually contact hosts until a month or so before the actual tour stops. Then it's easier to get their attention and hold it for a few weeks while everything, including the nature of the visits, falls into place. People are getting shorter attention spans all the time, and most don't want to tie up their blogs schedules more than 4-6 weeks ahead.

I've also noticed lately that bloggers don't answer their emails anymore, so I'm finding that I have to connect with them on Twitter and Facebook at the same time that I discover their blogs.  Often, I get an answer on those sites long before I get a return email. The added benefit is I don't feel I'm spamming them with repeated contacts. So this is something to consider. Truth is, if they don't have a Facebook and Twitter presence, their blog might no be that hot anyway. Unless, of course, they're Alex J. Cavanaugh, Mr. Popularity himself. He isn't yet on Facebook. Hard to believe, I know!

Blogging Tip #31

So what's in store for November? We'll be talking a bit about Twitter and Facebook and the importance of connecting there. Then we'll take a look at blog book tours from the host perspective because often host bloggers have never participated in a blog book tour and don't know quite what to do. No worries. We'll help you out. This will be good for authors, too, because you'll want to be a host to other authors on occasion to reciprocate, if not tit-for-tat, then in the spirit of literary support. Being on the host side of a blog book tour is a little different. So stay tuned and stop by later in the week.

Oh, and since it's Thanksgiving month in America - thank you for reading and commenting on this blog!

Blogging Tip #30

Blogs are becoming more and more like websites, and authors can use this to good advantage. Here's a great example of a multi-page set-up that's attractive and easy to maneuver. http://bethsorensen.com/ Unless you're selling your books straight off your website, what would be the reason for having one?

And we're getting very close to the end of the blog-a-day challenge. Tomorrow, I'll give a preview of what I'll be covering in November.