Monday, July 07, 2008

What Makes a Good Blog Tour Host?

At the end of June, I blogged about Blog Book Tours. Even listed it as my week’s site to Bookmark. I decided to take my own advice and I joined the Blog Book Tours group. This discussion group is for authors who do blog tours, authors who are thinking of doing virtual tours and those, like me, who host authors on their blogs.

Dani, who leads the group, has recently put up “The Quickest Blog Tour Guide Ever.” If you’re planning or thinking of planning your own blog tour, check it out.

They’re moving fast over there. I’ve been part of the group barely a week and I’ve already been tagged for a project. And I need your help.

The question I need to answer is:
What Makes a Good Blog Tour Host?

If you’re an author who has done a virtual tour, think about the best stop on your tour.
What made that host so good?
What do you expect of a host?
What are your criteria when you choose a blog to visit?

If you’re an author who’s never done a blog tour, but you’re thinking about it,
What are you expecting to happen when you visit your line-up of blogs?
What makes you choose a particular blog to visit?
Would you prefer to write your own post or do a Q&A?

If you’re someone who hosts authors,
Think of your favorite guest – what made them so great?
What do you do to make the stop an event?
How much time do you spend getting ready for each visit by an author?
What do you do to prepare for an author’s visit?
What tricks have you learned to make the stop easier for you and/or the author?
Do you read the author’s book ahead of the visit?

And another question for those blog tour experts –
What are your favorite stops along your tours? Name names (and URLs).
We’d like to compile a list of those wonderful blogs that host authors.

Now, those are just some of the questions I’ve thought of. I’m open to any and all comments and suggestions (and maybe you have some questions you’d like to throw into the mix). Add your comment at the end of this post – or email me at helen at helenginger dot com (you know what to do with the “at” and “dot” – I’m trying to avoid an even greater onslaught of spam than I already get).

When the results of this project are finished, I’ll let you know the results.

2 comments:

  1. Helen,

    I'm interested in the results of this as I'm planning to do a blog tour when my book comes out later this year.

    Although I don't have any experience, I think I would prefer Q&A to writing guest posts, but it might be good to have a mix. The most important aspect of choosing blogs to tour is who will have me. :-) Also, the blog's readers should be interested in the genre.

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  2. Hi Lillie. Good points.

    I've found that a lot of authors who are doing a big blog tour seem to prefer doing posts. That way they don't get asked the same questions over and over, plus they can slant the post toward what fits the blog's readers. For example, when Susan Wittig Albert came to my blog, she did a post that related directly to writing. But her protag is an herbalist so when she visited gardening or herbal blogs, she talked about that (while focusing on her book).

    I would suggest that you go ahead now and start planning your tour. I don't know how far in advance other bloggers schedule their guests, but I'm booked months in advance. Other bloggers, who host more authors, may not need so much lead time, though.

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