I came across some great articles on book blog tours this week, thanks to Children’s Writers, a Yahoo Group I belong to and mostly lurk on.
Authors Tour the World With Virtual Book Tours
Virtual Book Tour Primer
If you’re interested in setting up your own book tour, everything you need to know is in these articles. Go, read, conquer.
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Speaking of author promotions…
If any of you are in the Atlanta area, the Decatur Book Festival is going on this weekend. Our friend Mary Ann Rodman will be on the children’s stage Saturday at 3:00 PM. Stop by if you have a chance.
Another local author and newfound friend, Connie Fleming, will be on the Emerging & Exhibiting Authors Stage, Sunday 3:20 pm. She also writes historicals–has a historical/mystery out that sounds great. Finder’s Magic.
Also Diane Shore will be there on the Children’s Stage, Sunday 4:00 pm. She’s got some great books out, full of fun language and deep thought. And she also pretty doggone funny.
Elizabeth Dulemba–I don’t know her, but I sat next to her once at a conference–who is a wonderful illustrator, will be appearing twice. On the Mingei World Arts, Saturday 11:30 am and on the Children’s Stage, Sunday 5:00 pm.
→ 2 CommentsTags: author promotion · publicity
A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about how editors like to promote their authors, and I mentioned a book by Kathryn Fitzmaurice–The Year the Swallows Came Early.
Kathryn kindly sent me the cover pic. Pretty, huh? Maybe we’ll be able to talk her into doing a tour with us. Who knows? It’s her first book, I believe, but her editor was pushing the book at SCBWI LA and her editor is Brenda Bowen who happens to be a smart woman with good taste in literature. So I’m thinking The Year the Sallows Came Early is probably well-written.
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So what did the bloggers gain from the first tour? Well, for one thing, when we promote children’s book authors, we also promote our own blogs.
This week my visitors doubled. Both the unique hits and the page views doubled on both of my children’s book blogs. Are these visitors who will come back when the tour is over? Quite possibly.
If people like to read reviews before they buy a book, and they find a site like Through the Looking Glass Reviews through this blog tour, it’s likely they’ll bookmark it and go check it out the next time they are looking for a review. If they discover Maw Books Blog and they find they like her comfortable, homey style, they’ll go back. If they want to chit chat about Christian themes in literature, or if they want to know how a homeschool family might use a book in lessons, they’ll check out A Christian Worldview of Fiction, or Homeschool Buzz. If kids want peer reviews they’ll go to Book Review Maniac, or Teen Scene’s By the Book Reviews. Or, if they are homeschooled kids they may gravitate more toward Fireside Musings or 01 Charger. Contemplative people will be drawn to Bellezza, while people wanting the informed, cutting edge, down and dirty review of one reads a dizzying amount of children’s and YA fiction and who can judge well, will keep an eye on Becky’s Book Reviews. And I could go on and on. A Mom Speaks, Small World Reads, and A Childhood of Dreams will connect with mothers. Southern librarian-types, particularly, will want to read what Maggie Reads. The Friendly Book Nook will attract an assortment of readers to match the tastes of their assorted reviewers, and my own All About Children’s Books might pick up visitors who share my rather strong opinions on morality and literature (Ha!).
Besides all of that, the blog tours are the gifts that keep on giving. If you Google Mary Ann Rodman, five of the top ten sites are posts from this tour. The same thing happens when you Google Jimmy’s Stars. This is great. You’re gaining exposure with every review and interview you do. That fresh content on your blog is sitting on the search engines inviting people to come over and visit you.
Another great benefit is that by doing the tours we are influencing culture. No, the publishers are not watching our little tour and changing their publishing line-ups because of what we’ve said here. But these posts are the beginning of something. They are like the pebble dropped into the lake, creating ripples. What we say on our tour will influence others. your regular readers are regular readers because they agree with your take on things. If you raved about Jimmy’s Stars, they’ll probably pick it up. If you were somewhat unexcited by it, they probably won’t bother. And that–what your readers do–is the thing that will affect the publishers. Sales–or lack thereof. That’s what the publishers care about. I think we will affect sales.
Time will tell.
This I know: the bigger our audience, the more influence we will have. That’s why I’d like to get more bloggers on the list and it’s also why I’d like to see you all get bigger audiences for yourselves. And there are ways to do that. Ways to maximize our exposure. I’ll be talking about those ways in the coming weeks. For now there is one most important way to grow you audience. Becky, from Becky’s Book Reviews, knows this. Her site is our biggest. Why? I think it’s because she constantly puts up fresh content. That is the best way to grow an audience and keep them coming back. Give them new stuff every day.
→ 3 CommentsTags: Blog Tour Success · Bloggers and Bystanders · publicity
Heh, heh See how I put Author Promotions in the title of this post? I told you I’m going to try to move my site up for those key words. Because I want children’s book authors who are looking to promote their books to be able to find me. Why? Because I think the tours work. I think everyone wins when we run a tour.
Jimmy’s Stars hit Technorati’s “most popular book page” on the first day of the tour. It was in the seventh slot. The second day it moved to the fifth slot. By day three, Jimmy’s Stars was in first, My Best Friend was in eighth, Yankee Girl was number twenty, and First Grade Stinks was twenty-one. Here’s a screen shot of day three. Click to make it larger. Today the tour is over and Jimmy’s Stars is still sitting second on the list.
What does that matter? Who knows? We have no way of knowing if landing on Technorati’s page will increase sales. What we do know is that it makes the book visible to thousands of people. It’s like a newspaper ad. Bloggers who are clicking over to Technorati to see who’s blogging about what, see that cover shot on that page and the next time they’re in the book store looking for a book to buy their niece or their daughter, they may see Mary Ann’s book and think, “Oh, yeah, that’s the book all those bloggers were talking about.” And they may pick it up.
Even more important, is this: All of your readers, which works out to several hundred people from all over the US, have heard about an author they may never have heard of before. They have done more than read an ad. They’ve heard you talk about the author’s book for several days. They’ve heard the author speak for herself. They’ve learned things about the book and author that you don’t get in newspaper ads. They’ve gotten a feel for whether they’ll like this author and whether they want to pick up her other books. This is what good marketing is all about. This is akin to the hand-selling that book reps are always wanting booksellers to do. It’s cyber hand-selling and I’m convinced it works.
I’m convinced simply because it works in my own life. I bought The Adoration of Jenna Fox last week. Why? Because several bloggers I know read it, reviewed it, and recommended it. I would have never, ever have bought this book otherwise. I can guarantee it. I don’t care for the cover and the premise doesn’t interest me. But bloggers I trust hand-sold it to me.
I don’t think I’m all that different from others. Younger people than I, are even more comfortable with using the Internet as a social gathering place and a giant store, wrapped up in one. They meet their friends and buy their goods online. Will they buy Jimmy’s Stars? I think some will. I think others will buy Mary Ann’s picture books for their kids. I think we’ve hand-sold an author here, not just a book.
And this is how it should be because this author does good work and she deserves some exposure. One of the reasons I like the book tour is that I get to do a little bit to change the face of children’s publishing. I get to have my say. I get to cast my vote for the kinds of books I love.
Ah, but I’m getting carried away and heading into tomorrow’s post early: Tomorrow a look at what the bloggers won.
→ 5 CommentsTags: Blog Tour Success · author promotion · publicity
We’re at the end of our tour for Jimmy’s Stars, but there is still a lot of good stuff out there to be had.
If you’re interested in writing, read Becky Miller’s post over at A Christian Worldview of Fiction. In fact read all of her posts on Jimmy’s Stars. As she is wont to do, she dug a little deeper than most readers. Today she looks at Mary Ann Rodman’s adult characters to see what we can learn from the way they are painted and even from their philosophies.
My other favorite Becky blogger–this one from Becky’s Book Reviews–put a really cool post today. A playlist from Jimmy’s Stars. I love it! Go listen to some of those songs!
And do not fail to go over to Maw Book’s Blog, and check in on Natasha and Mary Ann today. What a hoot! They are cooking, and don’t those recipes sound yummy? Well, one actually does. What a great post. I love the creativity here.
Marya over at Through the Looking Glass Book Review has an interview up with a couple of new questions on it, as does Marie at Fireside Musings. I found all the interviews interesting. Each one brought out some new part of Mary Ann Rodman that I wasn’t previously aware of.
Go check out all the bloggers on the tour:
01 Charger, A Childhood of Dreams, A Christian Worldview of Fiction, A Mom Speaks, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Book Review Maniac, By the Book Reviews, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, Homeschool Buzz, Looking Glass Reviews, Maggie Reads, Maw Books, Small World Reads, The Friendly Book Nook
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We enter the second day of the Jimmy’s Stars blog tour.
Exciting stuff out there.
There is a book give-away at A Mom Speaks.
I’m also offering the book at All About Children’s Books. If you like cryptograms, head on over there.
Becky, at Becky’s Book Reviews, has a wonderful interview with Mary Ann. So does Kyle at Book Review Maniac. Meagan, also, at By the Book Review.
If you really want a fascinating interview and a historical writing course, wrapped up in one, go read Natasha’s interview at Maw Books.
Becky, at A Christian Worldview of Fiction, remarks on the hopefulness of the book, yet finds it to not have a complete picture of hope–not in an eternal sense, anyway, while Bellezza finds the message to be profoundly redemptive. Check out their posts and join the discussions.
Here’s a full list of tour participants.
01 Charger, A Childhood of Dreams, A Christian Worldview of Fiction, A Mom Speaks, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Book Review Maniac, By the Book Reviews, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, Homeschool Buzz, Looking Glass Reviews, Maggie Reads, Maw Books, Small World Reads, The Friendly Book Nook
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Visit these stops on Mary Ann’s blog tour! There are some great reviews for Jimmy’s Stars, and one contest, even, where you can win the book. Check out “A Mom Speaks” below, for that.
01 Charger, A Childhood of Dreams, A Christian Worldview of Fiction, A Mom Speaks, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Book Review Maniac, By the Book Reviews, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, Homeschool Buzz, Looking Glass Reviews, Maggie Reads, Maw Books, Small World Reads, The Friendly Book Nook
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Here are things you need for Mary Ann’s tour. It’s coming on Monday. I hope you are all revved up and ready to go.
Use this URL when you link to Jimmy’s Stars:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374337039
And please link to it every day for three days.
Her other books are:
Yankee Girl:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374386617
My Best Friend:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142408069
with First Grade Stinks coming out next month:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561454621
and Surprise Soup coming out in the Spring of 2009:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067006274X
If you want to link to any of these books of hers, it will be great if you can use the above links.
To aid you in your posts here are links to pictures and info you might want to quote from:
Here is Mary Ann Rodman’s Biography:
MARY ANN RODMAN’s debut novel,Yankee Girl, was chosen as a VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers and an NCSS-CBC Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies. She lives with her family in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Here is the critical acclaim for Jimmy’s Stars:
“Finds beauty in every emotional nuance as Ellie hurtles between self pity, denial, and even rage toward her brother for having “welshed on the deal.” The lively spirit of working-class Pittsburgh, where neighborhood families live for news of the war and the fate of their sons, extends Ellie’s personal story with a broader sense of homefront life. Suggest this fine novel as enrichment to World War II curricula.” —Starred, Booklist“This psychological, child-oriented war perspective could provide significance in today’s military dilemma.” —School Library Journal
“Rodman’s careful attention to Ellie and Jimmy’s pre-enlistment domestic rituals and to their upbeat, encouraging correspondence establishes the tight, affectionate bond between brother and sister.”
—Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books
Here is the summary of the book:
It’s September 1943, and eleven-year-old Ellie McKelvey’s older brother, Jimmy, has just been drafted. Jimmy has a joyful heart and a kind word for everyone, and he’s the only person who thinks Ellie is smart and funny and as beautiful as Lana Turner, the movie star. Ellie can hardly stand to see him go. With Jimmy gone, Aunt Toots moves into his bedroom, Ellie’s mother takes a war job at a factory, and everything in Ellie’s life seems upside down. But she figures that the war will be over and Jimmy home by Christmas, so as much as she misses him, she keeps her spirits up. Even as families in the neighborhood begin to receive telegrams informing them that their boys are wounded or worse, Ellie never stops believing in Jimmy.
In her second work of historical fiction, Mary Ann Rodman captures all the authentic details of life on the homefront during World War II, as well as the fierce love a sister has for her beloved big brother.
Mary Ann’s picture can be found at http://www.paraklesis.com/pictures/mary ann rodman.jpg
And the cover picture is at http://www.paraklesis.com/reviews/jimmycover.jpg
You are welcome to download the pictures to your server or to link them on mine.
The list of participating bloggers is as follows:
Please copy and paste this list somewhere in your posts each day. And if you have time to visit other participant’s sites and comment that would be great, too!
Most of all have fun with this. Do what you have energy to do and have a good time.
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If you Google “Children’s Book Blog Tour” or “Children’s Book Blog Tours” KidzBookBuzz.com comes up number one.
“Children’s blog book tour” brings us up second and if you add an “s” to “tours” we’re third.
“Book Blog Tour” brings us up in the second slot.
For “blog tour” and for “author promotions” we don’t make the top fifty.
Why does this matter?
It matters because the Google is like the phone book–it’s the way customers find you.
I started this blog less than three months ago and I’ve got excellent search engine placement. Any children’s author looking for info on book blog tours is probably going to find me, but I’m going to work on “author promotions” and see if I can’t bring that up.
What about you? Why are you blogging? Who is your audience? How will they find you? What search terms will they enter when they search for the information you are so generously giving away?
I have a personal blog that is not aimed at a wide audience. I wanted it to be thoughtful, not commercial. I’m not selling anything there. I’m discussing matters of faith. I wanted to call it Paraklesis.com because that’s my domain name and because that name means something to me. But Paraklesis starts with a “P” and P is pretty far down the alphabet. So if I get links from people, I’ll be pretty far down the list. I opted to call my site, “An Observation of Mercy” so I could have higher placement when people start to link to me.
I also put a terrible tag line under my title. Every time I see it, I cringe. It just blatantly blares out my intentions on the site: thoughts on Christian life from a Reformed, Calvinistic perspective. Yuck! Why do I have to have my site subtitled that way? Because, that subtitle is how Wordpress titles the page–just like the top of this page is titled Children’s Book Blog Tour. I need those key words in the title of my page if I want people who search for those terms to find my site. And I do want people to find my blog. I’m not selling anything there, but I’m sharing my thoughts.
Sharing, being the operative word here. If I wanted to write for my own personal pleasure I’d journal.
When I blog, I’m hoping that others will find me and read what I have to say and engage in conversation with me.
So, what about you? Why do you blog and have you thought about search engine placement lately?
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