Children’s Book Blog Tour

I’ve bumped up alongside Bonnie Calhoun on various and sundry sites for a long time. When you hang in the Christian publishing world you get familiar with names and faces. And I’ve made no secret of the fact that the thing that gave me the idea to launch a children’s book blog tour, was watching Bonnie take the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance to the heights she’s taken it. She’s worked hard, and made that blog alliance a moving force in the Christian fiction world.

I looked around the children’s book blog world and didn’t see anything like what she was doing and I decided I’d see if I could pull together a huge group of children’s book enthusiasts and get a vibrant blog tour community going.

It’s early, but I’m excited about the excitement this blog tour business is generating, and we’ve not yet even run our first tour.

There Are No Limits

What excites me the most is thinking about the fact that there is really no limit to the places we can go with this. I’m not talking about KidzBookBuzz.com. I want that to go places, for sure. But I’m talking about all the bloggers who are participating. We can all go places on the web if we choose to. How do I know that? Because I’m watching Bonnie and her pals on the CFBA and seeing them take things to new levels every week.

This week they launched their new Christian Fiction Online Magazine. Whether you’re a Christian or not, or whether you even like Christians or not, isn’t the issue here. Go and see what they’ve done with that magazine. They have columns by well-known agents, publicists, editors, and best-selling authors. They have author interviews, contests, surveys with teen readers, and humor articles.

I am floored by the quantity and the quality of content in that magazine.

Quality Content is the Key

This is important to all of us–authors and bloggers, alike. Anyone can throw up a fancy-looking web site. What will keep your readers coming back is quality content. Give them something they can’t get anywhere else. Your voice, is one thing they can’t get anywhere else. That’s a great start. Give them other people’s voices, too. Give them good author interviews. Give them contests. Give them fun quizzes or study guides to go along with books you’ve read or books you’ve written. Give them information they can use, in a voice they can appreciate and you will have repeat visitors.

What’s the big deal about repeat visitors?

Repeat Customers are Crucial

If the CFBA has enough repeat visitors to their new magazine, they could eventually charge for subscriptions. Or they might sell more advertising. (I hope not–right now, they have tasteful, targeted banner ads at the top s of the pages–very nicely done.) If they make enough noise, it’s not inconceivable that one day they will sell the whole danged site to Writer’s Digest for a million bucks. Who knows? I haven’t asked Bonnie where she’s going with her site. I don’t know her that well, I’ve just been admiring her from afar. The thing is, there really is no limit to what she can do with her blog tour. She’s a smart business woman and she’s going places.

Make the Waves that Draw the Surfers In–Be Generous

And the rest of us can go places, too. The Internet is a wide open marketplace with millions of window shoppers. If you have a good idea and the time and inclination to work on your idea, you can offer the big wave that calls all those people to come surfing into your site.

Authors can give their readers a comfortable place to land by offering more than just info on their own books. Think about what your readers are interested and offer info on your pals’ books. Your readers can read a lot more than what you write in your lifetime. Help market other authors who are writing for your audience. Your readers will love you for it. Give them free books, too. Everyone loves getting something for free.

Same goes for bloggers. Promote the blogs of others. Give your readers freebies. Interact with your commenters. Write short posts that are content rich. Go to Cafe Press and make up a few items with your blog logo. They are super expensive so don’t expect to sell them. But buy a few and give them to your faithful blog readers. If you want to go places, you will have to invest time and money. It’s not easy. But it’s fun!