The Short Answer
A book blog tour is the cyber version of a real world book signing tour.
The bloggers stand in the place of the bookstore owners and managers, the author is. . . well. . .the author, and the facilitator, if there is one, is like a publicist.
The Long Answer Explains Each Party’s Role
Bloggers:
The bloggers, like bookstore owners allowing authors to hold signings in their stores, don’t get paid. Why do they agree to do the blog tour, then?
Well, why do bookstores host author signings?
Bookstore owners like books and authors, and they know that their customers also like books and authors. So they like to have authors come for two reasons:
1. for their own pleasure—so they can shake their hand and have someone snap a picture
2. and to give their customers a treat.
That’s what the bloggers are doing, too. They are inviting authors into their spaces because they like authors and because they want to offer a treat to their readers.
Authors:
Authors on cyber tours, like authors in real life book signings, have to go to the assigned place on the assigned day and they have to smile at the customers and thrill people with their winsome wit. One nice thing about the blog tour is that the author doesn’t have to travel and she doesn’t have to wear make-up. She can schlep up to the computer at noon, still wearing her jammies, and no one will be the wiser.
Another advantage to the blog tour is that the posts stay up forever—so it’s like the author is sitting in that store always, waiting to welcome people and invite them over to her place. (Back to the author’s own warm, inviting, interactive blog.)
The disadvantage to the blog tour is that the cyber cheese and wine (or juice boxes and crackers for lucky children’s book authors) don’t taste as good as the real things.
Facilitators:
The blog tour facilitator, like the publicist setting up a book signing tour for an author, is hired by, and paid by, either the publishing company or the author.
Her job is to schedule and orchestrate the tours. She finds out which bloggers are open to which authors and makes sure the publisher gets the books to the proper addresses in plenty of time. She also makes sure, on the days of the tour, that everyone is happy and smiling and enjoying their time together. If there’s a problem, she’s the “fix it” person. (Or she apologizes profusely and starts begging forgiveness and coughing up refunds.)