Sep 20, 2011

Creating a Blog Tour Kit

What's a Blog Tour Kit?

It's a list of items you'll send out to your reviewers along with a copy of your book. 

This is a pet peeve of mine. I can't tell you how many times I've received a request to review a book, been given a date to post it and then felt like I was totally forgotten. I had to hunt down the author's website or blog to snag both the front cover and the blurb from the back. Very irritating, especially when you feel you're doing the author or blog tour hostess a favor.

So, here's what you should put in your blog tour kit:

1) A high resolution photo of your front cover
2) The back cover blurb
3) A professional head shot of the author (if you don't have one of these, GET ONE)
4) A brief author bio
5) Links to blogs, websites, twitter, facebook, and anything else you can think of. They may not use them, but you should include them anyway.
6) A link to your Goodreads page where the book can be found so they can post their review there.
7) Links to where the book can be purchased. (Also encourage them to post reviews at each location)

If you are at all creative with Photoshop or other graphic software, you may want to include: 
8) A sidebar button with an HTML code so fans can grab it for their blogs
9) A banner for the tour to be posted with the review
10) A countdown widget for the release of your book, if it isn't out already
11) Link to your book trailer on YouTube
12) If you can afford to do swag, also include a few bookmarks.

Tell them they don't have to use everything, but that it's there for their convenience.  Once the review is posted, be sure you put a blurb on your blog so your followers know where to go to read the review. ALWAYS leave a comment on their blog, thanking them for the review. Be gracious and positive in your correspondence, even if they don't give you a great review.

NEVER ARGUE OR SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE!

A couple of days after the review, you'll want to send them a personal email to thank them for their time and (if the review is good) remind them to post it to the various places mentioned above.

You'll also want to have your blog tour posted either on your sidebar where it is easily seen or as a "sticky note" above your post area.

Did I miss anything?  What do you include in your blog tour kit?

3 comments:

  1. This is great! I am going to bookmark this particular post for future reference. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great info.

    I'm looking forward to reading your book.

    ReplyDelete