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All About Guest Posts, Spotlights, Blog Tours and Blog Hops

A Good Read  Spotlight

Welcome to my Blog!
Wander through wonderful worlds
real and fictional,
meet interesting people,
visit exciting places
and find a few good books
to enjoy!


What I offer on this blog
No fee but I would appreciate you buying at least 
one of my books as a thank you.

*
THE RULES
(more like guidelines...)

Apart from organised tours (run by various fee-asking companies) 
I offer one day SPOTLIGHT posts only
no unsolicited posts
contact me first to book a slot

I WILL NEED
  • Details about the book (what's on the back cover or on Amazon) attached as a word.doc
  • include:
  • your personal links (website, Facebook, twitter  etc) 
  • BUYING LINKS where your book can be bought: Preferably ONE Universal link
  • If no universal link send:  Amazon US, UK, AUSTRALIA and CANADA
  • Is the book available on Kindle Unlimited?
  • A short author bio
  • Images - book cover (essential), the author (not obligatory) up to three additional images of your choice if you want anything extra added (promo graphics for instance)
  • attach images as separate jpeg
  • I will schedule your slot near a launch date when possible, but I usually need at least 6 weeks notice...first come first scheduled
  • I require everything to be included at least 10 DAYS before the scheduled date. The earlier the better though
  • Anything not received a week beforehand - your slot will be cancelled.
  • I will notify you of the date scheduled when you book your slot. Up to you to make a note. I will NOT send reminders, however...
  • I will send an actual link to the published page on the day your article goes live
  • I will post a link to your spotlight on my  Facebook author page and on XTwitter @HelenHollick #HelenHollick #SpotlightGuest #BookPromotion
  • Up to you to do further promoting!
contact me if you are interested in a spotlight spot
author@helenhollick.net



Cathie Dunn will organise a tour to suit your needs
(there are various fees),   
www.coffeepotbookclub.com

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MORE INFORMATION
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THE BLOG TOUR or A SPOTLIGHT SPOT

A tour is usually organised by a publisher or marketing publicist, an author or yourself to promote a new or recently published book. 

The idea is to emulate a book tour round various book stores doing talks etc – only in this case you are doing it virtually on the Internet via various book promotion blogs. 

The tour can be a one day event with information about your book appearing on blogs on the same day, OR your book being promoted on different blogs on different days usually over the period of a week or more.

Tours will possibly have an article of interest, (guest posts) excerpts, a brief snippet etc posted on different blogs on different days
A spotlight will probably be general information (about the book, buy links, author links etc) with the same thing on different blogs.

Both will usually have a brief author bio included.

If the host is willing to read and review the book, you will need to send an e-copy (probably a Kindle e-pub - some reviewer's still prefer a paperback, but not many.)

You don’t need your own blog for a blog tour – but it would be useful to at least have an up-to-date website.

Finding A Host - What to do:
  • Plan well in advance
  • Research suitable Blogs – i.e. if your novel is historical fiction look for the blogs/bloggers who promote historical fiction.
  • Check that they host blog tours.
  • Contact: be professional: make sure you get the host’s name right (saying ‘hi Sue’ when the host is called Alice is not going to go down well, neither will you impress if you don’t bother looking for a name at all. 'Dear Blogger' does not sound as friendly as 'Dear Anne'. 
  • Make sure there are no typo bloopers - 'Deer Blogar' will get your initial e-mail instantly deleted.
  • Word your query something like: ‘My new book Ripples in The Sand, is due to be published in October, I am planning on doing a blog tour in November, I wonder if you would be interested in hosting a promotional article and/or reviewing my book?’
  • Your choice whether you also offer a Giveaway Prize. But most authors don't do this now.
  •  Plan a schedule of Tour Stop Dates – best to have one a day if you can. Unless you're going via a paid-for tour)
  •  Keep track of what blog is hosting your stop on which day
  • Keep track of which host wants what – are they sending you questions to answer, have they got a theme they want you to write about, or is it going to be a straight review? (Most bloggers want a contribution of an article of some sort)
  •  Keep track of the host’s e-mail address
  • Keep track of what you’ve sent - where and when
  • Advertise your tour on YOUR social media platforms before the tour starts and for each day of the tour
  • Have a list of your tour stops on your own blog  
  • Make sure you visit each blog on the day your entry appears and leave a thank you comment, or contact the host to say thank you
  •  Follow up any comments left by other visitors – this can be time consuming but the whole point of a tour is for the author to interact with potential readers.
  • Remember to thank your host again at the end of the tour.

THE BLOG HOP (no longer as common as they used to be)

You will need your own blog for this – and your book (or promotion) must be related to the chosen topic.

The idea of a Blog Hop is to attract interest to a variety of authors by participants posting an article relating to the selected theme on their own blog for the duration of the “hop” (usually a few days) and listing links to the other authors taking part  in the hope that visitors will ‘hop’ from one blog to another, thus attracting attention to the blog sites, individual authors - and maybe buying a few books!

Some authors like to offer a giveaway prize (pick a winner from any of the comments left on the blog post) but this is up to the individual author to run and organise etc.
  • The Hop will have a specific theme: i.e. Wonders of Rome Blog Hop or Nautical Blog Hop and a specific date of duration. It’s no good taking part if your book or promotion is nothing to do with the subject (i.e an article about the Emperors of Rome would not be suitable for a nautical blog hop – but Roman boats would.)
  • You post an article of interest on your own blog and ensure it stays there for the duration of the Hop. (or better still, forever!)
  • Massive excerpts from your book are usually frowned upon. A short excerpt is fine.
  • An article of interest about the theme of the hop is preferable. Visitors prefer to discover something of interest rather than just reading about you and your book. i.e. on a recent Summer Banquet blog hop I wrote an article about food at sea for sailors in connection with my Sea Witch Voyages (link here to article)
  • Include links to where your book can be purchased and your website and social media links
  • You must also include a list of links to all other participants in the blog hop. Usually the organiser will keep track of who is taking part in the Hop and have an updated list of links on the main blog Page – these links might change on the opening day of the hop, so be prepared to update at short notice.  This is because …
  • It is best to have the URL link to the actual post, not your home page. Using a direct link will mean that anyone browsing in the future will go to the article not to what you currently have at the top of your home page. (Most visitors won’t bother scrolling down or searching.
  • If there is a unique image logo provided, make sure you use it to advertise the blog hop and that there is a copy of it on your blog.
  • As with a Blog Tour ensure you answer all comments that have been left promptly and politely.
  •  Visit your co-participants’ blogs and leave a comment.
  •  Promote the other participants’ articles – after all, why should they promote you if you don’t promote them?
  • A Blog Hop is all about mutual participation. If you don’t join in with enthusiasm you’ll not be asked to do another one – and other authors won’t bother promoting you.
A Word of Advice: if you're not sure ASK for clarification or help.
  • DON'T 
  • moan at the host who invited you to join in if you don't get many visitors - especially if YOU haven't bothered to do much marketing about the event.
  • you're not happy with the outcome
  • DO:
  • include #s where appropriate
  •   Follow your colleagues on social media
  • say thank you

If things go wrong 
  • does it REALLY matter? What have you lost? A little bit of time spent on writing an article - shrug and post it on your own page.
  • Remember that the majority of bloggers do this voluntarily in our own time - yes with the intention of promoting our own work, but also to assist your profile and bring more readers / visitors to YOUR blog.
  • Be polite - even when things go awry.

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see also: (might be a little out of date?)

1 comment:

  1. Helen at SilverWood BooksApril 07, 2014 8:08 am

    Excellent timing with the upcoming Spring Blog Hop ;-)

    Lots of helpful advice here. I'll do some tweeting of this article. Thank you, Helen!

    From 'the other' Helen x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment - it should appear soon. If you are having problems, contact me on author AT helenhollick DOT net and I will post your comment for you. That said ...SPAMMERS or rudeness will be composted or turned into toads.

Helen

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