Are guest posts necessary to make a virtual book tour successful? Are they necessary to get your name out there or to help market your book?
No, but that doesn't mean that they are not beneficial on many levels.
What can you do to ensure your post is up to par?
It's your opportunity to shine and show the audience your style. Have fun and try to be original. Being creative is the key to making the audience sit back and get to know you.
There are some guidelines when writing a post:
Length of post: Between 250-500 words. People who follow blogs have limited time. Keeping the post short won't encourage them to skip to the next post on their list.
Links: Always plug yourself and your book. It is important to include pictures and links to any site you want to highlight. At a minimum have a link to your website and to your purchasing site.
Key words: Choose carefully. If you use generic words such as fiction, paranormal, fantasy...it will be hard to get your name to the top of the search engine.
Title: Try to make it something that will catch the eye of the reader.
Show a different side: You probably want to talk about your book. But Tracee
suggests writing about something totally different. You can incorporate our book, but show a different side. Maybe a favorite hobby? A bad experience? Things like that make you engage with the readers.
The New way to market according to David Wilk, Creative Management Partners:
It’s all about relationship building. It’s all center around the author, not around the book.
Important marketing tools: Author blog; Author newsletter; Facebook presence; Twitter; Goodreads; Amazon Author Central; Book video or trailer; YouTube;Email marketing; Amazon / B&BN placement; Reading groups’ E-samplers.
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http://tinyurl.com/3lenmfd
A lie that brings a smile... or the truth that draws tears?
Dr. Olivia Crane lives a quiet life. No one questions why she doesn’t socialize or where she spends her weekends. When the visiting physician from France strolls into her office, with open arms and a confident smile, her perfect control is about to crumble. He’s Dr. Luc George, the man she loved ten years ago. Should she return his scorching kisses, or should she lock her door before he digs into her many secrets?
Secret daughter, secret friend, secret enemy. Had Luc really known his sweet Olivia back then? He wants her back, but he wants the truth too. Now, Olivia has to face her past before she can grab her second chance.
17 comments:
very good post. Yeah, in this day of give it to me fast, you are right on the market. Good as always.
nan
Wow, great tips! I always have such difficulty managing my blog. And I'm in the process of gathering together another round of guest authors right now, so it's handy to know the approximate length most people like to read. Thanks for posting this info, Mona!
Great advice, especially about the length. My instincts were telling me to trend shorter, so I'm glad to see I was right. No take-backs on my prior blog treatises, though. Oh, well, live and learn.
Good advice. I'ts hard to keep up with the changes and this was helpful.
Thanks.
Barbara
Great, Mona! I found the post very useful. Thanks for sharing since there's a whole load of techiniques to learn about promoting work.
There's always so much to learn, isn't there? Trends change so quickly. Thanks for keeping us abreast of new thoughts.
Good job, from the Blog Junkie. I think you hit all the high points!
Hi Nan, to be honest, no one has the time to read long posts, if we have to stop by twenty or even ten blogs.
Hi Alyson, can you host me as a guest in December?
S.G. Rogers, we learn every day. As my husband says, when I start telling him a story: please, make it short and sweet. LOL
Hi Barbara, there are so many changes in the publishing industry, but I think we are on the right track.
Nancy, I'll have more tomorrow. All this comes from the Novelists, Inc. conference.
Great tips, Mona, thanks so much for sharing. I do just about most of them except plug my books on posts so I'm going to try to incorporate that into my routines.
Smiles
Steph
Hi Vonnie, I love your blog. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Blog Junkie, my dear Celia, glad I have your approval. LOL
Hi Steph, like Celia, Vonnie and many friends here, you posts are great.
Excellent post! I tend to skim long posts.
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