Tracy Beckerman’s recent book: Barking at the Moon – a Story of Life, Love and Kibble, made me laugh for sure. But the phrase, barking at the moon means to labor in vain. Dogs bay at the moon, thinking they might frighten or provoke it.
Barking at the moon literally means to work hard with no result.
Today, I want to take some of the mystery out of a tactic Tracy used – THE BLOG TOUR – so your hard work in promoting your book won’t be in vain! I know a lot of us wonder if writing is just barking at the moon. And others wonder that even if we ever finished a book – would it sell?
Tracy had 18 people mention or review her book in a blog post – including me. And I thought we could all stand to dig a little deeper on that topic, and see how it works. I met Tracy at the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop in 2016 when we were both speakers. When her recent book was coming out, she reached out to include me in a blog tour of commentary about her book. I was happy to participate (in part bec I knew her book would be GREAT!)
What is a blog tour and how does it work?
A Blog Tour means you’ve arranged with many bloggers to mention your book in a concentrated period of time. It creates buzz for your book among people who read your participants’ blogs, and all the links create some “Google juice” for your book to pop up higher in the rankings when people search it. In addition, you can ask each participant to cut and paste a line from their blog review into Amazon, to boost your Amazon ranking.
- You set up the schedule (often to coincide with the book’s debut, or a promotional period).
- You put out the invitation via social media, email to bloggers you know etc.
- You may offer something in return.
Ask the Author
I asked Tracy some questions about her experience with the blog tour.
Q (Julia Roberts): Why did you decide to use a blog tour during your book launch?
A (Tracy Beckerman): I had done one when my last book was released and it really helped get the word out to the exact audience I was trying to reach.
Tracy is also the author of the humor book, Lost in Suburbia: A Momoir: How I Got Pregnant, Lost Myself, and Got My Cool Back in the New Jersey Suburbs (Perigee Books, 2013). Her first book, Rebel without a Minivan: Observations on Life in the ‘Burbs,‘” was released in 2008.
Q: How do you decide who to invite? And/or how do you find good participants?
A: I went directly to the Women of Midlife Facebook Group because I knew most of the members have blogs which, again, targeted the audience I wanted to reach.
Q: Is timing important?
A: You can really do a Blog Tour anytime you want, but it’s helpful to tie it to a promotion, like a discounted Kindle rate for the month, in order to help drive sales. For books, a month is a good amount of time… any longer and I think people stop paying attention when you promote it on social media. I’ve see other people run one everyday for two weeks, so it’s really up to the author.
Tracy’s book tour lasted one month, to coincide with the book launch and a monthlong pricing promotion. In the 31 days of January she was hosted and mentioned by 18 bloggers.
Q: Do you have any control over what participants write?
A: I give parameters, but ultimately it is their choice because they know better than I do what their followers would be interested in. I usually suggest either and interview, a review, an excerpt, and/or a giveaway.
Q: What graphics/bio/information do you provide?
A: I give them lots of PR material pertaining to the book, as well as the book cover, graphics, and photos, if they relate to the book. My bio and headshots are available upon request, along with any other information/pics they may want. Everything they use should be linked to my book page on Amazon.
Q: Can you do a blog tour for a self-published book?
A: A Blog tour is especially good for self-published authors. Without a publisher’s marketing team (or a private one at your expense), you have to look for or create any PR opportunities you can. If you know of blogs (and today, a podcast tour is also effective) that attract the audience you want to reach, most bloggers would like to participate because it gives them good content that will be enjoyable for their followers.
What’s the benefit to blogging participants?
Gives them content
Lots of bloggers are constantly looking for content! If you’re a dog lover, or a mom, her book is a natural fit. For me, I felt like we, as writers, could benefit from a closer look at the BLOG TOUR tactic. Also, there’s probably a big bunch of moms and dog lovers among us.
Gives their readers a value
As Tracy mentioned, you can time your Blog Tour to correspond to an Amazon promotion – in her case, a monthlong price reduction. It’s $2.99 for the ebook through the end of January.
Co-promotion
It gives me a great opportunity to support Tracy’s book (which is hilarious, btw) and to share a great and easy marketing tactic for anyone bringing out a book – the blog tour.
When my blog mention of Tracy’s book appears, she points her followers to me and my readership might grow, too. Since Tracy is a syndicated columnist and New York Emmy Award winner, she might have a big impact on my blog traffic!
The other bloggers on the Blog Tour have the option of sharing my post link in each of their 18 blog posts.
Here’s the links to the others who commented on/featured Tracy’s book, Barking at the Moon – a Story of Life, Love and Kibble. You can go see for yourself what kind of free publicity this book tour garnered for Tracy’s book!
www.parentinghighschoolers.com
My Book Review
ICYMI – Tracy Beckerman gives us Barking at the Moon – a Story of Life, Love and Kibble
“Barking at the Moon” is Beckerman’s funny tale of the dog, Riley, and life with a big dog… a big family… and big emotions. It is funny, poignant and real.
TRACY BECKERMAN is an award-winning author, speaker, and syndicated humor columnist who has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, and Good Day New York. Her numerous honors for writing include the prestigious Writer’s Guild of America award, an Erma Bombeck Writer’s award, and a New York Emmy®.