Have you finally completed your manuscript and are you feeling fulfilled?

Before you break out and start celebrating your latest literary success, it’s important to start thinking about how you’re going to get your book into as many hands as possible. Because as a self-published author who writes for a living, strong book sales are one of the biggest indicators of success.

Ask any marketing expert and they will tell you the same thing. The easiest way to sell a specific product to as many people as possible is to offer it to those who really want it.

It seems obvious, but surprisingly many authors have no idea how to connect with the people who would be the perfect candidates to buy their book, also known as their ‘target audience’.

The key to effective book promotion

An effective method of getting the word out about an idea, a person, or even a book is through relentless advertising, which is the process of drawing attention to a topic by distributing information about that topic to a receptive audience.

Think of the last blockbuster movie that absolutely had watch.

How did you find out? Why do you want to see it? Why that movie and not one of many others?

Answer these questions and you’ll find that it all boils down to one keyword: Advertising.

But when you don’t have the promotional budget or social clout of a major movie producer, how exactly do you market your new book and get readers as excited about your offering as they are about their latest movie experience?

The answer: Blog tours!

What is a Blog Tour?

A blog tour is simply a series of advertising stops on several well-established blogs in your niche with the goal of promoting yourself and your book.

It’s quite similar to the book tours many well-known authors go on to promote their latest offerings, without the pressure of bookings, public speaking, and the grueling travel schedule that usually comes with it.

There are several additional benefits to doing blog tours to launch and promote a book.

• Blog tours help you spread the word about your book by networking with established bloggers who already have readers who would be interested in your work.

• It provides leverage that can take your book from completely unknown to an overnight success when done correctly.

• Blog tours take advantage of the viral nature of the internet, and you often find that your promotion extends far beyond the scope of your efforts. In other words, the content you distribute during your blog tour has a good chance of being picked up by search engines, shared via social media, and discussed among new and existing fans.

Most importantly, blog tours help get readers excited about your book so they’ll be eager to buy it on launch day.

How to use blog tours to attract ideal readers

Now that you know what blog tours can do for you and your upcoming book release, it’s time to talk about how to use them to engage your ideal audience.

The most important parts of running an effective and productive blog tour are being well organized and including a few important elements.

1. Develop a plan for your blog tour.

For your blog tour to be successful, you must set goals and have guidelines to carry it out.

Factors to consider when planning your blog tour include the length of the tour (usually 4-6 weeks), the types of blogs/bloggers you’ll be targeting, as well as the goals you have for the outcome of the tour, such as the number of blogs you’ll be featured on or the number of new fans you want to join your mailing list.

2. Find blogs and bloggers to network with.

Once you have developed your plan, the next step is to make a list of blogs to target. A good goal is to appear on 10-20 blogs during your blog’s run.

3. Contact bloggers before requesting a direct promotion.

It’s important to remember that bloggers are people and writers just like you. They want to know that you are interested in them as well as wanting to appear on their website. When it comes time to approach them to request a feature on their blog, it’s best to have a relationship already developed.

The best way to accomplish this is by outreaching to bloggers for several weeks. prior to intends to start his book tour.

Give the blogger the opportunity to get to know you by participating in the conversations that take place on his blog. Comment, share your content on your social media channels, and take every opportunity to “break the ice” with the owner of each blog you target.

This step is important as it makes approaching each blogger for a review and feature more natural and increases the likelihood of a positive response.

4. Request a review and a feature.

Once rapport is established and you’re ready to start scheduling highlights for your blog tour, drop in directly with a request to the blog you’re targeting. Do not be shy!

While you may not get the green light from every blog you approach, you will likely be featured on a lot of them. It really is a numbers game and how well you can virtually ‘chat’ your way through each blog.

5. Have copies of your book available to give away.

Have several copies of your book ready to offer as gifts to the blogger who is featuring you and your work, as well as a few extra copies that they can give away to their fans during the promotion.

Knowing that there is a chance to win one of your books will certainly grab the attention of readers interested in your work.

6. Keep track of the blogs that give you publicity.

As you contact each blogger and they agree to feature their work on your blog, it’s important to keep track of all relevant information for each opportunity.

Keep track of the blog name and blog owner, as well as the date of your next feature. Once the review and feature are published, make a note of the page’s URL for quick reference so you can follow up with interested fans.

7. Follow up in the comments section.

An essential part of running a successful blogging tour is making a good first impression and forming lasting connections with new fans. One of the easiest ways to do this is by replying to any comments that come up as a result of your feature on each blog.

Answering readers’ questions about you and your book while all the attention is on you is a quick and easy way to make your mark and give your potential fans a taste of who you really are, the person behind the pages.

Taking an active role in promoting your books is important to having successful launches and making sure sales, reviews, and new readers keep coming.

So, are blog tours the end and end of book promotion for self-published authors? Probably not.

But if used correctly, they are certainly an effective tool for getting great publicity and getting your book out to members of your target audience quickly and relatively easily.

Give it a try and you, like many other authors, may find blog tours to become an indispensable tool in your book promotion arsenal.