Blog tours, launch groups and online promotion: where do I start? - by Lucy Rycroft

A friend asked me about blog tours this week - and, as I was stuck for what else to write about here, thought I'd answer her question by way of a blog post.

If you want to keep up momentum on your book sales, you'll need to engage with a few online strategies - and this is a wonderful time to get stuck into online book promotion, because there are very few options for doing face-to-face sales at the moment.

But I don't know anyone with a large audience!

This honestly doesn't matter.

I think we all assume that we want our book going out to as many people as possible, but as Wendy Jones rightly says in her excellent book Power Packed Book Marketing, it usually takes people a few times of seeing a book/product, before they make a purchase.

So rather than thinking in terms of number of people, we need to think in terms of number of views per person. In other words, it may make more sense to try and reach the same (ish) audience multiple times, rather than simply go for the biggest influencers or bloggers and hope for the best!

What types of online promotion are there?

As many as there are people in the world - and probably more! Honestly, the sky's the limit - and if you can think of a creative way of getting your book into the webosphere, go for it! But here are the more common ones:

Blog tour
Every day over a week or two, different bloggers 'feature' your book on their blogs - usually a mixture of straight book reviews, interviews with you (the author) or guest blog posts by you. Each blogger publicised the post (and tour) to their audience, and you publicise the whole thing to yours. To set this up, you'll have to send a copy of your book (digital or paper) to each blogger in advance, so that they can take a look - or, ideally, read the whole thing. You may wish to send giveaway copies too - this can draw more attention to a book, but is obviously more costly.

Facebook launch group
Invite friends and interested parties to join your 'launch group' for your book. Even if it has already launched, you can still have a group to help promote it further! Advertise this group in relevant Facebook groups (e.g. ACW) so that you get as many people as possible. For reasons of cost, you would usually issue digital, rather than paper, copies to launch group members, give them a period of time to read it, then encourage them to share about the book in any forums they can: on their own personal social media accounts, in their church groups, to their family and friends.

Social media promotion
Like a blog tour, but less strict! Send your book out to a number of influencers who agree to help you promote it over a particular time period. The fact that lots of tweets/Facebook posts/Instagram stories will be featuring your book over a concentrated few days means that lots of people will end up seeing it several times - increasing the chance of some sales.

Virtual book launch/reading/Q&A
Fran Hill did a marvellous Facebook Live book launch for her wonderful Miss, What does Incomprehensible Mean? (If you haven't read it, please order it now - one of the best books I've read in the last few years!) It's a great option for these strange times, when we can't host real, physical launch parties.

But even if your book has already launched, why not schedule a book reading or Q&A session about the book (or both) on your Facebook or Instagram page? Make sure you plan it in advance and publicise it well, to drum up interest, then save the video to your page afterwards so that others can see it.

How do I organise any of the above?

It helps to have your own social media platforms, of course - especially for the last one - so now might be the time to dust off that Facebook page you haven't posted anything to in a year and get some conversation going on it again!

In terms of finding other bloggers or influencers, keep your ear to the ground. Which bloggers write to an audience who may be interested in your book? The ACW Facebook group is a very good place to ask around - you could also try asking on your own social media accounts, or in Facebook groups related to the topic/theme of your book. 

Who are people following? Which blogs do they like to read? What podcasts do they listen to?

Then, simply make contact. Drop a short message to say who you are, what you've written and would they be interested in a review copy? Do assure them that they won't be under pressure to give a positive review, or to promote it, but that if they like the book, you'd be very grateful if they might take part in your online promotion.

How many copies will I need to give away?

There seems to be a reticence amongst authors and publishers to give away free promo copies of their book - but I do feel that you really get what you put in, when it comes to book promotion and subsequent sales. Here's my example:

When I was preparing to launch my first book, Redeeming Advent, last Autumn, I asked my publisher how many promotional books he could 'allow' me to give away, so that I could plan my marketing.

He put no limit on this - despite me pressing him several times - and I really think that he understood something important about the correlation between what you give away and what you eventually sell.

We ended up giving away around 40-50 paper books (many more digitally), and the book sold over 1300 copies in total - not bad for a first-time author and a tiny, unheard-of publisher.

This definitely wouldn't have happened if it was just down to me! My circle of contacts alone couldn't have created that number of sales. But I was blessed with an incredible launch team, who worked hard to share the book in their circle of contacts. Many of the team members were also bloggers, who took part in a blog tour lasting more than two weeks. 

All of us working together produced a buzz about the book! There's no way I could have done this on my own.

By contrast, my second and most recent book, Deborah and Jael, has had a slower start, selling between 300 and 400 copies, mostly to the contacts on my mailing list. I've had far fewer promotional copies than I had for Redeeming Advent, and this has limited my ability to promote more widely.

However, I'm happy to report that there are now plans afoot to do some online promotion in mid-July, so watch this space...!

Stronger together

I guess what I'm saying is: we're better when we work as a team. Writing a book may be a solitary activity - but selling it definitely shouldn't be. The key is to getting the right people to read it. Once they 'click' with it, there will be no stopping them sharing it naturally with others!

Have you utilised these or other methods to promote your book online? What creative ideas did you come up with? How did others respond? And how did it fare in terms of book sales? Let's discuss in the comments!

Lucy Rycroft is the author of Redeeming Advent and Deborah and Jael. She writes The Hope-Filled Family blog (formerly Desertmum). Lucy lives in York with her husband and four kids.