The Virtual Book Tour

In my last post I talked about how I took my first book “The Anne Boleyn Collection” to market and today’s post is a continuation of that, another idea that you might want to use to create “buzz” about your book. Now, remember, this is early days for me – my book was published just 2 weeks ago! – and I am in no way an expert on publishing, self-publishing or marketing, I’m just simply sharing my own experiences.

As I live in the virtual world, i.e. I am a blogger, I thought it was only right and fitting to do a virtual book tour. I really don’t have the finance in place or the time to do a proper book tour with book readings, signings and appearances, so I’m doing it virtually. Next week, I am going blog-hopping. I am visiting a different Tudor blog or Facebook page each day for an event or giveaway. The best way to explain this is to share my schedule with you:-

• Monday 5th March  The Tudor Tutor – I’ll be answering questions from Barb’s blog and Facebook followers and giving away a signed copy of “The Anne Boleyn Collection” plus a set of Henry VIII and Six Wives drink charms.
• Tuesday 6th March Let Them Grumble – I have written a guest article on Anne Boleyn for Libby over at her Let Them Grumble blog. I’ll also be offering a signed copy of my book and a pair of Anne Boleyn earrings from our “The Tudors” range. See Libby’s page tomorrow for details.
• Wednesday 7th March Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History – Over at Sarah’s Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History blog, I have written a guest article on Anne and George Boleyn and will be offering a signed copy of my book plus an Anne Boleyn B necklace or A necklace.
• Thursday 8th March Queen Anne Boleyn Facebook page – On the 8th March I will be answering questions posed by Sylwia’s followers and giving away a signed copy of “The Anne Boleyn Collection” plus an Anne Boleyn scarf.
• Friday 9th March On the Tudor Trail – Natalie will be interviewing me over at her On the Tudor Trail blog. I will also be giving away a signed copy of my book and an Anne Boleyn wine stopper.
• Monday 12th March NEW DATE The Everything Tudor ‘Tudor Book Blog’ – Elizabeth from Everything Tudor and The Tudor Tattler will be interviewing me on her Tudor Book Blog and I will be giving away a signed copy of my book along with an Anne Boleyn tote bag.
• Tuesday 13th March (to be confirmed) Legendary Women – I will be dropping in to the Legendary Women website as part of their Women’s History Month with my guest article on Anne Boleyn. I will be giving away a signed copy of my book and a Tudor themed prize. More details to come…

This virtual book tour is a win-win situation for me and the bloggers involved. I get publicity for my book and the opportunity to connect with their followers, and they get free content for their blogs and publicity via my blog. This was easy for me to arrange because I had already built up good relationships within the Tudor history blogging community, but you could easily connect with blogs by doing a Google search for your subject area. You could offer to write guest posts, do a giveaway or offer bloggers the opportunity to review your book. You could even come up with something more creative, it’s up to you.

I am really excited about this virtual book tour! It will be great to meet and interact with new people. Fun, fun, fun!