Making the Right Connection – How to Do Business in the World of Virtual Book Tours

As I was drafting this article I realized my two-year anniversary with Pump Up Your Book Promotion is this month.  Not a day goes by without me being thankful for how much I love my job.  Part of that is because I love good books, but most of that is due to the wonderful relationships that result from coordinating virtual book tours (VBTs).

But how do you make the right connection?  How do you present yourself in a way that encourages a virtual book tour company to promote your book? And what does the virtual book tour company need to do to persuade you to do business with them?

Professionalism

There’s an old cliché that says, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.”  Like many clichés, this one holds true.  Whether you are an author seeking representation for your book or a virtual book tour company looking for new business, you only have one shot at making a good first impression.

Every email and each phone conversation needs to be handled with the utmost professionalism.

Who do you want to do business with?

“I want to tell you about our services.  We’ll set you up some interviews and getcha at some cool blogs to promote your book.  It’ll be fun!”

Or

“Congratulations on your new release!  How exciting!  We are an online public relations firm specializing in virtual book tours.  Authors in a variety of genres contract us to promote their books for a specific amount of time.  You will appear on 15 to 30 blogs depending upon which tour package you select, thereby creating an online presence for you and your book.  While the tour will involve some work on your part, it will also be a lot of fun.

You can check out our website at bookpromotion123.com for more details.  I can be reached via return email if you have any questions.”

Or how about this scenario?

“I am an author who has written a book about cats.  What can you tell me about tours?”

Or

“I am a new author who has written a memoir about my great-great-grandfather who served in the American Civil War.  I put this book together using his diaries and letters sent home during his service under General Grant, in addition to interviewing several family members.

You can find my website at jasonisanauthor.com.

I am looking to contract you for a virtual book tour in November as part of a three-prong marketing campaign.  You may contact me via return email.”

The latter examples in each situation handle the first means of communication professionally.  They provide the other person with crucial information they need in order to begin forming their new business relationship.*

Websites

The Internet is a wonderful thing, and authors and VBT companies need to take full advantage of the information that is now available.

Before contacting a virtual book tour company, spend some time browsing their website.  Get to know them in a virtual sense.  Look for testimonials, verify what options they offer and check out their fee schedule.  Plug their name into Goggle and see what comes up.

When an author contacts a virtual book tour company the company is doing the same thing—visiting the author’s website to see who this person is and what he’s written.  Hopefully there is an excerpt from the book so the company gets an idea of the author’s writing style.  And if the author doesn’t have a website, any VBT company worth its salt will suggest he get one, or at bare minimum, begin blogging right away to create some type of online presence for his work.

If a VBT company can’t find you online, no one else will either.

A Healthy Blog Mix

When you approach a virtual book tour company to represent your book, you need to have some idea what types of blogs you’ll be visiting.  Will you appear at the same blogs that every other client of theirs has appeared at or are these blogs hand selected for your tour?  The other consideration is niche blogs versus more general book or review blogs.  Which is better?

Pump Up Your Book Promotion has always believed in a healthy blog mix. This means that we have a regular group of bloggers who host almost all of our clients, and we combine that with some general book or review blogs and some niche ones.

Oftentimes we have requests for a tour that targets a specific market only.  While that can be done, it might not be the best thing for your book.  Why?  Because people read books for different reasons.

I read a book over the summer detailing a plane crash that took place in Alaska during World War II.  I enjoyed the book very much even though I’m not a fan of airline disaster stories; they scare me because I’m afraid of flying.

So why did I decide to read it?

For two reasons, the first being the author came to me through a trusted friend.  Word of mouth remains a very powerful means of promotion.  The second reason, however, was more convincing than the first.  The author was the son of one of the crash survivors.  I knew that this account would be different from other stories of this crash because it was written by a loving son who wanted to tell a story not only about the crash, but the role faith played in his father’s survival.

While promoting your book solely to niche blogs seems like an excellent idea, remember you will be competing for the same audience as all those other authors who have written about similar topics and are featured at those blogs.  No matter how much interest you hold in a topic, there are only so many books you need to buy on it.

Listen to Your Gut

You’ve researched your potential VBT company or client, you’ve exchanged that all important first email, discussed which blogs you’ll appear on, but even though the person on the other end of the connection is pleasant and professional something is still nagging at you.  What do you do?

While some people may disagree, I say listen to your gut.  Take time to think about what’s bothering you.  If it’s not something that can be changed or if you can’t put your finger on it, pass and look for other options.

In the two years since I began promoting books I have only ignored my gut once, and it was the most miserable experience of my VBT life.  I had trouble finding bloggers to host this client, the client continued to hold unrealistic expectations even after numerous phone conversations, and while we still created an excellent online presence for the book, I came away feeling I hadn’t done my best work.  That’s when I vowed I would never promote a book I couldn’t get excited about, and that philosophy has served me well.

The VBT company you select must be committed to promoting your book as much as you are.  Successful virtual book tours happen when authors and VBT companies work as partners, each doing their best to generate interest in the book being promoted.  When one or the other doesn’t fulfill his obligations, the end result is not as powerful as it could be.Making that right connection is important from the start.  Be professional, do your research, and listen to your gut.  That’s how connections turn into business relationships, and the nurturing of those relationships leads to successful collaborations.

*These are fictitious examples, not actual correspondence.

Copyright Cheryl C. Malandrinos – All Rights Reserved.

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion, an online public relations firm specializing in virtual book tours.  A freelance writer, book reviewer, and blogger, Ms. Malandrinos is also a copy editor and writing coach.  Her first children’s picture book will be released in 2010.

You can visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.tripod.com.