Virtual Book Tours: Taking Your eBook on a Global Promotion Journey
A virtual book tour is a great first step. It involves marketing across platforms and maintaining a strong image for you as the author and your story. In this blog, we share some virtual book tour strategies for you to employ when sharing your work with the world.
Virtual Book Tours: Taking Your eBook on a Global Promotion Journey
A virtual book tour is just like the ones that happen in the real world. Instead of going to different stores and reading out pieces of your work, you are giving interviews and excerpts to different blog hosts.
This helps to reach potential readers by giving them an idea of who you are as a writer and why they should be interested in buying your eBook.
The Benefits
A digital book tour is essentially a series of online interviews in blog form. It could be written interviews, or you could be interviewed in video format.
The interviewer gives you some set questions, you answer them, talk about your work, and at the bottom of the page, there's a link. That link is to your novel, in eBook and physical format (audio if there is one!) They are an efficient means of promoting across a broad range of platforms.
Leveraging this digital method for book promotion is easier to organize and arrange than a physical one. All you need to do is contact your preferred blogs and influencers and meet whatever requirements they need.
Traditional publishing means going to crowded stores and managing crowds of people wanting you to sign a copy. This makes online appearances, such as livestreams and blog interviews, something of an introvert's dream. You can get to the point and reach a global audience without having to leave your home.
Strategies
Taking your written work on a virtual spin gives you access to readers all over the world. Below are a couple of strategies you might want to implement before planning all of your digital marketing.
Build a Community
When you were writing your manuscript, you probably had an audience in mind. You knew who was going to read it and why they wanted to read it. The same goes for an effective virtual book tour: who are your readers, and how do you reach them? This involves building a community.
Find online groups and connect with people with interests similar to yours. This could be through social media or fan groups. Consider also building a website and a newsletter to improve your visibility.
Make Use of Digital Promotion Events
Digital promotion events such as online launches, including livestreams, are a great way to promote your work. A lot of work goes into marketing, including setting a publication date, arranging blog posts for your online presence, and creating promotional materials.
Your promotional materials might also include a description. This is a piece of text of a hundred or so words designed to give your work the best first impression possible, which will make you stand out.
Online promotion is an effective way of building the hype ahead of the publication date. Get your community involved, and reach out to people who are in the sphere, such as influencers!
The Influencer Economy
Speaking of influencers, many digital publishers have opted to build a network of influencers to promote their latest release. Making use of the influencer economy is one of the most effective ways of promoting your work.
As an indie author, you can also take advantage of the influencer economy. Marketing across platforms like Instagram and TikTok involves connecting with these influencers and gaining access to their followers.
Contact your preferred influencers however they wish to be contacted, which might be a direct message on the platform or through a contact form on their website. Listen to their terms of service, and meet them. They want to promote your novel, and that is what you are hiring them for.
Final Thoughts
Taking advantage of the digital space to promote yourself can be as easy as you make it. Promoting your work in online spaces is an efficient means of building hype around your eBook. You can bypass the crowds and get to the heart and soul of what your story is about.
