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I'm also digressing from the series, again, I planned on finishing this month (keeping the excitement of a conference going). Why? Because I want to share how to organize a blog tour.
I hear you now; "What's a blog tour?" It's a way to promote a book, author, illustrator, or combination without traveling thousands of miles in a few days.
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Blog Tour Ho!
The cost and time involved in promoting and marketing books is extensive and expensive. However, one way to get the publicity "out there" is through blog tours. Rather than rushing from one city and/or bookstore to another before flying to the next, authors and illustrators hop from blog to blog, with only their fingers tiring.
Let me explain by sharing the organization involved in setting up a tour, one I put together for Trockle, the children's book written by Holly Jahangiri (Holly Jahangiri  ) and illustrated by Jordan Vinyard.
1. Set dates for the tour. Check with the author or illustrator or both (whoever will be participating to promote the book) for the dates she/he/they can participate. Some tours last a month, but people often lose interest over that long a period of time Besides finding enough "hosts" for 30 days is difficult. Two weeks is more manageable, but for a first tour, a week to 10 days works better. I choose nine days in September, the 13th through the 21st.
(b) 2. Find blog hosts. A blog host is a blogger with one with considerable fans or following, hopefully. A host is needed for each day of the tour. Of course the better known the people making the tour, the more likely attracting high profile bloggers will be. Nine blog hosts are willing and ready for the Trockle Tour.
3. Help inexperienced bloggers with ideas to use. A few ideas include an interview with the author and/or illustrator; a review of the book with comments by the author and illustrator, if there is one; allowing the author (and illustrator) to write a guest blog for the scheduled day. Those suggestions are just that, suggestions.
4. Have a prize to present to one person who comments on each blog on the scheduled day. For the example tour, a canvas tote (11 x 8.5") with an image of the Trockle front cover on one side and the back cover on the other. We limit shipping to the United States or to Canada because of logistics.
5. Promote the blog tour. The schedule will be posted on every blog being used, the author's blog(s), the illustrator's blog, the publisher's blog, and on the publisher's home page. On every blog that will help, notice will be given about the tour. Everyone who's on Twitter will link to the current blog on its day. Messages will be posted on email group sites.
Sept. 13, Vivian Zabel http://vzabel.multiply.com/journal
Sept. 14, Elysabeth Eldering http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
Sept. 15, Aidana WillowRaven http://coverchatter.blogspot.com
Sept. 16, Steph Cardin PartyBee  - http://sgardin.tripod.com/blog
Sept. 17, Ian William http://sirsnapalot.multiply.com/journal
Sept. 18, Susan Thompson SueBear - http://SusanSmithThompson.com
Also Joyce Anthony - first of 4 days) http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog
1st day - Introduce book, synopsis, etc.
2nd day - Author/illustrator bios
3rd day - Author/illustrator interviews
4th day - Author's choice of guest-blogging, an excerpt from book, or book review by host
Sept. 19, Beverly Stowe McClure http://memawriter.gather.com
and http://beverlystowemcclure.blogspot.com
Also Joyce Anthony's 2nd day
Sept. 20, Joyce Anthony's 3rd day http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog
Sept. 21, Karen L. Syed http://karensyed.blogspot.com
Also Joyce Anthoy's 4th day
6. Be sure author, illustrator, editors, publisher, and other friends check each blog on the tour each day at least once, leaving comments. Those directly involved should check each blog several times a day to reply to comments by others and to answer any questions.
7. Be sure to thank all blog tour hosts. One good way to thank those who participate is to host a stop on a blog tour for them in the future.
Be sure to visit my off site blog: http://vzabel.multiply.com/journal. Several of W.Com members are highlighted. Wonder how many readers can recognize those members?
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Words from Our Readers
Thomas
Yikes! You've had some tough times. I know how that goes. You wonder what else can go wrong and then get a front row seat to the answer.
Oh well, like you said, it's all great fodder for writing. And it can make you more sympathetic and more empathetic.
I hope things look up for you soon, though.
I think everyone goes through tough times, so I'm not unique. I wanted to show a different slant on those bad times, how we can use them.
Puppycat
Amen. Life can be full of challenges sometimes. But isn't it glorious that we can rise above the challenges and laugh and find true joy anyway? Puppycat
How true. As the saying goes, we can laugh, or we can cry. Crying just makes us feel worse, so why not find a way to laugh?
Jane
Didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read your troubles in the Authors Newsletter (8-7). Why does life always seem to work like that? Just when life seems so organized and you're on top of the game....BAM! Lemons. Not just one, but many. My life works like yours too: Tribulations collocate with the happy moments that have easy and fun written all over them. Hope all is well and happy with you and yours now!
Best wishes,
Jane (jmpdk3)
One thing about it, I have plenty to use in my writing, the whole spectrum from joy to peace to anger to frustration to pain and back to happiness and contentment.
THANKFUL SONALI back on Jan 4 
Love that bit about the first and last paragraphs "disappearing"! Ha ha.
Thanks for writing about crazy experiences in such a light way!
Delight
Sonali
The Case of the Disappearing Paragraphs, yep, funny now but not at the time. And it all all the editorial except the first and last paragraphs that went missing. Crazy. Oh, what's with this "Delight" I keep reading?
dejavu_BIG computerprobs
Great newsletter, Vivian. Writing what you know is truly an excellent tool in fiction, of course, there's always going to be critics out there who say, no way THAT could happen. 
Hope your lemons are all becoming lemonade.
SM Ferguson
I have a whole pitcher full of lemonade in the refrigerator. Want to join me in a glass? 
Raine
Hoping things are going better for you now, Viv. But it is true. You can try to write what you think but until you've experienced it, the writing lacks depth. Writing what we know is the only way to truly connect with the characters. And you can't "know" until you "do."
Things are much better, just trying to get everything finished so my newsletters are submitted before I leave Aug. 23 for the Decatur (GA) Book Festival; clothes, books and supplies are packed for the trip; and my husband has people to check on him while I'm gone.
NickiD89 
Hi, Vivian. Despite all the obstacles you faced, (including losing all but the first and last paragraphs of this newsletter Sad), you managed to pull of a great newsletter. When you said, "Who can better show what a character suffers with a migraine than someone who knows?" I thought how true that is. Thanks for reminding me how enriching your writing becomes when you tap into your own direct experiences.
Hope you are feeling much better now Delight!
~ Nicki
I'm doing much better, thank you. All bad experiences can be used for fodder for our writing, thankfully. It's better to laugh or find a use for the not-so-pleasant experiences in life than to sit around and cry and whine.
Lynn McKenzie
Good newsletter, Viv! Sorry you had so much tribulation lately. Hope things are better now.
You're absolutely right; our experiences should enrich our writing. Although I don't write disguised stories of personal events, I use my feelings, emotions, and the like to color my work. It makes all the difference.
That's the idea: Use the feelings, emotions, and memories to color your writing.
Carol McKenzie
I've read and heard so often to write what you know.
It's great to write about what you know....but sometimes research can allow a you to write about what you don't know. For example, Tom Clancy wrote the Hunt for Red October and never stepped foot in a submarine. Do good research and you can write about anything you want to write about.
Carol McKenzie
I do research much about what I write. No one person can know everything, but there has to be a basis of what we know in the writing somewhere. Plus once someone researches, doesn't he then "know" what he's writing?
Thanks for joining me this month. I hope what I've written helped someone. See you again next month.
Viv |
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For Authors: September 03, 2008 Issue [#2571]
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