A Short True/False Quiz about Blog Tours

Oh, I loved this. Very clever.

L.L., that's a high compliment coming from you! Thanks.

That skinless zombie freaked me out. This site is certainly not safe enough for the whole family.

:-)

Mark, thanks for pointing to CSFF and the ways we don't conform. Of course it's the zombie factor. What would you expect from speculative writers??

Seriously, I have a couple of observations.

One is, CSFF does build a sense of community. This is not a one-time deal for most of those participating. After reading a person's blog tour posts over time, you start visiting their blog on other occasions, and eventually regularly. Seems I may have stumbled upon Good Word Editing that way. ;-)

The other critical factor, in my opinion, is that tour participants are free to, even encouraged to, write whatever they want in connection to the featured book. I think that goes a long way toward dismissing that zombie factor. So in actuality, CSFF'ers are less zombies than our brethren.

Sometimes this approach leads to controversy, but from what I've observed, nothing draws more attention to a book than a little controversy.

OK, one more. You mentioned my encouraging participants to leave comments at other blogs. This plays into one of CSFF's express goals--to increase blog traffic for our members' sites. Maybe I've been brainwashed into believing this, but I've heard more than once that one way to increase traffic to YOUR site is by leaving comments at other's sites. Especially in a tour, I think people tend to reciprocate. Which results in follow up posts: A good review is over at ... And before you know it, you are sending more readers to other participants and they are sending them to you.

Of course, I think blog tours have an unmeasurable quotient--the seed planted that takes fruit later. For example, I am not a parent, so I haven't considered buying Mary's book. But what if one of my friends comes to me, or someone in Bible study, with a parenting problem. They've heard what so-and-so has to say, but nothing works. Suddenly I have a suggestion they might want to know about, a parenting book I can recommend they look at. And where did I hear about this? From a blogger I've come to trust. During a blog tour. That's a potential sale that would never be credited to a blog tour, but it's the real power of the promotional tool, I think. It is genuine buzz. Not hype. Not mass-market mailings. The blog tours that work to create buzz come from people really genuinely talking about a book they read and either liked or didn't like. With other people stepping in to give an opinion. Pretty soon, people who didn't read the book are saying, I want in on this conversation. What's all the stir about?

Enough blather.

Becky

Mary, you know I love zombies! Brains, brains, brains...

Becky, I'm honored by your incredibly thoughtful comment.

More than anyone I've worked with online, you are successfully building a community with third party applications. I think it's because you focus on a specific shared value, rather than single titles or authors.

I know CSFF encourages people to be honest, but I wonder if everyone is in fact honest. Many people seem to write these ridiculously glowing reviews... more positive than we would write about Shakespeare or other classics. I think blog tours sometimes create a false obligation that goes along with receiving a free book. I don't fault the blog tours for this, but we need to educate participants better about the ethics of reviewing a book. Maybe I'll write a post on that...

The interlinking that goes on with CSFF is the most valid and organic I've seen. In addition to the list linking, a lot of really helpful pointing goes on like you said.

What you said about the buzz is right on. And for the first time, social media allows us (hypothetically) to measure the connection between buzz and sales. THAT's what I'm so interested to see. Not because I want to sell a bunch of books. Not because I have some economic media empire planned. I just think it's an interesting question.

Well, of course I'm interested too because I do have an economic media empire I want to promote. :-D

In my case, I tend to believe the "experts," and those in publishing say time and again that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool.

Blogging seems to me to be an extension of word of mouth. Not a replacement, thankfully, but more of like kind, I think. At least that's the way I saw it until one PR person contacted me for a tour and asked for the group's email listings so they could "e-blast" the media information to everyone.

That's when I first realized blog tours could go in the direction of mass mailing (we call that junk mail) or in the direction of neighbors visiting over the backyard fence.

Both sell. But since I believe the pundits regarding what sells books best, the latter seemed like the model CSFF should try to emulate.

Yes, I suppose some reviews are still overly complimentary. Not every book can be "the best one I've ever read."

I tend to think that has more to do with these factors:
1) being new to reviewing books. To think critically about what we read takes practice.

2) living in a society that focuses on the immediate. Consequently what ever is the latest is the greatest—until a new latest comes along.

Honestly, I've seen more and more reviews include "weaknesses" even as they praise the book or give it a high recommendation. That's good, I think, though authors may not like it. (I don't know what I'd feel about that). For a reader, having a reviewer say, Here's what didn't work for me, validates the positive things they said. I know they're not just jiving.

So yeah, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ethics of reviews.

Becky

Thanks again, Becky! Those are wise words on the difference between talking over the fence and eblasting. I'd like to measure talking over the fence.

Mark, you had me laughing, man! I got a 2/3. I goofed on the last one.It may be a matter of perspective. I've had great community. :)

:D Eve, that's the one I missed, too. Same reason!

Becky

Mark, you said: "Many people seem to write these ridiculously glowing reviews… more positive than we would write about Shakespeare or other classics. I think blog tours sometimes create a false obligation that goes along with receiving a free book. I don’t fault the blog tours for this, but we need to educate participants better about the ethics of reviewing a book."

Oh, how I agree!

On one tour I was on (not CSFF or CFBA) someone I'd never seen before took afront that I gave a negative review. Obviously she felt that it was my duty, having accepted a free book, to *promote* it. (She wasn't the author or the tour's organizer.) I'm thinking that not every tour organizer makes clear what the goals are and what is acceptable.

I'd emailed with the author before the tour discussing the issue I had with the novel and while I'm sure she'd have preferred that I love her story, she thanked me for being brave enough to have an opposing point of view. Not that she commented on my post or has emailed me since, but that's another issue!

Like Becky said, at CSFF it is still, barely, a small enough group that you begin to remember the participants and what to expect from them. And that sense of community does help to build a solid tour.

I've found the dissection of blog touring that you're doing in these posts very interesting. Thanks!