Virtual Tours Cost Real Money

To help fellow writers decide on the efficacy of virtual books tours, I’ll share my recent experience.  First, I considered three packagers and chose the one with the most polished presentation. Second, I contacted two of their previous clients. Both admitted the tours did little to increase book sales. Still, I decided to go forward. I wrote a check to the company in the amount of $450 for a two week (10 day tour). In return, I received a request for three copies of the book and a set of questionnaires. Only three book bloggers intended to read and review the book. The rest would display my comments as an interview on their blog sites.

 

(courtesy: polticalcrush.com)

The results of the 10-day book tour are as follows:

1. Of the 15 bloggers who signed up for the tour three failed to follow through.
2. Three of the 15 who did respond were staff members of the company. Of those, two featured me twice so that employee sites filled five out of the 10 contracted days .
3. My initial terms when signing up for the tour were that bloggers should reside in the United States. What I got were bloggers from the US, bloggers from Canada and one from Estonia.
4. One blogger was new and had seven followers. She specialized in young adult novels. She admitted she didn’t understand my book and I believe her. She offered some soothing words and gave me 3.5 stars with 5 being top.
5. Another blogger turned out to operate a pornographic site. I have no idea what she wrote and I’m not going to look.
6. The third book reviewer loved “Gothic Spring” and gave the book 5 stars out of 5.

Contrast the results of the virtual tour with my personal efforts to have “Gothic Spring” reviewed:.

1. Eight reviewers were approached. They included the prestigiousMidwest Book Review and Alan Caruba, thenationally renowned reviewer.  Both gave “Gothic Spring” a thumbs up.
2. Three more bloggers with significant followings gave “Gothic Spring”the highest marks.
3. One blogger never responded to my queries; another decided to go back to school and so did nothing; One blogger’s review is pending.

The virtual tour cost me $450. My personal efforts cost me postage to mail the books to reviewers. I leave the reader to decide which experience provided the best outcome for the money.

Tomorrow’s topic:  What a virtual tour should look like.