Monday, June 3, 2013

Book Blogger Confession: Book Tours and Cover Reveals

It has been a REALLY long time since I've participated in a Book Blogger Confession.   But, I'm trying to back on track with my blogging, and today's topic caught my attention.

But first, I want to give credit to the two bloggers who host this: Karen at For What It's Worth and Pam from Midnyte Reader.

Today's question is:  Does participating in book tours/cover reveals and author guests post drive traffic to your blog? What type of problems have you encountered when hosting them? (please keep it civil - no names or calling specific people out) As a blog follower, are you ever turned off by these kinds of posts? How much publicity is too much? 

I have not participated in a book tour for a really long time, and I guess it's because I had some mixed experiences with them.   While it did drive some traffic to my blog, it felt like it was more a one-time thing, and not something that really made an increase that lasted very long.   I didn't participate to bring traffic to my blog, so I wasn't really bothered by this.    What I liked about tours was the whole participating with other people who were interested in the book.

I think the tricky part was sometimes coordinating things --- if one person was behind on things, and you were directing traffic to them, it could jam things up.   I admit that I was sometimes the one running behind schedule, and then I felt awful that I was the one creating a problem for other bloggers.    

I do like having author posts or interviews, even if those posts don't get a lot of comments --- because maybe that gives the author and their book some more attention.  I know it can be hard for authors to get the word out about their book(s) if they are new authors, or aren't with super-big publishing houses.

I've never participated in a cover reveal.  It's just not my thing, I guess.  As pretty as a cover is, my interest in the content of the book, so it's just not something I pay that much attention to (as opposed to a release date, for example).

There's a second part to today's question: As a blog follower, are you ever turned off by these kinds of posts? How much publicity is too much? 

I find it depends on the book, the author, and what's actually happening.    As I said, cover reveals don't really interest me much, so I tend to pass those up on blogs.  I do prefer blog tours that move from blog to blog, and maybe have different features; when it's all the same kind of post from bloggers on the same day, with the same information, it feels like I'm reading the same thing again and again.

What I do find to be a turnoff is when blog tour seem to focus less on the book, and more on encouraging bloggers to compete with each other.  It takes the focus off the book, which I find to be the opposite of what's supposed to happen.
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I'm looking forward to seeing what other bloggers have to say on this topic, especially those who participate in blog tours.

12 comments:

Julie@My5monkeys said...

so many true thoughts with tours and having bloggers compete for a thing.
I do enjoy the different content, but not going to follow all those blogs

Andrea @ The Busy Bibliophile said...

I agree completely - a dozen posts with the exact same content over and over again is boring (and a little annoying).

I've never participated in the "compete with other bloggers" type of tour, but I can see the downside, and I have never and will never participate in that kind of tour.

You're right - it should be all about the book!

kipha said...

I to love author and character interviews. Though I don't join them in the tour I do follower those I enjoy reading. I somewhat participate in cover reveals and only do those when I'm anticipating the book. I just posted one up not 10 minutes ago so yeah~ LOL But yes I love blogs that brings you to another blog and may even find a new blogger to follow!

Alexia561 said...

I'm trying to get back on track with my blogging too and liked this week's topic. Great minds, eh? ;)

Good point about how the tour should focus on the book! I don't like the duplicate posts that show up on every blog, or when the blogosphere is swamped with too much info all at the same time. Can't remember what the last blast was, but it cluttered up my Reader for about a week straight. Very annoying!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Roberta R. said...

We are so alike in what covers don't appeal to us that much. Also, you're right - sometimes the kind of publicity provided by a book tour or cover reveal sort of backfires, because of the duplicate contents, and because the attention is often more focused on what surrounds the book that on the book itself. Also, competition...*sighs* I've never been part of such events to date, but from what I read (here and on other BBCs), it often gets in the way. Which is sad...for us and for the book :(.

Thanks for commenting on my blog. I plan on having a tour of yours!

Midnyte Reader said...

I have sort of heard about the whole competing thing, but I guess since I'm so non-competetive, I didn't really pay attention. I would never participate in a tour like that. I agree that it's nice when a tour has different features and not the same thing on each blog.

Karen said...

Yeah - I'm really not enjoying the competitive turn that book tours are headed. It almost excludes readers which just seems weird.

Kimberly @ Midnight Book Girl said...

I don't care for the tours where bloggers have to compete either and I also prefer the day to day tours where the content is different rather than a mass overdose on one day!

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Angela's Anxious Life said...

I can't stand blog tours. There I said it. I did a whole post at my blog about it. There was a week there where all I saw on people's blogs were blog tours and it was awful. Drove me nuts!!!

The Insouciant Sophisticate said...

I get tired when I see so many posting the exact same thing and I don't tend to click through anyway-I'm more interested in reviews and what people are reading.

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