Friday, February 12, 2016

On Blog Tours

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There has been a lot of discussion in the community about blog tours and I am here today to add my two cents to the conversation.

So. Blog tours. I really like them, but I understand what people mean when they say blog tours are filler posts. The thing is though, it really isn’t as simple as that (or at least in my opinion.) I think blog tours can also be really creative especially when hosts are allowed to have a bigger part in their posts.

Also, a lot of my blog tour posts tend to be review posts (especially in my experience) so in that way, they really aren’t that much different from regular blog posts and are just a way of getting a large amount of reviews for promotion purposes.

But admittedly, after being asked to do review after review for blog tours I get tired because I like being able to express my creativity when sharing blog tour posts. A while ago, I got to do a “Would You Rather” post with an author and it was so much fun because I got the chance to come up with questions that didn’t just make me laugh but ones I really wanted to know the answer to. It was so much fun to do and let me engage with the author in such a fun way. I have also seen blog tour posts where people get to come up with cool mood boards and fun text message conversations with characters from the books AND THOSE ARE SO AWESOME TOO.

I think the key to having fantastic blog tour posts is allowing the person who is posting to become involved in the process. I know one time, I was asked to do a guest post and didn’t even have the chance to come up with a question. I had one assigned to me and that made me a little upset because that made the blog tour post I took so much time and effort to set up feel like a generic filler post, something I couldn’t personalize and really make my own.

That’s basically where I think blog tours could be better. I think blog tours are such a fantastic opportunity for all of us to creatively showcase/promote a book in ways that aren’t reviews. I think they should be FUN instead of an obligation and just another fun way for book pushing. 

How do you feel about blog tours? Do you think they can be good? What different things would you like to see in terms of blog tours?

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Rashika has been tired since 2013. There are very few things that spark joy for her besides a nice cup of tea, warm, baked goods, good books and good TV shows. She is here to pile onto your giant TBRs and to-watch lists. Offer her a cookie and she might be nice to you.

14 Responses to “On Blog Tours”

  1. Nick

    I’m with you, Rashika. I usually enjoy blog tour posts more when they are creative like the tours that Becca & Krista do for their books or when you can tell the blogger came up with fun topics. I like interviews too, especially when there are super interesting questions. I try to come up with them, but I fail … Jenny at Supernatural Snark comes up with truly great ones. 🙂
    Anyways, I feel like I’m digressing a little, my point is, I think blog tours can be awesome depending on how they are done! At the same time, while some of the generic posts might not work for us, they do seem to work for others. So all in all, it seems like tours work!

  2. Bee @ Quite the Novel Idea

    Yeah, blog tours could be really fun! But sometimes it’s a lot of empty promo posts or excerpts and those posts are boring. I tend to avoid blog tours unless it’s for a book I’m really excited for because I don’t want to just put an excerpt on my blog for a book I didn’t end up liking.

  3. Eva @ All Books Considered

    I completely agree that blog tours have great potential — the ones that I really like are those that involve the host in some way, either with an interview, a review or something else that might spotlight a unique point of the book.

  4. Katherine

    Personally, I stopped doing blog tours this year. I really like to plan my posts months in advance and these events don’t give me too much time. The ones that I have done in the past, I have only accepted if they have offered me some kind of contribution.

  5. Greg

    I don’t read a lot of blog tour posts but I agree with you, they have their place and if the poster can personalize it so much the better. And heck I’ve discovered a few books new to me (and even won one, so yay) through blog tours, so I’m fine with ’em. Nice post. 🙂

  6. Cait @ Paper Fury

    Ooh, I totally agree! I think any sort of post can be really interesting if the people behind it go the extra mile, right?! I’ve read a lot of blog tour posts that do seem generic though, and I kinda usually skip them? My bad. *sighs* But if they got more of a reputation for being creative and interesting and different…it’d be freakishly awesome. :’)

  7. Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature)

    I like them, and often go read them. Last year I really started participating in tours myself. But I feel like this year I need to cut back and make sure I have more time to read and review what I want instead of constantly posting tour posts. NOt that I am going to quit, just going to be more picky about how many I sign up for.

  8. Rachel Lightwood @ Quite the Novel Idea

    I think it’s like you said, they’re boring, empty promotion pieces… unless you decide not to make them like that! If you’re creative you can make it fun, or you could just post a review like a ‘normal’ post. It’s kind of up to you. I feel funny about blogs that only have blog tours but in the end, your blog is your space and it’s up to you what you do with it. Personally, I rarely bother with tour post unless I can see in the title that they have something extra to them.

  9. Ksenia @ Something Delicate

    Great post, Rashika! l have never taken part in a blog tour. One of the reasons – want freedom to express my emotions about a book. I don’t want to be given a format of my post. More often than not blog tour posts look very generic; they don’t grab reader’s attention.

  10. Krystianna

    I definitely agree with everything you said! Creative blog tour posts are the best. I absolutely love it when people make playlists or fashionable outfits inspired by the book. Those are always some of my favorites. I also love it when people make collages of the feels that they got from the book. I always sign up to do reviews when I sign up for blog tours as well so I don’t really feel that they’re much different than my usual posts.
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

  11. AngelErin

    I have to be honest, I’m not a big fan of blog tour posts. I’ll do one here and there. I think what I dislike about them is when blogs have nothing but blog tours all the time and they post 6 posts in 2 days and they are all blog tours. But hey, to each their own. 🙂

  12. Karen tomlinson

    Hi just found your blog and this post. I am quite new to blogging and am following quite a few blogs. I have to say what fun it would be as an author to answer some different questions. Especially when you are self published as that ends up being the main focus rather than the story or the characters..having a text conversation with the characters sounds such a fun thing to do. Although might be difficult in my case as my fantasy world has no technology😄