Thank you for the many comments with regard to my recent blog tour. Numbers of you were interested in the process and the results. Some of you are on the verge of doing a blog tour yourself sooner rather than later. I\u2019d like to hear how it goes. Keep me in the loop.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d also like to say that the results of a blog tour, as with the results of any large promotional effort\u2014having a booth at a well-attended book festival, speaking to a large group, etc.\u2014can be measured in something even more valuable than immediate sales. What is that something? Exposure.<\/p>\n
Exposure leads to sales. Someone may have heard about your book when it first came out, but didn\u2019t buy it. When they see it again at a book festival or at their favorite site during a blog tour, this reminds them that the book exists. Without that second or twenty-second reminder, they may never purchase it for themselves or for their friends. They may have forgotten all about it.<\/p>\n
Exposure can compute into sales over time. Think about your own purchasing habits. Do you always buy something you think you might want the first time you see it or hear about it? Of course not. Sometimes you aren\u2019t sure you actually want it. You want to think about it. Sometimes you forget about it until you see it again or hear about it again. You may or may not buy it at the next opportunity. But the second time you see or hear about it, your interest may be piqued a little more. If you run across that item again and the timing is right, you may eventually purchase it.<\/p>\n
But if you had never seen it or thought about it after that first time, you would definitely never purchase it.<\/p>\n
As an author who wants to develop a large readership for your books, you cannot stop promoting\u2014ever. And you cannot consider any promotional activity a failure based on a low number of sales. If you reached a lot of people with your information, if more people now know about your book and how to purchase it, your activity did not fail. You achieved something more valuable than sales\u2014exposure. But as I indicated in my anecdote above, exposure is meant to be built upon. You can\u2019t stop promoting and expect to keep selling books.<\/p>\n
I visited five blogs during my book tour\u2014all of them designed to attract readers for books such as my Klepto Cat Mystery series (Catnapped, Cat-Eye Witness<\/i> and Sleight of Paw<\/i>). Sales were brisk during the week of the tour. But just look at the possibilities as far as exposure for these books. If visitors to these blogs averaged even 30 each, that\u2019s 150 visitors who may or may not have heard of my series before. Add to that the people who stopped in that week at my own two blogs and my Facebook, Twitter and list promotion, as well as the promotion each blogger did. This number might reach as many as 500 or 5,000 or more. I sent my enewsletter with information about the tour to nearly 2,000 subscribers.<\/p>\n
I think that authors have difficulty taking exposure seriously because it isn\u2019t something concrete like sales. You never know just how many people have been affected by your promotional efforts and you probably never will. Exposure is not something you can typically touch, feel or measure. You have to trust that it is there working for you anytime you reach out to your audience\u2014your potential readers.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d love to hear\/read some of your stories around the theme of exposure. Have you experienced the results of exposure along your book promotion journey? How do you regard exposure\u2014how important is it to your efforts?<\/p>\n
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Thank you for the many comments with regard to my recent blog tour. Numbers of you were interested in the process and the results. Some of you are on the verge of doing a blog tour yourself sooner rather than later. I\u2019d like to hear how it goes. Keep me in the loop. I\u2019d also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t