So You Want an Online Book Tour: An Author's Guide to Online Book Tours by Jaime McDougall

So You Want an Online Book Tour: An Author's Guide to Online Book Tours by Jaime McDougall
InkyBlots Publications
Published: Oct 26, 2011
Ebook, pdf format, 30 pages

Every author wants great exposure for their book. Online marketing is currently bursting with innovative ways to market a book. As both an author and a book blogger myself, I see first-hand the evidence of how creating a buzz online will boost sales and excitement for the author.

Online book tours have become very popular in the last few years and I think every author should experience this kind of tour. Jaime McDougall has written the second book in her So You Want series for authors who aren't familiar with online book tours or just want to know more about them before signing on with a tour company or coordinating their own.

This Smashwords ebook edition is a simple but effective guide for authors who want a quick run-down of what online book tours are and how they work. Although I coordinated my own online book tour for my book Daughter of Mine and I'm a host for several tour companies, I still learned a few things I didn't know. This guide is short and ideal for the author who doesn't want to read a thick book about online marketing but just wants a compact, easy-to-read guide only about tours at the very affordable price of 1.99$. I easily read it within a couple of hours.

McDougall adopts a friendly tone as she writes. She guides you on what to do before, during and after a tour. She includes a Link Index for easy access to tour companies, blog directories, podcast/chat/radio sites and book trailer companies. She also includes a FAQ at the end of some chapters that are helpful. Best of all McDougall is honest and this allows for the author to decide what is best in his case--to go at it solo or to hire the services of an online book tour company.

If you are an author contemplating an online book tour or you're a book blogger who wants to know more about online book tours, this book is a good guide.

You can buy the Kindle version or Smashwords edition.

Disclosure: Thanks to the author for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

A New Year, A New NouveauWriter...Change Ahead

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't posted in a while. Okay, two months to be exact.  (There. I said it. *phew*) In the blog world, a stagnant blog becomes a dead blog. I don't want that to happen to NouveauWriter. Not after all the hard work I put into it!

Back in September, I experienced some changes in my secular working schedule, namely I lost a lot of free time. Besides being a writer, I'm a Special Care Counsellor now working more in the field with seniors experiencing Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. I've got two young kids. I teach and I also volunteer. My days are full. Initially, I thought it would be best to give up NouveauWriter altogether but as time passed and my follower list grew, (how did that happen?) I realized that what I really want to do is bring about changes to NouveauWriter that better reflect what I am currently doing.

In the last year,

• I have been working more closely with publishers, publicists and authors. This has allowed me to see new trends in writing and publication. Are you keeping up?
• I am reading more books and posting the reviews on my other blog Library of Clean Reads and other review sites.
• I am now also part of Montreal Book Bloggers and have designed our website. We are a group of bloggers who get together regularly, talk about books and publishing news, and support authors. You can connect with us on our Facebook page.
• I am hosting reading challenges to discover more of the books I love and to push myself to read different genres. You can learn more about the challenges by visiting Time Travel Reading Challenge, Short Story Reading Challenge and the I Love Italy Reading Challenge. I hope you join me in challenging your reading!

So what are the changes I want to implement? In the next couple of weeks I will:

• revamp this blog to reflect these changes
• post articles not only geared to new writers, but also authors and readers
• make this blog more personalized, post more about my reflections as an author
• still accept guest posts
• make an effort to post on a regular basis, aiming at once or twice a week

I'm excited about this change! I hope those of you who have faithfully followed my journey will continue to support me and benefit from these changes. 

Here's what's coming up in the next week:

• The Savvy Reader Book Pledge
• So You Want an Online Book Tour: An Author's Guide to Online Book Tours (Book Review)
• Guest Post

Feel free to tell me what you think of all this. I always love to hear from my readers.