Do it Yourself Blog Tour, by Ane Mulligan

While a large, floppy straw hat is her favorite, Ane has worn many different ones: hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist), drama director, playwright, humor columnist, and multi-published novelist. Her lifetime experience provides a plethora of fodder for her Southern-fried fiction (try saying that three times fast). She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two of the four major food groups. President of the award-winning literary site, Novel Rocket, Ane resides in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband, chef son, and a wooly mammoth…uh, English mastiff. You can find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Novel Rocket, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+.

  DIY Blog Tour

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan

Some of you may be fortunate enough to hire a blog tour manager and let them do all the work. I couldn’t afford that for my debut book. So how did I do my own? I’m glad you asked.

First of all, I used the time prior to getting contracted wisely. I built networks. I featured other writers on my blogs. So when it came my turn, I had the network in place.

So, how do you organize and plan a blog tour? Step by step and keep good notes.

• · Start three months prior to your release date. Don’t wait until the month of your release. You’ll find everyone already booked.


• · Get a calendar large enough to make notations. It can be a paper calendar or one on your computer.


• · Choose your dates. I started a few days before my release and booked blogs for 30 days.


• · Check the list of names you’ve been gleaning over the years. Review their blogs and ask them to host you, offering to give away a copy of your book.


• · Ask the host what they want form you: Interview or article?


• · Have all interviews and articles completed two months out. It will save a lot of hair pulling.


• · Start a spreadsheet. List the date, blog name of the host, the URL, and what you sent (interview or article). Are you doing a giveaway? Put a check in that column. I was on 89 blogs in my 30-day tour. The spreadsheet kept me sane.


• · One month prior to the guest post, send the host your article/interview. Don’t forget your short bio, back cover copy, your headshot and book cover. A word on headshots: be professional. You’re a published author now.


• · Be a good guest and answer any comments left for you during the day of and through a couple of days after your guest post.


• · Get the giveaways out to the winners right away. Be sure to ask them to post a review if they like the book.

♦ ♦ ♦

So, writers, are you ready to set up your book blog tour? Do you have any questions? Ask Ane in the comment section below. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to help. Don’t forget to join the conversation!

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Chapel Springs Survival

Claire Bennett's Operation Marriage Revival succeeded and life is good. That is until the mayor's brother blabs a secret: Claire's nineteen-year-old son has wed a Brazilian mail order bride. When Claire tries to welcome her, she's ridiculed, rebuffed, and rejected. Loving this girl is like hugging a prickly cactus. Lydia Smith is happily living alone and running her spa—then the widow on the hill becomes a blushing bride. Then her groom's adult son moves in—on everything. With her son's future at stake and the town's problems to solve, it's Claire's who needs a guardian angel.