Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.
Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers! If you want to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either Midnyte Reader or For What It's Worth. We will be providing a linky at the end of our posts so people can "hop" to see all the participants answers.
Question: 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?
Unless it’s a tour for a very popular book (especially YA) or combined with a big giveaway I don’t notice a large increase in traffic.
It kind of makes me laugh when I get a pitch for a guest post that promises to “drive traffic” to my blog. They rarely do and I only accept guest posts because I’m either interested in the book/author or I think my followers would be. They’re actually a lot of work to put together so I wouldn’t bother otherwise.
The one problem I’ve run into a few times is realizing that the post sent to me was not original and had already been posted elsewhere. It never occurred to me that could happen. Otherwise I haven’t had any big problems hosting an author or tour….just a few annoyances such as them not including covers and links. That drives me crazy because then I have to spend a lot of time looking everything up myself. I also hate when you receive the post the day before it’s supposed to go up. Like I said these things can take awhile to format.
I came up with a list of guidelines for authors who want to guest post on my blog. I find it much easier for everyone that way. I have a specific post length, nothing R rated, that it must be an original post, how many links allowed etc. That has cut down on a lot of miscommunication and problems.
As a blog follower, are you ever turned off by these kinds of posts? How much publicity is too much?
I do think some of the tours and cover reveals get out of control. When my whole stream is filled with the same book on the same day I tend to get turned off rather than interested. But I know they work so I can’t really fault anyone for doing it.
I also don’t like tours that last 2-3 weeks or get bloggers to compete with each other. From what I’ve seen it gets really ugly which is definitely not something you want to see with a blog tour.
The really long tours don’t add a lot of information and the guest posts tend to be filler or all awesome reviews. I can see how it would get difficult for an author to come up with that many original posts so I think it benefits everyone to keep it on the shorter side.
*** I’m away for BEA but I will get back to all the comments and links!!
I get turned off when they tell me to this and that and then this. Sorry but no. And I do not like when I have gotten the same material. I mostly do interviews these days
ReplyDeleteOh yes, when you get everything the day before, that's irritating! Although by being very selective of the tours I participate in, I don't find that's an issue so much anymore - I know the author is either super-organised or the blog tour host is an organisational maniac ;)
ReplyDeleteQuote: "When my whole stream is filled with the same book on the same day I tend to get turned off rather than interested."
ReplyDeleteSame here. I thought it was because I'm a freak for original and unique things, so it's nice to hear this particular aspect of blogging is not a turn-off for me only :).
I think you adopted the safest (and sanest) policy when it comes to blog tours etc., especially considering that, apparently, there is a huge amount of work behind these things. If you are a well-organized blogger, that is. I know you think this is not the case with you, but to me, being well-organized doesn't mean scheduling twenty posts in advance...it means having the format and details right and clean...
I only work with one blog tour company and even then I won't schedule more than 2 a month. Now with the new FTC guidelines, I am not sure I am going to do anymore. I am still debating.
ReplyDeleteI have become picky to with blog tours and I really don't see an increase with traffic to the blog. I usually end working with one company too .
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, competitive tours are the very worst. That's not a good hoop to jump through, why would I want to "prove myself"? I want to post promotions that appeal to me & my followers hopefully. It'd be hard to try & fit into the "mould" for the sake of one tour host and/or book.
ReplyDeleteI haven't participated in Confessions for a really long time --- but this topic caught my attention. I'm looking forward to seeing what bloggers have to say on this, especially those who participate in tours.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
It's great to be back! I agree on the day before thing, I feel so much pressure especially if there are not links to the posts and information. But I love cover reveals only when they're not everywhere, but then how else would it be known?
ReplyDeleteIt can be really nervewarcking to try to come up with everything the night before and wondering if they forgot.
DeleteI think the big cover reveals work so that's why they do them....even if it annoys me lol
I said the same thing about sending all the info the day before! Wouldn't it be nice if we had a little time to get everything set up?
ReplyDeleteI've never had a situation where the coordinator didn't send me all the info (if anything, they send too much!), but I think I would be annoyed if I had to search down all the info for the post. Isn't that their job as coordinator?
Ooh! Good point about the too much! That's another problem and I think people glaze over after too much info.
DeleteI usually do cover reveals because a friend needs more blogger signed up. I'll also do them if it is a series I love.
ReplyDeleteAs far as book tours I do it for the same reason. Either I want to read the book or I think it has potential. I don't do it to drive traffic to the blog. Blog hops to a better job for that.
I used to sign up for more until I saw so much repetition on the same day. I'm not against it at all but for my own blog I would like to only participate if it's something I like or think my followers would like than just for the purpose of hits.
DeleteI meant to mention blog hops & giveaway hops. Those really do drive traffic to a blog.
A list of guidelines is a really good idea, Karen! I can understand your frustration if you didn't get all the links in the email :)
ReplyDeleteBlog tours and cover reveals don't bother me. Of course, I may only visit or comment on the first cover reveal i see of an interesting book, definitely not all of them.
That's how I am. I only comment on one or two and skip over the rest. I can only say so much about a cover reveal I see for the hundredth time lol
DeleteOh yeah, love those promises to increase traffic. They kind of make me laugh b/c I don't often think of those things. I really like the list of guidelines. Is it something you send to authors/publicists or is it on your site? I'm going to peruse around to see if I find it.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't on my blog but I'll send it to you.
DeleteYeah the promise to 'drive traffic' to the blog is mostly empty... anyway, as bloggers we're told not to worry about hits! It's so contradictory.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow many blogs that do cover reveals. I tend to save that for the big blogs who do weekly cover reveals of all the new releases etc, rather than blogs who do one at a time for promotion.
A list of guidelines for authors who want to post is a great idea, especially the original post part. I can't imagine receiving your information the day before - that must be super tough!
ReplyDeleteI'm always left wondering if they forgot the guest post. Then I get it a few hours before bed and I'm scrambling to format. Grrr
DeleteI love your idea of a list of guest post guidelines! That would help cut down on the author sending the same post to everyone. And I can't stand those tours that seem to last forever! Enough already!
ReplyDeleteIt never occurred to me that an author would send the same post to multiple bloggers. That doesn't look good for anyone really. Live and learn I guess lol
DeleteI agree--blog tours rarely drive up traffic for us, and when they do it's not a huge huge bump. The few tours we participate in are for the same reasons you listed--I like the book, or I like the author.
ReplyDeleteI loathe repeat content on tours as well, and I agree that oversaturating the blogosphere with too many cover reveals or tours that are too long can be counter-productive for both the author and the blogger. I thought I was pretty organized and clear about expectations, but over the course of the two tours that I've actually hosted, I know I definitely need to be more specific about expectations for content and timeline as well. Tours can be great, but they're also a lot of work--and there's no reason to go to all that effort unless it's going to yield results.
They are SO much work for everyone!
DeleteI hosted one once and I did a horrible job lol Never again.
I think this mass push of the same content on all blogs in one day backfires.
I've been kind of surprised at some of the things an author will send me for tours. Not much effort went into the posts. I know how difficult it can be, especially on long tours, but why bother at all at that point? A bland post isn't going to win over any new readers.
The not original post thing has happened to me and drove me insane. They gave me and a bunch of bloggers the same post and didn't answer me when I emailed them about it. I agree that shorter blog tours are way better too.
ReplyDelete