Virtual author tours and book blog tours seem to have revolutionised how authors promote and sell their books. This is mainly as all of the promotion is done by word of mouth. Instead of visiting bookstores and meeting people by reading your book or answering questions, you meet the readers where they are - on the blogs sites that they frequent.

One beauty about this is that the tour is always current and there forever, unlike a ‘real’ tour. The interview, Q & A session, or guest post can be constantly referred back to. If you do a real tour, although people get to meet you in person, this is a fleeting moment, so the virtual book tour has many merits and it is a way of reaching out to many more people.

Make a plan of when to start and finish the tour. This can be anything from a few weeks to a month. Just have a definite start and finish date.

Next you need to compile a list of blogs with similar interests to your own and contact them. The most obvious choices are fellow authors or bloggers who write on a similar subject, especially if you have published a nonfiction book. Many fellow bloggers will be more than happy to accommodate you as they will see an increase in blog traffic and may therefore generate stakes in any work that they have published. They may also ask you to return the favour and host them on a book tour so the arrangement is mutually beneficial.

You then need to plan what the book tour will consist of. Most tours consist of a mixture of guest posts and interviews so ask the blogger what they would like to do; this is usually what they are most comfortable with. Many may decide to write a book review and quiz you about it.

Once you have a list of bloggers, you can assign dates to each and organise what material will be posted.

Book giveaways are also a must-have during the book blog tour. This can include the giving away of gift cards to Amazon or other book buying sites.

What is important to remember is that bloggers are not usually paid to be part of the blog tour, so this is good news for the author; however, they will gain an increase in blog traffic and more people will learn about their blog, so they have much to gain by hosting.

Once you have a book blog tour set up, you need to let people know about it, just as in any promotional tour. You need to give details about the blog tour on your author website and ask the participating bloggers to also advertise it for you. Word of mouth is everything. Booktour.com is also a useful website in which to list book blog tour events.

As a self-published author you need to put yourself out there and sell your book.