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FIRST Revolutionizes Virtual Book ToursBlog Alliance Helps Authors Promote Books
Authors utilize Virtual Books Tours to reach their audience and increase readership. Of the alliances created for this purpose, FIRST is among the best.
Nothing can replace meeting a fan face to face, but virtual book tours have much to offer. One day at a book signing puts authors in contact with hundreds of readers. A one-day virtual book tour reaches thousands. What is FIRST?To promote his book, Deliver Us From Evelyn, Chris Well recruited his blogging friends to post the first chapter on their blog. People loved the idea and wanted to do more books. He asked his friend Mimi Pearson to take the idea and create a blog alliance. That's how FIRST (Fiction in Rather Short Takes) was born. Two years later, the alliance membership is over 120 strong with more joining all the time. Popularity of Virtual Book Tours is enormous; numerous alliances organize and implement tours for authors and publishers. Most are fee based, which makes it tough for beginning authors and/or small publishing companies to afford these services. FIRST is free and while not alone as a non-fee service, most other free tours are genre specific.
Only one limitation can be found with FIRST; they don't tour self-published books. Not because they are any less worthy, but it's harder for self-published authors to fill the required amount of books for FIRST members to review. What Makes FIRST Different?While most blog tours post the back jacket blurb, a short bio of the author and maybe a Q&A, FIRST takes it a step further. The first chapter is posted to give readers a feel for the book. Author, Camy Tang, used another blog alliance in conjunction with FIRST. "With FIRST," Tang said. "I had several readers email me to say they 'read the first chapter on someone's blog' and it intrigued them so much that they bought my book." Pearson believes, "If one of the blogger's readers gets hooked by the FIRST chapter, they are more likely to want to read the rest of the book." Isn't that the purpose of a book tour, to gain new readers? Bloggers Participate With EaseMimi makes it easy to participate. She coordinates all aspects of the alliances including membership, tour dates and creates an html grab box for the bloggers to use on tour day. She organizes the mailing lists for authors/publishers to mail books to participants. The only exception is Wild Card tours. For those, she provides book and contact information; the bloggers express interest and submit their mailing address directly. Virtual book tours are wonderful resources for authors but they provide a valuable service for readers as well. Visit the FIRST website and check out some of the tours then search for one sponsored by another alliance and compare. Which one inspires you to buy the book or find out more about the author? Sources: Interviews with Camy Tang and Mimi Pearson were conducted by Missy Frye via email, April 2008.
The copyright of the article FIRST Revolutionizes Virtual Book Tours in Writer Networks is owned by Missy Frye. Permission to republish FIRST Revolutionizes Virtual Book Tours in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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