Book Blog Tours

OK - let me get the ball rolling. I've used My Reading Addiction Blog Tours several times. They have some reasonable packages, offer tours for a variety of genres, and you can specify what you type of feature you prefer (reviews, guest blog posts, interviews, etc). I like using them but I'd also like more tour company options, especially ones that specialize in specific genres. Share if you know any!
Here's the My Reading Addiction link:
http://readingaddictionvbtreviews.blogs … audra.html

The blog tour companies I have worked with didn't have live chats that I know of, but there are usually some comments from readers at various stops. Some review sites get lots of traffic. The reviews are quite helpful, especially if they post them to Amazon & Goodreads.

I have seen live chats & forums in Yahoo Groups. Coffee Time Romance & Love and Romance Cafe are two such reader groups my publisher is affiliated with. I am sure there are other groups that represent other genres as well that provide promo forums & live chat opportunities.

The tour is that every day for a period of time, your book is featured in some way on various blogs. Each blog has regular readers, so you get exposure. It is good form for the author to check out each feature & leave a comment, responding to any comments left by others when appropriate. I always promote each stop on my website, fanpage, etc so my followers can see the reviews & hopefully be convinced to buy my latest book. My friends often share the links to particularly stunning reviews, leading to more exposure. But no - there's not a lot of direct interaction. I know authors who plan their own tours - asking bloggers for reviews & features to promote a new release. A tour company takes the legwork out of it, but there's a fee.

I'll repost this comment when the conversation is moved to the new marketing group.

I've used several tour companies: Bewitching Book Tours, Orangeberry, and the Masquerade Crew.  All of them have had their strengths & weaknesses. I think it's really important to pick a tour option that will connect you to book blogs frequented by your target audience; otherwise, you'll be paying for a lot of exposure to all the wrong readers.

My favorite tour option for my fantasy series has been The Magic Appreciation Tour. This is not a company, but a network of magical fantasy authors who are willing to host each other for blog tours. You do some of the legwork yourself in terms of lining up dates & sites, but it's free of charge and in my case, hits just the audience I'm looking for.

In the context of the new marketing group, perhaps we could set up a similar exchange among interested members? Just a thought. I regularly host many of the authors I've met through tNBW on my blog, and would be happy to host more.