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Do Virtual Tours Really Help?

I'm happy to say the World of Ink Author/Book Tours that we started at Stories for Children Publishing have been pretty successful. We did two in December and now we have one going on this month as well. Both authors in the Dec. 2010 World of Ink Tours said they had a lot of traffic to their sites, sold a few books and felt they really made a dent in their online presence/social networking.

For those who have been wondering if virtual tours help or not, I have to say they do help. But they are only one tool in your marketing plan. I also did a virtual tour last month for my picture book "Babysitting Sugarpaw". I sold a few copies, did a couple of giveaways on mommy blogs, but what I noticed was the traffic to my author site and the emails from schools for visits increased by 15%!

That was really nice. I'm currently lining up some visits for the Spring, so I'll have to let you know how those turn out later.

Anyway, if you would like to follow a virtual tour to see what they are about here is a blurb on the one I currently have going on through Stories for Children Publishing.

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. A regular contributor for Writer2Writer, her articles focus on increasing productivity through time management and organization. A founding member of Musing Our Children, Ms. Malandrinos is also Editor in Chief of the group’s quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens.   

Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. Little Shepherd is her first children’s book. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two young daughters. She also has a son who is married.

Jan. 2011 World of Ink Tour Guest Cheryl Malandrinos is doing a virtual book tour of her children's picture book, "Little Shepherd". Learn more about Cheryl and her book at http://storiesforchildrenpublishing.com/CherylMalandrinos.aspx

You can find her tour schedule at the link above. If you do stop by, please leave a comment so we know you did.

I'll also keep you up to date on how the virtual author/book tours go with the World of Ink Tours along with my own trails and successes this year.

Also, don't forget every Wed. is our guest post and every Friday is an interview with others who are traveling down the road to publication. I'm planning to share some insight on the SFC Team this month so be sure to stop by so you can learn about those who help me behind the scenes of Stories for Children Publishing, LLC.

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