Most authors know the hardships of a tour: you travel incessantly, spend hours in the bookstore hoping more than four people show up, and spend thousands of dollars to sell dozens of books. A tour can be beneficial for authors who travel for business, but it doesn�??t make sense for everyone, especially with rising fuel prices. Authors are looking for new ways to reach out to a mass audience, and blogging has become a great way to connect with audiences on a personal level without having to travel extensively. You can take it a step further, though, and organize a blog tour to promote yourself, your book, and your message to varied audiences. Bloggers hold an increasing amount of power in today�??s market, and with a few simple steps you can be on your way to virtual touring.

The first step is to create your own blog. You can blog about anything you want, and there are certainly some strange ones out there, but the best idea is to write about topics tied to the content of your book�??and keep writing about them as often as possible. The most popular blogs tend to include current news in their postings, and if you can tie in your message with those postings, all the better. Joining a blogging network such as BlogHer also helps you connect with other authors and can give you links to future guest spots on other blogs. Many blogging networks also host meet and greets every year, another great way to get in contact with potential reviewers.

Organize a blog tour or host a tour on your own blog. You can build a network of authors and cross-pollinate your audiences to reach readers you might not have access to through your own blog. By hosting a tour, you can bring new traffic to your website. By touring other blogs, you automatically give yourself credibility with that blog’s audience through the recommendation of its owner. There are professional tour organizers out there, but you can also do it yourself with a little elbow grease and determination.

Tim Ferriss, author of the bestselling The 4-Hour Work Week, writes about his successes with blog touring in lieu of traditional touring on his own blog. While he is obviously a great example of the extremes that online marketing can bring you, other authors can certainly enjoy various degrees of success with little or no monetary input.

There are many ways to get your message out there, but the key to any good tour is to be inventive and persistent. Consumers are bombarded with advertisements every second of the day, and in order to make your message stand out you�??re going to have to think outside of the box. Way, way outside of the box.

It�??s great to know that your newsletter subscribers actually want to read what you send out. They have chosen to receive your daily, weekly, or monthly updates. So treat them nice and offer them something of value.

Here are some basic things to keep in mind when sending an eNewsletter.

Define your purpose: This should be the first thing you establish before sending. Determine the purpose of the week�??s newsletter and then make sure it is clear throughout. The whole point of e-mail marketing is to get an idea across to as many people as possible. Take advantage of this and truly spend time developing the specific idea you want to convey. Then include the most important information at the top of the e-mail. That way, it will appear in the preview pane and catch the attention of the reader.

Let them know it�??s you: Always include your name or brand in the �??from�?? and �??subject�?? lines. These are the first things recipients see, and they need to recognize instantly that the e-mail came from a reputable source. Use very specific and consistent language so they know not to delete it or move it to their spam folder.

Follow the rules: Speaking of spam, it is essential that you comply with CAN-SPAM laws. Send your newsletter only to people that have �??opted in,�?? and be sure to include an option for them to �??opt out�?? of receiving future e-mails.

Do some quality control: Make sure you always proofread your text, verify the message of the e-mail, check all links to make sure they work, offer a plain-text version and an html version so that everyone can read it, and send to the correct mailing list. These are some basic quality-control methods to make sure your newsletter is up to standard. It’s always a good idea to have another pair of eyes look over the newsletter before you hit �??send�?? to catch anything you might have missed.

Make sure to keep it fresh: People are flooded with e-mails every day, so it�??s very important to keep your newsletter interesting. Include links to your corresponding websites and blogs, add multimedia content, and allow readers to give feedback and share your newsletter with others. It is vital that you are not just using your newsletter as a sales pitch for your book. You want to offer useful and interesting content for the subscribers so they know they have something new to view every time they receive your e-mails.

Give it some personality: Determine your newsletter�??s personality type. Is your newsletter a straightforward business type or does it have a more easygoing and casual vibe? Once this is established, make sure you stay consistent. Most e-mail marketers will also have corresponding websites. Keep with the look or the �??brand�?? featured on the site so that the newsletter and website match up. This is a great way to build brand recognition. Also include something personal in your newsletter, perhaps some quick background information on yourself or the company. Personalize it so it seems approachable to the reader.

Always be on time: It�??s a good idea to set a delivery time you think works best for your readers. What day of week and time of day seem to be most appropriate for them to receive your newsletter? Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and after 9:00 a.m. PST is normally preferred. You want your readers to get in the office, clean out spam, and start the day before you hit them with an important message. Once you have the time established, stick to it! Your readers should know when to expect your newsletter in their inboxes.

Okay, so now you�??re ready to send your newsletter but have no idea how to manage your ever-growing contact list. There are countless e-mail marketing services that can help. Make sure that you research several companies before committing to one to ensure it fits your newsletter needs.

Happy sending!

Ideally, the way an author looks should have no bearing on the content of a book, but it’s natural to wonder what someone looks like after becoming wrapped up in the workings of his or her mind�??and there’s no doubt that a little sex appeal goes a long way when it comes to book promotion. (Some claim that it’s not uncommon for big publishers to ask for a headshot before striking a deal; others say this isn’t the case.) Fortunately, readers usually size up their authors from little thumbnail-sized windows on back covers and flaps, and�??unless you’re Thomas Pynchon or something�??it’s hard to look too bad.

As in the DFW example, one of the best things about author photos is that they give you a chance to give off calculated authorial vibes. Are you a black-turtlenecked poet? A tweedy pipe-smoking professor? A no-nonsense entrepreneur? You can’t change the face life dealt you, but you can have a big effect on the way readers perceive you and your work with accoutrements and subtleties of expression: a puppy, horn-rimmed glasses, a slight curl of the lip. Think about the persona you want to develop with your photo, and think about how it relates to the content of your book. You could:

• Cause a furor with the languorous-debut-novelist look like Truman Capote. (Although he claimed to be mortified by the uproar, many report that Capote chose the pose himself. He developed a very different aesthetic later. But this frayed-sweater, please-stop-the-voices-in-my-head look is my favorite.)

• Accentuate your eccentricity with some zany hair, ala Malcolm Gladwell.

• Wear a jean jacket to subtly emphasize your populist message like Stephen King.

• Underscore the vibrant multiculturalism of your work with an ethnic headdress like Zadie Smith. (But watch out for imposters.)

And keep the basics we’ve already told you in mind. Unless you’re a household name, avoid putting yourself on the cover. And hire a professional. It’s sad to see nice-looking authors who look like they had their photo shoot done in a Sunday school classroom under florescent lights. Trust us, it’s worth it.

Ranktracer also offers promotions on its own site and Amazon’s, which you may or may not find useful. Size it up with the other Amazon tracking sites and let us know which one you find most functional. (Ranktracer does charge a small fee, which is, hint, waiveable if you have a blog.)

Ranktracer tells visitors all about Amazon sales ranks and what can be done with them on the front page of its site, and�??while much of the information is eerily familiar�??it brings up a good point: The rank, although visible to any Joe Schmoe lurking the web, can be a powerful market research tool. The ranks of your niche competitors are available at any time to help feel out what’s happening in your genre. It’s a good idea to request that a rank-tracking site add competitors to its database early; none of the sites can retrieve data from before tracking on that item was initiated.

Also, if you don’t have access to BookScan, but want an idea of whether that promotion did anything at all, check for drops in your rank after marketing or publicity activity. Not incredibly accurate, but it might help you gauge what works and what doesn’t.

Alternatively, you could distribute defamatory pamphlets about a close competitor and check their graph for spikes. Either way, comprehensive sales rank data can be very helpful.

But as Oprah�??s club rose to prominence in the late nineties, the Brits watched and saw room for improvement. In 2004, husband-and-wife talk show hosts Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan launched a book club of their own�??but they didn�??t want to directly emulate Oprah. The club�??s founder and book selector, Amanda Ross, accuses Ms. Winfrey of being �??sugary�?? and �??sycophantic�?? to her authors. Ross takes pride in the Richard and Judy Book Club�??s authenticity; she�??ll readily admit that she regrets putting Monica Ali�??s Brick Lane on the list, a book that neither she, Judy, or Richard liked. And the show also runs celebrity reviews of the selected books, some of which have been largely negative and ended up hurting sales. Ross claims to resist any influence from eager publishers as well, and insists that she takes her responsibility very seriously. One gets the sense that she hopes to establish an open discourse about the books on the list�??a far cry from the suffocating intimacy between Oprah and her chosen few. (Witness her emotional rage at the �??betrayal�?? of James Frey and the spurning of Jonathan Franzen.)

Ross�??widely acknowledged as the most powerful person in the UK book world�??chose a summer reading list that was unveiled on the Richard and Judy program yesterday. The list is comprised mainly of writers at the beginning of their careers. So, if you already powered through A New Earth and are now just waiting, thumbs twiddling, for the next edict from on high, why not check out a few of these?

Of course, there are problems with the whole TV-book-club thing (narrowing of the market, consolidation of tastemaking, the development of a populace dependent on someone to tell them what to read, to name a few) but here are a few reasons I prefer the Richard-and-Judy model to Oprah�??s:

• There are more books. While it may be more climactic and exciting to unveil only a few books a year, and the reading-list format of Richard and Judy is decidedly scholastic, the books get more room to breathe in greater numbers. Oprah says, You GOTTA read this!!! Dick and Judy say, Well hello. Here are some books we think are worth taking a look at . . .
  

• The selections are diverse, and usually contemporary. Sure it�??s cool to see Steinbeck top the bestseller lists, but, man, he already had his chance! And Ross’s choices often allow for elbow-rubbing between the literary and the borderline lowbrow, creating an interesting space for the openminded reader.

• There�??s no pressure for readers to like the book. As Ross suggests above, Richard and Judy aren�??t beholden to the authors, and there�??s not the pressure of a heartfelt sit-down with the author to sway readers’ interpretation of the book itself.

Oh, Richard and Judy also have a wine club. This makes discussing the books significantly more pleasant.

1. The No Asshole Rule: Editors, authors aren�??t trying to push every one of your buttons, and authors, editors aren�??t trying to remove all of the personality from your writing. So let�??s keep the snide remarks, the thinly veiled judgments, and the condescension out of the editorial process. And if you feel yourself writing a note, memo, or email in anger or frustration, wait a while and reread it before you send it on. Oh, and read The No-Asshole Rule.

2. The Be Reasonable Rule: Yes, there are rules of grammar. And yes, there are guidelines for style. But the guidelines are just that: guidelines. They are not the Ten Commandments. Nobody will go to Hell for breaking them. And as much as I believe in the Chicago Manual of Style, think about how many ambiguous guidelines it offers up or how many changes they make from one edition to the next. So, editors, to quote my favorite style guide, �??when a writer expresses a strong preference for a style that�??s reasonable and harmless, there isn�??t much point in fighting over it, especially if he has already prepared the manuscript consistently with that style.�?? And authors, give your editors a break and don�??t ask them to break too many �??rules.�?? There�??s a pretty good reason for most of them, and we editors like our rules.

3. The Mutual Respect Rule: Editing should be a collaborative process based on mutual respect. The editor should respect the author�??s expertise and passion. The author should respect the editor�??s expertise and passion. Let�??s establish two assumptions on which to base the editor-author relationship: (1) Everybody is doing their best to create a manuscript that is as good as it can be. (2) Nobody is infallible.

And remember, without authors, there would be no editors, and without editors, we�??d be reading books with typos, dangling modifiers, poorly executed plot arcs . . .

1) Use �??Tips�?? as part of your segment! If your topic offers helpful advice then tips are a great way to communicate your message. Television producers want to provide their viewers with useful content presented in a manner that is easy to understand. Develop five tips that solve a problem your topic addresses. Are you a fitness guru with a unique formulation for fat loss? Then offer five fat burning tips! Does your book offer advice about how to live a happier life? Then come up with 5 ways to live happier today!

2) If you�??re pitching local TV, find the local angle. Local network affiliates are extremely valuable, so a great method to grab the producer’s interest is to find the local tie-in for your topic. If you are a real estate guru, before going on air do your homework and find out what the real estate market is like in that city. Have you written a book about the American economy? Be prepared to talk about the economic climate in that particular city. By highlighting a local angle, your interview will resonate more with the host and the viewers.

3) Don’t be monotone. It doesn’t work. The alteration of pitch and tone in your voice will keep your audience interested. Stay animated. It’s not only what you say, but how you say it that counts!

4) Prepare for personal questions. The job of a producer is to do research for the host about you and your topic, in preparation of your interview. If simple web research unearths two previous bankruptcies and you are promoting a CD series on how to make millions . . . be prepared! Often the best comeback is a real and even comical answer. It will not only endear you to the audience but can deflect the tone of an antagonistic interviewer.

5) Don’t overload your interview with statistics. Use stats and numbers wisely. For example, if you have written a book about natural methods of preventing diabetes, the fact that 20.8 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes is important. But if you also mention that 85,000 diabetics have their feet amputated and 12 million people will go blind from it, these statistics will create more of an emotional impact on the host and viewers.

6 ) Double-check your contact information. Before you go on-air, make sure your website is up, your toll free phone number is working and you have a list of the retail outlets where your book can be purchased. Why? If you share the incorrect contact information during your interview, you defeat the whole purpose of your appearance. Also, if you give a great interview and viewers can�??t find your book, the TV station will get overloaded with calls from viewers asking for information�??and reflects poorly on you as a guest.

7) Record and critique your interviews. Watch your interview numerous times and observe the different elements of your performance. How well did you answer the questions? Did your clothes send the right message? What did your body language say about you? Did you seem natural or rehearsed? Did you remember all of your sound bites? Did you interrupt the host? Identify the points you felt were weak and do whatever you can to strengthen them before your next interview.

Look good / feel good. Sleep and good nutrition are obviously important to our daily mental and physical well being; it makes us look better, feel better, and think clearly. But these health points are even more important when you factor in the stress of an important media interview. So try to get a good night�??s sleep�??and a healthy breakfast before your interview. Don’t overdose on the caffeine either! You want to be at the top of your game for your TV appearance.

9) Be gracious on and off the air. Remember to thank the host for the interview while you’re still on-air. Make sure to thank the producer as well. It�??s also a good practice to send a brief thank you note to the host and the producer. It�??s good manners and presents you as a consummate professional. It can also increase your chances of being remembered in the future, when they need to interview an expert on your topic.

10) Prepare for the pre-interview. When it comes to national TV, you may be asked for a �??pre-interview�??. Don�??t take this lightly. Be prepared with your message; be energetic, informative and appropriately entertaining. The interview isn�??t completely secured until you pass this test!

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free e-book, How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest, visit emsincorporated.com.

Let’s be honest: there are some atrocious book covers out there. The really bad part is that often the creator of the cover is utterly blind to its faults. Like proverbial faces beloved only of mothers, these covers make their designers’ hearts swell�??at the same time that they elicit snickers from the unbiased.

Here at Greenleaf, we believe in telling someone when they’ve got a big piece of spinach in their teeth. And we also know that�??while it may seem shallow�??nothing charms a prospective buyer more effectively than crackerjack packaging. That’s why we created RateMyBookCover.com. Upload your cover (it’s absolutely free) and, much like Internet dinosaur HotOrNot.com, the crowds will let you know what they think of your image on a scale of 1 to 10.

Scientific? Authoritative? Kind? RateMyBookCover.com is none of these things, but we nevertheless think it will give you an invaluable glimpse into what people (other than your friends and family) think of your cover. Whether you’re a seasoned designer or Joe Self-Publisher who came up with a great homemade concept in Microsoft Paint, RateMyBookCover.com gives you an objective perspective on the face your book will show the world.

Keep in mind that content is, as always, king. But if your cover doesn’t reflect the quality behind it, you have crippled the title’s appeal to a consumer�??and drastically reduced your chances of getting in a bookstore in the first place. Check it out, and don’t forget to let your fellow authors and designers know what you think of their ideas.

Ever watch morning TV and think, “Hey, I can do that!” Well the truth is that if you have a book, product, or service to promote to consumers, there is absolutely no reason why you can’t appear as a guest on TV!

But what does it take to be a good guest? Here are five simple tips to get you started and help you capitalize on the valuable airtime at your disposal:

1) Don’t overdo the makeup, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, both women and men are repeat offenders in this category. There’s no need to go to the station with a full face of make-up. You’ll find most producers are prepared to give you a quick once-over when you arrive so that you look good for the cameras. Shallow as it may sound, it’s hard for viewers to take you seriously if they’re too busy zeroing in on a face that’s overly made-up.

2) Check your props. As TV is all about visuals (no matter what your topic is) it’s likely you’ll have some kind of props for your interview. Take stock of them before the interview to make sure they’re in good shape with all parts intact. For example, if you’re conducting a “how-to” demonstration, ensure your equipment and tools are clean and at the ready. If you’ll be using the station’s stove for a cooking segment, make sure it works. If your prop is your book, hold it on your lap with an un-tattered front cover facing the audience.

3) Stay seated! When your interview draws to a close and it appears that the camera has stopped focusing on you, don’t stand up and take off your microphone! It’s the job of the floor manager to remove the mic for you and give you the all-clear to leave. By leaving prematurely, you could run the risk of ruining a perfectly good camera shot and coming off as an unprofessional guest.

4) Speak in a conversational manner. When people get nervous about being on camera, they tend to speak too fast and sometimes tense up�??which can be very distracting for the audience. To relieve the nervous tension, you first need to get comfortable. Look around and get familiar with the studio and set. Introduce yourself to the host, producer, and camera crew. Locate where you’ll be seated during the interview. Then, when the interview starts, you’ll feel less like you’re in a strange environment. You’ll look more at ease and feel like the ultimate pro!

5) No arguing! Unless you are on a show that thrives on arguing, being combative on a show is not suggested. Your goal as a guest is to win over the audience; something that can be tricky if a question makes you feel angry or combative. If you’ve been ambushed with a nasty question, remain dignified and answer calmly. Losing your temper won’t boost your credibility; plus, it makes you look defensive, which is definitely not the best position to be in when trying to promote your message.

So there you have it! A good solid start in making the most of your time on the air!

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free e-book, How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest, visit emsincorporated.com.