Judging Your Virtual Book Tour's Success

As a virtual book tour coordinator, I often hear from clients or potential clients, "How can I judge my virtual book tour's success?"

One might say, "If I don't sell books, then my VBT was a waste of money." While one of the goals of a VBT is to increase sales, there's a lot more to consider than that.

I wrote an article in October 2010 titled, "Why Virtual Book Tours Work." I discussed the impact my virtual book tour--which was about 4 weeks in when I penned the article--had on my search engine rankings. As I mentioned in that article, a successful VBT will increase your online exposure.

Now, keep in mind that my second VBT ended on January 26, 2011. Yet, when I type "Little Shepherd" into Google, the first result is my book at Amazon.

I also had two results further down on Page 1 and two results on Page 2.

When I type "Little Shepherd" into Bing, the other search engine I use regularly, the 6th result is the book's Amazon page, and there are 2 other results further down the page. The second page also comes up with 1 hit. We directed buyers to Amazon for sales, which sure made a difference. My book hit the Amazon bestsellers list in its category 7 times between September and December 2010. Most of that time, I was on a virtual book tour.

When I type "Cheryl Malandrinos" into Google, the 4th and 6th results are from  my VBT and there are 5 hits on the second page.

In Bing, the last 6 results on Page 1 are from my tours and 6 more results appear on Page 2.

If I type "Little Shepherd by Cheryl Malandrinos" into Google or Bing most of the results are also from my VBTs. All these results will help me reach potential readers, and I have my VBTs to thank for it.

While I had several contacts prior to coordinating my own VBT, I've meet several new bloggers as a result of touring with my book. Some have become hosts of Pump Up Your Book because they toured my book first, and others now follow my blogs and I follow theirs.

Networking is an important aspect of a VBT that can't be ignored. The more people you know online, the more people you have the potential to reach online. When your next book comes out, you'll also be able to get in touch with these bloggers again, and maybe get some help promoting that book.

Another way to judge the success of your VBT is whether you come away with a few review blurbs that can be used on your website or added to promotional materials. If you can say, "yes," then you had a good tour.

Virtual book tours, just like any promotional tool, can't guarantee sales. They provide the exposure, the networking, and reviews that you need to get your name and the title of your book noticed.

Why Virtual Book Tours Work

I began coordinating virtual book tours (VBTs) before they were very popular. Three years later, I have managed tours for nearly 100 authors, spanning over 125 books. There are still a lot of questions out there about virtual book tours, but one of the topics that keeps coming up is, "Do virtual book tours sell books?"

My personal feeling is that a virtual book tour alone, without any push from the author, will not sell books unless that author is someone like Stephen King, Jerry Jenkins, or John Grisham.

So, what's all the hullabaloo about virtual book tours? Why bother coordinating one for your book or paying someone to coordinate a VBT for you?

Promotional vehicles for unknown or relatively unknown authors are used to create exposure for their books. These vehicles don't guarantee anyone will buy those books, but I've never seen any marketing tool that can 100% guarantee you'll sell anything.

I had experienced some decent sales online and from friends and family when my book first came out. Amazon's original stock of Little Shepherd was depleted and they ordered more. People sent me emails stating they purchased the book from Barnes & Noble.com or they asked me to mail them autographed copies from my stock.

This was great. I felt happy and proud. When I searched  my book on Goggle by the title, however, it was hard to find Little Shepherd on the first three pages.

I embarked upon a virtual book tour on October 4th. After only 17 days on tour, look at the results I'm getting now by typing Little Shepherd into Google:

I have results on Page 1, and also pages 2 and 4. Not bad.

Let's take a look at Bing, which is what I prefer to use:

I come in as the 2nd result on Page 1, and the next three results are stops from my virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book. If I keeping going, I also appear on pages 3, 4, and 5.

My name is also a keyword, but before the tour started I could find results for articles I had written and groups I belong to, but not many tied into the book. Now when I search for "Cheryl C. Malandrinos" in Google, nearly the entire first page has a tie in to Little Shepherd, whether it be a link to to my website, a tour stop, my book trailer for Little Shepherd on YouTube, or a post from the publisher's blog.

The first page of results in Bing wasn't as impressive as Google's, but 3 results had book tie ins, 2 results on the second page, and 3 results on the third page. To be honest, however, I haven't really concentrated on my name as much for a keyword, because I assume Little Shepherd would be a heck of a lot easier to remember than my eleven-letter Greek last name.

One thing I must also point out is that I increased my blogging efforts as soon as Guardian Angel released the book; I purchased my own domain name and created a new website through WordPress; and sought out additional opportunities to be a guest at other people's blogs. In addition, since my virtual book tour started, I have blogged here every day.

Do I believe virtual book tours work? Yes, I do. The proof is in black and white.

When combined with additional efforts from the author, virtual book tours are a very powerful way to create exposure for your book.