A Word On Virtual Book Tours

In the past month, the concept of a "virtual book tour" has crossed my path three different times from three different directions.

What's a virtual book tour?

An author, instead of traveling from city to city to talk about her book, takes to the Internet and goes on tour via numerous blogs.

The author arranges a long list of bloggers who agree to write about the book. Sometimes, the blogger simply reviews the book. Other times the blogger hosts a Q & A with the author.

If the author plans her virtual tour well, her name and book title will cut a wide swath through cyber space, stopping at blogs penned from different countries with different themes and different audiences. In this way, the author can cover quite a bit of ground and garner quite a bit of buzz without ever leaving her home.

It makes sense that the traditional book tour has turned toward the cyber path. A real-live book tour is expensive -- the airfare, the hotels, the eating out.

A door-to-door book tour is also unpredictable. A book store might advertise an event, but there is never a guarantee as to how many readers will show up. Enough to warrant the plane ticket?

Besides, once a Q & A is posted online, it's there for any potential reader to google and find, whether it's that day, a day later or a full year down the line.

And anyway, bloggers have been reviewing their reads online since blogging began. Is a virtual book tour so different?

I wonder. A virtual book tour is certainly more "controlled" than the random reviewing by Joe-blogger out there.

I guess I'm going to have my chance to find out, as in a few days this space will be a stop on a virtual book tour.

Photo - illustration © Peter Sis from the book "House of Paper."