Six must haves for a blog tour post

These may seem pretty basic to a lot of you, but I have seen some self-published and small press authors who aren't aware, so I thought I'd share.

1) Links - link to everything you can including:

• Goodreads *
• Your website *
• Your Facebook fan page *
• Your Twitter account *
• The book buy links **
• Any other social media links you have.

2) An entertaining post - sounds simple, but you multiple of these across the whole blog tour. Vary them up and brainstorm with your friends. Some good ones to consider include:

• Author interview
• Character interview
• Guest posts (experiment here and come up with some left of centre topics).
• Reviews

3) A book blurb and cover pic - no eye rolling, I've seen this missed. The blog tour is trying to sell your book so they need to know what it's about.

4) Author bio and picture - again, sounds basic, but it's been missed before. Write it in the third person and sell yourself. Consider getting a professional photo taken, unless you rock at selfies like I do (that's out on my back veranda) --->

5) Call to action - you should always look to direct people to "do something" like buy your book, add your book on Goodreads or follow you on Twitter. This counts double if you're having a giveaway (and it is best to include a giveaway for your tour).

6) Buy links - yes I'm repeating this and that's because it's SO important. If you don't have buy links then you are missing out of impulse buys.

*If you don't have any of the first four links then you should seriously consider starting them up, but only if your committed to the upkeep requirements.

**It's best not to start the blog tour until the day your book is released if there's no pre-order option.

If in doubt, there are lots of book PR services companies/blog tour operators around who you can hire to schedule and assist with your blog tour for reasonable prices.

Done a blog tour before? I'd love for you to share your top tips for a successful blog tour.