Virtual book tour

Today is the last day of M. D. Benoit's virtual book tour (see yesterday's post about this) for her book Synergy.  She has some lovely things to say about the people she has "met" and the experience she has had.

The Internet a community? You’d better believe it.

This is the last stop of the virtual book tour for Synergy, and I’m pretty tired. I’m tired, and I never left my house. I’m pondering what a “physical” book tour would have taken out of me. A lot of authors have written about it: the fears, the disappointments, the triumphs (often rare) and the numbing exhaustion of being “on” all the time. I think they’re worse off than I am.

But, to my way of thinking, there’s another way that they’re worse off: in a lot of ways, a physical book tour is much more impersonal than a virtual one.

Usually, a publicist will organize the book tour, choose the cities, the bookstore, liaise with owners, do the publicity, etc. All the writer has to do is show up with a good pen and a smile. Bliss, you might think, and that’s what I did at the beginning of this endeavour. I’m a writer, I’d tell myself, not a marketer. Why do I have to do all of this stuff?

Throughout the two months I planned my book tour and book launch I asked myself the same thing over and over again. I had to put together a complete website with attractive features for people to visit. I had to find bloggers who might be willing to host me and my book and —oh, horror— had to ask them. I had to plan the process and how it would work. I had to wonder what these bloggers would get out of it.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the book tour. Of the fifteen bloggers I contacted, only two didn’t respond. Two declined gracefully, taking interest in the tour itself. And the eleven who accepted really got into it. They didn’t just pay lip service to the book tour. Granted, some did more than others, but all were enthusiastic and used their precious time to promote someone they barely knew in some cases, and in others, not at all. And they have no way of knowing whether what they did for me will have results at all.

Their generosity bowled me over. I’ve been having a problem with my local bookstores carrying my books, refusing almost rudely to have a signing. And here were eleven strangers who went out of their way to help me. What was that all about?

Upon reflection, I put it down to this new phenomenon. Some call it Web2, others social networking. I think it’s more than that. It’s a community. A global community of diverse people who communicate in a free environment. There’s a certain kinship associated with people who have the same interests. That’s why services such as LiveJournal, MySpace, LibraryThing, and a dozen others have been cropping up. As people, we need tribe, clan, family. The definition simply has changed when it’s on the Internet. It’s changed because it has transcended countries, races, backgrounds, even age. Over there, if you have credibility, no one cares about your financial status, your big or small house, the color of your skin. The use of avatars has seen to that. All you have are your words and how you use them. That’s how you’re evaluated.

This may be oversimplifying the issue, but, you know, I don’t care. I felt the power and generosity of this community, and I’m grateful for it. And, you know? I’d do the same if anyone asked. Life is weirder than fiction.

Comments

[Stephanie]

Regardless of all the talk going around now, I love the internet blogger community....especially the book/literary bloggers. I have made some exceptional friends here.

[Andrew Hartley]

I've always wanted to write a book... I used to start a horror/ghost story (ala Scooby Doo) periodically when I was in third or fourth grade. I never got very far.

But I've always liked to write, and I think that your virtual book tour is a FABULOUS way to get the word out about your book and to build community and a following around it (and you!).

Good luck in the future with any new adventures. I'll pick up your book soon!

Namaste,
Andrew

[Janet Grace Riehl]

This is wonderful news and good information. I hope that your energy pays off for the health of your book. And, of course, how perfect the process is for you--the synergy of it all.

Janet Grace Riehl, author "Sightlines: A Poet's Diary"
www.riehlife.com

[M. D. Benoit]

Hi Verna,

So glad to be here, on my last stop, with a good friend. I'll be here all day if anyone wants to comment.