When I first saw the stunning cover for Over Raging Tides, I knew that I wanted it to be seen. What’s more, I knew that it had “Bookstagram tour” potential. The cover is indiscernible from many traditionally published covers, so I knew that a Bookstagram tour for it would pop on Instagram.

To reach some readers, I needed Over Raging Tides to be seen on visual platforms. Engaged readers are increasingly visually oriented. Well–they likely always have been. We’re visual creatures, us humans! We enjoy beautiful things. We judge on cover appeal.

In the case of Bookstagram, if the visual appeal of a cover is enough, a “Bookstagrammer” may be motivated enough to create a visually stunning Bookstagram post of your book. But I wanted to ensure that my book was seen by those avid readers. So I decided to pursue a Bookstagram tour.

Organizing your Bookstagram tour:

Decide on your budget. Some considerations:

• You may find some Bookstagrammers open to taking photographs of an ebook, but the majority prefer physical copies. This means you’ll need to either have physical copies already on hand, or order some stock. You’ll be sending the Bookstagrammers your book at no cost to them. Remember: they’re doing you a favor!
• If you hire a company to coordinate the Bookstagram tour for you, you’ll save time, but you’ll have to pay them their (well-deserved!) fee.
• Are you open to International Bookstagrammers? Keep in mind that international shipping costs a pretty penny, while the U.S. media mail option for books is very affordable.
• Are you offering a giveaway? U.S. or international? The same stock and shipping considerations apply here.

Decide on your goals

This is important in deciding who will coordinate the Bookstagram tour! Which is more important to you?

• Measurable, positive ROI
  • You might get closer coordinating a tour yourself if you have both the time and reader connections ready
• Spreading awareness about your book
  • A company with a set Bookstagrammer base may have a larger reach than you do

Who will coordinate the tour?

• With your budget and goal considerations in mind, you can hire a company like Storygram Tours, which is who I worked with. I can’t say enough nice things about them! (I previously posted a recap of my Over Raging Tides Bookstagram Tour, if you’d like to see the photos and results!)
  • There are also other companies out there that offer a Bookstagram Tour service. I can’t personally vouch for any company besides Storygram, so make sure you check into who you’re hiring!
• If your budget is a little less flexible, consider organizing your Bookstagram tour yourself.
  • I’d begin by browsing the #bookstagram hashtag and so that you can see which Bookstagrammers are open to working with titles that reflect your method of publishing.
    • If you have time, start making Bookstagram connections a long way out from when you’ll be publishing or “touring.”
    • I recommend sincerely engaging for a length of time before hitting them up in an attempt to “get something out of them.”
  • Make your “dream team” list and several alternates.
  • Then, start reaching out! Make sure you have plenty of lead time on when you want to have your Bookstagram tour. They’ll need to make their schedule, you’ll need time to send them the book, etc., etc.

 

My Bookstagram tour results:

What can you expect from a Bookstagram tour? Obviously, everyone’s experience will vary. My goal here was to spread awareness of the Lady Pirates series and I think I accomplished that. It’s my hope that more awareness will lead to more books in the series sold overall.

• The Bookstagram tour ran for 7 days and the posts got a total of 7,157 likes during the tour.
• Even if I assume that people liked multiple posts, the highest ranking post in the tour garnered 2,049 likes. Which is likely around 2,000 people who never heard of the book before.
  • It would be hard to measure as not everyone who sees a posts likes it, but the potential reach and impressions of the Bookstagram tour hosts is something I also consider. They had a total of 216,000 followers.
• There was a small, but noticeable uptick in e-book sales, but also in paperback sales! I wasn’t currently running any other marketing on the book, so it’s all that I can attribute it to.
  • Time will tell, but I theorize that at least a couple are Bookstagrammers and hope to see the book pop up once or twice more in Bookstagram posts
• Financially, the book did not come close to earning out the amount of money invested in the tour. For me, that was all right. It wasn’t my goal. But if ROI is your goal, please consider that! And I didn’t have the connections or time to organize it myself. With just shipping costs and ordered books to consider, the ROI (Return on Investment) might have been closer.

Have you already organized or are you considering organizing a Bookstagram tour to promote your book? Can I answer any of your other questions about it?