Christian Fiction Blog Tours

The Christian Fiction Syndicate

If you're reading this, you've somehow heard about something I'm calling the Christian Fiction Syndicate.

Does this mean we'll be fitting people with concrete shoes and sending them to sleep with the fishes? No, it's not quite that kind of syndicate. Instead, it's an alliance of blogs working in concert to generate buzz, build links, increase search engine rankings, and--ultimately--sell more books. With just a bit of coordination and dedication on the part of syndicate members, we could help sell more of the kinds of books we all like to read (and write).

Basically, here’s how it would work: Syndicate members would agree to highlight a pre-selected book in their blogs once a month. We would schedule which author/book to be featured ahead of time (this is important for a few reasons, outlined below). The feature could be a review, an interview with the author (who we could interview as a group ahead of time), or anything else we can dream up--as long as the blog post for the pre-determined date is devoted to that particular author/book, and goes to an agreed-upon link.

Now for the big question: why? First, it helps harness the power of blogging on behalf of authors. I'm sure you're familiar with places like bloglines.com, technorati.com, blogpulse.com, and other sites offering a somewhat real-time snapshot of what’s being talked about in the blogosphere. Many, many bloggers use these sites to see “what’s hot” for discussion topics. (One of the topics specifically tracked by Technorati is books, as you can see at www.technorati.com/live/products.html.) Again, with a coordinated effort, I think we can get books regularly pushed onto these lists, and therefore explored/talked about/bought by other bloggers. Also, numerous mentions of a book/author--especially on blogs--will help search engine rankings.

In essence, the syndicate creates a blog publicity tour for individual books and authors. I think three dozen or so dedicated bloggers would give us the critical mass we need to make a one-week splash for each book featured. It can take many different forms, but the things we need to aim for with every book are: 1) Coordinated postings - everyone posts content on the day assigned, to help rankings on blog trackers; 2) Selection of a single link for all bloggers to use in their posts, again to help rankings on blog trackers.

Now, you might be saying, "What if I don't like the book? I can't write about a book I don't like." Well, why not? Surely, we can all find something interesting about the story (or the author, or the cover design, or the paper stock, or whatever) that's worthy of a post. If worse comes to worst, you can do a simple post that says, "This isn't my cup of cocoa, but such-and-such book by such-and-such author is out now," along with the link. No one will tell you what the content should be; we'll merely be asking for a once-a-month commitment to provide content.

I hope you can see the possibilities for such an arrangement. This could really become a nice marketing tool for Christian authors, and hopefully, a tool for getting more folks to start blogging. With enough participation, it will help launch books. And, it supports an industry that's near and dear to our hearts.

What if you don't have a blog? No problem. I can help you set one up in about 10 minutes, and I have a couple of fairly easy-to-follow online primers I can point you toward.

Leave a comment here, or email me. I've also cross-posted this at Dave Long's faith*in*fiction discussion board; you can reply to the post there, if you prefer:

http://p220.ezboard.com/ffaithinfictionfrm9.showMessage?topicID=191.topic

So, whaddya think? Would you be willing to join a syndicate?

-Tony

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Links for further reading

Author MJ Rose talks about the power of a "Virtual Book Tour," similar in many ways to what I'm proposing:

http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/2005/02/betting_on_blog.html

The original Virtual Book Tour site itself:

http://vbt.typepad.com/virtual_book_tour/index.html

Various blog tracking services, which keep track of new links and posts in the blogosphere:

http://www.bloglines.com
http://www.technorati.com (and technorati.com/live/products.html)
http://www.blogpulse.com

Posted by TLHines at June 14, 2005 11:14 AM