For Authors

If you are considering booking a tour with Pay the Piper Tours, there are a few things you need to know:

First of all, a tour can only be refunded if it is less than half way full. When hosts sign on to host a stop for your tour, they are giving time on their blogs, time that they could use for someone else, so if they have already signed up to host you on a specific day, it is not courteous to just shut down the tour. If you have a problem, you can email me and we will work it out.

Any problem you have with a host, has to go through me. I don’t want authors abusing hosts, or hosts abusing authors. If you have a problem with someone, let me know and I will handle it. 

Regular tours will take at least a month to set up and get to starting. Review tours or longer tours are going to take a bit longer than that so hosts will have a chance to read the books, and do anything else that needs to be done. Each tour lasts a different amount of time, due to it’s length, you’ll be able to see all the dates and who will be hosting once you book a tour and I have put it on your site.

It is your duty to get your guest posts or interviews to the hosts in time, otherwise, it is hardly their fault if they don’t get their stop up. I would prefer all media to be delivered to me at least a week in advance of each stop. The time before the tour starts is when you can work on all the interviews and guest posts. I prefer all media to be sent to me first and then I will send it on to the respective host. If you do send it directly to the host, please CC me into the email, that way I can keep track of everything and make sure it’s where it has to be on the right date. If you don’t get an interview or guest post back to the host in time for their stop, they will still put up a book feature on that day, and they can always add something later. 

Your host might offer topics for guest posts, or you might have the option of writing whatever you want. If you haven’t been given a topic and you don’t know what to write about, send me an email and we can decide on some topics that would work best with your type of novel.

As the author, you are responsible for the content of your book. I will not make tours for book with explicit adult content as a rule, but it is also important to make known other things that might not be appropriate for younger readers such as: strong language, excessive violence, torture, child abuse, graphic warfare, or things like that, use your own judgement. If your book contains any of that, please make a note at the end of your synopsis. If you have any questions about content just let me know and we’ll decide whether you need a warning or not. 

I encourage all authors to visit all the tour stops to thank hosts for hosting you on their blog and answer any questions commenters might have about your books. Friendly authors will gain more readers than those who act aloof. Virtual book tours are in the place of actually going to bookstores and signing books. You would talk to people there in person, right, so why wouldn’t you do so on line? Chat with them, joke, and all that good stuff. A reader is much more likely to decide to buy your book if you talk to them personally than if you don’t say anything.

Once a tour schedule is made up, I will send it with the banners an/or buttons so that authors can put them up on their blogs. You don’t have to, of course, but it’s a good way for your readers to know what’s happening when! 

If it turns out that a host cancels a stop, I will find you another stop to make up for it. Sometimes if your book is featured on blogs with fewer followers, I might add a couple stops. Likewise, if you get fewer than the number of reviews listed for a tour, then I will also add a couple stops to make up for that =)

Giveaways:

It’s not necessary to have a giveaway, but it’s a fun incentive for guests to the tour, and let’s face it, people love it when you give away things for free. You can either offer signed copies of your books, e-books, whatever you want. Gift cards, like to Amazon, B&N or even Starbucks, are also awesome giveaway prizes. You can even get really creative and give away other fun things that go along with your books, pins, posters, stickers, even t-shirts. You are responsible for your giveaway items, and Pay the Piper Tours will not provide them for you. 

You can do a giveaway several ways. If you’re an active member of Goodreads, then you can set up a Goodreads giveaway for a copy of your book (though you can only give away hard copies of your book through Goodreads). You can also either set up a Raffle Copter giveaway, or ask me and I’ll do it for you. You could also just do it the old fashioned way and have people leave their email in the comments and do a drawing from a hat when the tour is over. This also gives people incentive to comment. 

Thanking the Hosts:

I like to make it a point to have authors thank their hosts after the tour. You don’t have to give them anything but your thanks, though it is not a faux pas to give them free copies of your books, or other fun things. You could even run a side giveaway just for the hosts if you wanted.

Things you’ll need for your tour:

This is a list of things you’ll need to send me for your tour:

Cover Art

Synopsis

Author Bio

Author photo (optional, but recommended so we can put a face to our authors!)

2-3 excerpts of your choice, depending on how long your tour is

A PDF copy of your book (for tours that include reviews only)

Purchase Links (and if your book isn’t out yet, where we will be able to find it)

Website links or wherever else you can be found online (Twitter, Facebook, blog, Pintrest, Goodreds etc.)

Giveaways details if you have a giveaway.

If you have any pictures to go along with guest posts or interviews (even character pictures to go with character interviews) send those with the respective media. 

All authors will be featured on our Authors page with links to their past tour schedules.