By Lynn Jordan » It seems as if everyone is talking about Virtual Books Tours these days. This great promotional tool is now an industry buzz word.

Not long ago I was talking with a fellow writer. We were discussing setting up a virtual book tour.

We agreed virtual book tours are great ways to publicize a new release (or even a not-so-new release). We talked about promoting on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and forums. We agreed that we needed to send reminders leading up to the event.

It was only as we planned the technical details that we realized we were talking about two very different types of events.

People use the same term for completely different types of promotions.

During a Blog Virtual Book Tour which may cover a period of a week to a month

• The author makes guest post on different blogs. 

• The author answers questions from the blog's readers. 

• The author may offer a prize to some of the readers who comment

The number of participating blogs and the amount of time the guest author spends on each blog dictates the length of the tour. It's a great way to have conversations and build relationships with people who may not have read your work or to meet up with avid fans.

Preparations consist of

• finding blog owners who what to participate 

• arranging your timeline 

• preparing different material appropriate for each blog 

• deciding on contests and/or prizes 

• promoting the event to the blog's readers and your contacts

At the appropriate time, provide the blog owner with your article. During the tour make sure to read and respond to comments quickly. Enjoy yourself and the conversations with your readers. Be sure that the prizes are distributed quickly.

The other type of Virtual Book Tour uses a teleseminar format. You give the same type of talk and offer books for sale the same as you would in a bookstore signing.

Advantages of this type of tour include:

• Not needing to travel 
• Not depending on having books delivered 
• It's easy for the participants to attend 

• You can record the session and make the replay available 

• Not worrying about how many people will show up

You use your voice to build a relationship with your readers. Holding a questions and answer session gets the participants involved just as they would be in a bookstore.

Have someone interview you or conduct the session yourself. You can even record a session yourself without any participants. Be sure to record it, and put the replay on your blog or on in your social network.

When you are getting started, or if you won't be doing many of these tours, you might want to find someone who has experience running teleseminars. They are more technically challenging than the blog tours.

Some teleseminar service are easy to use.

• They make it easy to set up a seminar with its own webpage. 
• You can make the instant replay instantly available or edit it and upload it to your own website. 

• Participants can listen by telephone or with their computer. 

• You can include a link where people can buy your book (ideally where you get the highest commission).

Both methods are great for promoting your books. They are even more powerful when used together.

Whatever events you choose to do, make sure you advertise them throughout all of your social networks. 

• Create an event on Facebook 

• Use Twitter to frequently announce the event 

• Mention it on your blog 

• Talk about it in the forums you visit 

• Put the announcement in your newsletter 
• Email your fans

• Lynn Jordan empowers writers to use technology to write and promote better, faster, and easier. Find out how you can make Web 2.0 work for you at Authors Tools Blog.