Are there upcoming books that you so badly want to read but can’t wait for more months until release? Do want to hype your favorite authors and their upcoming books?
No matter how patient we bookworms are, there are times when we just can’t wait for our most anticipated books to get released. And because we love the books/series or the authors themselves for that matter, we try to create all the buzz online to show our support.
What most book bloggers do is go to Netgalley or Edelweiss to request for a digital ARC or just straight up contact the publisher to request ARCs and just only hope to get approved.
Related: Finish Your Book talked about the importance of pre-publication book reviews
However, not everyone has the privilege to get or receive an ARC. Book blog tour is another way to create a buzz online and probably one of the best ways to hype and grow interest about a book or author.
What is Book Blog Tour?
I, myself, have organized a couple of blog tours on this blog. But before I decided to organize a blog tour of my own, I used to only join as a host from other popular book blog tour sites which I’ll also list down below.
Book blog tour is like the virtual equivalent of book signing tours.The aim is to introduce the book to the readers and as earlier mentioned, it also to develop an interest and create a “buzz”.
Blog tours can run for a week or even month-long. They consist of different book bloggers which are required to post something at a given date within the blog tour period. The blog tour posts can then potentially be spread outside the blog to social media and create discussions on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more.
How Does it Works?
Of course, the first thing is for book bloggers to sign up on a blog tour. Most blog tours are open to only limited slots, so signing still does not guarantee that the bloggers are already a participant to the tour. There are usually 4 to 5 spots available per day.
Bloggers then have the option to choose what type of post they’ll do for their blog tour stop. It can be any of the following:
- Book review – which I believe is the most important. This is one of the best way to gather pre-publication book reviews other than ARC since most blog tours happen before the release date, or during the release week. There are blog tours which are only open for book review posts.
- Book excerpt – where you’ll have to share excerpts from the book along with the basic requirements such as the book and author information.
- Guest post – where you’ll have the author to do a guest post on your blog tour stop.
- Author interview – conduct a virtual interview with an author.
- Playlist – create a playlist for the book
- Mood board, fan arts and other graphics – share your creativity with graphics relating to the book
- Spotlight/promo post – this is the most basic post which you’ll only have to share the basic information about the book and author like the synopsis, purchase links, Goodreads links, author profile and more.
If you are chosen to be one of the participants, you’ll eventually get an email with further instruction including the full schedule of the blog tour.
Why Join a Blog Tour?
I’m writing this for my fellow bloggers, but for authors, booking a blog tour or organizing it yourself is for the obvious reasons of getting an exposure in general.
For book bloggers:
- You can read your most anticipated books.
- You can promote your most anticipated books as well as the authors.
- You’ll get to read books for FREE
- You can gain more book blogging experience from it.
- Your blog can get more exposure as well.
And I’m saying this based from experience. I mentioned earlier that I only used to join blog tours from other organizers, and it never really came to my mind to organize one of my own until I really did it.
PH-Based and Filipino Organized Book Blog Tours For the First Half of 2019
As an international book bloggers, having the opportunity to read an advance reading copy of a certain book is not an easy feat. Even with big blog tour sites, with the amount of sign-ups, there’s still no guarantee of getting accepted.
I’ve come to the realization later in my book blogging career that getting ARCs (or eARCs) is not how a book blogger’s worth and capability is measured. But since I am lucky enough to have the medium and privilege (which I also worked for), I thought why not share the experience with my fellow Filipino readers? And I believe that that’s what these fellow Filipino book bloggers think when they decided to organize blog tours that are mostly exclusive for Philippine-resident readers/bloggers.
Check out this list of upcoming book blog tours that are PHILIPPINE-based or just simply organized by my fellow Filipino book bloggers:
The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco
Organizer: Cliste Belle
Blog tour period: February 19th – 23rd, 2019
This is the blog tour for the 3rd book of Rin Chupeco’s The Bone Witch series.
Open to PH-residents.
Flipping The Script by Danice Mae P. Sison
Organizer: Tara Frejas
Blog tour period: February 23rd – 28th, 2019
Danice Mae P. Sison is a Filipina #romanceclass author and Flipping The Script is the second book in the Flicker #romanceclass project. Even if it’s a second book, it can be read on its own! Be sure to check it out.
Open to PH-residents.
Dreamer by Ja-Mel Vinson
Organizer: Shut Up, Shealea!
Blog tour period: February 25th – March 2nd, 2019
Shealea is one of the Filipino book bloggers whom I know have been organizing blog tours. This time, it’s for Ja-Mel Vinson’s first book in the Dream Come True series.
This is open INTERNATIONALLY.
Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith
Organizer: Bibliophile Soprano
Blog tour period: March 1st – March 8th, 2019
Bibliophile Soprano is probably one of the firsts Filipino bloggers to organized PH-based blog tours, and I thank her for that! She’s hosting a blog tour for Jennifer E. Smith’s forthcoming book, Field Notes.
Open to PH-residents ONLY.
Enlightenment by Reno Ursal
Organizer: Your Tita Kate
Blog tour period: March 14th to March 28th, 2019
This blog tour by Kate of Your Tita Kate is for Filipino author Reno Ursal’s first book in the Bathala series. It is about a Fil-Am girl who discovers the supernatural secrets her family back home in Manila are hiding.
Open to PH-residents.
With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Organizer: Afire Pages
Blog tour period: April 22nd – May 10th, 2019
Karina has been hosting blog tours as well. I was able to read Girls Made of Snow and Glass, thanks to her! Be sure to check out her newest blog tour for With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo.
Open INTERNATIONALLY.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
Organizer: Bibliophile Soprano
Blog tour period: May 5th – 12th, 2019
Another blog tour organized by Fay of Bibliophile Soprano for Helen Hoang’s sequel for The Kiss Quotient.
Open to PH-residents ONLY.
Stay A Little Longer by Dawn Lanuza
Organizer: The Royal Polar Bear Reads and The Nocturnal Fey (me!)
Blog tour period: May 22 – 28, 2019
I partnered with The Royal Polar Bear Reads in organizing this international tour of Dawn Lanuza’s forthcoming book, Stay A Little Longer. This is my first tour for this year.
Open INTERNATIONALLY.
D3v1at3 by Jay Kristoff
Organizer: The Royal Polar Bear Reads
Blog tour period: May 28th – June 4th, 2019
Rafael of The Royal Polar Bear Reads is one of the most hardworking when it comes to organizing book blog tours. He already have three this year, and one PH book traveling, and ONE more upcoming that I’m not yet allowed to spill. This tour is for Jay Kristoff’s sequel to L1F3L1K3 which Rafael also organized last year.
Open to PH-residents ONLY.
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim
Organizer: The Royal Polar Bear Reads
Blog tour period: June 5th – 10th, 2019
Another one of Rafael’s blog tours which was just announced recently. This is an adult fiction novel by Roselle Lim.
Open INTERNATIONALLY.
Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan
Organizer: The Royal Polar Bear Reads
Blog tour period: June 11th – 16th, 2019
Another one of Rafael’s blog tours this year. This is for Mary Fan’s forthcoming book Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon. Fantasy lovers should check this!
Open INTERNATIONALLY.
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
Organizer: Bookworms Unite PH
Blog tour period: June 14th – 23rd, 2019
A blog tour for this powerful coming-of-age book by Randy Ribay organized by the people of Bookworms Unite PH! BU PH is known for their annual bookworm gathering event, and now they’re bringing us blog tours as well.
Open to PH-residents.
Spin The Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
Organizer: Shut Up, Shealea
Blog tour period: July 1st – 6th, 2019
Spin The Dawn is one of my most anticipated Asian releases this year. Shealea is organizing an international tour for this this coming July.
Open INTERNATIONALLY.
Ang Larong Nagwakas Sa Atin by Fe Esperanza Trampe
Organizer: Bookworms Unite PH
Blog tour period: Not a scheduled tour
Another blog tour hosted by BU PH! This one is different because it is not a scheduled tour. If you join this tour, the organizer will be giving you five days to read the book and post a review on your site or preferred platform within two days after you read the book. And as you can see, it is a Tagalog title (!!!) which also means that it is mainly written in Tagalog.
Open to PH-residents. This is not a scheduled tour so you can sign up anytime!
List of International e-Book Blog Tour Sites
I started by blog tour journey by joining as a participant first. You can check these amazing websites if you want to sign-up for more amazing titles. These are still my go-to websites when I’m up for more book discoveries.
And that’s about it!
I used to get intimidated by joining book tours before for some reasons. The anxiety of not being able to finish the book on time for my schedule is what always kills me. So what I learned from that is, NEVER join a blog tour unless you are 100% sure that you can commit and that you’re genuinely interested in reading the book.
Anyway, I’ll continue updating this blog post for more upcoming PH-based blog tours. If you are organizing one and want to be included here, feel free to comment below.
Start joining some blog tours and happy reading everyone!
Erika is a freelance content writer and illustrator from the Philippines. Aside from her love of arts and reading, she loves taking photos, coffee, cats, and fairies. She’s into fantasy, historical fiction, and contemporary, and anything young adult genres.
Thanks for sharing this, Erika! 💜
The pleasure is mine, ate Jen!
As per usual, you make another helpful book blogging post here. Thank you for sharing. I’m interested in joining some of this. 🙂
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Thank you, Jen! I hope I’m able to help. 🙂
Thank you for being so extra. Hahaha. As always!
Hello! Thank you for including “Flipping The Script” here 😘 Just wanted to point out that Tara Frejas is hosting the blog tour, not the author. Thank you 😊
Thank you for the correction! Will fix it. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this! 😙
I hope it helps! 🙂
I love, love, love this post! This is an absolutely helpful post especially for someone like me who’s just so excited with my blog and therefore crazy to join a lot of events. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much! I hope I’m able to share at least a little bit of knowledge. Best of luck to you!
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Hello Erika! This is an absolutely helpful blog. I am always looking for such kind of books because reading is my hobby. Your blog is very nice and it gives lot of information. Thanks and keep posting!
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