This is a great discussion. I just became a member so I could add my two cents. In the interest of full disclosure, I work in the business. I coordinate virtual book tours for a living. I'm not going to try to sell you anything and I won't talk about our services, but I would like to share the experience of touring my own book.
My first book came out last fall. Because it is a Christmas book, and therefore, has a very focused selling period, I decided to tour for two and a half months (October through mid-December). I coordinated the tour myself because after 4 years in the business I have a lot of contacts. John mentioned that touring is exhausting. I think he's right. In order to be effective, you have to be promoting every day. I blogged every day that I was on tour, in addition to using social media. When my book first came out, I started a new blog with my book's title in the URL, and I began blogging; but once the tour started, it was a daily thing. Now, realize, I did this while promoting several other clients at the same time, so it was probably more tiring than most tours, but lengthy tours can wipe you out. It did, however, have a great impact on sales. The book hit the Amazon bestsellers list in the Large Print Children's Books category multiple times during my tour. I also received a lot of great reviews that I can use to promote the book this year to local churches and religious organizations.
We're leaving on vacation tomorrow and I'll be out of touch for a week, but if anyone wants to talk more about this, I can offer some helpful hints when I return.
Cheryl