The primary goal of Caffeine Book Tours is to serve as a connecting bridge between authors, whose works need to find the right audiences, and readers, who hope to find themselves represented in the stories that they consume. Hence, the company is committed to ensuring that its book tours are inclusive and that all participating parties are given worthwhile experiences.
INCLUSIVENESS & ACCESSIBILITY ☕
It is worth noting that CBT was single-handedly founded by a young woman of color from a “third-world” country. Her many years as a book blogger have exposed her to the continuous uphill battles faced by bookish content creators who live outside of the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). Since the publishing industry is mostly rooted in these two countries, international readers and content creators are often denied of opportunities and privileges. Thus, it is imperative that this company’s blog tours are able to accommodate all readers, regardless of where they live.
Moreover, CBT aims for its services to be widely accessible to authors as well. All of its blog tour packages come with reasonable prices, which are significantly more affordable than most of its competitors. Discounts can also be availed by marginalized authors, independently published authors, and self-published authors.
DIVERSITY IN BOOKS & PUBLISHING ☕
CBT recognizes that on-page representation is not the be-all-end-all of promoting and encouraging diversity; rather, the issues extend to the publishing industry as a system that actively contributes to social inequality.
Data from the 2019 Diversity Baseline Survey indicate that the industry’s majority is comprised of white, cis, straight and abled personnel. The profile of publishing’s workforce has a fundamental impact on the gate-keeping process and on publishing as a whole. In fact, online conversations, such as #PublishingPaidMe, have shown the darker side of the industry where marginalized authors, especially those from Black, Indigenous, and POC communities, are consistently given less compensation and drastically less support.
In advocating diversity in books and in publishing, CBT strives to cater to authors from marginalized backgrounds, especially authors of color, and to give them the marketing and promotional support that they need. This means that, although book tours are a paid service, marginalized authors are offered more flexible packages with much more affordable rates.
THE IMPORTANCE OF OWN-VOICES REVIEWS ☕
#Ownvoices or own-voices, a term coined by Corinne Duyvis in 2015, pertains to sharing a marginalized identity with the main character or main characters of a book. Consequently, an own-voices review is a review coming from a reader who shares the same marginalized identity or comes from the same culture as the book’s protagonist (e.g. a Filipino reader reviewing a book with a Filipino protagonist or a book set in the Philippines). CBT believes that readers should be prioritized for diverse books that they are own-voices for, and this internal policy is implemented for all book tours.
COMMUNICATION & COMMUNITY-BUILDING ☕
While many see book tours as a promotional tool, CBT hopes to create memorable experiences that last long after the book tour ends, especially for its tour hosts. Through the bookish events it organizes, the company hopes to foster an environment of communication, camaraderie, and kinship among all participants.
What are our coffee beans saying?
Caffeine Book Tours gives the absolute best book tour experience, and Shealea runs it with utmost dedication which makes the tours just as fun and amazing for us as the tour hosts!
Krisha, blogger from Bookathon
Shealea is professional, organized, and responsive, taking the time to help participants if needed and encouraging creativity with tour posts.
May, blogger from Forever and Everly
Working with Caffeine Book Tours is like a dream come true. […] I would 100% recommend it to not only the authors and publishers out there, but also to the bloggers.
Prags, blogger from The Inked In Book Blog
What are our authors saying?
As a blog tour organizer, Shealea has set herself apart with her attention to detail, amazing creativity, unparalleled enthusiasm, and strong sense of community. I can’t recommend her enough.
K.S. Villoso, author of The Wolf of Oren-yaro
The blog tours are fun, interactive, and well-organized. I highly recommend Caffeine Book Tours to publishers and authors as a great way to bring together diverse readers and writers as well as promoting #ownvoices stories to the wider publishing world.
Katie Zhao, author of The Dragon Warrior
Shealea has a dedicated team of bloggers to draw from, but not only that — she is smart, focused and has plenty of marketing savvy. She went above and beyond in promoting my book, producing great graphics and teasers, as well as writing and publishing pieces on her blog to help encourage reader interest.
Elizabeth Foster, author of Esme’s Wish
Caffeine Book Tours 