The Savvy Book Marketer

The Best Ways to Promote Children's Books

Online marketing can reach a huge audience, but one of the best ways to sell children’s books is in person, doing presentations at schools, libraries and other events for kids or families.

The great thing about school presentations is that authors are often paid a speaking fee in addition to being able to sell their books.

See these two articles for tips about promoting in schools:

How to Market Children's Books in Schools by Melissa Williams

Making School Assemblies Fun by Sheri Bell Rehwoldt

Virtual Author Visits

You aren't limited to schools and libraries in your area, because you can do presentations to kids around the world through the magic of Skype. And if your day job prevents you from visiting local schools and libraries, you can visit kids in other time zones through Skype. In this podcast, Margot Finke shares her experience with doing Skype visits to schools.

More Resources for Children's Book Authors

Children's Book Marketing Tips Newsletter

Author training program: How to Sell More Children's Books

Legal Issues in Promoting Books to Children and Young Adults

Q:  Hedy M asks whether authors who are promoting books to minors should put an email sign-up form on their website and whether there any legal considerations.

A:  An email sign-up form an important tool in allowing authors to build a mailing list and keep in touch with readers and potential book buyers. Most authors use blog-based websites and place the sign-up form in the sidebar so that it appears on all pages of the website. 

In the United States there are federal regulations regarding collecting personal information about children under the age of 13. Websites designed for children (and websites geared to a general audience that knowingly collect information from people under 13) must comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. 

This page on the Federal Trade Commission website has information about compliance. Because these regulations are so complex, it may be best to place a notice on your email sign-up form stating that only people who are 13 years or older may sign up. See paragraph 14 on this page. 

This article is for informational purposes only. Consult an attorney for legal advice.

What's the Best Way to Promote Children's Books?

by Dana Lynn Smith

The first step in promoting any type of book is to understand your target audiences and develop a written book marketing plan. For tips, download my free report, Create a Book Marketing Plan That Sells Books. 

Books for younger children are usually purchased by adults, including parents, grandparents, other relatives and friends, teachers, and librarians. Teens often choose their own reading material, but keep in mind that a large percentage of the readers for young adult books are adults, many of them parents.

When promoting books for young children, interaction with kids and parents can be very effective. Look into school visits, library reading programs, book fairs and other events where families congregate. Also check out the Mom's Choice awards program.

To learn more about promoting children's books, check out my author training program, How to Sell More Children's Books.

Authors, what are your favorite ways to promote children's books? Please share in the comments area below.

How Children's Authors Can Profit from School Visits

School visits are one of the very best ways to sell children's books. In today's guest post, children's book author Amber Housey shares her strategies for selling books through schools.

Schools and educators are a fantastic resource for selling your books. They are the audience who buys and reads the books. Visits offer a great venue for presenting the book and connecting with your readers. Teachers will cause a buzz within the education community if they find your visit and book of value.

I have created a presentation that shows schools, teachers and parents how my book can be a tool to help teach empathy, compassion and seeing another point of view. I make it fun and engaging.

I like to have a liaison who is the go between or the planner of my visit. At this point, my fees are low so I can include as many interested schools as possible. The important thing is to sell books to gain exposure.

Prior to my visit, I send schools author posters that I had made for $5.99 at Costco to hang up in the schools along with a pre-order form.

I have a few different presentations for various events that I do. For young children, I set up all kinds of shoes at the front of the room. As they are being seated, I tell them not to mind me while I start putting on all of the different shoes and I walk around. I do this until everyone is seated and quiet. Then I ask them what they think I am doing. We get around to, "walking in someone else's shoes". I am trying to get the point across that every shoe has a story and every person has a story. That is the hook.

Then I have a Keynote (similar to PowerPoint) presentation with visuals because it helps make it more interesting for kids and adults. I talk about myself, Flip Side Stories, how I went from being a school teacher to an author and what it means to be a Flipsider. I go through the writing process using a poster board and slides on Keynote to illustrate the process from draft to final edit.

Author Success Story - Amber J. Housey

In today's author interview, I'm visiting with Amber J Housey, a children's book author who has been successful with several creative book promotions.

Amber, I was intrigued by your "A-mob-azon" promotion, an interesting variation on the Amazon Bestseller Campaign. Did you coin the term A-mob-azon? What can you tell us about this promotion and how it worked out for you?

I learned all about the Amazon Bestseller Campaign via websites and a couple of workshops that I went to. It seemed like a great idea except the part about asking people to donate things and then asking people to buy my book to receive those things.  I wanted people to buy my book because they like it and help me because they believe in what I am doing.

I created the A-mob-azon event to encourage my friends, family and followers to buy my book on the same day and do it . . . Just Because. I made up the name A-mob-azon because I wanted it to be like an online Flash Mob. I feel that people like to feel connected by an event or a common cause and the excitement behind it.

My goal with the event was to reach the Best Seller list on Amazon, raise it in rankings, get it noticed and create a buzz.  We chose a special date for the event to make it easy to remember. We called it a Flip Side Date, 2-12-12. I created a Twitter hashtag #amobazon and attached it to all of my tweets. I created an A-mob-azon page on my website with all of the information needed for the event. 

One week before the event, I started marketing it by tweeting it daily, posting it on my personal Facebook and my Flip Side Stories™ page. I sent out a Facebook invitation to the event with the link to my A-mob-azon webpage.

The Friday before the Sunday event, I sent out one more mass email reminding everyone. I wanted to be sure to remind people who may only check email at work. On Saturday, one more excited announcement of the event to everyone. Then I held my breath.

5 Strategies for Marketing Children’s Books on Facebook

In today's guest post, Jo Ann Kairys shares some terrific tips for using Facebook to promote children's books. This post is part of the virtual book tour for her book, Sunbelievable.

I resisted Facebook (FB) for too long. But, the sudden shift from children’s book author to entrepreneur/marketer forced me to pay attention. Now, FB is my favorite marketing tool! I love the opportunity to share my commitment to children’s reading and literacy, connect with other authors, and maximize exposure to my book's target audience.

While FB can be daunting—because what I really want to do is write—I’ve narrowed down my FB marketing to these 5 strategies:

1.  Create a unique FB profile/timeline that reflects who you are. The timeline banner allows you to design creative, inviting headlines that showcase your work, highlight your story and brand your author personality. Make it an appealing display that invites guests into your world. You can change the banner any time—keep it fresh and imaginative with new images and updated profile photos. To set up a timeline, visit Facebook’s Timeline page. If you don’t have time to start from scratch, here’s a simple app that walks you through the process.

2.  Create a FB Fan Page. This is one of the best ways to reach your targeted children’s book audience. The name (title) of your Page is very important. Are you best known for your author name or your book name(s)? As a new author, I chose to create one Fan Page for my company, and one for events. Books have a life cycle that tapers off over time, so it may prove more valuable to brand yourself by author name or company. For instructions on setting up a Page, go here.  A simple tip is to create a vanity URL that shortens the Page name for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and visibility.

3.  Connect with FB children’s book authors and groups. In just the past year, I’ve seen tremendous growth in FB-based children’s book projects that invite participation. For example: Picture Book Month, Picture Book Idea Month, 12 x 12 in 2012. Also take a look at Read Across America, Reading is Fundamental, Children’s Book Insider and Collaboration Space for Inspired Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators. I’m not endorsing particular FB sites, but am pointing out some authors’ marketing initiatives that have garnered positive attention from authors, parents, schools, and media around the world. It’s fun to comment and join the conversation.

4. Focus on engagement. Fill your posts with compelling data, news, and resources to build credibility in that arena—for example, children’s literacy or reading tips for parents. There’s a universe of mommy bloggers and daddy bloggers on FB interested in your content: the Mom Bloggers Club and Read Aloud Dad , to name a few. A fill-in-the blank question at the beginning of posts is a popular way to engage fans. “Your favorite children’s book is ___________.” Encourage comments and reply quickly (within one hour is best). Make it easy for people to get in touch with you by using a contact form. FB’s ContactMe app is easy to customize and install.

5. Aim for consistent, proactive growth. “Likes” help build fans, and promotions are an optimal way to encourage them. Children’s authors frequently offer FB book giveaways as a way to grow their fan base. For example, “From now until date one person will win a free name of book for simply “liking my Facebook Page.” Place such a comment on your website and FB Timeline. Surprise your fans with occasional “off topic” posts, and offer generous thanks for readers’ comments. Check your Page’s Insights metrics. I always see a spike in reader activity when I begin posts with exaggerated nouns and verbs, as in, “I’m so excited to share this good news!”

I love the way FB helps me network and grow meaningful connections. It’s a great way to share your story, and isn’t that what authors do best?

About the Author

Jo Ann Kairys is co-author and co-illustrator of Sunbelievable, a children's picture book and Mom’s Choice 2012 Gold Medal winner. After a successful career as a published author in the medical field, she now loves writing for young readers. Through storytelling, she hopes to promote literacy and a lifelong love of books.

How to Use Skype to Sell Books

I'm delighted to welcome author Barbara Techel to share her experience in promoting books by doing remote author appearances through the online video phone service, Skype.  These tips are excerpted from Barbara's new book, Class Act: Sell More Books to Schools and Libraries Through Author Appearances.

When I discovered Skype as an avenue to share my books message with children without leaving the comfort of my writing studio, I was thrilled.

Many authors, as well as publishers, have limited budgets for travel. Exploring and being open to the opportunity of Skype will help you reach out to many audiences you may not have been able to before. School and library budgets are not what they used to be also. Skype is a wonderful solution affording them the option to still introducing students to authors.

Not only is Skype a win-win for schools, libraries and authors, it is an added educational benefit for students. By involving the kids in the set-up of Skype, teaching them to interact properly with the webcam, and other equipment you are adding value to their future technology skills.

The technology future is now. Embracing and learning all you can about Skype to help you spread your message will in turn help you sell more books.

When setting up for a Skype presentation I take all the steps I would just as if I was presenting in person. It really is no different. You are in essence “on stage” whether via Skype or in person, so being prepared and organized is key.

Making School Assemblies Fun

School visits can be a terrific source of revenue for children's book authors. In today's guest post Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt, author of  award-winning children's books including You Think it's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy?, offers tips on creating a successful school program.

You've been invited to visit a school to talk about being an author. Only the school wants you to talk to the students in large assemblies, with multiple grades. You say "Yes!" when you hear they're going to buy your book(s) PLUS pay you a nice chunk of change. But later, in thinking about your presentation, doubts begin to creep in. You realize it's going to be a challenge to connect with 600 kids at one time, given their wide range in interests and age. So what to do?

Get structured!

Here are a few tips, based on two 45-minute school assemblies I just did, the first for kids in kindergarten through 4th grade, and the second for kids in 5th through 8th grade.

1) Make sure that you'll have plenty of teachers in the room (probably the gym or cafeteria, unless the school has an auditorium), to help you quiet the kids down when they get rowdy (which you want, as you'll need to be as interactive as possible to entertain them!). Make it clear you're the entertainment, not the babysitter, and that the teachers need to be engaged, not talking amongst themselves in the back of the room. Find out if the school uses a gesture to ask for quiet. Use the gesture yourself. But stay positive. No frowning, no mean comments. Stay in control of yourself and you'll keep control over the crowd.

2) Set the tone of the presentation from the very beginning. I used body language to signal that we were about to have fun. And that I wasn't there to embarrass them or pick on them.