SCBWI LA 2004 MARKETING TIPS

          On August 6, 2004 Esther Hershenhorn and I moderated a Roundtable at the SCBWI Conference in LA called MARKETING FOR AUTHORS.  They brought a few good ideas in to get the ball rolling, then the community of writers in attendance shared ideas of their own.  Those great PR nuggets are summarized for you here. The first 20 here were on worksheets turned in after the break-out. The 63 in the next block were ideas we all brainstormed at the hour progressed.  ENJOY! 

1.  “HAVE A BOOK SHOWER, like a baby shower when your new title is delivered.  I am having one in November for my book, I AM A TEACHER.  Other teachers will come with their own teaching ideas and we’ll put together a teacher’s guide.”

Rena Colato Lainez

WAITING FOR PAPA (Pinata Books)

2.  “WATCH THE HEADLINES and respond with relevant notes and suggestions. For example, with the Federal elections approaching, politicians are making reading and literary promises.  Let them know you can help with whatever you need.”

Christopher Cheng

ONE CHILD (Interlink)

3.  “LOOK INTO READERS THEATER.  I have a 15 minute script based on my book, a readers theater script for 3 teens.  I contact the closest high school to the conference or bookstore I’m scheduled to visit two months in advance and ask the drama teacher to look over the script and cast three teens for the part. I meet with them for a 1 to 2 hours the day I come, we rehearse. Then they perform my words during my presentation.”

April Halprin Wayland

GIRL COMING IN FOR A LANDING (Knopf)

4.  “AVERY LABELS can come in handy as quick and sticky tools to help buyers and readers remember your books.”

Sara Jane Boyers

LIFE DOESN’T FRIGHTEN ME (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)

5.  “ALWAYS CARRY A COPY OF YOUR BOOK. Walk into bookstores with it, volunteer to sign copies of it, show them what you’ve done if they don’t have it, so they can make an informed order.”

Sabina I. Rascol

THE IMPUDENT ROOSTER (Dutton)

6.  “IS YOUR BOOK AN ACCELERATED READER?  Find out. If your book supports core curriculum in schools, it’s more likely to sell to schools and school librarians.”

Barbara Gowan

G IS FOR GRAND CANYON: AN ARIZONA ALPHABET (Sleeping Bear Press)

7.  “CARRY YOUR UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT EVERYWHERE. Work on it in public. People will ask, ‘Are you a writer?’ and you’ll give them your pitch.  You never know who might be listening.”

Lucy Frank

THE ANNOYANCE BUREAU (Atheneum)

8.  “DRESS THE PART. I’ll be wearing a sari and renting a bubble machine for atmosphere when I promote my book JADYN AND THE MAGIC BUBBLE .”

Brigitte Benchimol

JADYN AND THE MAGIC BUBBLE DISCOVERY INDIA

9.  “YOUNG WRITER NEWSPAPER CONTEST…you’re the judge, they’re the writers, everybody wins.”

Erik Talkn

THE MASTER DETECTIVES (TBA)

10.  “Develop online writing course content for an online school like Writing City University (www.writingcity.com) to establish yourself as an expert.”

Greg Fishbone

WritingCity.com

11.  “SCATTER YOUR CARDS LIKE SEEDS. Leave those business cards at your hairdressers or any other professional setting – even restaurant bathrooms – for better exposure.”

Fiona Bayrock

SHARK SUNGLASSES AND OTHER AMAZING ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS (Kids Can Press)

12.  “BOOK COVER CARDS that feature YOUR book cover are great promotional tools. Even put them in your conference ID window so people will see your name AND your latest book.”

Marlene Perez

UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT (Roaring Brook Press)

13.  “BE SEEN.  Get out there and go to conferences and workshops.”

Joan Bransfield Graham

FLICKER FLASH (Houghton Mifflin)

14.  “GUIDE THOSE TEACHERS by providing teaching guides for your books. Include questions and answers, anything a teacher might need to use your work as curriculum.”

Bruce McBay

WAITING FOR SARAH (BRCA)

15.  “SELL THE SALES FORCE.  Ask to make a sales pitch to your publisher’s sales representatives.  If you convince them to love your book, they’ll convince booksellers to buy it.”

Susanne Gervay

I AM JACK (HarperCollins/Australia)

16.  “JEWISH PRIDE.  Authors or illustrators of Jewish themed books can contact me and I will mention their work in ‘Jewish Book Publishing News,’ which appears in the newsletter of the Association of Jewish Libraries and goes out to 800 subscribers.”

Anna Olswanger

SHLEMIEL CROOKS (Junebug, an imprint of New South Books)

17.  “ALUMNI CONNECTIONS. Don’t forget to send your college alumni magazine and your spouse’s alumni magazine notice of your latest publications.”

Dennis Cohen

THE BIG BOOK OF SPACE DISCOVERY (Schmidt-Cannon)

18.  “FUN PAGES.  Share fun recipes or worksheets based on your book with teachers and booksellers.”

Dianne M. MacMillan

THE CURSE OF RAFFERTI MCGILL (Albert Whitman)

19.  “GIVE, GIVE, GIVE…workshops and encouragement whenever the opportunity presents itself.”

Kelly Milner Halls

ALBINO ANIMALS (Darby Creek Publishing)

http://www.kellymilnerhalls.com

20.  “WRITE THAT BIO…and make sure it puts your best foot forward, even before you need it. Your bio introduces you to the world.”

Esther Hershenhorn

THERE GOES LOWELL’S PARTY (Holiday House)

NEW!  21.  "Market your book not only at book stores, but also at other niche stores that sell products having to do with the subject matter of your book." 
Eileen Rosenbloom
Stuck Down (Llewellyn 2005) 

SIXTY-THREE MORE

SCBWI LA Conference

August 6, 2004

          These 60-plus marketing tips were gathered at the SCBWI round-table discussion on the spot.  Our hostess, Michelle Parker-Rock (Children’s Book Author and Regional Advisor – SCBWI AZ -- \n This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it href="mailto: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it "> This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ) transcribed the tip suggestions as the hour moved forward, bless her heart and fingers.  She said, " I didn’t always catch the name and book of each contributor so that info is included sporadically.  Sorry." She is forgiven.  She did a wonderful job of keeping track and keeping score.

Contributed by Esther Hershenhorn:

1.You need to have the following promo pieces in your computer and on your website, ready to go at a moment’s notice:

a) Your Bio (which should have you nailed)

ü     Put the important info down, for example that you write, coach, and teach 

ü     3 is .the magic number  (use three words that describe you.)

(Use the word author rather than writer.)

b) Your Book Jacket

ü     (You need permission from your book publisher to reproduce this)

c) Your Photo.

2.      Anna Olswanger puts out a listserv that puts out a list of Jewish books. Find a

       listserv that suits your books.  Anna promotes Esther’s Chicken Soup.

3.      Use an e-mail footer under your signature that lists all your books and all the

       things you do.

4.      Serve food at your presentations.

ü     Try to get your publisher to pay for it.

Contributed by Kathleen Duey  
www.kathleenduey.com

5. Put all of the above on a postcard

ü     www.modernpostcards.com

ü     vistaprint.com

6.      Kathleen Dewey said she would rather the newspapers use the book jacket

      rather than a photo of herself.

7.      Know your Regional Independent Booksellers 

ü     send them your books and if they love it they will put them in their catalogues. They reach out to home-schoolers, teachers, …the buzz begins with the independents they will also set you up with schools for school visits. Most independents have websites with an educational section.

8. Learn, practice and use the art of the verbal pitch. 

Contributed by  UNKNOWN -- IF THESE ARE YOURS, EMAIL ME.

9. Label your files clearly so that you can locate exactly what you want to send.

ü      Do it once so you don’t have to do it again.

10. Alice Pope is always looking for writers to write articles for the CWIM.

11. Go back to your childhood library and promote yourself.

Contributed by Joan Bransfield Graham, author of FLICKER FLASH

12. Don’t forget your college alumni magazine.

ü      Post your notices there.

Contributed by Bruce Clyde, who wrote a book about manners

13. Go to your spouse’s school.

Contributed by Jerry Miller

14. When local PSB programs do their fund drives, they are always looking for

    premiums to give away.  

Contributed by Tekla White

http://www.scbwinorca.org/bios/indivauthuillus/white.htm

15.Goes into schools and offers to have a fund raising day.

ü      Do a presale, tie your book into a theme that fits into a school subject and be there for the field day and for the book signing.

16  Tekla White State reading association for contacts with teachers.

17. Put news about your book in alumni magazine and at your spouse’s Alma

       Mater.

Contributed by Kelly Milner Halls, ALBINO ANIMALS
www.kellymilnerhalls.com 

18. Clean Mylar covered copy of her book.

ü     It always stays clean and she always has it handy. 

19. Always carry your book with you.

20.  Be ready to say my name is, this is my book and this is what it’s about. Here is the ISBN number.  If you carry it around, people will see what is new and different about it. 

.               21. Put promo info on book bags.

22.  cafépress.com does book bags and mugs

23. Read Rick Frishman’s (?)  book: Guerrilla Marketing

Contributed by a dark haired woman in the audience -- EMAIL ME.

24.  She always has her first book in her hand and carries her book with her.  Shows it everywhere… even to the Fed Ex man. 

Contributed by Marlene Perez, UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT
http://www.latimes.com/features/kids/readingroom/la-et-mperezbio.blurb

25.  Take it into local librarians.

ü     Have face time with them. 

Contributed by April Halprin Wayland, GIRL COMING IN FOR A LANDING

http://www.aprilwayland.com/

26.  Have a business card with website, ISBN, and a little blurb about the book on

      the back of the card.

Contributed by author of CIVIC AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

27. Carry your card with info about the book on the front of the card.

28. Grow your list of local contacts such as Esther. 

29. National Council of Teachers of English is a good resource for contacts.

Contributed by man with glasses and mustache. EMAIL ME

30. Gives a copy of his book to his pediatrician.  

Contributed by Kelly Milner Halls and Ester Hershenhorn
www.kellymilnerhalls.com 

31.Offer a free presentation

32. With your illustrator’s permission take a page of your book and make a

     coloring sheet or find stamp art that represents your book and bring it to your

     presentation.  Give it to kids as hands-on connection to your book.

33. Bring visuals to your school visits.

34. Become the bait for school field trips.

ü     This is a way to work up your school routine.

ü      Invite kids/parents/teachers to come to the bookstore as a field trip and do 

       a presentation. Once they’ve seen you present, this will help you get gigs   

       for school visits.

35. Make and send postcards to friends and family.

36.  Bring the postcards everywhere you go.

37.  Learn about the Association of Independent Booksellers for Children. 

ü      Buy their mailing list. 

ü      Include reviews, ISBN, and price of your book on the back of mailings.

38. Wear a badge with your name and book on it.

ü     People will ask you about it.

Contributed by Christopher Cheng, ZOO YOU LATER
http://www.chrischeng.com/ 

39. Use baggage labels/tags to promote your book.

ü     Great for frequently traveling authors and illustrators.

40. Read  Katherine Ross’(?) book on marketing.

Contributed by Sarah Jane Boyers
http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/auth-illSaraJaneBoyers.htm

41. Use mailing labels 2 1/4 by  2 ¼ with book promo on it and stick everywhere. 

42. Dress in an appropriate attire and decorate the environment in which you are

      presenting.

Contributed by Kelly Milner Halls, ALBINO ANIMALS

www.kellymilnerhalls.com

43. Remember who your audience is.

ü     Respect the kids.  You will be remembered  and you’ll be asked to return.

44. Tap into your newspapers feature’s editor and help them fill a gap by writing

      an article for them about your book.

45.Check our Chase’s Calendar of Events and see what events are relevant to

      your book.

ü     Find a local event that you can tie into.

46. Make your author head shot interesting. 

ü     Color is better if you can afford it. It can later be printed in black and white if you need it. 

ü     Scan it into your computer as a jpeg file.

47. Put your high resolution photo on your website.

48. Promote yourself locally through SCBWI.

ü   Offer to do presentations for your regional chapter.

49. Develop yourself locally.

ü   Build yourself locally first and then branch out.

50. Offer to do manuscript critiques at a conference and provide your bio along

       with it.

51.Offer to do a student writing contest at a local school.

ü   Involve the local bookstore, too.

52. Do some things for free to help you get exposure and to network.

53. Make magnets with book info on them.

ü   Use vistaprint.com

Contributed by Carolyn Coon (?)

54. Make temporary tattoos with your book info and give them away.

55.Include your card when you pay your bills.

Contributed by Kathleen Duey (with support from Kelly Milner Halls)

www.kathleenduey.com

56. Make bookmarks.

ü   Xerox them and give them to schools/kids

ü   Make a pdf  file of your bookmark on your website.

ü   Check out  www.chriscrutcher.com to see sample pdf file

57. Create study guides and lesson plans on your website

ü      This will bring you lots of teacher attention.

ü      And a link it to the state standards

58. Get a website.

                59. Submit a copy of your book to your university’s children’s’ writing

                  department. 

Contributed by Michelle Parker-Rock, DIWALI, Enslow Publishers, 2004.

            60. Make guest appearances in chat rooms that host authors/illustrators

ü     Check our SCBWI regions that have chat rooms and are looking for authors/illustrators to chat with members about writing and/or illustrating for an hour.  Contact \n This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it href="mailto: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it "> This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

61. Offer to write a short simple column for an SCBWI region’s website and/or

       newsletter.

ü     Give yourself a nice meaty byline and about the author. Contact rascbwiaz@aol.

62. Put colorful attractive notices/flyers of your book on community bulletin

      boards such as Wild Oats Markets, YWHA/YMCA, pool clubs, teacher’s

      rooms in schools, etc.

63. Don’t forget about contacting the preschools, early childhood centers, and

      private schools where you can do readings, speak at parent meetings and

      teacher’s meetings.

MORE Marketing Tips for the CW List
(Inspired by the SCBWI list)

"...a friend of mine, after receiving copies of her first book, put one of those stork signs out in her front yard that read, 'It's A Book!' "
Dotti Enderle
FORTUNE TELLERS CLUB Series
http://www.fortunetellersclub.com/

"I have a neighbor who gives presentations to travel agents. One agent from a small town told him he puts a helium balloon on the mailbox of everyone who buys a trip, and of course, the neighbors ask why it is there, and he gets a chance at another customer. My neighbor compiled all those hints into a self published book for travel agents that has helped put his two girls through college. There could be a similar book on marketing
children's books, and Kelly has a good start. Now how could Kelly gather even MORE hints. . ."
Gail Martini-Peterson
Online Critique Coordinator
Chinook Update (Seattle/N. Idaho SCWBI)

"... a friend of mine just showed me how she makes her own activity books as a freebie for her small business.  Using a black and white printer and some thick paper, she prints out the activity books and staples them together chap-book style (they come out to be 1/2 a page in size).  The books can be made with only a few pages, or with about 20 pages in them. If anyone wants her directions for setting pages correctly, let me know  (to me, this is the hardest part - getting all the pages in the right place to print them)."
Sarah Hartman
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

MARKETING FOR AUTHORS: A HANDOUT

by Kelly Milner Halls

            Esther and I come from varied backgrounds. I was journalism major in college. Esther is an educator by vocation.  But neither of us realized we’d be “real writers” until later in life. And both of us have never regretted the choice – both of us see it as an opportunity and an adventure.

We also have a time won sense of flexibility in common, and have learned through experience that self promotion, at its best, is a flexible and ever evolving beast.  In this handout and during this round table discussion, we will combine our life experiences to share and inspire innovations in self-promotion. We offer five tips in several categories, and stand prepared to compile many more tips from you, the participants at hand, for the SCBWI website to share with writer members worldwide.

Together, we can make writing for young readers a more cost effective endeavor – a calling that feeds our stomachs as well as it does our souls – through vibrant and creative marketing. 

BOOKSTORE EVENTS

1. LOVE YOUR INDIES!  Chains are great. We’d never bad-mouth the chains.  But time has taught us to honor the real spirit of the independent bookstore. Those remarkably freethinking literacy advocates LOVE good books, no matter where they come from.  So if you’re new to the business, we have one slice of prime advice – COURT YOUR INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS. They will partner with you for events your chains can’t even imagine.

2. LOVE YOUR CHAINS TOO. That said, don’t neglect your local chain store. They may not be able to help you get creative in your writer to reader connections, but they will welcome signings if they are a store that still hosts author events.  Some don’t.

3. BE INVENTIVE.  If you want to have a book event at a bookstore, try to think outside the box. Don’t just have a books signing, have an event.  If you wrote a book about fortune telling, have a gypsy gathering with prizes for the best-dressed little gypsies -- your book, of course. Or offer a free school visit to the teacher or librarian who sends the most little readers to your event.  Make it a funfest, not just a book signing, and your bookstore events coordinator will smile when they see you coming to set up the next event.  It will also help build your relationship with readers and educators if they see WHO you are along with what you’ve written.  Fun is bonding – and contagious.

4. SPREAD THE WORD.  If you’re having a bookstore event, don’t be quiet about it. Tell everyone at your grocery store, everyone at your kid’s school, everyone in your carpool, everyone you know online.  Invite everyone you can think of to attend the festivities.  Most writers depend on the tiny mention in their local newspaper.  Don’t.  Drum up as many attendees as you can on your own. It’s more fun and it makes booking your next event much easier if the bookstore thinks you’ll bring in more shoppers.

5. BOOKMARK IT, DANNO.  When you have our event, consider investing in inexpensive bookmarks to hand out.  If a bookmark goes home with a happy little gypsy, THAT book might be what he or she asks Grandma to buy for him come birthday, Christmas or Halloween. If young reader REMEMBERS your book, young reader might eventually BUY or CHECK OUT your book.  Give them reason to remember.

SCHOOL & LIBRARY VISITS

1. FREE AND EASY.  This one hurts, and we know it does. But try to trust us.  If you volunteer to give class and library visits without a fee locally, and you do a good job, in no time you’ll find people are inviting you, with honorariums in mind.  The keywords in this paragraph are DO A GOOD JOB. You won’t make any money or sell any books if the kids don’t think you’re fun and really cool.  So think kid friendly as you prepare.

2. VISUALS.  Unless you’re as funny as Chris Crutcher and Bruce Coville, you might not be able to dazzle a classroom or library full of kids on you wit and charm alone.  So when you plan your school visit, think VISUALS. Kelly brings six fossils when she presents her dinosaur books – one fossil for each chapter.  When she talks about her baby chicken book, she brings laminated pictures of her chickens and a bag full of feathers – CHEAP (excuse the pun). A friend who wrote a book on the Indy 500 brings things like her husband, a former driver’s helmet and pieces of tire tread she rescued from the Indy pits.  Before she leaves, she cuts a little piece of the tread off the big hunk and leaves it with the teacher as a memento of her visit.  And those kids will never forget she was there.  Bring visuals and your class visit will be a bigger hit.

3. HAVE FUN.  It sounds obvious, but it isn’t always a given, so we’ll say it.  When you go to give a school or library visit, HAVE FUN with it.  Prepare your thoughts, a kind of speech outline, but be flexible and go with what the kids seem to have in mind.  If they want to talk about one aspect of your work more than another, that’s okay. That means you’ve touched a spark. USE it. Have fun with it. That enthusiasm will get you invited to speak again – and word will travel to other schools.

4. GO EARLY. Nothing is worse than being late to a school or library visit. So make plans to be there just a little early. It helps you adjust to the unexpected and it makes the teachers and librarians feel important, which they are.

5. LET THEM COME TO YOU.  One thing that will streamline a day of school visits is a central location. Don’t go from classroom to classroom. Ask the classes to come to you, in the library or gym or cafeteria. Set up your materials and settle in, sure the kids will listen to you, rather than playing with their desk goodies or doing their homework.

PRINT MEDIA

1. BOOK REVIEWS, SMOOK REVIEWS.  We all love getting book reviews, and they are very important, especially when you’re talking about the standard trades – Booklist, Kirkus, School Library Journal, VOYA.  But when it comes to local press and regional publications where you plan to speak, think outside that box again.  Did you write about football?  Think the sports section.  Did you write about dinosaurs?  Think science.  Is our character an abuse victim?  Family and living sections might want to know how you did your research.  When Kelly sells stories as a freelancer, she sells to FEATURE departments about ten times more often than to book editors. So expand your expectations beyond the Sunday book review.

2. PICTURE PERFECT.  Now be honest.  When you flip through a magazine or newspaper, which pictures catch you eye?  Do you gravitate to the headshot of the author you don’t know?  Or do you feel your eyes drawn to the woman with the giant porcupine in her lap?  Do you read the article with the family portrait as illustration, or do you skip over it to the guy in the heroic firefighter’s outfit?  If you answered honestly, you said the more unusual photos caught your eye first. If you’re an editor, you know that about readers too.  So when you have your author photos shot – and yes you NEED an author photo – be creative. Kelly has one author photo where her head is inside a dinosaur’s mouth, another with a baby chick sitting on her shoulder. Make your author picture tell a story, and magazine and newspaper editors MAY take a second look.

3. LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE.  What brought our books to life?  Crutcher is a working therapist. He’s seen the heartbreak of abuse close up and personal for nearly 30 years now.  So when I pitch editors on his author visits and book features, they not only get a writer, they get a mental health expert.  They ask about his books, and about how to deal with their local teen issues.  Not everyone is a therapist, but what IS your expertise.  Kelly writes about dinosaurs. She knows where families can dig for fossils in their home states.  Do you have any quirky experience that helped make your book special?  Be sure the editors you approach know about it.  That’s the angle that might get you in the door.

4. BE EVENT SAVVY.  There is a book we regularly hawk at writer’s conferences called the Chase Calendar of Events.  It’s pricey – better than $50.  But most libraries have a copy at their reference desk.  So do yourself a favor.  Brainstorm your book’s most prominent keywords – baseball, for example, if you write about a boy who plays baseball.  Then use the Chase guide to find out what odd and traditional holidays relate to your theme.  Maybe July 1 is National Aluminum Baseball Bat Day.  Maybe October 15 is Baseball’s Official Birthday. I can’t tell you when those dates actually are, but Chase can.  And once you know, you can pitch print editors on the perfect story for National Fart if You Love Bacon Day – your book on raising pigs or understanding why things stink.

5. DON’T BE SHY – ASK.  If there is one piece of advice we offer most, it’s this one. You can’t get print coverage if you don’t ASK.  So don’t be shy. Send your releases. Editors NEED good content.  Make your content good, and they’ll be glad you mailed your goods.  If you feel uneasy about sending your own work, make up a publicist. BE this alternate publicist.  Or get your friend to be your “assistant” sending the news. But DO IT.  Don’t miss the boat to publicity just because you’re too shy.

OTHER MEDIA

1. RADIO.  This one seems intimidating when you first say the word.  But think it through.  MOST radio stations call your home to interview you for their show.  So that opens up national markets, not just local. That also means you wont’ be seen, so there is no “bad hair day” anxiety, no wondering if you’re too fat or too thin to be “cool.”  So look into offering your services to radio shows as a children’s writer, or an expert on your special quirky theme. Radio is a captive audience and one many PR experts swear by. 

2. SERVICE CLUBS.  Ed Williams III, who writes southern humor books, does a lot f the traditional book festivals. But he makes a killing speaking where most of us never think to go – service clubs.  Your local Lion’s Club, your local Rotary Club, Senior Citizen Centers, the list goes on and on.  Some pay an honorarium, some don’t. But MOST will sell you books after your speech, and elderly people love to buy books for their grandkids. Don’t miss this opportunity to make yourself known.

3. TELEVISION.  This one strikes fear in our hearts too, so don’t feel so alone. But even if you’re not a beauty queen, look into trying to go on the air.  Most communities have early morning radio shows where they interview local celebrities, artists and writers.  Make sure they know you’re out there and willing to be a guest.  Then relax and have fun. And remember, just because you’re on the show, that doesn’t mean you have to WATCH the show.  Crutcher isn’t shy about how he looks, but he has satellite TV – no local channels.  When he does local TV, he never sees it, unless Kelly tapes it for him.  If you’re insecure about your beauty factor, you don’t have to watch it either. Just show up, well dressed and ready for fun, and let that be the end of it, except for all the times people stop you to say, “Aren’t you that writer from TV?”  When that happens, just point them in the direction of their local bookstore, your latest title on the tip of their tongues, to buy “that writer’s” book.

4. CARRY ON.  This is a weird “other medium” but you’d be surprised what results it might bring.  As odd as it sounds, Kelly carries a copy of her latest book almost everywhere she goes – airplanes, mall shopping, lunch dates.  She tucks it inside her Chris Crutcher tote bag and off she goes.  Then if the conversation turns to what she does, she shows the book. You never know who might be sitting next to you on the plane. It might be a producer for Nightline working on a story your book is ideal for. It might be the buyer for Barnes & Noble.  If you have your book and your business cards handy, you won’t miss that opportunity.

5. OPERATING ONLINE.  If you don’t have a website in the year 2004, give me ONE good reason why not.  See?  We knew it. You can’t come up with a good reason.  And you shouldn’t be able to.  The Internet has revolutionized our world and how we communicate. If you don’t have a website, you are missing one of the most fruitful realms of self-promotion available – not to mention one of the most cost effective.  Build a website.  Include a bio, your school visit information, an electronic press kit with your best press clips and your author photo, a high-resolution jpg, and anything else that helps define you and set you apart from the crowd. What does that mean?  That’s a whole other workshop.  Email us and we’ll send you THAT hand out. This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . 

KELLY’S FAVORITE RESOURCES ONLINE

PAPER GOODS

VistaPrint: 250 business cards, $19.99 or less; 250 postcards, $49.99 and beautiful.

http://www.vistaprint.com

WEBSITES

Smartwriters: Too many bells and whistles to list, $120 a year – less for SCBWI members.

http://www.smartwriters.com/index.2ts?page=buildyourwebsite

PR/MARKETING TIPS

John Kremer’s OUTSTANDING website

http://www.bookmarket.com/

Rick Frishman’s Website

http://www.rickfrishman.com/

Raleigh Pinskey’s Self Promotion Website

http://www.promoteyourself.com/

Real World PR

http://www.realworldpr.com/mainpages/public_relations_tips.htm

Marlon Sanders Marketing Survival Kit

http://www.marketingsurvivalkit.com

Internet News Bureau Tips

http://www.internetnewsbureau.com/tips

ESTHER’S FAVORITE RESOURCES ONLINE

www.midlandauthors.com/pr_tip - Tom Ciesielk from TC Public Relations, offers a monthly pr tip at this website for The Society of Midland Authors;

Francine Silverman offers a pr newsletter at: www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com - a biweekly ezine for authors of all genres;

Lissa Warren is the Senior Directory of Publicity at Da Capo Press and offers THE SAVVY AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO BOOK PUBLICITY (Carroll and Graf, 2004);

Susan Raab Associates - www.raabassociates.com, offers tele-courses in marketing and pr;  Susan also has a book, AN AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO CHILDREN'S BOOK PROMOTION;

Evelyn Gallardo's book on pr and marketing and promotion HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR CHILDREN'S BOOK.

The website Children Come First has an authors component - www.childrencomefirst.com

The Write On Speakers Bureau lists authors in Canada and U.S. - www.writeonspeakers.com ;