HOOK KIDS on READING

CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK - Day6

With Margot Finke




7x  Passionate Authors
from
Guardian Angel Publishing
( affectionately known as GAP )
 
 
 STILL Blogging. . .
Their fingers are now STUMPS !

 
for
Children's Book Week
May 7th - 13th, 2012

(See list of other GAP bloggers below)
.

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GAP Authors also

offer
2x FREE GIFTS

WIN

A cool tote bag of books by GAP authors

.

or

a FREE Picture Book Critique - by me!

Don't forget to sign up to WIN!
( entry form at the end of this post ) 

ME - resting between critiques!

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So. . .  let's get to it, mates.

 My Topic for Today,
 Saturday, May 12th

BLATENT PROMOTION

SELL those  !@#$%  books or
DIE in the ATTEMPT!

Okay, you have written and rewritten.  Your pages have been critiqued, edited, and finally published.  YEA!  Now you can relax, right?

.

NOT SO FAST!
Now the real work begins. . .
PROMOTION!

Sorry to burst your “happy” balloon, but you have
people to see, places to go, and books to sell.
 
Below, find your PROMO itinerary:  

• Join groups of writers that have experienced and published members. Pick their brains. Network among Linkedin group members, and scour The Purple Crayon and Verla Kay’s list for promotional help and advice.  The words, “I will help you if you help me,” are a good beginning ploy. Children’s writers are notoriously kind hearted.
• Perfect your Press Release (tailored to fit each new group) – newspapers, bookstores, schools,  etc.
•  Research the best place to have business cards and bookmarks made. 
• Make sure your Blog or Website is in tip-top shape - sharp, cool, and no typos. 

•        If you don’t have one, scurry and set one up.  Blogger.com is easy to navigate.

• Either make, or pay to have made, a really cute and appealing Book Trailer.  If you can, do a Video with you chatting about your book, why you wrote it, and where it can be purchased.

• Create a signature that has your book title and your web or blog address.  USE IT AT THE END OF  EVERYTHING YOU WRITE.
• Research the best Book Reviewers and Bloggers willing to interview you.
• Google, e-mail friends, or beg for lists of schools, libraries, book stores, church groups etc, that you can offer to visit with your book and your one man/woman show.
• Once badgered into letting you come, NEVER leave any of the details to the place you are visiting.  Keep in constant touch about the date, the projector you need, the table for your books, etc.  Give them cute leaflets to distribute ahead of time – book cover, your name, e-mail and web address + a very short Bio, the date you will be coming, and the price of your book.
• Contact publisher so adequate book supplies are on hand.
• Keep notes of things to do, people to phone, and last minute reminders.
• Design a plan that is suitable for schools, yet adaptable.  Set your fee for visits, and let librarians and teachers know you are willing to fit in with their class needs whenever possible.  You are the Queen of negotiations!
• Oh. . . and remember your kids and husband at least once a week.  They must eat, and the laundry is piling up.  Really smelly, mate!! 
•  

SOCIAL NETWORKING 101

Now that the easy part is out of the way,
you can begin working the
Social Networks.

• Twitter, Facebook, GoogleX, Good Reads, Author’s Den and Jacket Flap etc, are all places where published writers hang out, promote their books, and network like their life depended upon it.
• Learn about all the cool things you can do with social networking apps and your blog.
•  Just being there is not good enough.  You have to be SEEN and HEARD regularly. Not just raving on about your new book, the great reviews, and the book signing you plan –  but commenting, encouraging, and giving others a plug.
•  Add to your Blog at least twice a week.  Do promos for other authors in exchange for them doing one for you.  Make it FUN to read. PING your Blog after each new post.
• Once your book is on Amazon, go there, sneak around, and learn all you can do to promote your books via Amazon’s array of likes, pages and apps.  Make sure your book page is linked to your Amazon page.
• And there are many sites where you can list your book and your Bio, and hope someone other than fellow writers notice.
• Blog Talk Radio is a another world of wild promotional places you can be interviewed about your book.  Check that out too.
• And if you ever want to write again, you had better be ORGANIZED.  Promotion eats huge chunks  of your time like a starving alligator eats the unwary.

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           IMPORTANT:  Don’t just promote on the sites of other writers. Look for places both  ONLINE and OFF LINE, where you can SELL to the parents, grandparents + aunts and uncles that buy books for the kids in their lives.  

Of course it gets easier with each new book you publish.  You already know what to do, you have the contacts nicely listed, the Blog in high gear, and most of the other “stuff” under some sort of control – maybe not the laundry. . . or the dust bunnies.  But what the hell!  You have sold a pile of books, and the royalties are rolling in.  Take ‘em all out to dinner.  You don’t have to cook!

Oh well. . . we can all dream.  Right?

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NOW .

Surf on over to some of the other
Guardian Angel Bloggers
and enjoy their Children's Book Week posts.

Mayra Calvani - www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com

Margo Dill - http://margodill.com/blog/
Margot Finke - http://hookkidsonreading.blogspot.com
Donna McDine - www.donna-mcdine.blogspot.com
Nancy Stewart - www.nancystewartbooks.blogspot.com
Kai Strand - http://kaistrand.blogspot.com
Nicole Weaver - http://mysisterismybestfriend.blogspot.com



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*Books for Kids – Manuscript Critiques
http://www.margotfnke.com
*Virtual School Visits – SKYPE makes it happen
http://virtualschoolvisits.blogspot.com/