What happens now that you’ve published your book? More importantly, what do you want to happen next?
Go back to the beginning. Like any relationship, you need to ask the obvious question….. what do you want out of this? Do you want to flood the market with your books, grab the attention of publishers in the hope that you will get a book deal? Do you just want your book to be available to close family and friends because it’s a personal volume that would have little meaning to anyone else. Or do you simply want to be able to say, ‘I’ve done it’?
Me? Of course, I want my books to be available to everyone, I want to bring Bear’s stories to life. I want children to love them, to love reading, to open the door to their imaginations a little more with each turn of a page.
But, what are you meant to do when you’ve actually published your book and you’re ready to show it to the masses? Will the masses come willingly, or do you need to go to them?
Well, put it this way, you’re not going to go and buy something that you don’t even know exists, are you?! You won’t tell your friends and family about something if you don’t know its even out there. Getting your product, book or otherwise, ‘out there’ is vital.
Be mindful though, if your book is the only topic of conversation you offer, it’s going to wear thin very quickly. Shoving your book under people’s noses may work in the short term but before long, they will start getting fed up…. or they begin to avoid you altogether [checking invitations to Christmas parties…. Hmmmm]
Balance in all things!
Obviously, my close friends and family knew what I had been up to, they knew the book was published and available but only selling a book or two to them was never going to pay the printing bill!
Push, push, push.
As I’d had the bookmarks and the postcards printed, I was most definitely going to make sure that I used them. The information on them tells the reader that they are related to a book promotion and easily points them to where they can buy the book, and of course, to my website. They are ideal pick-up prompts.
I’ve asked friends if they could take the postcards to their workplaces and pop them in their staff rooms. I’ve asked my childcare providers to pass them onto anyone who may be interested within their childcare groups and contacts.
Note: I only hand them out to people I know, there may be licensing requirements where you live that you need to consider if you intended to hand them out to anyone in the street or supermarket etc.
Whilst I’m not condoning dumping postcards in all public spaces [I don’t want to get into trouble for littering] wherever I go now, I do make sure that I have some with me in case I bump into anyone I know.
I’ve given bookmarks to my children’s school friends [do not hang around a school trying to hand bookmarks out to children you do not know…. This is a No-No!]
A bunch of bookmarks are also on their way to a local school for their Christmas fair via a colleague’s child. The school are raising funds for a new bin, the bookmarks are going onto one of the stalls and can be given away or a very small donation to the school’s bin fund given! Every 10p helps when fundraising!
Bookmarks are wonderfully dual purpose; they are perfect for encouraging children to pick up a book and get reading and they’re also a direct link to my book.
I’ve emailed local libraries and offered a donation of the book, of course they are very happy to accept a book donation and it’s another way of getting your book ‘out there’.
And so to schools…..
I’m lucky, I not only have children, but I have friends, family and colleagues who have spawned Satan have children too. Over the years I’ve had quite a few dealings with Primary schools, as well as completing a few days work experience in them whilst I was preparing for my PCGE. So, schools and their daily routines weren’t a complete mystery to me.
Reading for pleasure is an amazing initiative that encourages children [and adults] to read, to explore character, language and to fire their beautiful imaginations.
Certainly the schools in my local area are very strong on reading for pleasure, so it seemed only natural to approach a couple of schools that I know and ask the question….. can I come and read to your children?
They have a copy of my book for two reasons, firstly because they need to be sure that it is a book that compliments the curriculum and intended age group. They wouldn’t want a reading from a badly written book that uses age irrelevant or inappropriate language, would they?!
Secondly, because many of our schools are struggling with funding cuts from all angles, so a freebie new book might just encourage one more child to pick it up and get reading. It enriches what the school library has to offer.
So, in the New Year I will be going into these schools [by arrangement, not just randomly turning up!] and reading to Reception and Year 1 classes. I’m completely excited by it but also a tad nervous. I can talk to a room of 100 delegates from all backgrounds with no problem whatsoever, but primary school children…… they can eat you alive if you are ill prepared, just ask any new teacher!
That leads me onto my need to set up an account with X [formerly Twitter] It seems that most of our schools communicate via Twitter, they post their school updates and news on this channel, so it makes sense to be able to link with them through it. Of course I will stick to the same image I’ve used for other platforms and my website, branding I believe this is called….. sounds painful if you ask me!
Once again, I have had to put a feeble plea out for some help in this and luckily, I have had some brilliant guidance come back. So armed with coffee and freshly cleaned glasses, that will be my next technological battle!
As mentioned in last week’s blog, ‘Into The Unknown’, tweaks are being made to the website. With any luck, by this weekend it should be freshly tweaked and looking hitch and glitch free.
Now, I’m trying to contain my excitement here but I wanted to let you know [mainly because I am totally rubbish at keeping quiet] that I have only got FOUR more illustrations to finish for the next book in the ‘A Dog Called Bear’ series…… my panel of harsh but fair reviewers are poised and ready……..
