How to Promote Your First Picture Book, or try to...
How *I* promoted my first book, which may not be how you (or anyone else) will want to tackle book promotion, but just in case you're an author with a book releases looming and you're thinking, "What the heck do I do?" you can glean inspiration from me. I’ll share what I did, what I made, what I purchased and I’ll tell you what worked … and what didn’t!
Plus, updates now that I’ve released four books!
Things I Couldn’t Control: Reviews and "Best Books" Lists:
I was delighted beyond measure by my very first ever review from Publishers Weekly. Not only because it was a starred review, but wow, a starred review! Other reviews have appeared since, and not just on Amazon or Goodreads. Kirkus, School Library Journal, Horn Book, and a handful of blogs. Halloween Good Night has also made an appearance in a number of "Best Halloween Books" lists, linked along with the reviews below. I'll go on record saying Good Reads with Ronna is among my favorites because the reviewer, Christine Van Zandt, fully gets what I'm doing in the book! So exciting when it happens, just like the chuckles I get at readings over the dumpster-diving/bacon-loving goblins - from those who get the joke.
And likely more to come!
Post-pub update: I discovered this resource all about how on earth do I track down reviews? Helpful? Heck yes. I also sought out more places to do author interviews. There are a LOT of book bloggers out there, and they LOVE content. So give ‘em some!
Things I've Made:
There's something about pregnancy, stress and anxiety that make me crafty. The whole "going and doing" (below) has been exceptionally draining, so what do I do with my zombie-like free time? I sew stuff, and glue stuff, and blog. Here on my site you'll find coloring pages, a globster craft, finger puppet patterns, more printables... Enough crafts and activities to keep a little one busy for WEEKS.
And since crafts and papers aren't enough, I also put together a book trailer and wrote a series of posts for the Ten Nights of Halloween! Find them all linked below.
The Ten Nights of Halloween
I did a series here on my blog giving the background for each individual monster in Halloween Good Night.
A Book Trailer!!!
Possibly my BEST use of time and energy (and the most fun) was creating a video book trailer.
Now that I’m multi-published, what do I still MAKE? LOTS!!! Because I write books for children, I find that not only do teachers LOVE free educational materials, the materials boost book sales. Any picture book can have an educational angle, so I’ve gotten creative. For Violet and the Woof I created early literacy worksheets and a fairy tale comparison unit study, and for A Year With Mama Earth I created an entire Nature Journal. For my book of poetry, I created a book club guide and a printable poetry journal.
Are these resources time consuming to create? YES. But every printable lives online forEVER and continues to market my book long after I’ve moved on to the next project.
I also made video trailers for each book, and while I don’t think it’s a great investment (most only get a few hundred views), it’s fun for me. And if promo can actually be FUN, why not?
Things I've Done:
I answered what felt like a thousand interview questions. One interview you can see here at Karlin Gray's website!
A Young Artist's Gallery is now a feature of my site! I'd love to see your artwork!!!
I started a quarterly newsletter. Sign up here!
I also went places. Lots of places. An apple orchard, a children's museum, three bookstores...
Update after four books: I no longer do author events at book stores. I’ve found that they are awkward for me and people just don’t want to be put on the spot to buy a book. And since my third and fourth books were released shortly before/during a global pandemic, school visits have been put on hold.
Now I focus my attention on creating resources, doing virtual events, and giving back to my “tribe” of writers through lectures and workshops.
Things I've Purchased:
I had postcards made via Instaprint. The cost wasn't tiny ($100-ish), but I have a good number left for next year, and I handed out many, many, many postcards. As with most things, not sure what the end result will be. But it's nice to have something to give someone who asks, "Oh, you write books? Anything I've heard of?" I also did an in-depth post on author postcards.
I purchased advertising by boosting a post on Facebook. Which post? My video trailer. Did it do any good? I don't know. It supposedly "reached" 600+ people in the weeks before Halloween, and it only cost me $10. I may try more of this for future books, though I can say I've never bought anything from a Facebook advertisement. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've even clicked a FB ad. Though I'm a total advertising skeptic, so...
I commissioned a friend who is a costume GENIUS to design several costumes and write a how-to article. She did an amazing job, and while the article didn't get out this season except for one print publication in Australia, we plan to get it on the list for 2018. A little sampling of one of the costumes...
So, post-fourth-book release what would I still purchase?
I would pay the premium for bookmarks vs. postcards. Postcards are limited in usability and likely go straight in the trash, but bookmarks people might use to, you know, mark their spot in a book!
I did not end up doing more FB advertisements and felt no real pull to do so.
Plans for Next Year:
With the release of Violet and the Woof in October of 2018 I plan to hit bookstores once again, and hopefully add some school visits. If the illustrator provides permission, I'll also publish coloring pages and crafts. Thankfully since this is not a seasonal book, promotion doesn't have a "deadline" (get it, Halloween, DEADline? Haha!). For Halloween Good Night I plan to pick one or two key events, publish another craft (already in the queue!), and of course the costume article mentioned above.
Authors, what have you done that has impacted your book's success? And readers, what would make you most interested in picking up a book?