Top Tips for Marketing Children’s Books

Today I'd like to welcome Penny Reeve to Australasian Christian Writers, to talk about marketing books for children. Welcome, Penny!

Marketing Children's Books

If you ask an author what the least favourite part of their job is they’ll often talk about marketing or publicity. Regardless of how unpleasant many authors find these tasks, publishers, booksellers and even readers expect authors to be involved - and this includes writers of books for children.
So, what marketing and publicity strategies do children’s writers use? And are they different to those used by authors of books for a wider market?

To understand this we must first look at the intended audience of a children’s book. For, while a children’s book is written primarily for children to read (or be read to) it is generally NOT the children to whom marketing and publicity strategies for children’s books are aimed. Children are consumers of children’s books, but they are disempowered consumers. Their choice, preferences and financial buying power lie securely with the adults that surround them.

Consider the purchasing chain for a novel for adults: the adult sees the book - they like the book - they buy the book.

Contrast this to a purchasing chain for a children’s book: the child sees a book - they like the book - they must convince their adult to take a look - the adult sees the book - they like the book - they buy the book.

Because of this dominance of adults (be they parents, teachers, librarians, family or friends) in the children’s book buying chain it is imperative that children’s writers carefully consider how to market their books to adults – on behalf of the children the books are intended for – at various points along the purchasing chain. The following tips can be helpful for narrowing down relevant opportunities:

Tip #1: Clearly identify who your purchasing adults are. 

Are you targeting librarians? Teachers? Grandparents? The marketing strategy to each group will be slightly different based on their purpose behind buying. Don’t assume one strategy will reach the ears of everyone, think strategically and purposefully about your target groups.

Tip #2: Find out where these adults gather information about potential children’s book purchases. 

Is it Goodreads? Facebooks? Parenting magazines? Librarian conferences? Find out, and then consider building an author presence in these settings.

Tip #3: Carefully prepare marketing pitches to meet the needs of potential buyers. 

Why should these adults buy your book for their child? What need does it meet? Enjoyment? Education? Shared experience? Something else? Spend some time thinking about it and then prepare sales pitches that adequately (and truthfully) explain how your books meet these needs.

Tip #4: Be prepared to market for the long haul. 

Although you’ll most likely want to get your books out and sold as soon as possible, word-of-mouth remains the best seller of books. And word of mouth takes a long time to build up momentum. Teachers talk to librarians, friends talk to grandparents, parents to parents, and book recommendations are passed on. The brilliant thing about children’s books is that the market repeats itself over and over. This year’s five year olds might grow out of your picture book, but next year’s five year olds haven’t even heard about it yet! Be committed to marketing your books over a long period of time and allow that beautiful word-of-mouth momentum to grow.

Tip #5: DON’T forget the children. 

Although a children’s writer must sell books to purchasing adults they must never forget who they are writing for. Always allow opportunities to interact with children themselves and look for events where children can interact first hand with your books and stories. School visits, playgroup talks, store story-times, library visits, writing workshops etc. Often these events will not translate to immediate sales (remember the potential drop off points in the purchasing chain?). But child centred events will remind you who your true audience is, sales or not, and why you must remain committed to creative marketing in order to get your books into these hands.

About Penny Reeve

Penny Reeve is the author of many children’s books including the popular Tania Abbey Adventures and Find The Animal series. In 2013 she won the Children’s Category CALEB Prize with illustrator Jemima Trappel for their picture book Wonderfully Madison. She now lives in western Sydney with her husband and three children, and will be guest blogging for ACW on the topic of writing for children over the next few weeks.

That ‘wordless recreation’ -- Jo-Anne Berthelsen

At a recent meeting of a Christian writers’ group here in Sydney, I had the pleasure of hearing children’s author Penny Reeve share aspects of her writing journey. At one stage, she mentioned an old book, Becoming A Writer, by Dorothea Brande, originally published in 1934. I had never read it, so, because I love books that deal with the writer’s attitude or mindset rather than with the ‘how-to’ of writing, I decided to buy a copy.

This book makes for quaint reading in spots—for example, when Dorothea Brande mentions how every author has his or her own portable typewriter these days! But, in amongst all the great ideas for tapping into our unconscious mind, writing to a schedule, reading as a writer and more, I found a little gem of a chapter entitled ‘The Writer’s Recreation’. In one section there headed ‘Wordless recreation’, I read the following:

If you want to stimulate yourself into writing, amuse yourself in wordless ways. Instead of going to a theater, hear a symphony orchestra, or go by yourself to a museum; go alone for long walks, or ride by yourself on a bus-top. If you will conscientiously refuse to talk or read you will find yourself compensating for it to your great advantage. ... Only experiment will show you what your own best recreation is; but books, the theater, and talking pictures should be very rarely indulged in when you have any piece of writing to finish. (p 133 Tarcher/Penguin edition 1981)

What would Dorothea Brande say these days, I wonder, about writers who sit for hours watching TV. Yet something in me resonated with the point she was making, which was that such things, particularly at crucial times in the creative process, might not only distract us but change our whole attitude to our writing or perhaps cause us to give up altogether.

Our garden in process

I am not at any crucial writing stage at the moment. I have finished a non-fiction work and am still between books, unable to decide what to pour my energies into next. But right now, I am learning the huge value of ‘wordless recreation’. Yes, I am reading lots (sorry, Dorothea!). But recently, I have re-discovered how enriching the simple, mundane task of gardening can be for my creative mind. It involves hard work and persistent effort—yet I find it so rewarding when I see what my co-labouring with God, the ultimate Creator, has been able to bring into being in our poor garden.

Alongside this, I have re-discovered how baking—another mundane, wordless task—can also feed that creative part of me at times. Too bad the results in this area do not stay around for me to enjoy looking at for long! Perhaps my next challenge will be to emulate some of Dorothea Brande’s writer friends from the 1930s and try horseback riding or sitting alone on a park bench or whittling for hours or embroidering my initials on everything I can find (p 134).

Whether writers or not, we all need times of solitude and quiet reflection, not only to be at our creative best but also to become more aware of God’s gracious presence, strengthening and renewing us daily. So ... what ‘wordless recreation’ would you choose? Which one have you discovered benefits you most?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and four grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.