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| Barbara Fisch (left) and Sarah Shealy (right) |
by Eileen R. Meyer
2019 is just around
the corner. If you’re like me – you may have some thoughts for new resolutions on your list.
Items like “stepping up your author presence” and “enhancing your promotional
efforts” are always on my list for improvement.
Many of us are at
different points in our publishing journey. Some may be pre-published and
looking at how to stimulate interest in a debut title. For others, you may have
launched a few books into the world and you’ve learned a bit of what works and
doesn’t work. Now you’re ready to fine-tune your efforts for your latest book.
Based on these very different starting points, there is no “one size fits all”
solution. Rather, we each need to assess
where we are, what our unique goals are, and then determine which marketing and
PR activities will help us achieve desired results. And this month, we’ve got
some experts to help provide guidance!
Welcome to another
TAKE FIVE interview. I hope that you’ll take five minutes to get to know
Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy as they share their expertise in marketing and
promotions. Before we dive in, let’s learn a bit more about Barbara, Sarah, and
their firm
Barbara Fisch and Sarah
Shealy worked together at Harcourt Children’s Books for 20 years, most recently
as Associate Directors of Publicity. They established Blue Slip Media in 2009.
Five Questions for our
experts:
BARBARA: We work with
authors at all stages of their careers—from debut authors to those who are more
established. Everyone has different needs. For newer authors, publicists can
help with an extra push to certain areas, such as introducing their work to
teacher and librarian blogs. Their publishers usually send books to a good list
of blogs along with a box of other titles—so a freelance publicist can help
with targeted pitches so bloggers will want to pull the book out of the stack.
SARAH: Authors are
specialists at writing books, and publicists are specialists at working with
the media and in crafting marketing and publicity campaigns. They are vastly
different enterprises! So if an author feels he/she could use a little help
with outreach, it’s worth at least chatting with a publicist to see if there
are areas where she/he could help. It’s also hard for authors and illustrators
to sing their own praises when approaching media. It’s much easier for a
publicist to say, “This author is fantastic!” than it is for people to gush
about themselves.
Eileen: 2. What are the most common
mistakes new authors make regarding book promotions?
BARBARA: There are two
kinds of approaches new authors have. One is to be complacent and assume that
everything is being take care of by their publisher. The unfortunate truth is
that publishers cannot possibly do everything for every book—as much as they
might like to. It’s just a reality that house publicists and marketing
departments have too many priorities and too little time. So unless there’s an
extraordinary amount of marketing attention being paid to the book—which does happen on a rare occasion!—authors can
mistakenly believe that things will just work out.
Another approach is
when authors try to do everything all at once just before pub—and then they are
disappointed when they don’t have huge crowds at their bookstore launch, or
front-page interviews in their local paper. Things take time to build, and it’s
important to cultivate authentic relationships with booksellers, local
teachers, and local librarians long before their book publishes.
SARAH: I think it’s
also important to manage expectations when you’re a new author. It took a lot
of years for Kate DiCamillo to get where she is! An appearance on The Today Show or having your book hit
the bestseller list is rare for a debut. If you approach your marketing and
publicity with the attitude that every media hit you get is an awesome step in
the right direction, you’ll be pleased with your results and not frustrated by
them.
BARBARA:
Social media can be confusing and even scary for new authors. It might feel like you have to jump in and do everything all at once. Authors know they’re supposed to do something, but it’s hard to know exactly where to start. Here are a few tips to stay sane.
Social media can be confusing and even scary for new authors. It might feel like you have to jump in and do everything all at once. Authors know they’re supposed to do something, but it’s hard to know exactly where to start. Here are a few tips to stay sane.
Pick one area of
social media that feels comfortable and stick with it. There’s no 100% perfect
platform, and each one has its advantages (more on that below). But it’s far
worse to just dabble in several areas. If you like Facebook, and feel like you
can add some interesting content (beyond just promoting your book), then post
on a consistent basis. The general rule of thumb is 1 promotional post (about
yourself/your book) to 4 general posts. If you’re great at taking photos, or if
you’re an illustrator, consider Instagram. Twitter is where a lot of the
children’s lit conversation is happening. Pinterest is used by a lot of
teachers and libraries.
The key for all of
social media is engagement. You want people to respond to and share your posts.
Facebook has made it a little more difficult for folks with author pages to
have their posts show up in their fans’ newsfeeds. That’s because Facebook
changed their algorithms so that interactions between friends are favored. They
call it “people over Pages,” and the only way to get past that algorithm is to
post content that your readers will want to share and respond to.
Another tip for social
media is to pay attention to hashtags and how they can help your posts get seen
by others. On Twitter and Instagram that is especially important—look for
discussions around hashtags such as #tlchat (teacher-libarian chat), #picturebook or #kidlit.
The key thing to
remember with social media is that it’s SOCIAL. Just as you wouldn’t go to a
dinner party and only talk about yourself, you want to listen as much as you
are talking. Social media is a great way to gain grassroots support and friends
by connecting with folks over shared interests. And to cultivate that
relationship, you contribute in a positive way, and always act graciously and
generously.
BARBARA: I think
authors need to consider what the primary market is for their book. If it’s a
bedtime book for very young readers, it will resonate more with parents and
caregivers for young children—so authors may want to focus more on marketing to
this demographic rather than teachers and librarians. If it’s a book with
classroom applications, then authors might want to have some downloadables
created that teachers and librarians can use.
Of course, many books
cross over into both markets, and if you have the time, energy, and resources,
it’s good to explore many options. But for those who are limited and want to
know what the best use of their budget, we suggest starting with the primary
market.
SARAH: It’s also
important to think about which efforts are going to help you increase your
profile and your platform. What efforts will get your name and book jacket in
front of that primary market in ways that will also help build your career? If
you’re writing primarily for the education market, getting reviewed by blogs
and media for and by teachers and librarians gives a nice push to that market,
plus you can add those review quotes to your website. If you’ve written that
bedtime book Barb mentioned, can you do a pajama story hour at your local
bookstore and use images from that in your social media and to post on your
website? Use those publicity and marketing hits to continue to build your
platform as an author.
BARBARA: It’s really
best to start well before pub date when you can, just because it gives a
publicist the opportunity to better strategize outreach efforts. Some media
outlets need 4-6 months at least, and conference and festival organizers need
even longer. It’s very difficult to pick up a book after publication, though we
have done so on occasion—especially if there’s a tie-in like Black History
Month or Women’s History Month.
SARAH: Freelance
publicists are busy, so the earlier you can get on someone’s calendar, the
better. And Barb’s right about picking up on something after it’s been out for
a while. Without some kind of holiday hook, it’s very hard to get publicity for
an older title because you’re competing with all the new books that are just coming
out. But if you’re just looking for some marketing support—like help creating a
curriculum guide to post on your website, or making a promotional piece to hand
out at school visits or conferences—those kinds of projects aren’t time
sensitive and can be done for a backlist title.
If you’re interested
in talking with an outside publicist about your book, we recommend you chat
with several to find the best fit for you and your project. You need to “click”
with your publicist and be comfortable with his/her approach and communication
style. You should look for someone who specializes in or has good experience
with children’s books specifically as the market and publicity landscape is
very different for books written for adults. Ask your author friends for recommendations
and look through the publicists on this list for firms to contact. Best of luck to you!!
Thank YOU, Barbara and
Sarah for sharing your expertise with our readers.
You can learn more about Barbara and
Sarah’s firm here: https://www.blueslipmedia.com/
