To market, to market...

When my first books came out, I was hesitant to do much marketing on my own, fearing that I would appear too pushy. But with publishers' limited marketing dollars, if I don't get the word out about my books, who will? Vicki Palmquist of Children's Literature Network said to think of marketing as "giving information to people who want to know about your books," and that has helped me feel less like a used car salesman.

A few marketing ideas I've tried include:

* Finger puppet ghost/postcards for my book The Haunted Hamburger and Other Ghostly Stories. These mailable cards included book information on the reverse side. They were expensive to produce, but I was able to fund this idea through a career initiative grant that I received from a local literary agency (free money to promote my books!). I sent cards to children's bookstores across the country, gave cards to my publisher to distribute at bookseller conferences, and handed them out at book signings. Did they create a huge difference in book sales? I don't know. But they were a unique advertisement for my book, something that people would hopefully want to keep (at least for a little while), and that's what I was striving for.

*Free teaching guides/extension activities for most of my books. Teachers, librarians, and booksellers can find coloring and puzzle sheets, a readers theater script, writing projects, cross-curriculum tie-ins, and party ideas (such as "13 Ways to Host a Hilarious Haunted Book Party") ready to download at my website. Remembering my own experience as a teacher, I tried to make all of these activities fun and practical (easy ideas are going to be much more appealing to a busy teacher than an idea that is going to involve lots of time). Once again, I don't know if these activities sell a lot of books, but when I visit a school, frequently I'll see the library lined with projects that have come directly from my website.

* Press releases. Sending press releases to various media has resulted in plenty of free publicity for my books. A friend who writes press releases for the state of Minnesota gave me some excellent pointers: include brief anecdotes or "sound bites" that could easily be fit into an article, include your contact information and a photo, and keep it short enough to fit on one page. I write a standard press release for each new book of mine, and then make minor tweaks to tailor it to each outlet where it's sent (when I send it to my local paper, I highlight that I live in the area; if I send it to my alumni magazine, I'll highlight my school connections). Numerous times papers have printed these press releases word-for-word. Reporters, like teachers, are busy, and the more you can do to make their job easier, the better.

*Pumpkin carving. With marketing, I try to take advantage of my strengths. I'm not aggressive, I'm not a technological whiz, but I'm a good pumpkin carver. For many of my books I've carved a related pumpkin which I've brought to book signings. The pumpkins are great conversation starters and sometimes lead to book sales. Pumpkin carving might not be your hidden talent, but maybe you are a skilled musician, photographer, seamstress, baker, etc., and you can find a way to combine your unique talents to highlight your unique book.

Spreading Wide and Honing In

This round our topic is marketing and the timing is perfect. Our School Garden! is on the shelves, and I have two more books publishing in the fall. It's time to roll my chair back from the drawing table and hand sell some books.

First, if I just swivel 180 degrees to face my computer, there is marketing work I can do before leaving my studio.
• Design a book announcement to mail out to all my contacts.
• Create a book specific Facebook page, and invite FB contacts to "like" this page. Here is a trick my publisher Philip Lee told me: if I find other FB groups and organizations who might be interested in my book, I can "like" them and create a hyperlink to my FB book page site, so then any new book information I post will keep showing up on their sites. The circle widens!
• Research and find more contacts. My recent books have non-fiction angles, so I can explore these themes to locate target audiences. For The East-West House I developed contact lists of art museum bookstores; Japanese garden gift shops; children's museums; as well as blogs about Japanese culture, Mid-century Modern design, sculpture, and being biracial. To keep generating sales, this process must not end. A friend recently suggested I check out the origami crowd, too. For this new book, Philip Lee has been busy connecting with schools that have gardens-- thousands in California alone.
• Create activities for events. I like to provide an extra little something to take away with the purchase of a book. I also include downloadable activities and lesson plans on my website so teachers and parents will want to use my books.
• Set up events to connect with my readers. Contact schools, libraries, conferences, and other venues for presenting, selling, and signing books. For my last book I planned a book launch event that was successful beyond my dreams. Lee & Low featured my how-to tips in an interview: http://blog.leeandlow.com/2009/11/11/how-to-plan-a-successful-book-launch/

Next, I close my studio door, leave seclusion behind, and meet my public at an event. For The East-West House my best sales venues have been at art museums and Japanese cultural events. These are where I hone in on my most interested audiences. I have done family presentations at art museums where I am featured. While attendees create art projects, I sign books. At Japanese cultural events, I sit in a crowded auditorium, behind a table, behind a stack of books. I am definitely an introvert, but I try to put myself forward and make eye contact with passers-by. If I can engage in a conversation, I can often sell a book. I share my enthusiasm for the story and discuss the process I used to create the art. This direct one-on-one connection with my reader has been very powerful.

Ask these questions: Who are your readers? Where can you find them? How can you connect with them?

Here are some titles on marketing a fellow children's book author suggested:
1001 Ways to Market Your Books: for Authors and Publishers by John Kremer, Open Horizons
Guerrilla Publicity: Hundreds of Sure-Fire Tactics to Get Maximum Sales for Minimum Dollars by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman, and Jill Lublin, Adams Media Corporation
Speak and Grow Rich by Dottie and Lilly Walters, Prentice Hall
Money Talks: How to Make a Million as a Speaker by Alan Weiss, McGraw-Hill

Marketing?

I'm pretty good at marketing. I start in the produce aisle, head to the meat, onto the cereal aisle...My favorite is the dairy aisle, because they have such cool kinds of Greek yogurt now. Oh. That other kind of marketing. The one I'd rather not have to deal with...
Having a book come out is weird. Of course, the excitement is there: I HAVE A BOOK COMING OUT! But then you sit back and realize: Crap. I have a book coming out.
When it comes to children's books, marketing simply means GETTING THE WORD OUT.
If you are one of those authors that the publisher decides to throw lots of money behind, marketing probably means a book tour. I am not one of those authors. For me, marketing means doing whatever I can to make sure people hear that I HAVE A BOOK COMING OUT. I live in the middle of nowhere. But I have an internet connection. So I post on Facebook, both as myself and on a writer page for S.A. Bodeen. On that page, I'm careful to keep everything book-oriented, and I post links to reviews and other things relating to my books. I recently started a Twitter account @1turducken , which will also be strictly book-related.
But here's the thing...
In 2008, my first YA novel The Compound was released. I got starred reviews, was a Flying Start in Publisher's Weekly, was named an ALA Quick Pick, was up for the Audiobook of the Year ( Neil Gaiman won, but I have the same cool medal he does) and thought, "Wow, the word is out!"
And then not a lot happened. A few months later my agent called to say that Scholastic wanted the book in their fairs and book orders. He was on the fence about it, but for me it was a no-brainer. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and Scholastic book orders were the only way I ever got books of my own. I told him that we had to do it. And then something happened...
In 2009, The Compound started appearing on master lists for state reader awards. A lot of them. For both middle school and high school ages. I started getting a lot more requests for school visits. Scholastic renewed their contract and also picked up my next novel The Gardener.
Apparently, it took a year or two, but the word got out when people started reading the book. It won the 2011 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award three years after it was published. My most recent royalty statement showed the book is selling more copies now than it ever has, and I'm currently writing the sequel that I never thought I would .
So, my take on marketing?
In the end, I think the best thing is to write a good story, get it in the hands of readers, and have them start talking about it. In the end, that is the best, and most lasting way to get the word out.
At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Time...

Time is weird. Seriously. Sometimes it drags by and sometimes you are left sitting there, wondering where it went.
Right now, I'm working on the draft for the sequel to my YA novel The Compound. I just saw the contract the other day, and it has a delivery date of Sept 30. I honestly never look at deadlines. Why? Because I always get things done way before they're due. I have no idea how I do that because I am the BIGGEST time waster on the planet.
Each day, I always plan to get my writing done early. I have my coffee, go for my run, come back and eat and get ready to write. But sometimes I check the television first. Usually Channel 244, SyFy. If they're having a cool marathon, say Battlestar Galactica or the X-Files? Yeah. The writing isn't gonna happen. And sometimes, I know my DVR is full of new episodes I haven't watched yet. The Walking Dead. Once Upon a Time. You can't let those wait for days...
Yes. I am a tv junkie. It most likely stems from growing up with an antenna on the top of the house that gave us only two television stations, three if the wind was blowing just right. And my parents always got to choose which shows to watch. Which means, in the here and now, the little kid in me exalts at having 300 channels and all day to pick what I want to watch.
Maybe I'll grow up one day....
Until then, I'll get the writing done. When I'm finished watching reruns of Lost, that is...

Timing

I've enjoyed reading the posts on the topic of time and it's clear it's something we all think about a lot. It's interesting to me that I don't think in terms of time management, but rather in creating a day. Each day I have the choice of how to structure it, and as much as that can be a challenge, I love that freedom.

A couple of pieces of advice I was given by smart writers years ago have been helpful. Once when I was talking about phoning Lisa Westberg Peters, she said, "Before noon is too soon." For Lisa the morning was writing time and she put off her contact with the rest of the world until the afternoon. I've tried to follow that and frequently don't check email until after noon. It's a gentle reminder that the first thing I need to do each day is write, and that there's plenty of time later to do the other things.

The other piece of wisdom came from the poet Naomi Shihab Nye. She told me once that one word that she does not use for herself is busy. I was struck by how freeing it could be to remove this word from one's vocabulary and how it clarifies that what we do is a reflection of our intent. I haven't used the word busy in years, and it helps me to enjoy what I do more.

When my mother died, I was struck by how little we know about the time we have. I'm still in that mourning period, but I am becoming clearer about some of what I want to do and don't want to do with the time that I have.

Going with the Flow

Outside it is still dark. This is my "Time Management" for the day. It was my turn to post yesterday, but I ran out of time, so early-up I get to fit blogging into today's schedule. I have loved reading everyone's posts and comments on this subject. I love talking about time management with my self-employed friends. I always find inspiration. Over the years I have tried all kinds of time management tools from Franklin-Covey calendars to wall-size calendars with each hour accounted for, mind-maps, pocket-sized calendars, computer calendars, and post-it notes. I have anticipated a week ahead of time and documented a week looking back. I have analyzed and workshopped time management in multiple ways and come to the conclusion that it is best to go with the flow. The evolution and flow of life determines my time, not the other way around. When I think of how much I got done in a day when my kids were little as compared to now, when I have whole days to myself in the studio because my son just got his license and can drive himself to circus classes after school and my daughter is at college, I accept that the flow of life makes it impossible to have one system of time management that always works.  

Better than a clock or a calendar, I have found that a few moments of writing in my journal about what truly matters to me each morning helps me plan my day, week, month, even year, around priorities. If I am working on a deadline, then I know early in the day what matters and it helps me to say "No" when necessary to keep my studio time sacred. When I was in college facing choices of whether to finish a paper or go out with friends I asked myself this question: "If I were to die tomorrow, what would be more meaningful?" (Can you guess which I chose?) I still often use this question to prioritize my plans and as I grow older it takes on new meaning. What do I want to accomplish in a day? A year? A life-time? It is no longer the light-hearted college question, but one that carries weight for me.

Too Much Frittering

For me, Edie and David hit the nail on the head in their posts. Like David, I have no official full-time job, yet I can fritter away entire mornings and afternoons without ever managing to tackle the most important task of the day: writing. Only recently did I consciously decide to switch up my routine and start with the writing. So far, the results have been mixed. But in my case, mixed is better than nothing!

Related to this, like Edie, I find the more unstructured time I have, the less I get accomplished — not only with writing. Lists and daily goals work to some extent, but it’s embarrassing to admit how often it’s time to go pick up Ben at school and realizing I haven’t even looked at my writing goal for the day! In my defense, the “frittered” time is taken up with chores and errands (I’m not a total slacker!) but it’s still frustrating. You can’t accomplish a goal if you don’t even remember you have one! That’s what I mean by embarrassing.

My plan? Keep making lists and setting goals. Do my writing early in the day before distractions suck away the hours. Cherish each small step and continue working on my craft whenever I can, for as long as I can, every day.

That’s the plan. I’ll let you know how it goes.