Book Marketing Resources

In planning to deliver a workshop called “Spreading the Word: Create a Marketing Plan for Your Book” at the Minnesota SCBWI Fall Conference, we developed this long list of helpful resources. In the workshop itself, we provided LOTS of additional information to help participants create their individualized Marketing Plans. If you were one of those workshop participants, thanks so much for your engaged participation—we hope you weren’t too overwhelmed by all of the possibilities we presented! We also hope that these resources, along with everything we discussed during the session, prove really useful to you as you create your Marketing Plan. We hope you’ll let us know how things work out for you—we love to hear follow-up reports.

For those of you who weren’t able to be one of the participants, we still wanted to share this list of basic resources with you. And of course, if you’d like to set up a Mentors for Rent session to talk in more detail about an individualized marketing approach to your book, we’d be delighted to work with you!

General Marketing Advice & Examples

• Links to our individual sites (which include all of our promo materials and links to our social media platforms):
  • lisabullard.com
  • laurasalas.com

• Mentors for Rent:
  • Networking Tips series on our blog: MentorsForRent.wordpress.com/category/networking
  • Facebook: facebook.com/MentorsForRent

• How Can I Help My Publisher Promote My Book, by LEE & LOW’s Marketing Department: https://www.leeandlow.com/writers-illustrators/articles/how-can-i-help-my-publisher-promote-my-book

• A literary agency that often provides helpful marketing-related blogs: http://www.booksandsuch.com/blog/develop-business-mindset/

• Another author’s take on creating a marketing plan: http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2012/06/20/self-promotion-an-authors-perspective/

• An author shares a helpful timeline for your marketing efforts: http://www.lisaschroederbooks.com/2010/02/timeline-and-checklist-for-ya-of-mg.html

Your Marketing Persona

• Part of your marketing efforts involve defining your marketing persona, a public version of yourself that you are comfortable presenting to the world. Here are a couple of great author websites that demonstrate different approaches for different audiences:
  • http://www.melissa-stewart.com/index.html
  • http://maggiestiefvater.com/my-story/

Elevator Pitch (One Sentence Summary)

• http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2009/01/01/star-wars-one-sentence-summary/
• http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2009/01/02/star-wars-one-sentence-summary-winner/
• http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/05/how-to-write-one-sentence-pitch.html

Website

• Build a free, easy website: https://wordpress.com
• Our Mentors for Rent site is an example of a site built using free WordPress: MentorsForRent.com
• GoDaddy (domain names for your website): https://www.godaddy.com/

Blog Tours

• Google [kidlit blog tours] and you’ll find links to some recent tours
• A starter list of kidlit book bloggers: http://kidlitosphere.org/

Book Trailers

• Laura uses Animoto for every trailer: https://animoto.com/
• Check out the Book Trailer posts at http://bubblestampede.livejournal.com/13425.html

Pinterest

• Pinterest for Authors: http://blog.reedsy.com/pinterest-for-authors-a-step-by-step-guide
• A guide: https://janefriedman.com/pinterest-market-childrens-books/
  • Melissa Stewart’s boards: https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/
  • Laura’s boards: https://www.pinterest.com/salaslp/
  • For educators: https://www.pinterest.com/salaslp/water-can-be-for-educators/
  • Lisa’s boards: https://www.pinterest.com/lisambullard/
  • For educators: https://www.pinterest.com/lisambullard/a-story-writing-recipe-for-kids/

Other Social Media

• Look for online guides published in the past year, especially ones specifically for writers. For instance, type into Google: children’s author’s guide to using Twitter [Instagram, etc.]
• Facebook for Authors: https://janefriedman.com/facebook-for-authors/
• A Writer’s Guide to Twitter: http://inkygirl.com/a-writers-guide-to-twitter/
• Education Twitter Chats: https://sites.google.com/site/twittereducationchats/education-chat-official-list
• Your 2015 Blogging Roadmap: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/your-2015-blogging-roadmap
• Top 7 Ways Authors Are Using Instagram: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/01/top-7-ways-authors-are-using-instagram/
• A Guide to Tumblr for Authors: http://mariavicente.com/post/124147216120/a-guide-to-tumblr-for-authors-by-krista-mitchell

Shareable Graphics

• Choose Kind, great examples of sharable images: http://choosekind.tumblr.com/resources
• One of Laura’s image poems: http://laurasalas.com/poems-for-teachers/a-forest-riddle-ku/
• Quozio, PicMonkey, and Canva are all free imagequote makers

Press Kits & Press Releases

• Find both of ours on our sites
• Check out some posts on: http://bubblestampede.livejournal.com/13425.html
• Lisa worked with Aimée Bissonette to help create a media release and an author interview (two elements that you might also include in your press kit); you can find those examples here: http://www.aimeebissonette.com/about/forthepress.html
• How to write a press release: http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/book_marketing_maven/2009/12/book-publicity-five-tips-for-press-release.html
• Laura’s press release for Water Can Be…: http://laurasalas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Water_PR.pdf

Teaching Guides and Educator Materials

• Check Laura’s site for some examples: laurasalas.com
• Scroll down to the bottom of Lisa’s Turn Left at the Cow page to see two classroom activities created for her by a middle school teacher: http://www.lisabullard.com/bks/bk_turnleft.html
• Debra Frasier does fantastic, elaborate teacher materials: http://www.debrafrasier.com/pages/books-events/index.php
• Marcie Colleen is a freelance guide writer. Loads of examples at: http://www.thisismarciecolleen.com/my-teachers-guides.html
• At conferences, like NCTE in November here in Minneapolis, pick them up from vendor booths and author signings! Use one you like as a template.
• Toni Buzzeo: ALL SORTS of great educator materials: http://www.tonibuzzeo.com/EDUCATORS.html
• Also, look up author websites for books you like and see what they offer.

Reader’s Theater

• Bubble Stampede posts: http://bubblestampede.livejournal.com/13425.html
• David LaRochelle book: http://www.davidlarochelle.com/pdf/BestPetRT.pdf

Storytime Kit

• Example: http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IDontWantFrog_Kit_Brochure_WEB.pdf

Handouts (bookmarks, postcards, etc.)

• You can see many different examples of marketing handouts here: http://www.windingoak.com/services/printdesign.html

Tracking Your Contacts

• Lisa keeps the contact information for her network stored on this email marketing program: http://myemma.com/
• There are many others email marketing programs, including Constant Contact: http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp
• You can also use other databases to track your contact info (you may have a database program as part of what came with your computer when you purchased office software)

Book launch parties

• SCBWI virtual book launch parties: http://www.scbwi.org/online-resources/book-launch-party-pages/
• How to organize a launch party: http://www.notesfromtheslushpile.com/2015/07/how-to-organize-book-launch-party.html

Signings/Readings

• Find independent bookstores by location: http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder

School Visits and Skype Visits

• Authors who Skype for free: http://www.katemessner.com/authors-who-skype-with-classes-book-clubs-for-free/
• School Visit Experts, by Alexis O’Neill: http://schoolvisitexperts.com/ (awesome blog)