Welcome to the final chapter of this blog series! You’ve written and edited your book, chosen a visual style and an illustrator, decided on the format of the book, created it, published it, and now it’s time for the one last push. It’s time to promote it! So, let’s go over the process and establish yourself as a children’s book writer.
The More, The Better!
That’s a real slogan and you should stick to it. That means that you need as many PR outlets as possible. Here they are:
Social Media
This is the most obvious one. You’ll need a great post announcing your children’s book on all of your social media platforms. Since you’ll be addressing your friends and those who follow you, it’s not a bad idea to ask those closest to you to share your post so you could reach as many people as possible. Next, in the marketing world, it’s a widely accepted fact that organic reach is more or less like a pebble in the desert, so you’d want to consider investing some money by boosting your post to a specifically selected audience. That’s not a complicated process, but if you need some assistance, digital marketers and/or social media managers can help you. Make sure to use your social media platforms for every promotion, every book reading you’ll be doing to get the most attention possible.
Facebook Groups
Even though other social media platforms begin to slowly take over, the number one remains Facebook. Writers, illustrators, and especially parents and educators congregate in groups and would be interested in your product. You should consider utilizing them to your advantage. Just be careful. Not all groups allow self-promotion and even if you do promote it, you have to be prudent and personally interact with every comment. Communities prefer a personal touch.
Book Stores & Libraries
These are a great way to promote your book locally if you opted for a printed version too. Parents are keen to get their children involved in activities such as public book readings. Looking back at our previous blog post, opportunities for personal involvement such as this are why you should consider having your book printed as well as having it as an ebook although the digital era that we live in allows you to have an online reading. Many will say that not only is it difficult to organize such an online event but it lacks the personal touch you might want to add.
TV & Radio stations
Your local media outlets are also a great way of getting your book's existence known to the public. You will not be in the news but you’re more than likely to get yourself a spot on a morning show where you can present your book, explain how you got your idea for it, the process you went through, and explain why your book would be beneficial to the children. That was mainly for TV, where you can ask the illustrator or illustration studio to send you images of the book in a digital version which can be used visually in snippets. This is a media outlet where you’ll be addressing both parents and children. On the radio, you’re addressing the parents. The beneficial aspect of the book would be the card to play here.
Congratulations!
Now you know the entire process of getting your children’s book to life and you’ll be well informed when you decide to write your second book. Hope it all goes smoothly forever and ever.
We decided to write this blog with the idea of helping children’s book writers understand everything that’s happening during the process of getting the book published and what’s expected of them. This is our way of giving back to the community to which we belong. Next, we’ll cover some technical aspects closer to the animators and everyone’s welcome. Also, let us remind you all that any feedback would be appreciated and any topics you’re interested in will be covered. Feel free to contact us via email or our social media platforms.
Thank you.