**First published by Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. The abridged version below is included with permission.**

The children’s book market is exploding. In a time when there’s a huge amount of competition for children’s attention, that’s fantastic news! No matter how kids are reading—through traditional books or through their parents’ iPads—they’re reading. In a fall 2010 survey by Bower/PubTrack and the Association of Booksellers for Children, parents of children ages six and under rank books as the most important media in their lives, and 57% of teens ages 13-17 rank books as equal to or more important than other forms of media they use for fun.

This of course is great news but it also means there’s even more pressure to promote your book once it’s out—no matter the form it takes. After all, it’s a crowded marketplace, getting more crowded as e-books and self-publishing proliferate. How will readers find your book’s gold in all that clutter? Sadly, they’re not going digging for it. In addition to the marketing your publisher does, you have to do your own legwork to get yourself out there. A savvy marketing plan will help extend the reach of your book’s publicity and make yourself known to your future fans.

PUBLISHER SUPPORT
In this marketing manic world, most authors and illustrators expect to roll up their sleeves when it comes to promoting their books. At the same time, though, they tend to be baffled about why their publisher isn’t doing more. “I just don’t get it,” said one author. “Why wouldn’t they do everything they possibly can to make money on my book?”

Publishers want—and need—your book to succeed, of course, but publicity departments are small, and like every other department in corporate America, have downsized as a result of the economy. One to three publicists at most publishing houses must promote all of the books coming out each season. Because human hours simply aren’t scalable, they’re forced to focus. Even the largest publishing houses with seven to ten publicists can only commit to a few tactics across the board for all of the books on their lists: catalog inclusion, review solicitations, and author copies for giveaways—all for a budget typically less than $5,000.

If you’re getting more publisher support than that—such as bookstore displays, print or online advertising, promotional materials, a book trailer, an iPhone or iPad app, or a book tour—that’s fabulous news! But if not, there’s no need to despair. There are things you can request from your publisher—and many things you can do to make it easier for your publisher to give your book some extra promotion. If you’re professional, reasonable, and helpful when interacting with your über-busy publicist, the more likely she (or sometimes he) is to go a little further for your book.

REASONABLE REQUESTS OF YOUR PUBLISHER

• Endorsements and Jacket Blurbs—For starters, you can request help with endorsements and blurbs. Like your agent, your publicist will have great suggestions and connections to leverage in this area. You might have connections, too. If so, gently offer them up to your publicist.
• ARCs—You should also request advanced reading copies (ARCs). Ideally, your publisher will handle the mailings on your behalf, and most publicists are open to suggestions if you have specific reviewers or bloggers you’d like to see on the distribution list. Or, if your publicist is amenable, you can request a supply of your own ARCs so that you can complement your publisher’s review solicitations with your own mailing.
• Online Promotion—It’s also reasonable to request promotion on your publisher’s website and Twitter and Facebook pages. It will help to give your publicist with copy blurbs and announcements appropriate for the web, Twitter, and Facebook. And appropriate means in keeping with the rest of the blurbs they tend to use for other books—mirroring them in length, style, and voice—with realistic expectations about the quantity and timing of announcements they’ll be able to allot to your book.
• Tradeshows or Regional Book Fairs—If you have plans to be in the same city as a large book show or regional book fair where your publisher will be exhibiting, such as the American Library Association Annual Conference (ALA) or BookExpo America (BEA), ask your publisher if they’d be willing to add you to the list of authors/illustrators who’ll be signing at their booth. While publishers don’t have the budget to send every author and illustrator to these shows, if you’re fronting the travel and lodging costs they’re usually flexible in drumming up an extra badge for you and promoting your book within their booth.
• Press release or media pitch—You can also create a press release—or nowadays more effectively, a media pitch—to hand over to your publicist. As with all of your promotional initiatives, you’ll need a compelling hook—besides that just another new book is out—and your pitch should adhere to professional guidelines. For instance, it should be written in third person, with a news tone, following Associated Press (AP) journalistic style. Your publicist will likely tweak the pitch and will provide input into (and often control over) the hook, timing, and distribution, so be sure to talk with your publicist before drafting your pitch to be sure everyone’s on the same page.

GOING BIG ON YOUR OWN
Even if your publisher engages in all of the above tactics, there’s still a lot more you can (and should!) do to create a big splash on your own. With some extra initiative and/or your own funding, you, too, can implement some of the following initiatives that publishers usually reserve for one or two topselling authors.

NO-BRAINER PUBLICITY TACTICS

• Author/Illustrator Online Presence—An author or illustrator online presence is a must-have. Use your website as a launching off point for your brand—with links to your blog, Twitter feed, Facebook author page, and any book-specific sites you plan to create. Think through how your website will differentiate itself, creating authentic opportunities for fan engagement. Define your audience, and find clever ways to attract that audience.
• SCBWI Speaker’s Bureau—SCBWI membership comes with many perks—especially the online speaker’s bureau that’s housed on www.scbwi.org —an awesome tool for teachers and librarians to find you as they search this database for speakers. There, members can upload a bio and presentation description—and even upload a video of a presentation in action.
• Local Pitching—You’ll definitely want to coordinate closely with your publicist when it comes to local pitching to be sure there’s no overlap, but you can often generate strong local publicity by pitching to local book reviewers and news outlets to complement your publicist’s nationwide pitching. As already mentioned with regards to drafting a media pitch (which you’ll use for your pitching), finding a media-worthy hook is critical. Never blatantly pitch your book, but rather use your hook to link your book to topics currently making headlines or seek ways to serve as a subject matter expert. This works particularly well for pitching nonfiction books, but with thought and creativity it’s possible to do this with fiction, too.

LOW-COST, MINIMAL EFFORT PUBLICITY TACTICS

• Bookstore and Other In-Person Appearances—A book launch event is critical—not to mention, fun! Most independent bookstores in your neighborhood are thrilled to support you by hosting an event and book signing. In addition to a launch event, you should schedule a variety of other in-person events—in your community, within easy travel distance, and in cities you plan to visit. Think outside the box for clever ways to engage with different audiences. For example, if your book has a food component to it, seek venues like kitchen stores or grocery stores for an event.
  If your book is for the very young, partner with larger preschools for daytime events.
• Blog Tours—Though blog tours don’t always garner as many direct book sales as in-person appearances, they are an effective way of reaching a larger, international audience. If you’re actively blogging, you’ve likely already established relationships within the warm, tight-knit group of other bloggers focused on children’s literature. That’s the perfect place to start when reaching out to your favorite, highly trafficked blogs to gauge whether there’s interest in hosting you for a Q&A or guest blog about your new book. Reciprocating the offer, whenever you can, is always appreciated.
• Contests and Book Giveaways—Everybody loves the feeling of winning, which is why contests and giveaways are such an easy way to promote your book. When planning your contest, which will usually tie in with your blog tour, in-person events, and a Twitter/Facebook campaign, look for ways to be unique. Book giveaways are nice, of course, but with creative thought, you can go further and deliver something that’s more original and memorable. Keep the rules simple and participation easy. Cross-promote via Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and website and encourage re-tweets for buzz-building. Keep it PG-13. And find ways to take advantage of the “ME” generation while gathering material—such as teen testimonials, videos, or essays—that you can use down the road with other promotional tactics.

PUBLICITY TACTICS THAT REQUIRE MORE BUDGET, CREATIVITY, AND EFFORT

• Bookstore Direct Mail Campaigns—If your budget can afford for you to send promotional materials directly to independent bookstores, it’s a stand-out tactic to consider—assuming your publicist is aware of and comfortable with you handling this on your own. Definitely use caution when going this route, as your materials should be unique, professional, and compelling so that they don’t have the opposite effect of turning off a bookseller.
• Fan Newsletters—Keep fans in the know whenever you have important news to share. The beauty of an e-newsletter is that it allows you to grow a database as emails are forwarded and new fans sign up. Email marketing tools such as Constant Contact, MailerMailer, or My Newsletter Builder are intuitive to use and allow you to choose from design templates or customize them completely—as well add opt-in buttons to your website or Facebook author page. Prices vary by provider and size of distribution list. Monthly or bi-monthly distribution is ideal—unless you have outrageously big, time-sensitive news to share.
• Book Trailers—Today’s video editing programs make it fairly easy to produce book trailers on your own. But you can also hire a professional to produce your trailer if the learning scale is too steep or the time involved too overwhelming to you. Book trailers that especially stand out include a mix of photos, animated text, video, voiceover, or music. They also feature the book cover prominently, and are clearly promoting a book, not a movie. Once produced, your trailer can be uploaded to YouTube, your web site, Facebook author page—and on your publisher’s or local bookseller sites, if they’re amenable. (They’ll be more likely the more professional it is.)
• Podcasts—If you’re not afraid of some extra work and like the idea of building a fan base, podcasts are a low-cost marketing tool that offer something of value to your audience—such as author interviews or book discussions. A podcast is like a radio or TV program, only instead of broadcasting over the airwaves, a podcast sends a multimedia file to computers, smart phones, iPods, or other MP3 players. Podcasts can be strictly audio recordings or you can incorporate video, too. Once you’ve produced your podcast—which is easy to do using any slew of podcast development tools—upload it to all the podcast directories and sites you can find, like Podomatic.com (which creates the initial RSS feed that you’ll need to provide to other podcast directories), iTunes, and Yahoo Podcasts.
• iPhone/iPad Apps—The production of iDevice or other smart phone apps range in price, and are definitely the hot trend right now—a trend that will certainly continue. As of this writing, a really strong app will require a minimum budget of $50,000-100,000 to be done well. More and more off-the-shelf programs for creating iPhone, iPod, or iPad (known as iDevice) apps are popping up by the day, though, with countless developers getting into the app biz, making them simpler and more cost-effective to produce with even a very small budget. But before you jump on this fast-moving train, think strategically about your goals and capabilities. iDevice apps, to be truly effective, should offer something more than what can be presented just as easily (and better) on a website. The reason people like iDevices so much, and so many businesses are using them as promotional tools, is because they offer a premium experience. If you can’t meet that expectation by offering a premium experience yourself, you’d be better served by putting your publicity focus elsewhere. Unlike websites that can be launched and added to/improved over time, users are more fickle with apps. Strong ratings right out the gate are critical to an app’s success. Poorly designed, unprofessional (a.k.a. cheap) apps will reflect poorly on the brand image you’re trying to convey.

DECISION TIME: ANALYZING YOUR PUBLICITY MIX
Exciting as all of the publicity opportunities can be, stay grounded, knowing you won’t be able to do everything. Make the tactics you do, count! The best way to determine the mix of publicity tactics that’ll work best for you is to analyze the time involved, your technical expertise level, and your creativity. If a tactic like producing a book trailer or podcast sounds completely overwhelming, outsource it, or focus instead on other tactics that are less daunting and also offer a high payback.

Finally, an intuitive way to choose publicity tactics, or the amount of time you devote to marketing, is to put your efforts wherever you have the most fun. At the end of the day, whether it’s producing children’s books or working on initiatives that market your children’s books, it’s a love affair that should come from the heart and inspire you creatively.