4 Great Ways to Promote Your Children’s Book
Popular children’s books are known for remaining favorites for many years, if not generations. Getting the word out is enormously beneficial, and once you develop momentum, there’s no telling how far you can go with sales and notoriety. If you’re about to publish your book or are in the planning, consider these tips for making your children’s book a resounding success.
4 Tips for Promoting Your Children’s Book
- School Visits
School visits are an effective and fun way to promote children’s books. They are great opportunities to share your book and interact with kids. If you have children of your own, begin by reaching out to their schools to plan an author visit. Most visits are organized by the school’s media specialist, and many media specialists subscribe to an e-mail list within their school district or state. If they are happy with your visit, they will likely spread the word to other schools in the area, which can lead to more visits and increased exposure. During the visit, you can read your story to the kids, answer questions, and provide interactive handouts and a flyer to take home that shows where and how to purchase your book. Be sure to have someone take pictures or a video of your visit for you to share on your author website, social media profiles, and blog.
- Children’s Book Awards
As there is in every genre, there are many book awards specific to children’s books. Many book awards require an entry fee, which can range from $25 to $150. If you have room in your marketing budget to submit your book, it’s a great idea to do so. If your book is selected as the winner, it will receive an award sticker on the cover, which is helpful for sales. You can also use the award as the basis for a press release or media pitch to further increase your recognition.
- Libraries
Libraries love new children’s books, and donating a free copy to your local library is a great way to promote your book. It also allows it allows librarians to recommend it to readers and their parents. As you can with schools, you can hold an author visit at the library and read your book during children’s reading hour.
- Media outreach
Strategic media outreach will help your book gain media attention in news outlets, publications, and blogs that cater to parents who will be buying the book for their kids. It will help boost your visibility and increase your book sales. If you do not have any media or public relations experience, it may be in your best interest to hire a professional book marketing agency. We have the industry know-how, expertise, and resources to secure good media coverage and grow your sales.
Well-Promoted Children’s Books Can Succeed
Successful book marketing for children’s titles required a multi-faceted promotional program. Because no two titles and authors are alike, it’s vital to consider what is best in your case. The power of recommendation is essential to what marketers refer to as book discovery. Everything you do should be geared to making that happen. Media coverage is always helpful, and pitches should be considered. But getting the ball rolling with in-person events and outreach to librarians, teachers, parents, and grandparents is the most sure-fire way to bring success. If you’d like to discuss our professional marketing services for children’s books, we have experts at Smith Publicity who are ready to help.
