Marketing Your Book

I've been learning a lot these last few months about how much work it takes to market a book. I have very supportive and helpful publishers, I consider that we work together as a team to bring a book to life. But I don't believe everything can be left up to the publisher when it comes to marketing a book.

With the release of my picture book, Puggle's Problem, in July 2010, I developed a very comprehensive marketing plan. Perhaps a little too comprehensive. The list seems endless, really, of all the things I can do to get my book selling. But by making a list, it helped me formalise the things I should do, the things I want to do. And, having worked through the list these last few months, trying to achieve all I'd set out to achieve, I've realised that I can't do everything.

What you need to do is focus on the things that are achievable and do them as best you can. The areas I'm focusing on are:

• School Visits
• Library Visits
• Bookstore Events
• Local newspaper and magazine interviews

Of course, these are all the traditional avenues for promoting a book. The other, more modern methods, are social networking pages like Facebook and Twitter. Also setting up a blog (like this one) and a website. They're all great for getting your name out there - but you also have to let people know you're on the web (promote your promotional tools) and that can be time-consuming, too.

One other thing I enjoyed doing was creating my first ever book trailer for Puggle's Problem. It's very simple, but I'm lucky in a way that Puggle's Problem is a picture book because I was able to use the illustrations done by Sandra Temple to enrich the trailer. For a first effort, I think it works well. It was certainly produced at an affordable budget and hopefully it sends a positive message to potential readers and buyers - and to booksellers who I hope will stock my book.

In terms of good news, I received confirmation from Manly Library that they would like me to come along as a guest author to their Winter Storytime session at 5pm on Thursday 15 July. Kids will come in pyjamas with a soft teddy to hear stories read to them, including mine. It sounds like a fun event and I can't wait to turn up in my PJs too!

I've also been invited to write an article for the ACT Writers' Centre July newsletter, which is focusing on Writing for Young Adults and Children. Now all I need to do is come up with a topic....

TTFN, catch you next time!

Pearson Education Accepts My Chapter Book!

I'm very excited about my first foray into the educational publishing market. Pearson Education have accepted a chapter book of mine, titled, "Fangs". It's a story about a rather unusual pet named Fangs who isn't quite what you think he is...

I have to send the final version of the story back to Pearson by the end of May, after which time it will be illustrated. Can't wait to see who the illustrator is going to be. I wonder if I will know them? And, I can't wait to see the finished product! Hopefully, it will be out some time in 2011.

Besides working on my Tassie devils ms, which Kate Forsyth is mentoring me on through the ASA Mentorship that I won in 2009, I've been working on promotional plans for Puggle's Problem (due out in July) and my Persephone series (due out in September). I have been absolutely thrilled with the response I've received so far. I've had interest from schools, libraries, bookstores, newspapers and magazines who are keen to help me promote my books. Next, I aim to tackle local radio stations. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, my agent is submitting other picture book mss to publishers for me. It's such a long lead time from submission to acceptance to publication for a picture book, but it's well worth the wait!

Did I mention that I will be appearing at the CYA Conference in Brisbane on 4 September, 2010? As that is where I secured my agent, Jacinta di Mase, the conference organisers thought it only fitting that I appear on the 'CYA Success Story' panel. While I'm up in Brissie, I'll be doing a whole host of promotional activities, including an in-store event at Black Cat Paddington, which has just been confirmed tonight.

Well, I'd best be off. Have a few more emails to send before calling it quits for the night.

Essential Style & Focus Magazine Interview

Well, the article I wrote on maternity fashions appeared in Essential Style (fashion and homewares section of The Sydney Morning Herald) today. It's on page 18 and the headline is 'Designer Bump'. The article features the latest winter fashion styles and tips from designers at MBC, Fragile and Szabo. It was very exciting to see my name in print and have my friends contact me to say they had read it.

To promote my tour of the Manning Valley and Great Lakes in July, Focus Magazine is running an interview on me. They sent me a series of questions, which I had to answer and keep to a limit of 650 words. Not an easy thing to do when you've got so much to say! I'm happy to say I completed the questions today and sent them off with accompanying photos of myself and images of my book covers. I'll look forward to seeing the article in print - with both trepidation and excitement. Being on the cusp of publication is an interesting, exciting, nerve-wracking and FUN place to be.

As part of our CBCA Northern Sydney sub-branch activities, our planning committee is organising a range of workshops and events to take place during the Manly Arts Festival. Besides having a luncheon at St Patrick's in Manly for 200 school students, we are also in the throes of finalising workshop topics. Kate Forsyth, Belinda Murrell, Oliver Phommovanh, Felicity Pulman, Karen Robertson, myself and others have big plans for entertaining the masses - more on this to come soon.

So, that's today in a nutshell. I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

Society of Women Writers Luncheon - April

I attended the Society of Women Writers' Luncheon today in the beautiful Mitchell Library, which is part of the State Library of NSW in Macquarie St (Sydney). I'm a member of the SWW and also a friend of one of the guest speakers there today, Wendy Fitzgerald.

I met Wendy through the Children's Book Council (CBCA) Northern Sydney sub-branch, which a number of authors in northern Sydney set up last year. Wendy wrote and self-published 'Bollywood Dreams', a story about a young Indian girl who comes to Australia.

Wendy is such a relaxed and entertaining speaker, she had everyone laughing and hanging on to her every word. Her success is remarkable too, and there's even talk of the book being made into a movie. Go, Wendy!

I had a lovely time talking to friends - Wendy Blaxland, Jan Latta and Beatrice Yell were there - just to name a few. Not only was the venue superb, the food was lovely and so was the wine. And it must have been my lucky day because I won the raffle!

Back at my desk after the lovely lunch, I contacted Tina Clark who organises the CYA Conference. Last year, I attended the conference and met with Jacinta di Mase, literary agent, in a one-on-one meeting. At the time, Jacinta agreed to represent me and ever since we've been forging ahead with writing projects. As a CYA Success Story, Tina has invited me to attend the conference and speak on their 'Success Story Panel', which I'm absolutely thrilled about.

The CYA Conference will be held in Brisbane on 4 September, 2010, which coincides perfectly with the launch of the first book in my 'Fabulous Diary of Persephone Pinchgut' series.

Publishers, Persephone & Puggles

Today I met with Sophia Whitfield from New Frontier, the company publishing my junior series for girls aged 9+: The Fabulous Diary of Persephone Pinchgut. The lovely and delightful Serena Geddes, illustrator for the series, was also in the meeting.

We talked about lots of things including the book covers, how well the books were received at the Bologna Book Fair (great response there!) and our plans for marketing the series. We obviously have loads of work to do, but that's the fun of it. I'm really looking forward to September when the first book, 'Totally Twins' is released. Serena and I will be visiting schools, libraries and bookstores all around Australia.

A real thrill for me was to see the New Frontier catalogue, which has a page dedicated to the Persephone series. Just imagine, my books are in a publishers' catalogue! And when I got home, I had an email from another one of my publishers, Rochelle Manners at Wombat Books. She sent through a pdf of the Wombat Books catalogue, which is about to go to print, and it features a write up on my picture book, Puggle's Problem. So, I guess you could say that's a good day.

Well, best sign off now, lots of work to do and maybe some writing can be squeezed in there, too!

Manly Fellowship of Australian Writers

Pippa Kay (right), Author and Short Story Speciality, and Beatrice Yell, President of the Manly & Peninsul FAW.

I'm a member of the Manly and Peninsula Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW). We have about 25 members and meet on the second Saturday of each month at Warringah Mall Library.

Today we had Pippa Kay, short story specialist, conduct a workshop, which was very informative.

Pippa's exercises helped me get started on a new concept I'm working on, the first book in a new series for boys aged 7+. One of the exercises Pippa had us go through was writing a very, very short story. This is how to do it:

1. Start with a sentence about setting.
2. Add a sentence to introduce your characters.
3. Next, add a line or two about the characters in action and a some dialogue interchange. Make sure you add some conflict to keep readers interested.
4. Add a sentence or two about the inner thoughts and reflections of one of the characters.
5. Finally, a sentence to resolve the conflict and finish the story.

And there you have it, a super short story! I found this is a great way to start a longer work, too, like the first chapter of a novel.

My Very First Blog

Well, this is my very first post in my very first blog - what an auspicious occasion! A writer friend of mine told me she uses her blog rather like it is a diary and I think that's what I will do, too.

While today was a bit of a domestic day, looking after the kids at home during school holidays, I did manage to squeeze a bit of work in in between vacuuming and cooking and washing.

About a year ago, I was asked to write an article about maternity fashions for the Sydney Morning Herald and although I wrote the article they ran out of space for it in the end. But rather late Wednesday night I received an email from the editor of Essential Style (Thursday liftout in SMH) to say that they would like to run a new version of the article and would I be interested in re-writing and re-submitting it. Of course, I said yes and so for the next two days I scurried around obtaining new images from the winter catalogues of three top-notch maternity shops: Fragile, MBC and Szabo.

Finally at about 3pm this afternoon, the story was put to bed. The images, the article and all the outfit descriptions, pricing and stockist information to appear alongside were finalised. Phew! Now I just hope everything is correct! We will see, I guess, on Thursday 15 April because that is when the article will appear in Essential Style. Don't miss it!

Writing material for fashion magazines is not my normal style of writing, but it was still loads of fun. And working to a very, very tight deadline was certainly a challenge.

Back to my usual occupation of children's writer, I embarked on a bit of a research trip yesterday to the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford. Again, I had the kids in tow, so it was a bit of a 'kill two birds with one stone' adventure in that I could entertain the kids whilst also making sure I had a photo taken with a Tasmanian devil. Yes, you read that right!

I am currently working on a mentorship, which I won through the Australian Society of Authors, with Kate Forsyth. The book I'm writing, 'Sebastian Smee and the Tassie devils' features a kid who is trying really hard to help save the Tassie devils from extinction. When I read that the Australian Reptile Park was also working to save the Tassie devils from extinction, I knew I had to go up for a look. They have bred a number of baby Tassie devils, which they include in their keeper education talks to visitors at the park and which they offer photographs with.

After we listened to the keeper talk, my three kids and I headed straight over to get a photo taken with a gorgeous baby Tassie devil. He was a little smelly, but still cute. Check out the photo above. By the way, I thoroughly recommend a visit to the Australian Reptile Park. They have heaps of keeper talks throughout the day and kids can really get up close and personal to all sorts of animals. They have baby wombats at the moment that kids can pat, too. Very special!