Taking Your Writing Life Into Your Own Hands by Eden Unger Bowditch

Sometimes, it feels like we wait for others to guide our careers. We wait for our publishers to release our books, for our publicists to procure reviews; we wait for someone else to call someone else to get us into a bookstore that has never heard of us. Sometimes, however, we have untapped power we should consider and take our lives into our own hands.

When the first Young Inventors Guild book, The Atomic Weight of Secrets… was released, I was in the middle of a revolution, living in Cairo. I could do nothing until the following summer. I had ‘book release’ parties months after the book was released! It was a bit chaotic. I had sporadic events booked, sometimes in different parts of the US since I was only there during the summer. It was impossible. After we returned to Cairo in the fall, Bancroft Press, my kind and generous publisher, hired a publicist exclusively to book and take me on very short, intensely packed, book tours. I’d fly into NYC, take a train down to DC and meet my publicist. We’d visit twenty bookstores, shops, libraries, and schools. I’d have visiting author events booked and, in between, we’d visit a ton of bookshops and libraries as a collection of meet-and-greet events just to get the word out. I did three of these four-day adventures. It was exhausting but incredibly helpful. When the second YIG book, The Ravens of Solemano… came out last fall, there were bookstores waiting for the second book, who knew about the series because of our short visits.

Sharing with kids is always a pleasure

I learned that I could do this myself. Since I was in the US last year, I called libraries and bookshops, drove to places I had visited before and new places who were thrilled for the personal touch. I visited science museums and spoke to science and history teachers. I combined a family visit with a library visit in Chicago. I didn’t wait for someone else to do the work. I went out and made contact. When I return for the winter holiday this year, I am visiting two schools that have purchased YIG books, one for the entire 5^th and, the other, for the 7^th grade. Three libraries in Chicago have asked for author visits in the late spring when we come back for summer. As I work on the third book, I sometimes send notes to bookstore proprietors and librarians who have been kind. I hear back from them and they are always enthusiastic. Sometimes I hear back from their bookstore and librarian friends who are now enthusiastic, too.

So, my suggestion:

1. Make a list of who would be good to alert, considering the nature of your upcoming book. Be creative and consider museums and shops and conventions and fairs, in addition to libraries, schools, and bookstores.

Be prepared for bumps in the road.

2. Send an email. Then make a call. Speaking to people makes a big difference. Let them know about the book (s) and find out policy about visiting authors and/or signings.

3. Map out places nearby, places receptive to your calls or places that might be great for a visit. A visit is great. Provide a complimentary copy and/or other items like posters or cards, things to be placed in the store to alert customers.

4. Follow through and stay in touch. Many authors are silent and only make contact through their agents or publishers.

5. Be sure to keep that list for the next book release. Even if someone else is promoting, your name will be on the minds of the book people who are now your friends.

WORDS on LITERARY PUBLICTY from JULIA DRAKE (eden unger bowditch)

 As we head into the new year, many of us have books out there or plan to get books out into the world. Perhaps it might be helpful to get some words of wisdom from someone in the publicity business. Whether a writer has published her twentieth novel or he's wondering how to get published, it is good to know how to get your book out there and into the hands of readers.

Today, we have the lovely and talented Julia Drake, CEO of Julia Drake PR in Los Angeles. She has worked with many authors and has a wonderful reputation as an honest, devoted, hardworking, and tireless promoter of the writers she works with and loves. I speak from experience. Julia and her team were hired by my publisher to work on The Ravens of Solemano... and I have only glowing things to report. I thought it might be fun to have her as a guest.

 Welcome, Julia!

What can an author do to help with PR? To maximize publicity for your book, a good publicist will try to leverage your entire author platform to gain media coverage instead of merely focusing on publicizing your book. But often authors are not aware of the many resources that are part of their author platform and that could be vital for the success of a PR campaign. An author platform includes an author’s web presence (website, blog, social networks, etc.), previous public speaking engagements/readings, teaching credentials and awards, published stories and articles and any previous media coverage or media connections––anything that's related to an author’s built-in readership.

In addition, an author’s education and professional background, principal and previous occupations other than writing, travel experiences, inspiration for his/her book, and any hobbies aside from writing might offer a wonderful human interest hook for media coverage.

Last but not least, I highly encourage authors to spend some time to compile an email list for their potential audience, including family, friends, colleagues and co-workers, acquaintances, and anyone they have come in contact with during their professional and private life that might be interested in learning about their book. The more comprehensive and detailed that list is, the more firepower a publicist has to orchestrate a successful launch which will build legs for the author’s book, future books, and overall platform.

What are the three most important things to let the world know about a new MG/YA book?

1.    Mom/Dad Bloggers: Once a book takes hold in this community, it can spread like wildfire, so make sure to incorporate a blog tour or PR outreach to blogs into your PR plan. Make sure to study each blog beforehand to get a sense for their review preferences and website/blog traffic to maximize positive coverage.

2.    School librarians and bookstore event coordinators: School librarians and bookstore event coordinators work in tandem to orchestrate school book fairs, book festivals, and author events and will be your biggest advocate if your book fits into their school demographic and offers viable educational themes. Often, school librarians and bookstore program coordinators also maintain their own blogs.

3.    Pre-publication trades and top middle-grade/YA media:

3.1 Pre-publication trades:

·      School Library Journal

• ALA BookList
• Publishers Weekly
• Foreword Magazine

    3.2 Top Middlegrade/YA Media: There are literally hundreds of publications for YA/middle-grade books, with new ones emerging and old ones folding every day, but here are some of the most important ones:

• The Horn Book Magazine
• The Children’s Book Council
• Shelf Awareness
• YALSA
• NPR Books
• Bookpage
• Girls Life
• KidsGuide
• Scholastic Parent & Child
• Teen Ink
• The Kids News Network
• The Reading Life
• American Girl
• USA Book News

What is different about promoting MG/YA books? The main challenge, especially for middle grade books, is that to get to your target reader, you have to go through their parents. So in essence, you are marketing your book to the parents, and have to convince them first that your book is a good fit for their child. Although times are changing and more young people are using the Internet at home and in school, parents are still the gatekeepers, so keep that in mind when presenting your book and its benefits to your audience and to media contacts writing for that audience. Make sure to point out any themes/features that speak to national school curriculums and any educational benefits and timely themes (bullying, sexuality, violence, diversity, etc.) aside from pure entertainment value. Also be sure to submit your book for consideration for the Accelerated Reader Program. Accelerated Reader (AR) is a computer-based system for tracking reading in schools. Students earn points for reading AR books, so they are motivated to read AR approved titles and forego titles that are not listed in the program. Demand controls supply, so libraries and bookstores also prefer to carry AR listed books.

How important is having a PR person behind you instead of going the road alone? Publicizing your book is a full time job, so if you are a fulltime writer and have another book you are working on, or maintain another full time job or have family to care for, going this road by yourself can quickly become overwhelming. A good publicist can help you develop your message, brand and platform and advise you on how to position yourself with media and consumers. Your publicist can help you define a targeted list of print, online and broadcast media in local, regional and national markets and will be able to leverage his/her relationships with media in these markets to help get your book through the door and have a better chance at coverage, especially when it comes to high tier media. A good publicist will also help you prep for media interviews and build your brand to work toward a sustainable platform that will continue to create future opportunities for your book and future writing endeavors.

Can you share a funny story? Share something that stands out to you as particularly inventive.

The reason I love what I do is because stories are still what brings us together. There is a magic in this connection. And I feel very fortunate that I see this magic happening right before my eyes. One of my clients, Derek Taylor Kent, is the author of The Scary School Series. He celebrated the launch party for his first book at a small indie bookstore in the Pacific Palisades in CA (which soon after closed its doors). The Scary School series is purportedly penned by Derek, a nine-year-old ghost, so Derek, the author, put an empty chair in the middle of the room, and explained to the attending kids and parents that Derek The Ghost was here to answer questions about the book and what it’s like to be a ghost. Derek, the author, then relayed the ghost’s answers to the kids in some funny way. It was such a simple idea, but it caught like wildfire with the kids, and soon, families formed a line all the way along the bookstore’s storefront, waiting to ask Derek The Ghost a question. It was such a wonderful experience to listen to the kids come up with the most specific and imaginative questions, and watch both kids and adults, anticipating the ghost’s answer. A simple idea brought everyone together in an afternoon that left everyone with the feeling that they had just participated in something magic. 

THANK YOU, JULIA!!!

ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF STEAMPUNK by eden unger bowditch

I had never heard of steampunk before I wrote the first Young Inventors Guild book, The Atomic Weight of Secrets… The cover artist, Steve Parke, said he loved steampunk novels. I had no idea what he meant! Alternative history, Victorian sci-fi, turn-of-the-century invention fiction – that’s how steampunk is often described. Since the Young Inventors Guild books take place around 1903/1904 and are science and invention driven alternative history-type of stories I quickly learned about steampunk! There is some fabulous steampunk MG/YA and older steampunk literature out there. I was invited to be on a steampunk panel of authors at the Baltimore Book Festival a couple years ago with Matt Kirby, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant. It was an honour to share a stage with them and to learn more about this remarkable genre.

In October I was invited to participate in the International Steampunk Convention in Morristown, NJ and present The Ravens of Solemano… the Young Inventors Guild Book 2. IT WAS AMAZING!!! So many people in fabulous Victorian dress, with inventions and contraptions. Kids of all ages in tophats and waistcoats. And lots of physicists and inventors with much to show. I met a professor from Sarah Lawrence who teaches a course in steampunk physics and invention. There was even a pair of automatons!

Discovering a community that embraces the ideas in your writing is quite wonderful. It was exciting and invigorating to be around so many brilliant minds. I even learned more about the inventions I configured in the books! It was really lovely and definitely food for thought as I move ahead with Book 3.

FACE TIME and the YA/MG READER by Eden Unger Bowditch

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING YOUR NEXT YA/MG BOOK RELEASE

Let’s be honest with ourselves- kids don’t care what the critics say. We can cheer ourselves and pat ourselves on the back, but getting a fabulous review from a critic simply does not impress a kid reader.

Unlike adult fiction (a world where the readers read the reviews and buy accordingly and, thus, books impossible to get through become best sellers because they are the books in vogue to buy) where you can send your book off into the world and visit occasionally, YA books demand full-time attention, loving care, focus, engagement, and presence. Kids want to read, well, a good book, and they will like a book whether a critic tells them to or not. That’s why it can be more of a challenge to write for kids than adults. It is important to tour for any book, but it seems more so with YA/MG. Being out there on the road,speaking to kids, connecting with kids, is truly vital in the world of YA and MG. It is the life’s blood of the YA/MG book. As The Ravens of Solemano (Young Inventors Guild, Book 2) is poised for release in September, my publisher has basically kicked me out of the house and sent me packing. Well, that is not exactly… no, wait…that is exactly true! They have said the spikes in sales and attention on the web were shocking, every time I was on the road for the last book. But last time, I sauntered back to the US months after the release of The Atomic Weight of Secrets to an audience that had to reread the book to remember what to ask. Word of mouth is so important for all books, but more so for kids books. This means kids need to know you’re there. You need to make introductions for your literary baby. Loving care and attention are needed. While The Atomic Weight of Secrets held its own, it was really a neglected child. This time, I am ready to go. ARCs went out last month and events have already been planned. And, unlike with adult books, the long haul is not a fast delivery. A great review can shoot an adult book through the roof, but kids need time to get to know the book. My publisher told me to expect to work hard a lot longer than with books for adults. This was meant to encourage, as well as demand pavement pounding.It means they will stand behind the book much longer than one might expect. They believe that it simply can take longer and that the second book sells the first.

 

So I am ready. After what seems like ages carrying this baby inside of me, Ravens is kicking. I am taking deep breaths and doing yoga stretches. I feel like an expectant mother with a suitcase packed, waiting for labour to begin.