Writers and Authors

Showing posts with label Author School Visits. Show all posts

Get Off the Bus and Into Schools, Guest Post by Sherry Ellis

Are you and your books stuck on the school bus like bubble gum under a seat, riding around in circles? If the royalties you earn barely cover a daily cup of coffee, I have a solution that can help. I’m here to tell you how to un-stick yourself by getting into the schools as part of your marketing campaign to sell books.

What many people don’t know is that writers who are able to earn a living do so by giving presentations related to the topic of their book, or to the craft of writing. I am a children’s writer. School visits are something I have added to my marketing strategy. They’ve yielded a nice chunk of change.

The first step to getting started with school visits is to figure out what your presentation will look like. What age range are you comfortable with? (Age 5-7 = grade 1-2; age 7-11 = grade 3-6; age 11-14 = grade 7-9; age 14-16 = grade 10-11.) How many people will you talk to per session? How many sessions will you have per day, and how long will they be? What type of sessions will you have (e.g., reading with Q & A, talk, interactive workshops, or drama sessions)? Will your session cover any aspects of a school’s curriculum? Once you’ve figured these things out, you can create your presentation. If you’re lacking ideas, you can always go online and see videos of what other authors have done.

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Before approaching schools or other venues, consider making a one- or two-page flyer. This visual representation of your brand allows organizers to learn who you are, see a summary of the presentations you offer for particular age groups, and know what to expect during your visit. The flyer should include your author photo with a personal message about how you enjoy school visits and what you hope to accomplish, such as getting kids excited about reading, and ways to contact you to request a visit. Let them know what your technical requirements are. Do you need an overhead projector, a microphone, or something else? Of course, you want to sell books, so tell the school if you’ll bring books with you, or if they need to pre-order. And, do you charge an honorarium or travel fees? Be upfront about financial arrangements. (A note about fees: if you’re a beginner, consider relying on book sales for your earnings. When the word gets out about how awesome your presentations are, then start charging for personal appearances. Some authors charge $300 for a half day and $500 for a full day. The best-known authors can command more than $1000 a day.)

It’s also a good idea to create a “librarian kit.” The kit includes electronic files of Jpegs of your book covers, interior illustrations, a customized price list that students can take home to parents, and Power Point presentations. Later, you might want to create book cover posters that you can snail mail to the school.

When you’ve created your presentation and librarian kit, you are ready to contact schools. Google searches provide lists of schools in the cities you wish to visit. Call the schools to ask how to arrange an author visit. Usually, you’ll speak with the librarian. Keep track of who you’ve contacted and the responses you’ve gotten. Spread sheets are useful for this. With a lot of tenacity, you will schedule a visit.

Two weeks before your visit, confirm the date and time of your session, the equipment you will need, the group size, number of books needed (paperback: two for every three children; hardcover: fifteen percent of the total number of children), how books are supplied, and fees. The day before, run through everything on your own equipment. Make sure it all works and that you’re comfortable with the presentation. On the day of your visit, arrive thirty minutes early. Be nice to everyone, because it’s important to make a good impression.

Be ready for anything. Stay calm even if things aren’t going perfectly. Make it enjoyable for your audience and make sure a teacher is in the room with you. After the visit, send the organizer a thank you card. If sales were especially good, you might include a Starbucks gift card.

It takes time and energy to visit schools and build your experience with them. Once you’ve done a few, you can post information about them on your Website. Include photos and reviews you’ve received. Eventually schools will approach you. With a little effort, you can make money by getting off the bus and going into schools.

Sherry Ellis is an award-winning author and professional musician who plays and teaches the violin, viola, and piano. When she is not writing or engaged in musical activities, she can be found doing household chores, hiking, or exploring the world. Ellis, her husband, and their two children live in Atlanta, Georgia.

Author School Visits, guest post by Sheri S Levy

My desire to teach special needs children stimulated the idea of writing a novel using service dogs. When I retired from teaching, I researched service dog organizations, and found a local non-profit, highly-certified organization called PAALS. They train puppies to work with autism, mobility issues, and stress disorders. I volunteered with PAALS.org and began taking notes.

As soon as my young adult, coming-of-age novel, Seven Days to Goodbye was published in August, 2014, I looked forward to doing author visits at middle schools. I loved teaching, and couldn’t wait to share my reason for writing this particular story. I wanted to encourage students to be readers and to increase their curiosity about telling stories and writing.

I had used my experiences and memories from our favorite, Edisto Beach, to create Seven Days to Goodbye. The puppy raiser in the story, Trina, has seven days before her first trained dog will be matched to his forever companion. While on the beach, her dog makes a magical connection with a boy with autism. The story embraces the beach eco system, and a first-time romance.

On my first official school visit, I had two hundred and fifty girls in a gym listening to me speak about autism, the beach, and the magic of a service dog. I explained I had used a real child’s experience and spoke about the boy learning to speak during their beach week. Since the school had ordered thirty-five books, the girls had taken turns reading the books ahead of time. The students asked many interesting questions, and I was surprised on how many students had never seen, smelled, or walked on a beach.

My book trailer caught their attention. We had discussions about descriptive words, and then I showed another trailer about the training of service puppies, how they developed and learned to interact with people. This was a great way to talk about active verbs. During this session, it was fun to incorporate writing ideas and examples of revisions that were made on my earlier pages. And soon a dialog began on the fun of writing.

Proceeds from my book and author visits, are donated to PAALS, to help them with the cost of training more dogs. If I have a volunteer living close to the school I am visiting, PAALS will send a dog-in-training. The trainer shares the dog’s skills and why these skills help a special need. When the person shares his or her companion dog, and explains how their life has been changed for the better because of their dog, I get goose bumps and teary eyed.

Before you set up your author visit, explain to the media specialist why it is important to order books ahead of time. I usually sign books after I finish speaking, and try to have some one-on-one time. If some students can’t purchase a book, have it down-loaded on a few computers in the library for the students to share. I had one librarian actually ask the students questions about the book before they were allowed to join the visit. It is fun to brainstorm ahead of time about fun ways to convey the story message.

I usually spend forty-five minutes on each author session. If the classes can be doubled, it makes it easier to cover all that you need to say before your voice wears out. Do set a limit on how many sessions you will do in one day. It is exhausting to talk long and repeat the same information. If you have local schools share the cost on your travel and lodging, you can spread the workshops over two days. I have the media specialist plan a writing workshop with smaller groups. And we mix up doing author visits and smaller writing workshops in one day.

Creating a check off list for media specialists has shown to be helpful. If they have never had an author visit, this gives them knowledge on how to plan, what equipment is needed, and to ask for help from other teachers.

For students who decide later to order the book, I ask for the students’ names and send signed stickers for them to add to their book.

This coming school year, my new novel, Starting Over, will involve a new service pup, horseback riding, an unhappy girl who needs a friend, and the hard-life choices Trina realizes she must make. I am looking forward to new types of discussions, and I hope students will learn to be sensitive about reaching out to others who are in need.

Sheri S. Levy is the author of an award-winning debut novel in her series, Trina Ryan’s Dogs in Training. Seven Days to Goodbye, won in 2015, and her magazine article, Scent with Love, won in 2011, with the Dog Writers Association in the Special Interest category. She is an active member of SCBWI and SIBA.

After a twenty-five-year teaching career in special needs, Sheri remains active with tutoring teens in reading and writing. PAALS, (Palmetto Animal Assisted Living Services), has helped with her research on writing about service dogs and how they change lives. Sheri, in turn, shares her book proceeds to support PAALS.org.

Sheri enjoys doing author visits and teaching writing workshops. When she is not writing, she reads, plays with her two dogs, listens to music, and hangs out with her husband and family.

You can find more information on her website. www.sherislevy.com; and Facebook, Sherislevyauthor; Twitter, @SheriSLevy

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