Ellen Meeropol's ARC tour: Innovations in Book Marketing

Reported by Robert Gray in Shelf Awareness, the road trip that Ellen Meeropol took with a car full of ARCs, visiting "58 indie bookstores in 15 days" is remarkable.

A screen shot of the Shelf Awareness article, including a photo of Ellen by her car, which featured signage about her upcoming book release.

While not done for a children's book, the idea is replicable. (Ellen credits the idea to her friend and fellow Red Hen Press author Cai Emmons, who made a similar indie pilgrimage for her novel.)

As Ellen put it,

"So what was I doing in October and November was driving around New England with ARCs and chocolate bars covered in the image of the book jacket, visiting indie bookstores? The plan was to personally introduce my new novel to booksellers, store owners and fiction buyers. I asked them to take look at my novel, to consider stocking it, making an IndieNext nomination, recommending it to book groups and handselling it to customers."

And that personal touch seems impactful — Ellen's a former bookseller herself, so her strategy was thoughtful (and included chocolate.)

"I didn't use a standard pitch. When I handed them the ARC, most booksellers immediately turned to the back and read the short description and the blurbs. I followed their lead, about offering more information or not. Often our conversations were more about bookselling and our favorite current reads than about my book."

The result? When asked, Ellen answered,

"What difference will it make to my novel? I don't know. But in these days of increasing grassroots book promotion, I'm happy to have driven those roads, visited those stores, and met those booksellers."

The article about Ellen's ARC tour of indie bookstores is well worth-reading.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Industry Info to Know: How Local Indie Stores Can Compete With Amazon

This analysis by Scott Thorne of the research by Ryan L. Raffaelli, assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School, was fascinating.

The take-away, that local indie bookstores can succeed by leveraging three advantages they have over online retailers:

His research found that resurgent booksellers engaged in three bottom up practices throughout the industry:
1) Community. Emphasizing their position as a local member of the community, able to interact with other community members in a way that Amazon and other online retailers could not.
2) Curation. While online retailers focus on very wide inventory and discounted prices, the brick and mortar stores emphasized the selection they offered and the ability of their staff to guide customers to books and other items they would enjoy.
3) Convening. Bookstores leveraged their physical locations, scheduling even more events than they had in the past. Those were either free or paid, with some offering in excess of 500 per year, making them an important part of the local entertainment scene.

The opportunity this presents for we authors and illustrators is clear: We should be tapping into the communities we are already part of, positioning our titles to local stores as part of their curation process, and thinking events.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Porter Square Books Writers In Residence Program - What an Amazing Trend To Start!

As reported in Shelf Awareness, Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts has launched a "Writers in Residence Program."

As the store explains on their website:

"In order to make the resources needed to write books more available to the writers and aspiring writers in our community, Porter Square Books will select two writers, one writing for adults and one writing for young readers, to be our 2019 Writers in Residence."

Not only are there perks for the two writers selected (including a staff discount on everything and access to the store office—a quiet space to work—after 5pm and on the weekends) but there are also responsibilities (including three event introductions, three pieces for the store's blog, dibs on the authors' book launch event for the book they worked on during the residency.)

You can find out more and apply here.

It's a great initiative on behalf of this one bookstore, and hopefully an inspiration for other bookstores to follow suit... Imagine the impact if all the 1,100 indiebound bookstores created their own "Writers in Residence" Programs. And then, if every bookstore in the country—no, the world!—participated, too.

And if the selection of these writers is made with an eye to #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #OwnVoices, it could really make an impact—starting one store, one writer, one book, and one reader at a time!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Book Swag: One Bookstore's Perspective

Bookmarks. Buttons. Posters. Book-Branded Lip Balm. Storytime Kits. Kid-Friendly give-aways. Samplers.

Besides an ARC, what do bookstores actually use/want? What swag helps your book succeed—and what might not be worth the expense?

To help us figure it out, Meghan Dietsche Goel, the Children's Book Buyer and Programming Director for BookPeople in Austin, Texas, shared her take in this PW article, "Book Treats Brought by the Postal Service."

It's great to hear from the bookstore's perspective about what has value, and how issues like simplicity of packaging and display space considerations fit in the mix. The article is well-worth reading.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Larry James's tips on making your next book signing "an event!"

This article by Larry James includes some great ideas, including:

DON'T - Don't just sit at the table they have for you. Most authors do that. Be different! I always tell the person booking the signing not to worry about putting a chair behind the table. This will always get their attention. Let them know you will be the store's official greeter while you are there. Walk around the store with several copies of your book and introduce yourself to everyone. If those you introduce yourself to show the least bit of interest, hand them a book. They will almost always take it. Tell them to look at it and bring it back to the table when they are finished. On average, I more than tripled my book sales at signings by implementing this tip!

DO - Have your book covers enlarged in color to an 11 x 17 poster, laminate them and have them put them on a poster type board with a stand up thing on the back. Always bring them with you to the signings! Anything else you can think of to call attention to your table is also GREAT!

DON'T - Don't complain if you don't sell lots of books. Signings make those who bought your book feel good, but they really don't sell lots of books while you are there, UNLESS you create a presence WHILE YOU ARE THERE! I've sold as few as none to as many as 56 in a two hour period. According to book store managers, on average, book sales for a non-celebrity author will range from about 4 to 7. If you sell more, you're doing great!

and

DO - Get there no less than 15 to 20 minutes early and if you can, stay late. At a signing in Tucson, I sold more books in the extra 30 minutes after the signing than in the previous two hours.

Check out the full article here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

"There's No Serendipity Online" - Inspiration and Wisdom about Discovering Books from Tom Cheesewright on Shelf Awareness

When thinking about the many roles bookstores can play (including community building, thought-leadership, and offering a safe space for diversity to be celebrated), this insight into serendipitous discovery felt profound and, worth sharing:

"Machines remain really bad at giving us a good discovery experience. The most sophisticated engines of personalization in the world are bad at finding us products that we don't know we want. They're good at helping us find things we absolutely know we want, and we know how to describe, but they're terrible at finding us those serendipitous discoveries, and human beings remain much better at that. It's why browsing a bookshop is so much a nicer experience if you don't know what you want, than browsing an online store. There's no serendipity online."

—Tom Cheesewright, an applied futurist, replying to the Bookseller's question: "If we're all reading e-books, is there still a place for bookshops?"

From the Thursday April 19, 2018 edition of Shelf Awareness.

In the News This Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun.


This week's news includes a new YA imprint at Whitman, essays on boys reading and diet books for little girls, new words in Webster and the OED, a favorite piece on Steve Jobs (who, you may have heard, is stepping down), KidLit Con and Borders-related charity, and more.


Albert Whitman Takes on Teens with New Imprint (PW)
Founded in 1919, Albert Whitman publishes a range of children’s books, including board books, picture books, and middle-grade fiction, notably Gertrude Chandler Warner’s The Boxcar Children Mysteries and The Boxcar Children Graphic Novels. With last month’s launch of Albert Whitman Teen, the Chicagoland publisher has expanded its offerings to include young-adult books. The inaugural releases are Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera, a novel set six months after 9/11 that centers on a teen who finds himself incarcerated as an “enemy combatant”; and Michael Ford’s The Poisoned House, a ghost story that takes place in Victorian London. Guantanamo Boy was selected for the ABA’s summer 2011 Kids’ Indie Next List.

Children's Store to Open in Katonah, N.Y.  (PW)
Borders’s loss is proving to be indies’ gain. With the closing of a Borders in Mt. Kisco, Jennifer Cook, owner of NoKa Joe’s in Katonah, N.Y., has decided to take the plunge and turn the 650 sq. ft. second floor into a children’s specialty bookstore in October.

Was Steve Jobs really Apple’s editor-in-chief? (The Cutline) 
For those who've followed Apple, casually or compulsively, Steve Job's resignation as chief executive on Wednesday was not unexpected. But the announcement was nonetheless met with a mixture of shock and sadness.

Boys and Reading: Is There Any Hope? (NY Times)
At an American Library Association conference in 2007, HarperCollins dressed five of its male young adult authors in blue baseball jerseys with our names on the back and sent us up to bat in a panel entitled “In the Clubhouse.” We were meant to demystify to the overwhelmingly female audience the testosterone code that would get teenage boys reading. Whereas boys used to lag behind girls in reading in the early grades, statistics show, they soon caught up. Not anymore.

Do Little Girls Need Diet Books? (Salon)
It's the kind of aspirational image familiar from women's magazines and yogurt ads--a frumpy girl standing before the mirror, holding up the outfit she longs to fit into, dreaming of the smiling, slim version of herself waiting on the other side. But this isn't some Slim-Fast pitch or another Bikini Body by Friday! morning show segment. It's the cover of a children's book.

GoodReads Launches New iPad App (eBook Newser)
The online book community GoodReads has just made it a little easier for you to share your book interests with other fans. GoodReads uploaded a new version of its app to iTunes a few days ago and it finally supports the iPad.

New Words in Merriam-Webster Dictionary Include 'Tweet,' 'Fist Bump' (CNS News)
Merriam-Webster Inc. has added dozens of entries to the latest edition of its Collegiate Dictionary. Here are some, along with the year in which Merriam-Webster researchers first found them used in an English-language publication, and their meanings: 

Retweet & Sexting Are Now Words In Oxford English Dictionary (Mashable)
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has added 400 words to its dictionary, including retweet, woot, sexting and cyberbullying. The 12th edition of the dictionary is a recognition that modern technology and social media have greatly impacted the English language. Retweet, the act of resharing a message on Twitter, is our favorite addition, though sexting and woot are a close second and third.

new Study Reveals Kids Who Read More are Better Readers (eBook Newser)
he UK based National Literacy Trust has recently released a the results of a study. After testing over 18 thousand children in the UK, the Trust concluded that the ones who read more books each month were also better readers.

  

KidLit Con Partners with RIF (GalleyCat) 
KidLit Con has launched a fundraising partnership with Reading is Fundamental (RIF).
Earlier this year, we reported that the federal budget for RIF has been reduced. With the new partnership, readers can donate to the childhood literacy program in the name of KidLit Con. Follow this link for more details about how to make a donation.

Mementos of Borders, for Charity (Shelf Awareness) [scroll down]
Just in case you had a particular bond with your local branch of Borders, here's an opportunity to gain a souvenir of the fast-fading bookstore chain and do some good, too.

Wednesday Tweet Roundup

It's humpday which means it's time for me to share some of my favorite tweets of the last week from the many writers, illustrators, editors, agents, and publishers who are out there sharing information and joining in the conversation on Twitter.

Click on the Twitter handles (@name) to find each tweeter's page should you wish to follow them or read more of what they're saying. Follow the included links to read the articles or blog posts these tweeters recommend.

Remember--whether you're signed up with Twitter or not, you can read tweets and click links to find helpful blog posts, useful articles, and timely news bits (like the ones below).

Among this week's picks and links: an editor on what writers can learn from Taylor Swift, agents on contradictory query advice and headshots, lots of great lists (from best bookstores to truths about publishing), an author/artist finds success a the Summer Conference, bookstore love and #booklove, and a personal essay that made me LOL.


GOOD STUFF ON BLOGS WHICH I CAN'T THINK OF A CLEVER WAY TO CLASSIFY TWEETS

@chavelaque: The genius of @taylorswift13's "Mine," and elements of great fictional romances: http://bit.ly/bQeCOd

@hrouda: What the new middle-men in Publishing will look like http://is.gd/eXXNC

@PatZMiller: A must-read for writers, teachers and librarians. Nikki Grimes eloquently explains what should be obvious. http://bit.ly/9NE9Ui

@clairelegrand: New on the blog: Literary Fiction vs. YA Fiction (or, Wait, No, That's Stupid) http://wp.me/pRj24-7e

@TarieS: From WriteOnCon.com: Busting children's and YA book industry myths! http://tinyurl.com/2vk8hko

@Bob_Mayer: The pure math of print vs. eBook royalties http://bit.ly/bJLMMG

@NathanBransford: How to deal with contradictory query advice: http://t.co/HpYhNDF

@elizabethscraig: An agent on author headshots: http://dld.bz/u44D

@CynLeitichSmith: How I s-t-r-e-t-c-h to write books across formats: http://bit.ly/bD3kWK

@maybegenius: My take on MT Anderson's Experiments in Books for Children #SCBWI session, which was amazing, btw. http://ow.ly/2zeMk

@inkyelbows: Fine Tuning Your One-Sentence Pitch | MiG Writers: http://bit.ly/aw4H9z

WHAT AGENTS & EDITORS DO ALL DAY TWEETS

@chavelaque: I just identified the problem in the picture-book ms. I'm working on as a question of predestination vs. free will. #delusionsofgrandeur?

@ChrisRichman: I've answered 254 queries each with 20 page samples in the last six days, & still not caught up. If you haven't heard, you should soon.

@elanaroth: Alright, editors...gird your loins. I'm starting to pitch projects. I have 5. Ready, set, go. #word

SUMMER CONFERENCE SUCCESS TWEET

@inkyelbows: How a rejection got me a book deal: my career-changing #SCBWI Summer Conference experience: http://bit.ly/cPvOpF

#BOOKLOVE TWEET

@FictionNotes: People depend on experts to post book reviews.That's you! Random Acts of Publicity Week #booklove http://bit.ly/8XCcZO 

MAKING TIME TWEETS

@literaticat: My insanely productive client spills the secret... RT @KateMessner The secret of making time to write. http://bit.ly/9mQBTU

@literaticat: If you don't believe @KateMessner is insanely productive, here's a stat: I've sold twelve (12) books for her in two & a half (2.5) years.

LISTY TWEETS

@mitaloperkins: Blogged This => Ten Great Multicultural Kid/YA Blogs http://mita.li/d9If1r

@sloane: Top 10 Bookstores in The US: http://cot.ag/aAQBmF

@AdviceToWriters: 13 Wonderful Truths About #Publishing: http://dld.bz/uukg (via @elizabethscraig)

@cybils: 52 Ways to Use Your Library Card" Challenge: http://ht.ly/2AbWJ

@thecreativepenn: 7 Reasons You Can’t Afford NOT To Find Your Creative Tribe http://dld.bz/u8eu via @coachcreative

@ingridsundberg: 12 Ways to Create Suspense in Your Novel: http://tinyurl.com/2amd8l2

@daniellechiotti: Hell has officially frozen over...I just posted on the Upstart Crow Blog. http://bit.ly/cPwrMC

HAPPY ALMOST-BIRTHDAY TWEET

@Georgia_McBride: The actual anniversary is THIS week. No reason we can't celebrate all week. First ever #YALITCHAT was 9.9.2009

BRICKS & MORTAR TWEETS

@planetalvina: A lovely ode to printed books, from @TeeEss: http://snipurl.com/11s1yx

@TracyClark_TLC: Went to the bookstore to drop off SCBWI event flyers and walked out with NEW BOOKS! Yay!

@PWKidsBookshelf: Today in ShelfTalker: Back-to-school means different daily rhythms in the bookstore, as Josie explains http://bit.ly/aVjPyd

SOMETIMES CHOCOLATE IS THE ONLY ANSWER TWEET

@angie_frazier: Oh I just love it when I work for days on a huge scene that I realize must be axed. *off to search for chocolate therapy*

BECAUSE I LOVE A GOOD PERSONAL ESSAY TWEET

@The_Rumpus: Essay about renovating Danielle Steel's home: http://bit.ly/cN0yEE