World Book Day special - How to find readers for your book by Barbara Henderson

That’s it! You are a published author, and you are holding your finished product in your hand!

Wait - how on earth will anyone know about it?

Some big publishers have a team and a budget for that sort of thing – but sadly, Blue Peter appearances and international publicity campaigns await only the lucky few. For the vast majority of authors, publicity is something they have to do themselves – and perhaps that is a good thing! You can play to your strengths and get creative! It need not cost anything either. Here are some examples of what promoting your book could involve.

 

Blog tour – who knew, but there are a whole lot of book enthusiasts who have their own websites – blogs – on which they review books. The usual arrangement is that they will be sent a free copy of the book by the publishers in exchange for an honest review. The organisation of these blog tours often falls onto the writer. Sometimes the author may also write interesting articles or related content for these blogs to create some online buzz – most book bloggers are very active on social media, and if they like your book, it can really help.

Press releases – This was news to me, but newspapers and magazines rarely cover new book releases unless they are sent a press release first. This means that the author writes an article about themselves and the book in the 3^rd person, as if a newspaper journalist had written it. All the information needs to be correct - and if you also attach some high-quality images, you have a good chance of the press picking up on your story. It’s even better if you have a topical hook, like an anniversary of a historical event, or a connection to something that people are already talking about. You may have to tailor your press release to the publication you are targeting. TV and radio will also be interested in featuring you if there is a strong topical hook – think of it as a Venn diagram between your book and what people are already talking about. If there is overlap, you have a way in.

 

Book Trailer – Video content makes it 34% more likely that your audience will engage! Even a short film on YouTube advertising your book, much in the style of film trailers (with teasers and engaging images), can generate a lot of awareness, and of course it can be shared on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram too.

Social media – It is a great thing for an author to be active on social media but be wary of posting endless ‘buy my book’ style content. It will soon turn your audience off. Readers and potential buyers want to get a flavour of who you are and connect with you. Be real! Images of rapt audiences at your events or screenshots of good reviews (with a humble-ish caption) go down well and increase your profile. But be sure to show support for others and their work too.

Finally, don’t be shy – opportunities for publicity are everywhere. Pitch yourself as a writer in residence! Suggest a book event to your local library! Start a YouTube channel or podcast! Connect with book festivals and like-minded writers. Seek collaborations. Contact organisations which may have an interest in your book. Join groups and forums and ENGAGE, earning yourself a hearing for your own agenda.  Have a go – you won’t regret it!

Someone once advised me: Don’t worry about being pretty. Be memorable. Be kind.

Good advice. 

 

The Time Tunnellers are five authors who write historical novels for
children and young adults -
Susan Brownrigg, Barbara Henderson, Catherine Randall,
Ally Sherrick and Jeannie Waudby.

Every Thursday we share a new blog article on a different topic
and a youtube video with a writing challenge for young people and teachers.

 

World Book Day special - How is a book cover made? by Ally Sherrick

The old saying, ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover’ might be true for people. But in the case of an actual book cover, though it won’t tell you how well-written it is, it offers up some big clues about what sort of story you’ll encounter inside.

Besides the all-important title, these clues are delivered through a combination of artwork used, colours applied and the description, or cover-blurb on the back.

When I visit schools, children always want to know more about this mysterious-seeming process and whether the author has any say in the finished version.

I’m very lucky in that regard, because my publisher, Chicken House Books does like to involve its authors in the business of coming up with a cover.

Like many other writers, I usually create ‘mood boards’ of images which help inspire the development of my story. I post these on Pinterest and share them with my publisher so that, in addition to the writing, they have something visual to help spark ideas for a cover design.

A clip from my mood board for Black Powder

In the meantime, they’ve been busy thinking of what sort of artistic style would work best, studying portfolios of work by possible artists. For my first book, Black Powder, about two children caught up in the Gunpowder Plot, they selected Alexis Snell, an artist who specialises in making prints from linocuts. You can watch a short video of how she made the lino-cut for the cover here.

Once the cover illustration is finished, the publisher sends it to a design studio to experiment with different colour-ways and design the spine.

 

Two different colour-ways for Black Powder created by Steve Wells, the designer.
We chose the one on the right which we thought was the strongest.

Next, the publicity team gets to work with writing the all-important description – or ‘blurb’ – which tells you, the potential reader what the story is about. The aim here, using as few words as possible, is to persuade you that it’s the book for you.

 

The cover blurb – which needs to be as short
and exciting-sounding as possible ...

Once the design and blurb are finalised, the book is ready for printing. The cover artwork is sent to the printers with instructions for the weight and type of paper to use, along with requests for any special finishes such as embossing or coloured foil.

 

Black Powder was lucky enough to be
given the gold foil treatment!

And then it’s over to the printer to weave their magic ...

 

The Time Tunnellers are five authors who write historical novels for
children and young adults -
Susan Brownrigg, Barbara Henderson, Catherine Randall,
Ally Sherrick and Jeannie Waudby.

Every Thursday we share a new blog article on a different topic
and a youtube video with a writing challenge for young people and teachers.