March 2004

How Should I Promote My New Book?

My first middle grade novel will be published in five months. My editor just emailed me and asked for a list of things I plan to do to promote my new book. Help! I don't know where to begin. Do you have any suggestions?

Congratulations on the upcoming release of your new book!

I can give you plenty of suggestions. But I know someone else who can do it better -- Dotti Enderle. She has written a 3-part series at Smart Writers Journal on promotional opportunities and ideas for all writers, especially children's writers. Part one, "Advice from Promo Ho" focuses on the importance of a web site and how to make it work for you. In part two "Get it in Print", Dotti offers some excellent ideas and resources for effective print promotion, including postcards and bookmarks. I took her advice and ordered my bookmarks for The Road to Weird from Webcards.biz and they turned out great! In her final installment, she suggests some wacky ways to stand out from the crowd with booksignings and radio interviews. Dotti's wit and experience help take the panic out of book promotion.

How Do I Become A Children's Book Reviewer?

I write nonfiction for children and would like to review nonfiction books for children. How does one step into this field? Any guidelines, rules, articles, and good old experiences? Thanks.

The key to becoming a reviewer is having somewhere to publish your reviews. Some reviewers start their own review sites, others query established review publications and web sites to see if they're looking for reviewers.

I recently updated the Children's Book Reviewers web page at Writing World, and added six new additions to the list. You can now find more than twenty children's book reviewers. Take a look at some of those review sites and see if they post guidelines for reviewers at their web site or find the email for the editor and query the editor. Have a book review ready to submit if the editor responds with interest. Don't submit a sample review on first contact, unless the guidelines say so, but do let the editor know you have a sample review available.

Midwest Book Review posts submission guidelines for book reviewers at their web site. Another way to get started is to set up a reviewer profile at Amazon.com, then post your reviews with a link to your profile. This is a good way to gain experience and exposure. With a little digging, you can find plenty of opportunities to for book reviewers on the Internet.

How Should I Start A Children's Nonfiction Series?

I would like to write a series of books for young people on the life, times and discoveries of famous scientists. It would be a light-hearted easy to understand voyage through the physical and biological sciences which should simplify many concepts for young people who may not enjoy these types of topics. Where do I start?

Assuming the books are nonfiction, you should write a book proposal for the first book in the series, including overview and chapter-by-chapter outline. Go to the children's section at bookstores and libraries and study other books that are similar to what you are proposing. Look at how other published writers have handled the subject matter. Think of a fresh, new approach and apply that to your idea. Also, make a note of the publishers of those books as possible publishers for your books.

Once your proposal is written, search the Children's Writers and Illustrator's Market for the publishers of children's nonfiction similar to yours and submit your proposal to them. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books by Harold Underdown and Lynne Rominger, contains an excellent chapter on children's book series, "Keep 'em Rolling: Series" which you'll find helpful. In fact, this book is a great reference "bible" for all children's book writers.

For more information:

Advice from the Promo Ho

http://www.smartwriters.com/index.2ts?page=swjdec2003#enderle

Get it in Print: Advice from the Promo Ho

http://www.smartwriters.com/index.2ts?page=swjjan2004#enderle

Webcards.biz

http://www.webcards.biz/

More Advice from the Promo Ho

http://www.smartwriters.com/index.2ts?page=swjfeb2004#enderle

Children's Book Reviewers

http://www.writing-world.com/children/reviewers.shtml

Midwest Book Review Reviewer Information

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/revinfo.htm

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