Ten Tips for a Successful Author Visit (For Authors and Illustrators)

August 2, 2016 by Sally

Yesterday I shared ten tips for successful author visits aimed at teachers and librarians (you can see that post here). Today, I want to share another ten, but this time aimed at presenters. Visiting schools and libraries can be lots of fun, and also form an important part of your income stream. I’ve done lots and lots of these visits, and the following tips are some of the things I’ve learnt along the way.

1. Advertise your availability. If you want to do school and library visits, you need to let schools and libraries know you are available. List on your website (you do have a website, don’t you?). You can als The Grove2015 o create a flyer and distribute it by mail, or at conferences you attend. Word of mouth is also a wonderful tool.

2. Be upfront. It is easier to discuss payment and conditions at the time of the booking, than it is on the day you turn up, or after the event. State your rates, how many sessions you will do in a day, audience size, age groups you can cater for and so on. Talking about money can be uncomfortable, but it is necessary, which leads me to number 3:

3. Charge for your visit. With few exceptions, you should ask for ASA Rates for your time. An author/illustrator visit is an educational experience for children and helps teachers and librarians to motivate kids to read/write/draw. The rates may sound high when you’re starting out, but trust me you will earn them – it is a lot of hard work(fun, but also exhausting).

4. Be aware of the difference between promoting your book and promoting literacy. If your visit is in school time, it should be more than just a sales pitch. You are being paid for your time, so make sure you are giving value for students and for teachers. What are children going to learn from you – it might be something specific to your book, or about books and reading more generally.

5. Prepare your presentations. Work out what you have to say and how you are going to say it. A ‘meet the author’ session, for example, might include a reading of your book (or part of it), a talk about the research or creative process, and time for questions. If you’re an illustrator, you might show how you drew the main character. A writing workshop might teach a specific writing skill. Think about your own skills, the book, and the target age groups.

Dalyellup Bookweek 2015 6. Have props or visuals. Kids like having things to look at. Some presenters use Powerpoint presentations, which can be wonderful when used well. A good one will be high on pictures and low on text. other props could be puppets, costumes, historical artifacts, you name it.

7. Know what you are going to say. This is kind of like 4 above, but this time I’m talking about knowing your presentation. Don’t read from a script or written speech, and certainly don’t read a Powerpoint. If you are nervous, practice. A lot. In front of a mirror, in front of friends, in front of your cat. Use your rehearsals to work out timing, remembering timing can be affected on the day by your nerves, by interruptions and by questions.

8. Be flexible. Be prepared for curve balls. What will you do if the Powerpoint doesn’t work? What will you do if you leave your book at home? What will you do if Johnny in the front row farts or – worse still – throws up? I was once booked to run a writing workshop for 20 kids. On the day 80 kids came into the room – and not one of them had anything to write with. Be prepared for misbehaviour. It won’t happen every time, but remember you are dealing with schoolchildren and, as such, kids will misbehave. They might call out, or talk when you are talking, or throw things at you. How are you going to respond? It is good to remember that the teachers should be there in the room and you can ask them for help in this area, but it is great if you can avoid interrupting the class to do this. I try not to expect perfect behaviour, and only stop my presentation if the behaviour is affecting other children’s ability to see or hear me.

9. Use prizes/rewards. Small giveaways such as bookmarks are very popular. Of course, if you are a softy like me, you might find it hard to give away only one or two, particularly for younger children. I tend to have a few things on hand in case someone comes up with a particularly brilliant question or answer, or if I need a volunteer top help out with something.

10. Follow up after the visit. Ask the person who booked you for a few words of written feedback via email. Take the time to thank them for having you. Also take the time for yourself to think about what did and didn’t work well – and why.

Have I missed anything? If you have any tips for school visits, I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment.

Ten Tips for a Successful Author Visit (For Teachers and Librarians)

August 1, 2016 by Sally

Bookweek is coming up and I’m starting to prepare to visit schools and libraries around the state. This made me think about visits I’ve done in the past (I’ve done hundreds) and what did and didn’t go well. So, I thought I might write a couple of posts offering some quick tips for teachers/ and librarians (today) and authors and illustrators (tomorrow) to make visits run smoothly.

I don't dress like this every day - but sometimes dressing up helps me feel authorly.

So, here goes: ten ways to prepare for and run a successful author visit:

1. Book your author/illustrator well in advance. Bookweek, in particular, is a very busy time of the year, and organised schools/libraries will have booked at the start of the year, or even before. I already have a booking for Bookweek 2017, yet had a request for a 2016 visit just last week (needless to say I had to say no).

2. Research your presenter. Know what they write and who it is aimed at. Don’t book a YA Author for your kindergarten audience. Also see if you can find feedback on their previous visits. You want to know that your presenter is competent.

3. Be prepared to pay. Most Australian authors/illustrators will charge ASA Rates, which you can find here. They are not cheap, but the cost covers both the presentation time and the preparation time, as well as the years of experience your presenter has.

4. Discuss the visit with the presenter. Is there a specific topic you’d like covered? I’ve had over 40 books published, so can tailor my presentations to all kinds of age groups and topics, but this will be more successful if I know in advance. Also find out if the presenter has any requirements – audiovisual equipment, an easel or whiteboard, chocolate (this is always a good thing).

5. Arrange your audience well in advance. If you are a local library, advertise to local schools well ahead of time. It takes a lot of planning at the school end to organise an excursion. If you are a school librarian, again, make sure that class teachers know about the incursion well in advance of it happening.

6. Promote promote promote. Once you’ve worked out who your audience will be, promote the visit to them. Make a display about the author, including their books. Talk up the visit – show the children you are excited, and encourage them to be excited too. Townsville

7. Check if you have the author’s books in your library. I have visited lots of schools where my books aren’t in the library, or where the one I have come to talk about is the only one not in the collection. When kids hear about a book, they want to borrow it.

8. Encourage (insist if you can) class teachers to be present for the author visit. Lots of school visits are scheduled so that the students see the visiting author during library time, while the class teacher is on other duties. The risk is that there is no follow up discussion or benefit from the visit. The best visits I have are those where the teachers have talked with the students beforehand about the purpose of the visit, and often result in kids going back to class to write or read or otherwise build on what they’ve heard from me.

9. Set up a suitable space for the visit before the author arrives. If you only have the author for an hour, avoid using a large chunk of that time to get chairs in place, or a projector set up. It’s always great to have a glass of water for the author and tea/coffee/lunch available if they are there for the day.

10. After the visit, chat with your fellow staff, the author and the students about how it went. Get feedback so you know what did/didn’t work. And, start planning for next Bookweek.

If you are a teacher or librarian and think I’ve missed anything important here, I’d love to hear it. Leave a comment. Tomorrow, I’ll have ten tips for authors.

Manning 2015

A Visit to my Local School

August 19, 2015 by Sally

Had a lovely morning this morning visiting my local primary school and talking about Fly-In Fly-Out Dad, and all things book. The students were keen and polite and asked lots of good questions and the teachers were lovely. A special thanks to Susan and Corenne from the Dalyellup and Capel Libraries who arranged the visit.

Here I am getting dressed up as we talked about the safety gear that workers wear on mine sites. I love playing dress ups!

Dalyellup Bookweek 2015

And here I am after the session with Corenne, who I knew when we were both kids.

Dalyellup Bookweek 2015 b

Thoughts on School Visits

September 14, 2011 by Sally

I have just had four of the busiest weeks of my life. In those four weeks I visited schools and libraries in Perth and around the South West, as well as flying to Gunnedah in New South Wales, and presented over 50 sessions talking about myself and my books. By the end of it I have to admit I was pretty tired. Very tired. Achingly tired. So tired that when I ran into a local friend last week she commented on how tired I look and told me I should just take a day off. I smiled, said I would do so, then the next day got in my car and drove to Mundaring for another session (you can see a photo from that session below).

This week I have a week free of speaking commitments, and I have time to get some writing done – as well as more mundane things like housework, paying bills and so on. And I also have time to reflect on the past four weeks. Sure, they were really busy and more than once I wondered if I could really meet all my commitments. But meet them I did, and I had an absolute ball.

But, in honour of the friend who suggested I needed a day off, and anyone else who is wondering, I thought I might explain WHY I do school and library visits.

1. 1. It’s fun and inspirational. Standing in front of a room of kids and talking about myself and my books is so unlike work that I sometimes forget it IS work. For 45 minutes I talk, read, smile and, importantly listen, as I share with kids my stories, and my life as a writer. It’s an absolute blast.

2. 2. It promotes my books. Getting published is hard, but getting the word out about your books can be even harder.

3. 3. It pays well. Very few children’s authors can make a living from writing. Speaking engagements pay well and allow us to continue writing.

4. 4. It engages me with people. Writing can be a pretty solitary occupation, with most of my work taking place at home on my own. When I go out to schools and libraries I am socialising, meeting people and connecting with them.

5. 5. It helps kids. I have left this one to last because it is the most important. Meeting a ‘real’ author can be really engaging for readers of all abilities. Often a reluctant reader will be inspired to read, and an avid reader will feel validated. Kids are also inspired to write after listening to an author.

There are other reasons, but these are the key ones, and, whilst the busyness of four weeks of author visits is tiring, it also leaves me feeling energised, ready to write more and speak more, too. I look forward to speaking more, and am delighted that the bookings for next year have started to come in. If you’d like to book me to visit your school or library, you can contact me through my website.