Posts Tagged ‘Librarians’
It’s been a long time since I’ve run a contest for signed copies of TOUCHING THE SURFACE.
Last weekend one of my dear friends and a fabulous children’s librarian, Cathy Nuding, volunteered her time to come speak to my local SCBWI Shop Talk. It was two hours of amazing. I’d like to recognize Cathy’s awesomeness and help out even more hard working librarians. I’ll be giving Cathy another signed copy of TTS for her library (along with some other goodies) but I’ll also be giving away SIX more signed copies. You don’t have to be a librarian to enter. Just tell me about the library you believe should have a copy of TOUCHING THE SURFACE. If Rafflecopter pulls your name–I’ll send a signed copy right to their front door.
“Soulful and inventive. A thoroughly original vision for what happens next.” –Daisy Whitney, author of The Mockingbirds
“This gorgeous, lyrical read will sweep you away.” –Jessica Verday, bestselling author of The Hollow trilogy
“Sabatini creates an exquisitely tangible alternate reality, ordering the cosmos with impressive authorial derring-do, crafting answers to ontological questions with grace, disarming simplicity, and nary a trace of dogma. All while believable teens–teen souls, that is–tangle with affection, selfishness, and doubt. Thought-provoking and romantic, Touching the Surface takes risks with narrative and form, and succeeds on multiple levels.” —RBW (Chronogram)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tags: Contest, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Librarians, Libraries, Signed Books, Signed Copies, Touching the Surface, Win, YA Author, YA Book, YA Novel
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In my last post, I talked a little bit about Marketing Your Unborn Book. Today I wanted to follow up with a similar topic. Word of mouth. This is very closely related to what I previously talked about. When you make genuine connections with people, there is a good chance that those people will support you. That’s what friends do. It’s also what smart people do–they don’t bite the hand that feeds them. And if you’ve been doing a good job marketing your unborn book, it means that you have invested a lot of time and energy into supporting your peers the way you would like to be cared for when it is your turn to sell a book. The cool thing about the kid lit community is that this is a group of people who was born with the “do-for-others gene.” They are writing to help kids for goodness sake.
So, how do we really sell our books? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the best way is by word of mouth.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are lots of things that you can do to stack the deck in your favor. I’m doing things like compiling lists of school librarians so that I can send them out a post card with my information on it. It never hurts to put the effort in. Sending out a post card is a lot more personal than hoping, wishing and praying that a librarian or a bookseller accidentally stumble upon TOUCHING THE SURFACE. But, at the end of the day, think about who you listen to when you want a book recommendation.
I can tell you what I do…
*I watch what people I trust tweet about on twitter. If my agent or editor recommends a book, I’m sold. If Kiersten White, my agency sister is singing the praises of an author, I believe her. If the kid lit community rallies around someone like Lauren Myracle, I will read that book and hand sell that puppy until someone puts a restraining order out on me.
*I ask my friends and family what they’re reading. I trust them.
*I check out the staff recommendations at the bookstore. These folks may or may not be my “friends” but they are talking up a book that they feel passionately about. Yes, they are selling books, but they’re selling ALL the books in the store. So it means something when they talk about a book that resonates with them.
I HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK THAT SOMEONE HAS SPAMMED ME WITH–EVEN IF YOU HAVE OFFERED IT FOR FREE.
That’s the truth.
I’ll leave you with a little story that shows you the true power of word of mouth…
The other day my boys and I were talking about graphic novel/cartoon characters. Who we liked and what super powers we’d like to have. If you have boys, you’ve probably had this conversation many times LOL! I happened to reveal to my kids that when I was their age, I had a secret super hero identity. I put on my dark and powerful cartoon narrator’s voice and told them…
Out of the dark regions of the universe, comes a super crime fighting hero…Captain Apple!
They thought that this was hysterical. They wanted to know all about Captain Apple. I can’t remember much about how it started. I may have been apple picking with the girl scouts or something, but for some reason I have always remembered Captain Apple. I forgot all about our talk until a few days later, when my middle son got my attention at dinner.
Him: “Do you remember that day we were talking about Captain Apple?”
Me: “Uh huh.” Nods in his direction while making dinner and pulling back packs apart.
Him: “Yeah, well it’s kind of cool because all my friends are playing Captain Apple in school.”
Me: Drops stuff and gives middle child my full attention. “What do you mean?”
Him: “I though Captain Apple was cool so I told my friends about it. They thought it was cool too. So we’ve been playing Captain Apple on the playground and making up our own comics.”
Me: Stands up straight and smooths hair. “They really liked it?”
Him: “Yeah, mom–he’s pretty cool.”
Me: “Think you can finish dinner by yourselves boys? I’ve got a new idea for a book that I’d like to fiddle with…”
Okay–maybe that last line wasn’t exactly true. And yes, I will sue you if you steal my Captain Apple book idea. You won’t though–that would make you rotten to the core. *scribbles notes that that would make a great line in the book* But you get the picture. Word of mouth can sell things that aren’t even for sale…yet. My best advice for selling your book or your future book is to go out and sell someone else’s book. How cool is that?
And one final warning…negative news travels by mouth a gazillion times faster than good news. It’s the pits *jots down more notes* but its a law of the universe. So, my final recommendation for you is to remember to use your words wisely. And get a cool cape.
Tags: Captain Apple, Kiersten White, Kimberly Sabatini, Lauren Myracle, Librarians
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Filed under: Uncategorized
It’s Sunday! I’m diving in…
4 AGENTS VIEW THE CURRENT STATE OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Moderator-Brenda Bowen
BG-Barry Goldblatt
TW-Tina Wexler
WM- Marcia Wernick
TA-Tracey Adams
BG-Great voice is different for every agent, but every agent knows it when they see it.
BG-Nothing more satisfying to an agent then to sell a debut author’s work.
ALL-Publishers Marketplace can be deceptive and cause more heartache. Not a complete snap shot.
If you had a magic wand and could fix one thing about publishing what would it be?
TA-Publishing by committee, trust your editor.
TW-Higher royalties for ebooks.
BG-The end of semi-annual royalties.
Gary Paulsen-A WRITER’S UPSIDE-DOWN LIFE
I found this clip, which comes pretty close to giving you a taste of the best of Gary Paulsen. He’s a true story teller. Hearing him talk about his life is better than my retelling could ever be.
I was fascinated by him, both times I heard him speak. Here were a couple things that stood out for me…
*I think you should be able to hunt lawyers. Ha!
*I tried to quit writing, but I couldn’t. I love to write.
*If I had gone to Harvard, it never would have happened.
*Kill the television–read, read, read!!!
*TV is intellectual carbon monoxide, you think you’re breathing when you’re not.
*Read like a wolf eats. Read what they tell you not to.
*It’s useless to write for adults. Write for the children.
*Don’t write down, there’s no time.
I’d like to close this post by reminding everyone about the importance of reaching out and creating ripples. And I would like to thank librarians everywhere. Despite being under the appreciated, they change and save lives every single day. Thank you.
Tags: Gary Paulsen, Kimberly Sabatini, LA11SCBWI, Librarians
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