Top Ten Tips For Book Publicity Tours!

By Teri Terry

School one of ten...!

If you've got a book out soon and the words publicity tour have been mentioned by your publisher, if you're anything like me you were just a little terrified...

I mean, not just a school visit, but a whole week of them? and travelling? and packing? and author-imagining-long-list-of-things-that-could-go-wrong?

I'm just back from the publicity tour for Shattered, book 3 of the Slated trilogy (reported on here): ten schools in five days, all over England. Having survived my second tour now I've come up with my top tips:

1. Planning
If you're lucky like I was, you'll have a publicist organising things; if you're doing it yourself then of course this is more of a deal. But it is helpful to be involved a little in the logistics even if things are being planned for you. For eg. when I saw the draft schedule, I asked to stay home Weds night instead of in London, even though this meant getting up at  5 am the next day (not everyone's cup of tea, but I appreciated a night at home in the middle of it all).

2. Preparation
The talk: how much you prepare these things is an individual thing. For me, I find it goes better if I don't practice it over and over, and have a list of points rather than a whole speech. If I focus too much on the talk ahead of time, I get nervous, and if I practice too much, I start memorising it and it loses personality. Also even if they all say an hour long...they won't be. You need to be able to adjust the length on the spot. This is easier if it isn't rigid. Also have some extra stuff ready to talk about, just in case.

3. Stuff to take
Print and take more than one copy of your talk, and your schedule. Don't keep them in the

same place. Post it notes can be great to have on hand for names to be written down when you're signing books (more than likely, your publicist, the bookseller or the school will have them, but good to have a back up supply). Take signing pens and extra ones, bookmarks if you have them, and bookplates are handy for students who forgot their money but want a signed book (or blank labels if you haven't got any bookplates). They should have water there and lunch scheduled, but emergency snacks and a spare bottle of water are a good idea.

4. Packing

Pack light. Lugging heavy stuff on and off trains at speed is never fun, and a small bag that will fit in the overhead on trains is good for peace of mind (I hate having luggage down the other end of the train where I can't keep an eye on it). I love my little trolley case! It's got wheels that'll roll in all directions! Speaking of which...

5. Roll with it
Be flexible. Stuff happens. Things like the power going out, books running out, pens running out of ink, trains being missed, time being less than expected, will happen. Likewise, travel issues could affect your publicist if they are meeting you somewhere, so be prepared in case they're late or don't make it - know where you're going etc.

6. To read or not to read?
I used to get really nervous about reading - I've started to get more chilled about it, but it used to be if time was tight or I was rattled, the reading was the first thing to go. Not anymore. I've found students always listen the most intently by far when I'm reading than when I'm doing anything else. 
Of course, choosing a reading is key: something exciting, intriguing, that doesn't have loads of characters or presumed knowledge behind it. Not too long, not too short.
One of the opportunities of a tour is to vary what you are reading and watch audience response.

7. E-books can save you
If I carry all three books of my trilogy around with me, they're heavy! I've got into the

3 gorgeous books vs. 1 e-reader: tough call!

habit of expecting I can borrow from the library or bookseller at events - but sometimes the bookseller comes after you start, and the library copies are all out. Even if all goes to plan, if you have a handheld microphone, it is really hard to hold a book, turn pages and hold a microphone at the same time. It is far easier to have a mic in one hand and e-reader in the other. So while I always prefer to read from real books, I have an e-reader as back up.

8. It's ok to say 'no'
I don't sign Roald Dahl books (or anyone else's, for that matter!). I don't sign hands or arms. I'm happy to sign planners, scraps of paper, bookmarks, posters etc. You don't have to answer every question, either, if there are areas of your life you want to keep private.
You shouldn't ever be left to find your way around a school on your own, or left with students on your own. It is fair to object if it looks like it will happen.

9. The naughty step
Schools will vary in how well students will sit and listen, and in how much the staff will intervene if they don't. I've worked in schools so am probably more chilled about this than some - but even though I don't get upset if kids act up as they do now and then, it is still distracting. Refer to point 5, above. It is fair to stop and wait for teachers to get things under control if that is needed.

10. Enjoy yourself!!
Meeting readers and potential readers is so much fun. A tour is a unique opportunity to reach a wide range of schools and students, some of whom may not have had the experience of meeting an author before, and wouldn't any other way. The questions they ask and the things they come up with can be funny, touching, impressive, inspiring. I love writing for this audience, and I love meeting them. 
And if you're really lucky, you might be given some of these:

Thanks so much to my publisher Orchard Books, Victoria, Rosie, Corinne, Lizz, Caitlin, Authors Aloud, and all the librarians, teachers and booksellers involved in making the week happen.

Through the Slushpile Spectacles - Are Children's Writers a Breed Apart?

by Addy Farmer

Peering through my spectacles this week, I spotted this interesting article in The Guardian.  It examined the reaction to writer, Lynne Sheperd's piece in The Huffington Post in which she urged J.K.Rowling to stop writing and give other people a crack at earning some money. She says:

I didn't much mind Rowling when she was Pottering about. I've never read a word (or seen a minute) so I can't comment on whether the books were good, bad or indifferent. 

She has reaped the whirlwind. J.K's fans have taken to reviewing her books and admitting to never having read them.

Rowling's fans have been taking to Amazon, where they have been leaving a deluge of one-star reviews for Shepherd's previously well-regarded novels. Now on Amazon.com, its US version The Solitary House has 59 one-star reviews, the majority written this week, ranging from "I've never read any of your books, and now I never will!", to "There is no way I could support an author (or anyone else for that matter) who has such a terrible outlook.

I agree. I think she does have a terrible outlook. The wonderful Paolo Bacigalupi called it "zero-sum author thinking"

I will gloss over the perhaps unintentional conflation of imperatives which managed to insult children's writers:

By all means keep writing for kids, or for your personal pleasure – I would never deny anyone that. Lynne Shepherd

'Cos that's probably just me being over-sensitive although she did say this about some Harry Potter readers ...

I did think it a shame that adults were reading them (rather than just reading them to their children, which is another thing altogether), mainly because there's so many other books out there that are surely more stimulating for grown-up minds. But, then again, any reading is better than no reading, right?

Hmm. Forget that. Remember this:

If you think other people's success diminishes you, don't be a writer. Paolo Bacigalupi

I have been a children's writer for too many years to bother counting and in all that time I have nearly always encountered the support and generosity of fellow children's writers both published and pre-published. Are children's writers different, I wonder? Maybe so. Maybe because children's writing is such a brilliantly demanding craft for the best readers ever and NOBODY is ever an overnight success, that we need all the support we can get. Or maybe we are just good at enjoying ourselves. 

Whatever the case, I say hooray for JK and her stories and hooray for her success! And hooray for all those who can enjoy anybody's success because surely any good thing that happens has to be a reason for celebration and not jealous condemnation.  

SCBWI conference - celebration of books published in 2013

So much success! Enjoy! 

Through the Slushpile Spectacles

It's Friday. I have looked back on this week through my newish purple spectacles and find that I need something cute to take the edge off the reality of rain and rain and more rain.

This is the owl baby who says, ''I want my Mummy!' This is the owl who is Afraid of the Dark. This is the owl who will grow up and live in a tree-top house with a bell outside and a sign with 'wol' written on it. This is the owl who will take to sea in a boat ...

I give you the owl of all those stories. Think of him as a sustaining owl to help you through the storms. I think I'm in love.

Happy Friday.