SCBWI NY Conference Excitement: Piranha Pit (applications due today!)

What a wild couple of years it's been, SCBWI-ers! A huge round of applause for the incredible virtual events that have been held by regional and HQ SCBWI these last few years. 

While I'm so thankful we are starting to have opportunities to see our great community in person again at both local and international events, I'm equally as impressed that SCBWI is continuing to offer a virtual version of the 2023 Winter NY Conference for those of us with health, budget, time, location, and/or witness protection program anonymity constraints.

Check out Lee Wind's post for how the two opportunities overlap and differ. There's still time to register for either, click here for in-person or virtual!

If this is your first time at a conference, or if like me you've forgotten how to have conversations with your in-person face, check out Jolie Stekly's post for first-time attendees. 

Please also welcome Justin Campbell to Team Blog! And check out his great post on the wonderful, community building socials that in-person conferences like #scbwiNY23 provide.

A new Winter Conference element I think registered, published attendees should be really excited about: The Piranha Pit! Like Shark Tank but for book marketing plan moolah!

But you've go to get your hustles on! Deadline to apply is 5pm PST today, Today, TODAY! (The bulk of the work will happen at the conference if you are chosen, so you can do eet!). Here are the details:

• Submit your entry TODAY via email to scbwipiranhapit@scbwi.org. It may be in written form or on video for a traditionally or independently/self-published book that is a new or backlist title published within the last four years (2018 – March 31, 2023).
• Six contestants will be pre-selected by the SCBWI staff to present their plans live and have 8–10 minutes to pitch. Pitch should include telling us a little bit about yourself, the elevator pitch of your book, why you think your marketing plan will be effective, why you chose these tactics, and how you will measure success. Marketing plan pitches may use props, costumes, music, instruments, quadratic equations, theremins, small or large exotic animals*––whatever you think will help the piranhas understand your book and your plan.
• The pit winner will receive $1,000.00 and will be featured on our website, on SCBWI social media, and in Insight, our monthly member newsletter.

Good luck to everyone who enters! Just attending the pit session will provide all sorts of marketing ideas even if you don't win the cash prize, so be sure it's on your itinerary if you're interested in learning more about promoting your books.

And as a reminder, if you aren't able to attend, please join us HERE on the blog. We’ll be sharing posts and summaries of as many of the #scbwiNY23 conference events as we can. 

*SCBWI would like me to mention I'm just trying to be funny and please do not bring any exotic animals of any size, especially piranhas, to the Piranha Pit. 

Marketing Your Book on a Budget: Kelly Starling Lyons

I don't know about you but every time I leave the house, it's like $150+tax. Kelly Starling Lyons drops gems on marketing your book on a budget. 

Kelly Starling Lyons is helping us give our books a better chance. Kelly Starling Lyons is a founding member of The Brown Bookshelf, teaching artist, and award-winning children’s book author. She has written more than 20 books for young readers that span from easy readers to picture books and chapter books. She reminds authors to keep up the marketing effort, even after the book launches. 

Jada Jones - Book Marketing Plan

Lyons shares the importance of being a partner in helping our books succeed. The biggest investment we can make isn't financial, it's investing in yourself and others. Sweat equity will help put your book on people's radars.

 

 

In 2020, Lyons set out to launch Tiara's Hat Parade, but changed directions due Covid-19. Lyons pivoted to an online "parade" for the book launch of Tiara's Hat Parade. The launch included a Live Illustration Demonstration, a virtual author reading, and an author & illustrator Q&A.

 

Virtual Hat Parade

Her efforts led to Tiara's Hat Parade being selected as the March Book of the Month for Read Across America and was chosen as Read Across America Day! Lyons has a way of extracting the relevant content of her book and creating an experience. 

For example, Lyons dreamed of her book being on stage. Next week, Book-It-Repertory Theater is hosting auditions to transform Tiara's Hat Parade into a stage production through Washington State. 

Always have a call to action when promoting online. Posting a picture? Include a pre-order link. Sharing about an event? Include a link to your website.

 

Example of a virtual book launch by Traci Sorell

Here are six ways to market your book on a budget!

1. Plan a Strong Debut
1. Collaborate with a community partner and develop a win-win relationship
2. Collaborate with Author Friends - Lyons joined forces with a few author friends called the Sewing Circle
1. This circle created joint blog posts, connected with indie bookstores, and offered a package for a bundle of books #teamworkmakesthedreamwork
   
3. Tour the Web
1. Research blogs and bookstores to connect with
2. Plan Zoom Visits to schools, libraries, and organizations
   
4. Offer a Giveaway!
1. Host a giveaway on Instagram/Twitter
5. Build a Web Presence - what's the story behind who you are and your story
1. Amazon, Goodreads, SCBWI, Website, FaceBook
6. Present at conferences

Pro-Tip: Recommend a cold call to the youth media specialist at the library and follow up with an email.

Lyon's grandmother often shared 'Nothing beats a can't but a try.' Make your pitch personal and specific. Lyons has proven time and time again, you CAN market your book, especially on a budget. 

Missed this workshop? Check out the video archives here. https://www.scbwi.org/event-summer-conference-2022/video-archive/

Enjoyed this recap? RT the post on Twitter so others can check it out.

Kelly Starling Lyons is a founding member of The Brown Bookshelf, teaching artist, and award-winning children’s book author. She has written more than 20 books for young readers that span from easy readers to picture books and chapter books. Among her acclaimed titles are My Hands Tell a Story, Caldecott Honor winner, Going Down Home with Daddy, Christopher Award winner, Tiara’s Hat Parade, and Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice & Sing Inspired Generations. She’s also the author of popular series including Jada Jones, Miles Lewis and Ty’s Travels which won a Geisel Honor Award for Zip, Zoom. Kelly lives in Raleigh and was named to Good Morning America’s 2021 Inspiration List: Who’s Making Black History. Learn more about her at www.kellystarlinglyons.com. 

#SCBWIdigital workshop: Jennifer Vassel presents “Book Marketing 101: How To Be Your Own Publicist”

A screen shot of Jennifer presenting her #SCBWIdigital workshop

Jennifer Vassel is an author and an entrepreneur. In 2016, she self-published the first book in her “I Am Unique” picture book series. Her book has found readers in Africa, Australia, and Europe. What started as a single story has grown into a franchise with more books in the series, toys, merchandise, parent guides, teacher guides, and a potential animated TV series. Jennifer’s publishing path has been documented in Forbes, Essence, Black Enterprise, and Thrive Global.

An instagram post featuring Jennifer and her bestselling indie published picture book

Jennifer started out with two polls, trying to get a sense of what the 1,800 SCBWI member attendees were hoping to learn. (42% of us said we don't know where to start, 41% are curious about implementing book marketing strategies.) She then took a poll to see if we're traditionally published, independently published, or hybrid combo of the two. (54% of us are traditionally published, 24% indie.)

She briefly told us about her journey, how when she started out she thought just writing the book was enough. Fast forward to today where her mission has grown from a book into a movement.

Jennifer doesn't have a publicist, saying she's invested time and resources into learning how to do it herself. She encouraged us, “If you don’t have the budget to hire a publicist, you can absolutely do this on your own.”

First task:

Identify your target audience. Who does your book help? What are their interests? Where can you find them?

One of Jennifer's slides

She shared that before she targeted her efforts, back when she had just published her book, one eight-hours of tabling at an event with tons of people attending resulted in only two book sales. After she targeted her efforts, another eight-hours of tabling at an event all about empowering women and girls resulted in her selling over 1,500 copies of the very same book! Same book, same eight hours... it's all about targeting the audience.

Jennifer also shared a worksheet to help each of us get more specific about identifying our audience.

She urged us to build a mailing list, and not rely on connections or followers on social media. As authors, it's important to have "something that we own. A.K.A., our website and our mailing list."

Jennifer also ran down 10 different Marketing Strategies. Here are three:

1. Social media

Her book has traveled more widely than she has!

3. Guest blog

Leverage their platform, by offering their readers value. You're in front of them, and they can learn about you and your message. Pitch the ones who have the same audience you're trying to reach.

6. Influencer Partnerships

Numbers don't mean much when they're not targeted numbers. The partnership has to make sense. Jennifer shared an example of a partnership she did recently with the McClure twins (Forbes top 10 influencers) with millions of followers, but they also have minority mothers as their audience. As Jennifer's book is about self-love, the McClure twins' mother liked it, saying, 'it's exactly what I want to teach my girls.' They read snippets of her book online, on facebook and youtube. It yielded 150,000 views in two weeks. Jennifer advised us to think about Exchanging Value.

There was so much more, including a Q&A (with bonus questions from Lin), a discussion of video marketing, and a section on pitching the media, breaking down the nine elements of a pitch.

It was great information, and very inspiring.

Thanks, Jennifer!

Stay safe, all.
Lee

p.s. - Did you miss it? The video is available for 30 days to SCBWI members here.