Many authors out there just want to write books, but they don’t put enough effort into marketing them. Most writers despise the marketing aspects of books. Nonetheless, marketing is essential for the success of a book. Without promotion, your book may get lost in the sea of books on sale in the market. A book without proper promotion and marketing is like a car without fuel.
A lot of authors are highly talented but the ones who get successful are those who don’t wait for readers to find their books. They find it for them! When it comes to children’s books, the target demographic is quite specific—the kids of a predetermined age group and the adults who buy books for them (like parents and grandparents). It is essential to keep the key demographic in mind while drafting a marketing plan for your book. It will help you decide on the strategies to be used to reach them.
Here are 11 powerful strategies for marketing children’s books. They will help you reach your intended audience and guarantee you success.
1. Build your brand
The first step toward effective marketing starts with how you portray yourself. When it comes to authors, your name is the brand. A well-written author profile is a must. It gives the readers a chance to know and understand more about you. The first step to gaining trust is to get to know someone. Therefore, to build a long-lasting relationship with your readers, you need to let them know you. Putting together a well-drafted author bio is quite easy, yet it is often overlooked. Your writer bio is displayed in numerous places, including
- the Amazon page of your book,
- the inside of the book or on the back cover, and
- the author profile.
Make sure to add your professional photograph and a link to your website. Being a children’s book author, you can be a bit playful with words. Write your bio in the third person, add short snippets, and let your personality shine through.
2. Hit up social media
Instagram, Facebook groups, Reddit, Twitter, and blogs are places where parents look for recommendations for most things related to their children. If you search Facebook groups on children’s books, you may come across groups related to the topic of your book as well. For instance, if your book is about fire trucks, you can search for a Facebook group of people who love fire trucks, and many of them will surely have kids.
Add pictures of your book on all social media platforms with relevant hashtags. Create promo videos online that offer interesting details about the book and upload them on your page. This is one good way to help people discover your works.
Also, make sure to claim your books on Goodreads, which is one of the biggest social networks dedicated to book sharing. You can ignore Goodreads if you are serious about marketing your book for children.
3. Make sure your book is in libraries
Libraries present an amazing opportunity for book writers. Many parents don’t buy every book and prefer borrowing them from local libraries. If you can place your book in the children’s library or the relevant section of a library, someone will surely borrow it. If the person or their kid likes your book, they may want to read or buy more books that you have written. Thus, they may end up buying your books the next time around. To ensure that your book reaches the library shelves, you will have to convince the librarians of its value. For this, you must take the following measures:
- Make sure your book has loads of positive reviews.
- Make it easy to procure through major wholesalers, such as Baker & Taylor, and Ingram.
- Introduce yourself.
4. Plan school visits
Many schools set aside budgets every year for author visits. This is a great opportunity to popularise your brand and market your children’s books. However, you need to be well-organized for this. You must have a proper plan before contacting any schools. Communicate with them about the age range for which your book is written, send them cover images, links, synopsis, or anything else that will help them understand what your book is about.
Once the school agrees, send the details of your planned visit. The school may also allow you to secure sales with parents. You can provide offers such as visiting the school for free in return for sending home slips with offers to buy signed copies, and the like.
5. Enter the children’s book festivals
Book festivals and book fairs are great places to spread the word about your book. Events like these allow you to interact with your audience directly. Whenever you find a book festival or fair taking place near you, make sure to apply for a spot in advance.
6. Send your book for children’s book awards
The label of an award-winning book is a sure-shot way to boost your sales and add critical acclaim to your book. It will help in making your marketing journey a lot easier. Several awards are there for self-publishing books. Most will charge you an entry fee, but winning any of these competitions will set your product apart from the others. Some of the notable awards for kids’ books include Mom’s Choice Awards, the Golden Kite Award, Readers’ Favorite, and Royal Dragonfly Book Awards.
7. Get your Amazon page right
At present, Amazon is the largest book retailer, especially for self-publishers. Your Amazon page is just like a storefront where you can sell your book. Optimizing this page is essential to ensure that the interest of readers/browsers converts into a sale.
Optimize your author page, book description, Amazon keywords, and book images to ensure that the curiosity of the reader is ignited and encourages them to buy your book.
8. Advertise yourself by writing magazine articles/guest posts
Guest blogging means writing and publishing a post or article on someone else’s blog, website, or magazine. It is a wonderful and effective marketing strategy that directly targets the intended audience. It can be time-consuming; from finding the right magazines or blogs to approach, to spending time writing an insightful article. But, it works extremely well in promoting your brands and getting the word out.
9. Buy ads online
You can advertise your book online in different ways. You can make promo videos and upload them on different social media platforms. Facebook and Instagram are some popular choices. You can also pay relevant influencers to promote your book online. For example, you can hire a YouTube channel dedicated to books and writing to post reviews of your book. It will help bring your book in front of the target audience and build their confidence when they see someone they trust vouching for it.
10. Go on podcasts
Podcasts are extremely popular these days and are made on all kinds of topics. Several podcasts are dedicated to families and kids as well. Participate in a podcast dedicated to children as an interviewee or a guest speaker. You may have to reach out a couple of times before finding a spot, especially on popular podcasts. You can also send your book for reading on storytime podcasts.
11. Book speaking gigs
Another great opportunity for you to build trust with your target audience as well as earn some extra cash is speaking gigs. Figure out your niche, find venues and groups dedicated to that niche and offer to speak to the audience on a specific subject. If you are new to this arena, start with smaller speaking gigs to build trust with the audience and introduce your book.
Conclusion
There are several effective ways to market and promote your children’s book. However, it is important to focus on the methods that will provide you with the best results with a limited budget and in less time. Try out techniques that work the best for your target audience and fit well in your marketing plan.
