Heh, heh See how I put Author Promotions in the title of this post? I told you I’m going to try to move my site up for those key words. Because I want children’s book authors who are looking to promote their books to be able to find me. Why? Because I think the tours work. I think everyone wins when we run a tour.
I think the author wins
Jimmy’s Stars hit Technorati’s “most popular book page” on the first day of the tour. It was in the seventh slot. The second day it moved to the fifth slot. By day three, Jimmy’s Stars was in first, My Best Friend was in eighth, Yankee Girl was number twenty, and First Grade Stinks was twenty-one. Here’s a screen shot of day three. Click to make it larger. Today the tour is over and Jimmy’s Stars is still sitting second on the list.
What does that matter? Who knows? We have no way of knowing if landing on Technorati’s page will increase sales. What we do know is that it makes the book visible to thousands of people. It’s like a newspaper ad. Bloggers who are clicking over to Technorati to see who’s blogging about what, see that cover shot on that page and the next time they’re in the book store looking for a book to buy their niece or their daughter, they may see Mary Ann’s book and think, “Oh, yeah, that’s the book all those bloggers were talking about.” And they may pick it up.
Even more important, is this: All of your readers, which works out to several hundred people from all over the US, have heard about an author they may never have heard of before. They have done more than read an ad. They’ve heard you talk about the author’s book for several days. They’ve heard the author speak for herself. They’ve learned things about the book and author that you don’t get in newspaper ads. They’ve gotten a feel for whether they’ll like this author and whether they want to pick up her other books. This is what good marketing is all about. This is akin to the hand-selling that book reps are always wanting booksellers to do. It’s cyber hand-selling and I’m convinced it works.
I’m convinced simply because it works in my own life. I bought The Adoration of Jenna Fox last week. Why? Because several bloggers I know read it, reviewed it, and recommended it. I would have never, ever have bought this book otherwise. I can guarantee it. I don’t care for the cover and the premise doesn’t interest me. But bloggers I trust hand-sold it to me.
I don’t think I’m all that different from others. Younger people than I, are even more comfortable with using the Internet as a social gathering place and a giant store, wrapped up in one. They meet their friends and buy their goods online. Will they buy Jimmy’s Stars? I think some will. I think others will buy Mary Ann’s picture books for their kids. I think we’ve hand-sold an author here, not just a book.
And this is how it should be because this author does good work and she deserves some exposure. One of the reasons I like the book tour is that I get to do a little bit to change the face of children’s publishing. I get to have my say. I get to cast my vote for the kinds of books I love.
Ah, but I’m getting carried away and heading into tomorrow’s post early: Tomorrow a look at what the bloggers won.
5 responses so far ↓
1 mary ann // Aug 21, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Let’s hear it for blog tours! And a big hand to Sally for letting me inaugurate this one. I don’t know how this affects book sales, but as Sally said, people will at least have HEARD of the book. I will tell you right now that unless you are already a big name author (or a new author in whom the publisher has invested a boatload of advance money) the publisher will do little if anything to promote your book, other than send ARC copies to the review sources. Sometimes I feel like one of those old time patent medicine guys who hawked their wares from a wagon…I always have a case of books in the back of my Jeep for those impulse sales where somebody says “Gee, I’d love to read your book, but (fill in the name of the chain bookstore) doesn’t carry it.” I am a shameless promoter, but I can’t do it all myself. I spent the entire summer mailing 3000 (that’s right 3000) promotional postcards for JIMMY, at my own expense, to every school or library I’ve ever visited, plus schools that had nominated YANKEE GIRL for a state book award. This is how I spent my summer vacation instead of finishing my tornado book.
So, hooray for Sally and the rest of you wonderful bloggers. I think I had as much fun with my own book as you did. I was fascinated to see what you found in my book and how you felt about different characters and story lines. And the recipe and play list posts were just brilliant!
I had a blast with you guys…and hope we can all get together again sometime.
One last word…I guess I didn’t make it really clear in my original post to Sally, but FIRST GRADE STINKS has been in hardcover since 2006 (Peachtree). The PAPERBACK version, which was slated for mid September, is already in the stores (and amazon.)
Shameless promotion time: SURPRISE SOUP (ill by G. Brian Karas) is a new twist on the new sibling story.(Viking April 16, 2009) A TREE FOR EMMY (ill name escapes me at the moment but her style reminds me a lot of Mary Engelbreit and Jan Brett) is about patience versus immediate gratification. (Peachtree, March 2009)
I am reworking my website, and it should be up and running next month, so drop in and say “Hey, y’all” as we do in Atlanta.
Best to you all, and God bless you.
2 sally apokedak // Aug 21, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Oopsy. I’m sorry for messing up the info on First Grade Stinks. I’m sure you did make that clear, actually. When I was looking up the links on your books I took Amazon’s pub date and on the First Grade Stinks page I was at, it gives a pub date of Sept. 2008.
So sorry. That was sloppy on my part.
And I made some other mistakes, too.
Thanks for generously overlooking all that and telling us you still had a good time on the tour.
And thanks, too, for taking the time to answer all those interview questions! And for sending the books out in the first place. That was costly in terms of time and money and I’m glad you feel you got your money’s worth. I think we bloggers sure did. Jimmy’s Stars was a treat to tour.
3 Rebecca LuElla Miller // Aug 21, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I’m with Mary Ann–a hugely successful tour. Thanks for all the time and hard work from your end, Sally.
This tour fills a big need.
Becky
4 Marie DeVries // Aug 21, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I had so much fun on this tour. It is good to know that we /can/ make a difference, at least in the literary world.
Thanks for all the fun, Sally and Mary!!
5 sally apokedak // Aug 26, 2008 at 10:38 am
Thank you, Rebecca and Marie, for taking part in the tour. I know it’s a lot of work. I’m glad you also found it to be a lot of fun.