Don't Ignore YouTube Just Because You're Not 8 to 16

So the other day on my Facebook business page, I posted this meme:

Parents and grandparents of elementary school kids should be nodding (and laughing, come on--it's funny) along with this hysterical meme from Debi Downer on Facebook (which you should follow by clicking that link because she is super funny!) because you understand the YouTube craze like no other, I'm sure. My daughter who is 8 sometimes watches YouTube on our Smart TV instead of Netflix or Hulu--instead of Disney! (gasp) And she watches people play video games or do slime challenges or play "games" where the kids switch clothes with each other. She wants to talk about slime and create her own challenges all the time, and I will admit that I'm often not tuned into the conversation because I just don't understand. 

But this "blasted" YouTube is where kids are. This is where teens are. This is even where adults are--finding TED talks, how to change their oil, or how to make themselves look better through Photoshop. Recently, when I taught the School Visits and Author Talks class for WOW! (next one is in October!), even I used YouTube videos as part of my material. Authors are making videos of their presentations online, so that interested schools can view them and see what the authors' speaking styles are like. And I used these videos as examples for WOW! students on how to create engaging and interactive presentations for kids. 

Recently, I was listening to the Jen Hatmaker podcast and her guest was HEAVEN TAYLOR-WYNN from MediaWise, a media literacy project that aims to teach 1 million teens how to sort fact from fiction online by 2020. (This really does have to do with videos and YouTube, just bear with me...). During the interview, the following exchange took place:

Jen Hatmaker: One thing I know as a mom of five teens and just post-teens is that... they are inhaling videos. That is absolutely how my kids are getting their information. Is this what you're seeing?

Heaven: Yeah, well like you just said, it's hard for not just teens but for adults as well—it's so much content, so much information coming at us all the time. But some new research just came out recently from Common Sense Media, and they concur with what you're finding. Teens are getting most of their information from social media and from YouTube. 

So, in the class I just taught, I suggested to WOW! students that making a YouTube video of yourself presenting or speaking or even reading your books is a great idea. If you're a young adult author, you should be making videos and posting them to Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Twitter. (Teens are not on Facebook. Facebook is for us old people.)

Look, I am giving this advice, and this is how many videos I have made: 0.

But V-I-D-E-O is written up on my dream/goal board now, and I know it's something that Angela and I have talked about for social media: Instagram stories and FacebookLive and more. So many videos and information are free out there; and if you want people to pay for your books or your speaking or your class, then you're probably going to need to give them a taste of what you're like because you can be sure that some other author is doing that already.

I'll be honest--this video craze scares me--I'll have to shower and put on makeup!  But we've all heard the quote from Dune about fear being a mindkiller, so join with me and let's try to make some videos and further our careers.

The YouTube addict is pictured above...:) 

The next School Visits and Author Talks for Children’s and YA Writers and Illustrators starts on October 16 and ends before Thanksgiving and the crazy holiday season. If you are a children's or YA author, giving these talks is a must for your marketing plan. Sign up here. Find out more about Margo on her site.

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6 comments children's authors, making a video, marketing, school visits, social media, YA authors, youtube

Where To Do Author Visits for Children's and YA Writers

Me at the Bella Arts Festival

If you're a children's or young adult writer, you probably (and should!) have school visits as part of your marketing plan. And yes, you should expect to get paid for these visits and sell books at them. There are so many factors to consider with each of these elements: a) doing school visits b) getting paid c) selling books that I could write an entire book on the topic (which I have thought about doing!); but let's tackle a small portion of this today: where to do an author visit. 

Personally, I have done an author visit with children or teens, as my main audience (as opposed to teachers, parents, other writers), in these places:

• Elementary schools
• Junior high schools
• Gifted classrooms
• Summer camps
• After-school programs
• Boys and Girls Club programs
• Reading nights
• Libraries

Many people think of an author visit only as the author going to a school, speaking in front of an auditorium full of kids, and then selling books afterwards. But there are many more opportunities to get yourself in front of your target audience than school assemblies, as you can see from my list above. 

Let's take a closer look at a couple of those. One time a small library in Rolla, MO, with a smaller budget booked me for a Skype author talk for teens about writing. They had a few interested teens who had some questions about being an author and the writing process, and I had a young adult book I was marketing. So, we did a Skype visit since they didn't have a budget to pay mileage, etc. The teens sat in a room together at the library, and I appeared on the screen (hopefully my head wasn't too big on the TV!) and we had a discussion. I was nervous! I wasn't sure how it would go, but it worked out fine. So libraries are a place for collaboration; and sometimes, these places have budgets for author presentations--even the virtual kind. 

The Boys and Girls Club program was an unsual speaking event, but so much fun; and it happened because I had a friend who worked there. After school, the Club had a program for kids to attend; and that day, I was their entertainment. I talked to the kids about my middle-grade historical fiction book and did my usual presentation. In this case, I received a small stipend to speak; but better yet, the club bought several books for their library and for kids to check out from them.

Think outside the box. Sometimes, it's hard to get into the schools for an assembly, and sometimes budgets and time are limited. But most schools have reading nights, summer school, and after-school programs that may need a speaker; and they can work out some kind of payment for you by buying  your books. Besides schools, you will find audiences of kids at Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, summer camps, libraries, homeschool networks, and churches. These places are often looking for programs! You can be the answer to their problems.

This post may make you have a million more questions--I'm sorry! Some that may pop up are: how do I contact these places? How do I know what program to do? What is a fair agreement? How do I sell my books to kids when they are at school without any money? We'll be tacking these quesitons and more in the new class I'm teaching for WOW!--School Visits and Author Talks for Children's and YA Writers and Illustrators, which starts on August 6. You can find out more and register here. 

Margo L. Dill has given hundreds of presentations in front of audiences full of children, teens, and adults. She is skilled at changing up her presentations to fit whichever audience she is in front of whether it is a gym full of 500 kids, a classroom full of 20 eighth graders, or a room full of busy teachers during a half-professional development day. A former elementary school and preschool teacher for sixteen years, Margo believes that every school visit and author talk is a chance to help teachers instruct children and teens and create a positive experience for everyone involved. She is the author of Caught Between Two Curses, a YA light paranormal romance novel involving the Curse of the Billy Goat on the Chicago Cubs; Maggie Mae, Detective Extraordinaire: The Case of the Missing Cookies (picture book); and Finding My Place: One Girl’s Strength at Vicksburg, a historical fiction, middle-grade novel. You can find out more about her on www.margoldill.com or www.editor-911.com. When she is not writing or editing, Margo loves to spend time with her daughter. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri; and if she could eat out every day, she would!

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2 comments author talks, children's writers, Margo L. Dill, marketing, school visits, young adult writers

The Number One Thing You Need in Your Author Talk

School is almost out for summer! If you live in the United States, you probably have anywhere from one week to one month left of the school year. (If you live other places, I’m not sure how much school time you have left. Let us know in the comments.) But, I digress. I’m writing about school getting out because this post is about writers who are also teachers or writers who are also parents with kids coming home for the summer or anyone who loves the long hours of daylight in the summer and gets a lot of writing done! (Plus, I just attended my stepson’s graduation from high school on Friday, and I wanted a chance to share this photo with you of him and my cute daughter, his sister. I’m super proud of them both.)

 Some of you who are teachers and writers under the same hat use summer to catch up on your writing that might have taken a backseat during the school year. I know when I was teaching in an elementary school, I also used the summer to attend workshops and go to writing conferences. For those of you who are children’s writers or young adult authors, you may also be taking time to create new school visit workshops. Part of being a children’s or young adult writer  is finding opportunities to get in front of those audiences, and this is often done at schools. (By the way, you could also do it at Bible schools and summer camps, depending on where you live and what your book is about. I have done all of these places.)

 I know it’s not always the easiest speaking event—a gym full of zK to 2nd grade students, for example. So I will tell you what I believe to be the number one element you need to have in your workshop. Really, this could be for any writer who has to give any workshop or presentation. But I think it is especially true if your audience is 18 or under.

That number one element is… Connection. That’s right, connection. Connection is what every presentation that you give to kids needs to have. The problem is that it’s not easy to connect with kids who are not the same age as you, who may not have the same interests as you, who may be attending your workshop because they are being forced to by their teacher, or who may have never heard of you or your books when you step in to their school. But it will be completely worth it if you figure out some way to connect with your audience and to make yourself relatable to them before you share your message—whether it’s about your books, your writing career, or your illustrations.

Here are three ways that children’s or young adult authors can look for ways to connect with their under 18 audiences:

1. Start your presentation with a personal story from your life when you were a kid. Make yourself vulnerable. You can use humor. You can be serious. But find a universal story about your childhood or your teenage years that will let your audience know that you can understand some of the issues they may be facing as a young person.

2.  Get to know your audience before you start selling to them. Even though you will not be hard selling at a school visit, you are realistically still trying to get these kids to like and read your books. Before you do this, have an activity where you are asking questions to find out about your audience. For example, you can ask kids to stand up if they like a certain baseball team. You can ask kids to raise their hand if their birthday is in the summer. You can ask kids to raise their hand and tell you there favorite foods. You will have to revise this activity, depending on if you are talking to a classroom of kids or a gym full of kids. But you will know plenty in advance before you get to the school. And if you are a teacher, then you will know what kinds of activities relate to many of these kids already because you are around kids every single day.

3. Just be real! It’s not as easy as it sounds. But kids can spot someone who is not sincere and genuine 100 miles away. So don’t try to be funny if you are not actually funny. Don’t try to be hip. Just be yourself—whatever that is. You have a message to bring to these kids. You wrote a book for them. Now you are there; and in order to connect with them, just be yourself.

If you are a children’s or young adult writer, and you have a tip for school visits, let us know in the comments below. If you give a lot of author talks to all ages of audiences and you have some tips, let us know below. Or if you are a teacher looking forward to getting out this summer to do some extra writing, let us know that, too.

Margo L. Dill is teaching a new class for WOW! titled School Visits and Author Talks for Children’s and YA Authors:  http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/classroom/MargoDill_AuthorTalks.php , and it starts on August 6! Check it out at the link!

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2 comments author talks, children writers, Margo L. Dill, school visits, YA authors

Authors and Teachers Coming Together

Recently I was helping to organize a family reading festival. Children’s authors who had participated in the past had an unusual (I

thought) comment. Throughout the whole day not one teacher had approached them about a school visit. Many teachers attend the festival, some schools even have their own table with literary-themed activities for students.

As many children’s authors will tell you, live events such as school visits are one of the best ways to connect with readers. So why aren’t young readers and authors connecting in this way? With the help of comments from both teachers and authors I’ve come up with a few tips.

1. Information – It turns out only 25% of the authors involved in our festival had information about school visits on their websites – even though almost all of them were open to school visits of some type (some had restrictions on distance traveled, etc.). So get that information into cyber-space! And if you’re participating in something like a reading festival it doesn’t hurt to have a flyer with the information that teachers and other interested people (homeschoolers, librarians, etc) can pick up off your table or you can hand out to teachers so you can book that next event.

2. Money – Teachers’ budgets have been slashed from next to nothing to nothing. But if a school is in your area why not consider an abbreviated form of your visit that focuses on the school with a goal of pre-selling a certain number of your book as opposed to collecting a speaker’s fee? Point out that they don’t have to sell just to their school community but can also sell to the community at large. Other things such as visiting two nearby schools in one day or scheduling a visit when you’ll already be in the area can allow you to take a portion off your fee and still make the day worth your while.

3. Plan an Event – Yes, it seem overwhelming but with the help of a few other authors it can be manageable. Because after all, children (and parents) are more likely to come out for an event where they can meet 10 authors as opposed to just one. So befriend the other authors in your area and find a spot – a library, shopping mall, school, Y and find out if they’re willing to host an event or allow you to “piggyback” off an event they’re already planning.

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5 comments children's authors, publicity, school visits

A Proactive Approach to Promoting Your Writing

You may have just written the next greatest novel in the world, but if no one has ever heard about it, no one will ever read it.

It is a common misconception that once your book is written and published it’s all downhill from there. This is hardly ever true. In fact, for most writers, this is where the hardest work begins. You, as a writer, love to write, feel comfortable spending many hours alone behind your computer. But after completing that novel, it’s time to take a step away from your desk and show your smiling face to the public.

Book Signings

Book signings are a great way to get your name and your book out into the public. Unless you are already well-known and have customers and fans lining up to buy your book, it’s unlikely that a book signing will generate a lot of money. Money, however, is not the sole purpose of a book signing. Signings are a cheap and easy way to promote yourself and your book. They most often happen at bookstores, but could be hosted by many other venues.

School Visits

If your books are appropriate for school age children, consider speaking in schools, running workshops for students, or just asking a school to host a book signing. This is another great way to promote yourself and your book. You can begin by volunteering to speak to students at your alma mater. If this visit is successful, your name will travel by word-of-mouth to other educators and school districts and you will soon have several visits under your belt.

Library visits, for schools or public libraries, are another useful option.

If your book is not appropriate for school-age children, you could contact your college or local colleges about setting up an event or book signing.

Community Forums

Other places to consider speaking are local community groups such as Rotary. Also consider audiences specific to your book. For example, did you write about book about giraffes? Perhaps you could speak or sign at a local zoo. Write a book about a boy who loves baseball? You could contact the president of your local little league association about hosting an event for the little leaguers.

Highlights Foundation hosts a workshop entitled Life in the Spotlight: Author Opportunities after Publication, which “introduces the participants to publicity techniques and the fine points needed to create fruitful relationships with the media, but it offers instruction, practice, and a real-life school experience for each enrollee in the development of public speaking and presentation skills.” Having extra guidance in a workshop like this one as well as the support of other published writers goes a long way.

You are a writer, you are creative. Put some of your creative energy into motion by setting up events to promote yourself and your book.

How have you creatively promoted your writing?

by: Anne Greenawalt (http://www.annegreenawalt.com/)

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