For many
authors getting inside schools feels as difficult as finding an agent or
publisher. But according to Alan Gratz, an award-winning North Carolina author,
it is not only possible, but it’s a great way to build buzz and sell your book.
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| Alan Gratz at Hillcrest Middle School Greenville, SC 2015 |
One of
the best ways to get started is to hook up with a local bookstore: either an
Indie, Barnes and Noble, or Books-a-Million. “Let them know you are
interested in going to schools. They usually have relationships with the media
specialists and often will create a flier with prices, which can be sent home with
students in advance of a visit,” Alan says. But be forewarned: schools that
book author visits through a bookstore don’t expect to pay an honorarium to the
author. They get an author visit for free in return for the bookstore getting
to sell books. Authors can’t afford to do visits like these all the time,
financially speaking, but they’re a great way to get that foot in the door and
to get experience before booking paid visits.
“At each
school visit make sure you ask for the names of other area librarians who might
be interested in hosting you and leave extra school visit brochures for all the
librarians’ friends. Ask them to help spread the word that you’re interested in
visiting more schools.”
In
addition, contact your state’s Association of School Librarians and ask if you
can appear at their next annual conference. Each state hosts its own
conference, usually in the fall or the spring, and most like to invite regional
authors, either to present talks or to just sign and sell books. Once you’re
invited, bring school visit fliers and hand them out to everyone you meet. Local
arts councils also frequently sponsor teaching artists such as writers in the
schools.
When Alan
arrives at a school, the bookseller either comes with him or has already
delivered the pre-sold books. Gratz usually signs pre-ordered books at the
school, and invites students who didn’t pre-order a book to join him right
after school at the local bookstore, where he has arranged to meet and greet
visitors for an hour or two. “I get book sales, the bookstore makes money, and
sometimes they even give the schools a cut, or a discount. Everyone's happy!
And I didn't have to haul boxes of books and a bag of cash with me.”
When he first
started doing school visits in 2006 after his first book, Samurai Shortstop was published, Alan’s honorarium was $500 a day.
It quickly went up to $1,000, and as word spread among librarians he was doing
upwards of 20 school visits a year. Then the economy took a nosedive. “The
money for school visits dried up when the economy tanked, but now that things
are recovering, schools seem to have money again.” He’s back to scheduling about
twenty school visits a year and his rates are between $1200-$1500 a day.
Alan
admits that the key to his success is giving kids a presentation that tells
them why his books are FUN TO READ. “Talk about you--who you are, and why you
wrote this book. Put some stuff in there about how you write--your process,
your experience getting published. But also put in there pictures of your dogs,
or your office, or you as a kid, etc. Make it personal. And make it about you
and your book.”
What happens
after a school visit is equally as important as the visit itself. “When I'm at
a school, kids get excited about my books. Then they go home and are excited
about them, and sometimes their parents buy them. I see spikes in sales (after
the fact) far in excess of the totals the bookstore in town reported, because
kids will go home and buy things online, or at other shops. The books circulate
in the libraries too, which means there's word of mouth. Writing middle grade,
especially, that's the best way to get the word out about a book--through the
kids themselves.”
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Alan
Gratz’s most recent book is Code of Honor, a YA thriller. He won the 2015 SIBA award for the first book in the The League of Seven trilogy.
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| Alan performing a reading at Malaprop's First Storytime Day, May 2014 |
