7 Ways To Market Books For Children

There are successful self-publishers in every niche, but authors of children’s books face more challenges than most – both on the publishing and marketing side. When I heard that Karen Inglis was releasing How To Self-Publish and Market A Children’s Book I invited her along to talk about the particular problems that self-publishers of children’s books face, as well as strategies for overcoming them. Here’s Karen with more:

When I discovered self-publishing back in 2010 it was, as for many, a dream come true after the familiar cycle of sending out manuscripts only to get a rejection six or seven weeks later. At last I would be able to get my children’s stories out and take the world by storm!

Except, of course, it doesn’t work like that…

As we all know, books don’t sell themselves and Amazon and the other platforms (not to mention bricks and mortar bookshops) won’t sell our books without our help. Of course, a great story, great cover, compelling blurb, appropriate metadata and category selection are all critical to get us off to the right start. However, to introduce and sell your title to your target market – and, crucially, keep it in their line of sight – you also need a robust marketing plan that includes a mix of social media, advertising, email marketing, traditional PR, and (for some more than others) live events.

For authors who just want to be writers, this is a tall order at the best of times. And, for children’s authors, it’s even taller…

Why? Because our readers are not book buyers. Oh and they’re not (supposed to be) online.

And we certainly can’t email them without gaining all sorts of permissions from an adult. (I have no problem with this by the way – but it’s important to know.) To boot, if under 13s are stalking us on Facebook or Instagram or Wattpad, which some will do, they certainly don’t hold the credit card that will facilitate the odd impulse purchase!

One more thing to note is that most children under age 12 read in print, which makes ‘ebook impulse purchases’ (somehow easier to commit to than for print) of children’s books few and far between. Add in the fact that most parents buy based on children’s nagging or other parents’ or school recommendations, then you see that the odds are stacked quite heavily against unknown authors marketing their children’s books, especially online…

Is all of this this the end of the world? No. Does it make marketing children’s book harder than marketing books for teens and adults? Yes – but it doesn’t make it impossible; you simply need to do a few things differently.

Below I share seven key marketing tips for children’s authors most of which I have tried and tested and most of which have worked well for me. The last is still a work-in-progress and on my list to get back to. Such is the life of a busy indie author!

If you write for children, or are considering doing so, I hope you’ll find these tips of use. They are just the tip of the iceberg, by the way – space is limited.

As for all authors this is a long-term game. There’s just more physical effort and thinking outside the box when it comes to selling children’s books.

read more: https://davidgaughran.com/2018/11/01/marketing-kids-books-children-author-guide/