The idea for marketing a book is pretty simple: find out who likes your book, discover where they live, grab their attention to influence them to make a purchase. When it comes to children’s books, there is only one difference that makes it a little difficult.
When marketing children’s books, your audience is not the children but the adults who are buying it for them. It may be parents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and more. Once you understand what the children want, you’d be able to produce a killer story that can resonate with the audience. You must understand:
- They have one simple desire: to get a book which their child loves.
- Children require books according to their age group.
- Once they find an author they like, they’d buy every book you sell.
- It is easy to find where parents and teachers are online.
In this post, we are going to discuss the four key strategies to market children’s books.
Contents
1. Create your personal brand
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell” ~ Seth Godin
The first step to great marketing is the way you portray yourself. Being an author, you are your own brand. With that said, a well-drafted author profile is an essential step you need to take to establish your authority in the writers’ world. Not just that, it allows your potential readers to understand you as a writer and builds trust.
Always remember, your author’s profile is not only limited to your profile, but it is also displayed at places such as your Amazon Page, the back cover of your book, and your profile.
When writing your profile, remember that you are a children’s books author. You can be a little playful with it. You can write it in the third person to connect with your potential readers and let your personality do the magic. Not just that, you can also create different versions of the profile to use in different places.
Blogs, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, are all the best platforms to reach out to potential customers. These days, the parents rely on the internet for recommendations and shopping. With a positive comment on the platforms, they are likely to be concerned about your book.
If you are the author of a picture book about Hula Bears Island or fire trucks, you can join or create a group of people who loves it. Among them, some people are going to have kids who would love to read the book.
Share your book’s pictures on Instagram and use relevant hashtags to get the audience clicking on it.
3. Get your book into the libraries.
Libraries give the writers a huge opportunity to get picked. Most people do not buy books for the kids; they simply borrow it from the local library. Furthermore, if those parents like your book, there is a chance that they’ll read anything that you write. Seasoned book publicity services can help ones best for marketing ones books.
However, getting your book into the library can be difficult. You need to convince the librarians to order the book. In order to make it happen, you must make sure of these three things:
- Ensure that the book has positive reviews
- Make it available through wholesalers
- Introduce yourself to the local librarians
The last step may be a little daunting, but plenty of libraries host storytelling hours with authors, which can give you the opportunity to get the word about your book.
4. Plan a school visit
There are many schools that set aside a budget for paid visits for authors. You can become one of them when you’re marketing your children’s books.
The key to getting it done is to be organized and have a plan in place before contacting any schools. Tell them the age range and send over a link to them, so they have the information to make a decision about your visit.
Once the schools agree on your visit, send them a summary of your planned visit. Not just that, you can also secure sales with the real target audience, i.e., the parents, if it is suitable, and the schools send slips home for purchasing a signed copy of the book.
5. Get your amazon page right
Amazon is one of the biggest retailers for self-publishing authors. Since we live in the digital age, your amazon page is equal to the storefront. Make sure that your Amazon page is optimized according to the potential readers to attract their attention. To do it right, consider revising your author page, your book’s description, and the Amazon Keyword. Don’t just use this as an opportunity to brand yourself, but as a chance to attract more people to purchase your book.
