The odd and the beautiful are photos taken from the streets of New York City, my commute, or from my travels. Sometimes humorous, often times unusual, they offer a taste of life in the big city.
A Tip for Surviving School Visits
Anastasia Suen, author of Toddler Two and Baby Born, visits schools frequently. Here’s one of her tips for surviving a school appearance—based on long experience!
This Week in Diversity: What We Can Do
We’re starting this week with author Mitali Perkins, who has some great suggestions on selling diverse children’s books. It’s mostly aimed at booksellers, but it has a lot that’s of interest to everyone, like its reminder about the many children on US military bases abroad. It’s also a great reminder that if one thing doesn’t work, try something new—for one store, it works best to have displays tied to heritage months; for another, it works best to spread the books throughout the store. That’s true of readers, too: what works best for one may not work for another, so find something new and try again.
Judging a Reader by her Book Covers
Over at The New Yorker, Susan Orlean has a blog post on snooping in other people’s homes. She’s renting a house—usually occupied by its owner—for a vacation, and has been looking at the bookshelves to figure out who this person is. Her deduction: “A Jewish doctor who travels and buys the thrillers for diversion during flights, even though he was really and truly planning to use the time to read something serious, like the Beethoven biography that sits on a prominent shelf, untouched.”
A sky full of stars!
It’s an exciting day in the office—we just got news of Yummy‘s third starred review! The major review journals give stars to books they consider truly exceptional, above and beyond typical standard for books—and multiple stars show a consensus on the greatness of the book. Three is pretty special!
This Week in Diversity: In Between
Greetings on this fine Friday! We have a couple links for you this week, dealing with interactions and being between cultures or peoples.
First, the Times has a look at Anglo-Indian culture: a relic of colonialist times, composed of people of (usually partly) European origins living in India, blending Indian and British cultures while being part of neither. Anglo-Indians occupied a middle position in the racial hierarchy of colonial India, seen as inferior to people of entirely English descent and upbringing, but superior to the native Indians.
Radio Thursday: Yes, He’s Mine
We’re taking a break from Thursday videos this week, and listening to the radio instead! NPR’s Tell Me More has a great segment in which several mothers of multiracial children share their personal experiences being asked if those are their kids, or if they’re the nanny or babysitter. It’s a great piece, so check it out:
How to Plan a Successful Book Signing – Part 3
We’ve been asking our authors and illustrators for their tips for book signings – Part 1 included advice from Lulu Delacre, Joseph Bruchac, and Lee Bennett Hopkins. Part 2 featured tips from Tony Medina, W. Nikola-Lisa, and Anastasia Suen. More helpful advice below from those with considerable experience on the road for those who are just getting started.
Authors and illustrators are required to wear many hats if they want to be successful in the book business. Not only must they be the driving force behind the creation of their book, they also have to act as the book’s biggest cheerleader. Some may not be comfortable donning the marketing/publicity hat, but skills in this area can be developed over time. One question you should ask yourself is: Who else knows my book better than me? After all, your book is a project that has taken you months, even years sometimes, so isn’t it worth the effort to sing its praises from the highest rooftops?
What follows is a collection of tips from some of our authors and illustrators on how to make an impression when talking about your book during a signing, spreading enthusiasm, and selling books.
Open Invitation: If you are an author or illustrator and would like to contribute your own tips, please leave a comment below. Everyone benefits from passing the hat and sharing.
Christine Taylor-Butler (author, Sacred Mountain: Everest) I find marketing to be harder than writing the actual book. Somehow the fear of rejection seems much more acute after publishing a book than before it. But I don’t want my books to get lost among the thousands of others being released that year. So here’s one tip that will help you build name recognition:
This Week in Diversity: History
Just a couple links for you on this fine August Friday!
Colorlines reminds us that the 45th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and they present some amazing photos of courage and determination from the Selma to Montgomery Right to Vote March.
Video Thursday: A Book’s Life
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