Affiliate Disclosure:<\/strong> This post contains Amazon Associate links, which means if you click on them and make a purchase, I will receive a couple of pennies (at no extra charge to you). <\/em><\/p>\n I first connected with incredibly successful children’s book author Kim Norman<\/a> a few years ago when I reviewed her popular self-published book, Sell Books and Get Paid Doing Author School Visits<\/em><\/a>, here. It\u2019s a must-read for all children\u2019s book authors.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t usually connect with the authors of books I review on the blog \u2013 not even briefly. Most don\u2019t even know I\u2019ve reviewed their book.<\/p>\n I\u2019m glad this one was different, though. Kim has become a friend \u2013 and a very, very fun one at that.<\/p>\n I asked Kim to share insights about writing and marketing children\u2019s books today. Here\u2019s what you need to know about her first.<\/p>\n Kim Norman<\/a> is the author of more than 20 children\u2019s books, already or soon to be in print, published by Sterling; Scholastic; Penguin\/Random House; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Candlewick; and Abrams.<\/p>\n Titles include I Know a Wee Piggy<\/a> Her most enduring title is her best-selling Ten on the Sled<\/a> Calling herself a \u201cbedtime reading evangelist,\u201d Kim has been invited to countless schools around the US to talk to students about her favorite thing: books! (And be sure to read my review of her book on author school visits here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n I’m thrilled by how generous Kim was with what she’s learned as a popular children’s book author. Pour a cup of coffee or tea and settle in to learn.<\/p>\n When I talk to kids in schools, I always tell them that the very first<\/em> thing you need to be a writer is … (wait for it!) \u2026 PATIENCE! (\u201cWait for it.\u201d Get it?)<\/p>\n I\u2019m in a large FB group of those who self-publish children\u2019s books, many of which are lovely books, but all too often I see a new member pop in and say, \u201cI\u2019ve just finished writing my first children\u2019s book. Any advice on how to publish it?\u201d I never say it, but I always want to say, \u201cOkay, first: tear it up and write another one. And another and another.\u201d<\/p>\n Since I\u2019m primarily a picture book author, I\u2019ll mostly talk about them in this interview.<\/p>\n There\u2019s so much about a picture book that\u2019s not obvious to the casual reader: pacing, word choice, characterization, story arc, tension (even in a story about a child learning to tie a shoe, there needs to be at least a little tension), on and on. This includes remembering to leave space for the illustrator to tell part of the story by not describing things that can be shown in the pictures.<\/p>\n [novashare_tweet tweet=”We\u2019re no more ready to publish the first draft of our children\u2019s book than we are to play concert piano as soon as we learn \u201cChop Sticks.\u201d” hide_hashtags=”true”]<\/p>\n I love the variety. My stories are short, so I don\u2019t need to spend a year on them, although as I mentioned above, I do revise many times, so it\u2019s not one-and-done. I also like that it allows me to pursue things I think are interesting.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a closet science geek, so I love the research that can go into even a fictional manuscript about arctic animals on the sled.<\/p>\n Here are the first two things I suggest to those who want to become a children\u2019s book author:<\/p>\n It may be a great story for a magazine where there are only one or two pictures for the whole story, but it\u2019s not a picture book manuscript because you\u2019ve taken over some of the illustrators\u2019 job.<\/p>\n Look even more closely at the typed text. Count the words of the whole story. Current picture books tend to be much shorter than when we were little. Now count how many words per sentence. Compare the length of the sentences at the beginning of the story to those at the end.<\/p>\n For pacing the story, you may find that sentences in the midst of the action are very short whereas, nearing the end, the sentences may be longer. This helps slow the pacing like a train pulling into the station.<\/p>\n I suggest a musical friend because they\u2019re more likely to have a strong sense of rhythm. Usually, the biggest problem isn\u2019t the rhyme, it\u2019s the meter. So plan to work even harder on a rhyming manuscript, with many, many, many revisions.<\/p>\n Never settle for the first or even second draft.<\/p>\n [novashare_tweet tweet=”Never settle for the first or even second draft.” hide_hashtags=”true”]<\/p>\n I\u2019m embarrassed to say I can get very lazy about this. And that\u2019s not because I\u2019m spoiled by having publishers who send me on tours. I\u2019m at 20-plus books now with never a tour in sight.<\/p>\n But I learned the hard way, from my first book, that there\u2019s not a lot an author can do to hugely affect sales for nationally published books. I worked my fanny off for my first book, sending out press releases, even getting my own and several critique partners\u2019 books featured in a huge NY newspaper with something like a million readers. But it really didn\u2019t do much for sales.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s partly because my books are traditionally published. So unless it helped sell thousands of books, it\u2019s not going to impress my publisher.<\/p>\n But since the two publishing models are so different, a street fair or newspaper article will do her more good than it will me since, again, she makes much higher royalties when she sells a book.<\/p>\n Which makes it sound like I must be crazy to slog through the process of traditional publishing since it\u2019s slooooooow and I usually receive only 5% of the royalties (having split the average 10% with the illustrator.) But thanks to my publishers\u2019 much wider distribution, I\u2019m getting 5% on thousands of books, as opposed to my neighbor\u2019s higher royalty on, perhaps, hundreds, and having worked a LOT harder to bring the book to print.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s just a different model with pros and cons for each.<\/strong> I once had a book go into its third printing even before it was released. I can\u2019t take credit for that, other than it being some of my best writing, if I may say so.<\/p>\n Mostly that was thanks to my publisher sending out review copies<\/strong>, catching the eye of lots of teachers and librarians who could see this would be a great title for their students. Plus, it had a nice Halloween hook, so it caught parents\u2019 eyes, too.<\/p>\n Publishers really do appreciate that I do them, because they do<\/em> sell books, and on top of that, I get paid for my time. In fact, that\u2019s what I titled the book I wrote on the subject: Sell Books and Get Paid Doing Author School Visits<\/em><\/a>. Embarrassingly mercenary title.<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s not all about the money, it\u2019s also about the kids, but I do want people to buy my author visit book, after all.<\/p>\n Oh gosh, I must be really bad at it, because I can think of more flops than successes! (That\u2019s why we all need you<\/em>, Sandra!)<\/p>\n I once\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>tried to run <\/span>an art contest through the local art center. They never gave out the coloring pages to a single kid! About a day or two before the awards were supposed to be presented, the youth director at my church\u2014 God bless her! \u2014<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0found a few dozen kids to participate.<\/p>\n Add to that, it was about 900 degrees the evening the awards were presented and the art center director didn\u2019t even let me know she was doing a presentation up the street related to something else. (Note to self: Never<\/em> work with her again!) So that\u2019s my biggest disaster memory.<\/p>\n What I learned was to not trust that a partner is going to follow through (and to not wait so long to check on it!), and also to not make things too complicated. If you\u2019re asking people to jump through hoops, they\u2019ll genuinely mean to do it, but then time will pass and you may have very few participants.<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re looking for participation from your audience, make it super easy. Put in the live links, write the tweet for them to copy and paste, etc.<\/p>\n Oh and giveaways seem to work well for engagement<\/strong>.<\/p>\nIntroducing children’s book author Kim Norman<\/h2>\n
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What are Kim’s secrets?<\/h2>\n
I think new parents and retired teachers share a common mission: To write a children’s book. I’ve never done it, but I know it’s a lot harder than it looks. What’s the hardest part of writing a children’s book?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>I never do<\/em> say that because it sounds mean, but honestly, we\u2019re no more ready to publish the first draft of our children\u2019s book than we are to play concert piano as soon as we learn \u201cChop Sticks.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat do you like most about being a children’s book author? <\/strong><\/h3>\n
What “how to get started” advice can you offer those who want to become a children’s book author?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>I mentioned two, but a third important point is if you plan to write in rhyme, get lots and lots of beta readers<\/strong>. If you know anyone who is musically inclined,\u00a0\u00a0ask them to read the manuscript aloud to you (cold read, no practicing!) so you can hear where they stumble on the rhythm.<\/p>\nWhen it comes to book promotion, what are the one or two tactics you can count on that will help build awareness and sales?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>On the other hand<\/strong><\/em>, I think an article like that could make a big difference for a self-published author who makes higher royalties and can make sure there are local events mentioned in the article. My neighbor self-publishes and does a much better job than I do getting the word out.<\/p>\n![\"children's](\"https:\/\/buildbookbuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Sell-books-and-get-paid-doing-author-school-visits-188x300.png\")
<\/a>So here\u2019s something I do that works (at least when there\u2019s not a pandemic on): author visits.<\/p>\nWhat have you tried for book promotion that was a complete flop?<\/strong><\/h3>\n