HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR VISIT: PART TWO

Last week I talked about what schools can do to help support authors wanting to visit their students. If you missed it, you can check out my post here. This week I'll talk about what YOU can do as an author to make sure you get invited back to the schools of your choosing.

There are two parts to this post. First, what you need to bring on an author's visit and second, things to keep in mind when you are interacting with a younger audience.

AUTHOR CHECK LIST

1) Copies of your book. (You would be surprised how easy it is to forget this!)
2) Bookmarks or postcards to hand out. (You can always sign one for the child who couldn't buy your book)
3) Plenty of sharpies (Fine point and regular for signing books)
4) Props (I wear a butterfly headband and have plush butterflies to decorate my author table)
5) Banners (Whenever I attend larger school functions or festivals I bring my author banner to help promote by book)
6) Tabletop easels (I use them to draw attention to my book or to hold smaller promotional poster board book covers)
7) Clipboard and newsletter sign up sheet (Most of my fan club members have come from simply putting out a sign up sheet and inviting people to sign up to receive my bi-monthly newsletter)
8) Interactive game or craft (After reading/talking about my book, I do a group activity with the kids to keep them actively involved in my visit)
9) Table cover (I like to add a splash of color to my displays to draw attention to my book)

These are the basics I carry with me to every author visit. I may add more things depending on the type of visit I'm doing but you get the idea. Is there something else YOU just have to include on YOUR author checklist? Tell us in the comments below...

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

1) Really young children (Pre-K thru 1st grade) are eager to TELL you things but may not understand how to ask a proper QUESTION so you may want to save the Q & A for older grades.
2) Use your visit to both entertain and educate your audience. With Common Core as an integral part of every teacher's life nowadays, if you can tie your visit to  some areas of Common Core you will be known as the right type of author to invite back.
3) Have a Plan B or even a Plan C in case your assembly time is cut short or your Power Point presentation breaks down.
4) If you're performing a reader's theater be sure to get the teacher's input on the strong readers out of the potential students as to not embarrass the struggling readers.
5) Keep the energy level up and the kids will stay interested. Don't be afraid to be silly.
6) Plan out your entire presentation from how you will tell the kids about yourself to what the focus of that day's visit is, to how to answer potential questions.
7) Remember author visits are supposed to be FUN!

When you fail to plan you run the risk of planning to fail. Stay professional and give your schools a reason to be excited about wanting you to come back for another visit real soon!

Blurb:

Addie comes from a long line of readers or "story catchers" as her family likes to call themselves. Every time Addie tries to catch a story on her own the wiggly words play tricks on her. She tries different ways to make those words sit still but it will take a little faith for Addie to become the next STORY CATCHER.

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