Have Swag Will Travel: Planning Events that Align with a Book's Theme, by Carol Gordon Ekster

Dear Readers, it's time to buckle up for another great Have Swag Will Travel guest post. 

Today's guest, Carol Gordon Ekster, is a retired educator with several books to her credit--AND she is one of my "agency sisters" at The Seymour Agency. She has visited the blog previously to share her path to publication stories for YOU KNOW WHAT? and SOME DADDIES. Today she's stopping by the blog to share her book event experience and planning tips with us. Take it away, Carol!  

Image Source: Carol Gordon Ekster

Have Swag Will Travel: Tips for Planning Book Events

by Carol Gordon Ekster

When you have a book coming out, you need to brainstorm: Who might be interested in your title? What type of event could you join that might tie into the theme of your book?  Of course, children's book festivals are great. People come to buy books! All of us would think of bookstores and libraries. One of my critique groups meets in my local library, so we reached out to see if they would plan a local author fair. And they did! That's perfect because people who come are interested in buying signed copies of books and want to meet you and chat with you. 

And what if you could enhance a library or bookstore visit by offering your visitors more? My book, TRUCKER KID, Capstone, 2023, illustrated by Russ Cox, was a perfect example of a picture book to connect with transportation events. A brilliant librarian, Amy Martin, invited me to the Peobody Institute Library in Danvers, MA, and she also connected with the Department of Public Works in their town, to send over a couple of trucks to accompany my reading. We first met inside and I shared the book, we sang the Trucker Kid song from my book trailer, and moved around the room like trucks. I had some activity sheets for kids to work on if we needed them while we waited for the trucks to roll into the parking lot. Soon they arrived honking their horns, inviting the kids to climb aboard and explore the town's trucks. If you can get a nice day and a bookstore involved, fantastic! Someone suggested I partner up with a Touch a Truck event and I've reached out to a few and will hopefully be able to connect at some point in the future. 

Image Source: Carol Gordon Ekster  

Not all books lend themselves to specific events. But sometimes there may be a type of store that isn't a bookstore, but would be happy to carry your books. I've reached out to a local store that carried baby outfits and they made a lovely display with my books in case people wanted to gift a book with a onesie. I offered to come in and sign books for anyone who asked. I did sell a few before the store closed. For Ruth the Sleuth and the Messy Room, Mazor Publishers, 2018, illustrated by Kimberly Soderberg, I reached out to a bakery, because the story's plot has to do with chocolate chip cookies. I sold a few there as well. How many people spotted the titles? How many people bought the book after their visit to the store or bakery? I don't know. But we need to do what we can to get our books seen and read. 

Some Daddies, Beaming Books, 2022, illustrated by Javiera Maclean Alvarez, is easier in that I can promote it each Father's Day. But what other family gatherings can I do a reading for? Almost every family has a daddy or daddy figure. Reaching interested buyers for your book is not necessarily easy, but shine some of your creativity onto your marketing endeavors and you can figure out some excellent possibilities for your title. And if you're in a critique group or have #kidlit friends, find a time for a planning session where you can brainstorm together the places to promote each creative's books. Team work makes the dream work! 

Authors Carol Gordon Ekster, Kirsti Call, and Carrie Finison

And if even only one family shows up to something you've planned, you never know where that can lead. Try not to be discouraged. Have faith and carry on. Share your books wherever and whenever you have the opportunity to do so. Good luck! 

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and insights with us, Carol!  I am definitely inspired by your creative book promotion ideas. And I agree whole-heartedly with your encouragement to think outside the typical framework for book promotion. One of my favorite events last year involved a collaboration with a florist -- a fun match-up for Lucy's Blooms! 

And now, dear readers, you know what to do. The best way to thank an author whose insights have been helpful and/or inspiring to you is to support their work. Buy their books. Request them from your library. Read and share them with others. Carol's books, including her latest, TRUCKER KID, and SOME DADDIES are available everywhere books are borrowed and sold, including your own local, indie bookstore. 

Image Source: Carol Gordon Ekster

Carol Gordon Ekster was a passionate elementary school teacher for thirty-five years. Now retired, Carol is grateful that her writing allows her to continue communicating with children. She is the author of Before I Sleep: I Say Thank You which won 3rd place in the children’s category of the Catholic Press Association Book Awards and was also a finalist for the ACP Excellence in Publishing Awards 2016. Her picture book, You Know What?, came out first in Dutch (Mama, Wist Je Dat?), December 2016 with Clavis Books. The English version released September 2017 and was a CLEL Bell Picture Book Awards Nominee for Talk (2018) and a finalist for the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award in the New England region, 2018. The Korean language edition came out 2019 and Arabic and Chinese editions are in process.  Some Daddies, illustrated by Javiera Maclean Alvarez came out May 2022 with Beaming Books. Trucker Kid, illustrated by Russ Cox came out spring 2023 with Capstone. When Carol is not in a critique group or at her computer she might be doing yoga or biking. She lives in Andover, Massachusetts with her husband Mark. Find out more at www.carolgordonekster.com .

And connect with her here: https://linktr.ee/carolgordonekster 

Have Swag Will Travel is an occasional feature of Dawn Babb Prochovnic's blog. Dawn is the author of multiple picture books including, Lucy's Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, Where Does a Pirate Go Potty?, and 16 books in the Story Time With Signs & Rhymes series. Dawn is a contributing author to the award-winning book, Oregon Reads Aloud, and a frequent presenter at schools, libraries, and educational conferences. Contact Dawn using the form at the left, or learn more at www.dawnprochovnic.com.  

Have Swag, Will Travel: THERE WAS AN OLD GATOR WHO SWALLOWED A MOTH, by B. J. Lee

I'm excited to LAUNCH a new blog series today: Have Swag, Will Travel: Tips for Planning Book events. Like my other recent series, Birth Stories for Books, this will be a collection of guest posts from other authors and illustrators, in this case sharing their experiences planning and implementing book events (versus sharing their paths to publication).

Today's guest is author, B. J. Lee, sharing her experiences as she prepares for the February 1, 2019 launch of her debut picture book, THERE WAS AN OLD GATOR WHO SWALLOWED A MOTH, illustrated by David Opie.

Have SWAG, Will Travel
by B. J. Lee

Image provided by Author

It's only recently, with the publication of my first picture book, that I’ve come to appreciate book swag. THERE WAS AN OLD GATOR WHO SWALLOWED A MOTH, illustrated by the fabulous David Opie, releases February 1, 2019 from Pelican Publishing. Needless to say, I’m in book promotion mode and a big part of book promo is SWAG. Have SWAG will travel!

I've gone to lots of author book events over the years and picked up much swag along the way, especially buttons and bookmarks. Thinking about my own launch, I did a lot of reading about swag and here's what I ended up doing:

Because  I read it was important to get your cover in front of as many people as possible, most of the swag I made has the book cover on it, including business cards. I was also sure to include information about myself as an author, my website, and some social media contacts on the back. And then I put my book cover on my website with links to retailers, including my favorite local indie, Tombolo Books.

Image provided by Author

The information I include on the back has been adjusted. My first batch of cards were, apparently, difficult to understand, as I got asked:

1. Did you self-publish?
2. What is your name?
3. Are you the illustrator?
4. Did you draw this picture?

So on the second batch, I tried to be very clear!

I hand out cards everywhere I go, to young kids in Trader Joe’s and their moms, to my doctor’s receptionist, to my doctor, to people I meet in the park. I figure everybody that I hand a card to will have information about my book and will have the book cover image in their mind. They may be interested in buying the book, they may not, they may put it on the refrigerator, they may pass it along to someone else. It’s all good! The image is out there in the world. The information on how to order it is on the back.

Then I made some bookmarks. I included an elongated cover photo on the front, but not the title. I put the title and the other information on the back, thinking that bookmarks might be more appealing to people without being so “selling.” I give these to librarians, along with my business card, and I leave bookmarks at the circulation desk and in the children’s section, if permitted, so folks can just grab them.

Then I experimented with postcards. Since my husband has some printing experience, he said that people are not going to want a postcard with the title on it so, as with the bookmarks, I made postcards with images on the front and wording on the back. I chose three scenes from my book and in subsequent printings, reprinted the two most popular. I was sure to leave plenty of room for people to write on and address. The idea behind postcards is that people will think it's a cute image and send it to someone, thereby spreading my cover image and information to others.

I also got an ingenious idea from bookseller Stefani Beddingfield at Inkwood Books in Tampa. I was showing her images from my book and we were chatting about note cards, as I was interested in maybe making some. She said that unless an image was tied to a holiday or a theme that is typically seen in note cards, they won’t sell. For example, the image of my cover would not sell as a note card. Then she saw the following image, and she said, “These would make adorable get well cards.” And so the gator get well card was born.

Swag was also instrumental in helping me navigate my book launch. I took my images around to booksellers to see if they would be interested in doing a launch with me. I also took them to Boyd’s Hill Nature Preserve because: gators. They loved the gator character and, when I showed them the paperback version of my book that I printed from the e-galley, they really embraced it. They suggested having a Gator Day in conjunction with their already-existing alligator walk event, which would include a book launch, education about alligators and even a live juvenile alligator. Local bookseller Alsace Wallentine of Tombolo Books has agreed to partner with me for this event. And all of this came together because of – SWAG! You can order a signed copy of my book from Tombolo.

I'll be having additional swag at my book launch including signed posters as door prizes, bookplates, coloring books which the illustrator, David Opie, provided black-and-white images for, and I’ve ordered a gator doll/character from a local crafter.

I’m currently having a preorder swag giveaway party on Facebook and Twitter.  You can enter to win fabulous swag, now through January 31st! Find details on my website.

If you will be in the Tampa Bay area of Florida on March 10, 2019, stop by Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, to hear me read, possibly sing, and pick up a signed book. The gator festivities start at 10 AM.

Swag is a wonderful thing!

1. It can show people what your book is all about.
2. If your picture book is character driven, it can communicate your character to people.
3. It can make people rally around you and your book.
4. It can bring disparate groups together to work for a common goal.

In short, it can create community. SWAG is the bomb, and for this debut picture book author, this saying is true: “Have Swag will travel.”

Thank you for having me on your blog, Dawn. It’s been a pleasure.

Thank YOU, B. J., for a really informative post! I've learned so much. I especially love the idea of the Get Well cards, and it's fabulous to SEE so many great examples of the materials that you've put together to get the word out about your book. Let us know how Gator Day goes! 

And now, dear readers, head on over to B. J.'s website to get in on the SWAG giveaway before it ends, January 31, 2019! And...if YOU have tips to share about planning book events, please get in touch via the comments or the "contact" link to the left so we can hear YOUR Have Swag, Will Travel story! 

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B.J. Lee is a former college music librarian turned full-time writer and poet. Her debut picture book, There Was an Old Gator Who Swallowed a Moth, is releasing on February 1, 2019 with Pelican Publishing. Additionally, she is an award-winning children’s poet with over 100 poems and stories published/forthcoming in major anthologies and magazines. Anthology credits include Construction People (Wordsong, 2019), I Am a Jigsaw (BloomsburyUK, 2019), National Geographic’s Poetry of US (2018), National Geographic’s Book of Nature Poetry (2015), One Minute Till Bedtime (Little, Brown, 2016), Moonstruck (Otter-Barry, 2019), Spaced Out (BloomsburyUK, 2019), and many others. Magazine credits include Spider, Highlights, and The School Magazine. B. J. blogs at Today’s Little Ditty, where she is an authority on poetic forms. Connect with B. J. on Facebook and Twitter, or find out more at http://www.childrensauthorbjlee.com/.