Starting Over

Monday, February 1, 2010 is the official release date of The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal. I feel as if I am starting over, relearning this publicity thing. And so much has changed in the two years since Truck Stuck came out. Who knew I ought to be creating a book trailer for U-Tube? I thought only YA and maybe some middle-grade novels should have one, but here are two great trailers for children's picture books: Duck! Rabbit! and Nanook and Pryce.

What I have done so far is visit several other blogs--there is Scotti Cohn's blog interview, mentioned in my last post. And I am a guest contributor on Playing by the Book, a blog that gives lists of picture book fiction by subject matter. I chose Art as my subject and found a number of great picture books whose stories revolve around the topic of art. My Playing by the Book post should be available on February 1, but go ahead and check out the great combination of book lists and child-friendly activities that make up Playing by the Book.

Visiting other Blogs

Here is a new experience for me. Scotti Cohn invited me to be interviewed for her blog, It happened in Chicago. Check it out!

Playing Catch-Up

I've been reading through the emails at the bottom of my in-box. I have over 200 emails in the box right now and am determined to empty it by the end of the day. I've saved many emails because they had links to websites and blogs that I wanted to check out but did not have time to visit when they came in. Perhaps I should only sit down to email when I have the time to read and review everything and get back to empty? No more quick glances to see who/what has showed up?

Here are some really cool and helpful links that I've been following today:

Stephanie Ruble wrote out her notes from the annual SCBWI-LA conference. Reading through them reminded me of many great ideas I got and introduced me to some I hadn't.

Samantha Vamos sent me a link to an explanation of blog book tours which then led me to a number of other sites. It took me about a year and a half to get to Samatha's email, and maybe the timing is right since I have a book coming out in less than 2 months! And I will be making appearances on a number of blogs at that time.

And starting today, I will be active in updating my blogs and working to get the word out about The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal, Charlesbridge, 2010--coming to a store near you on February 1, 2010!

ISLMA/SCBWI-IL--2 Great Organizations with Terrible Acrynyms

Three Bewitching Writers

Just got back from ISLMA in Springfield. They hosted a breakfast for a number of SCBWI-IL authors. Breakfast began at 7:30 am--that meant I had to spend the night in Springfield. I took the train down and back--good choice considering how awful the weather was a lot of the time.

What I brought:

Page proofs of The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal, pasted into a dummy.
Truck Stuck, 1 copy. (Anderson's was selling books for the conference.)
Peter's Trucks, 1 copy.
Lots of bookmarks provided by Charlesbridge--Robin on one side, Truck Stuck on the other--very handy.
Robin postcards.
Meet the Author brochures--should have brought more--I left a bunch with the SCBWI-IL group to take to the IRC meetings in March, along with bookmarks. (Note to self--send a copy of Robin as soon as they come.)
Fresh Sharpie extra fine pens for autographing.

Two outfits built around my black pants--we were pushing black because the meetings were so close to Halloween.
Wore a comfortable travel outfit.
Sara Latta's Ice Scientist to read--getting ready to resubmit an NSF grant for Antarctica.
The Believer--an old copy I bought some time ago and hadn't gotten very far in reading.
4 other children's books that did not get read.

What I forgot to bring:

Water bottle.
Truck Stuck Book Plates.

What I brought home:

Eliza's Kindergarten Surprise by Alice B. McGinty to give to my sister who teaches Kindergarten.
Great notes from Esther Hershenhorn's presentation on "The ABC's of Growing Writers in Your Library."
Great ideas for both analyzing and writing picture books based on Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen's presentation, "Words and Pictures: Teaching Narrative Through the Picture Book."
The preliminary program for IRC--Illinois Reading Council conference in Springfield Mar. 18-20.

Back in the Saddle Again

Almost a year ago the publication date for The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal (hereafter to be known as Robin) was pushed back from July 1, 2009 to Feb. 1, 2010. I was disappointed, of course. I can't wait to have an actual book in my hands.

I wrote Donna Spurlock, Associate Director of Marketing, Publicity and Promotions at Charlesbridge, and Taylor Rogers, Publicity and Promotions Assistant, asking what the schedule would be for cranking up the marketing/promotions/publicity on this book.

Taylor sent me the following schedule:

August & September
compile list of special publications and organizations

October & November
catalog and press release mailing to our publicity list and specialty list

November & December
fulfill review copy requests, work on teachers' guide, continue researching special outlets, begin to set up appearances/signings for late winter

February 1st
the publication date of all spring titles
continue to pitch book, set up signings, etc.

Donna seconded Taylor's schedule and wrote to say that many advance review copies go out in October.

It is now mid-October and I feel as if I am already behind.

I have booked a launch party at the Magic Tree Bookstore. (Save the date--February 21, 1-3 pm.) And I have booked a show of the original art at the Oak Park Public Library for the month of April, National Poetry Month. Still to be determined is the date for a reception/book-signing at the library. There will be another show of the art and book-signing at the Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in Center Sandwich, NH, tentatively scheduled for July 28, 2010.

Now to get to work on the list of special organizations and publications. Birds are a hot topic these days. There is a lot of interest. How to tap into it?

If you are ever in Ann Arbor....

If you want to do a program in the Ann Arbor Public Libraries, contact Ieva Bates, Youth Librarian. My sister-in-law, Sue Budin, is a librarian in the Ann Arbor Public Libraries and she told Ieva about my program at Bookamania. Ieva invited me to do a reading of Truck Stuck at the Pittsfield Branch of the Ann Arbor Public Libraries. 

The program was a blast. 45 truck-loving toddlers and their parents congregated on the floor of a lovely large program room.  While we waited for the room to fill I chatted with the children. "Who likes trucks?" was my first question. Several hands went up. "Trucks are my favorite vehicles," said one kid. "That's such a great word," I told him. "How old are you?" He was five. Others were three and a half, four and three-quarters, almost four. It was the perfect crowd for Truck Stuck. "What is this?" I asked as I held up my much-abused shoe box. "Rail-road tracks," said some, spotting the set of rails I'd drawn along the top of the box. "It's a bridge," said someone else. "It's a bridge for cars to go under train tracks," said one four year old. "We have a special word for that," I said. "Can you say 'Viaduct?'" Yes they could.

I had loaded the pages onto a powerpoint presentation and projecting them onto a big screen was a great way to share the wonderful details that Andy Robert Davies had created for the pictures. I  pointed out details in the pictures while Aimee, (who works at the reference desk), clicked through the different slides of each page. I was able to ask kids what they saw, what they thought would happen next. The story was well-received.

Then I brought out my trucks. Reminding the children that these are my toys and I am sharing them, but want them back at the end of the program, I handed out all my trucks and vehicles. I had just enough trucks for every child there. Then I read the story and we acted it out, creating a long traffic jam on the row of tables set up in the front of the room.  As I read the book again each child added his or her truck to the traffic jam as that vehicle was named. A few truck-loving kids had a hard time parting with their trucks and it was an experience in controlled chaos. Then I handed out the cardboard balloon cutouts and we marched around the room in a balloon parade, singing "The wheels on the truck are stuck, stuck, stuck... under the viaduct!" Lastly, while I signed books (book sales were provided by Nicola's Books) the children colored the truck page printed out from the Charlesbridge website. 

Some things I learned: have a backup plan. The powerpoint I prepared at home would not work at the library, but the one I prepared on my niece's computer did work. Be prepared for any number. I was lucky to have so many kids attend, and I had just enough trucks to go around. And I had plans of how to use volunteers if even more kids had come. And I could have delivered the same energetic program to a much smaller group.

Arrive early and get familiar with the people at the library, the room, and the AV equipment you'll be using. 

And most important of all, I began to get to know the kids and find out about them, their ages, the sports they play, what activities they've been doing, while letting them know a bit about me. I did not wait for the official start of the program. I kept the kids who came early entertained and engaged as we waited for the program to officially start. Getting related to your audience is the most important part of any program.

ALA in Chicago--my first big convention

Today I hauled my backpack and a canvas tote bag, loaded with publicity and resource materials about my books, down to the ALA (American Library Association) conference at McCormick West. I've never been one one of these big meetings before, where all sorts of publishers, librarians from all over the country, and many random people and exhibitors come together for 4 days of mass chaos and exchange. I had a great day and I learned a ton. Let me see if I can recap some of the highlights:

I really enjoyed meeting and chatting with the people at the Charlesbridge booth. Megan Bencivenni, schools and library sales manager and Emily Mitchell, senior editor, were extremely friendly, welcoming, and knowledgeable. They had printed a two-sided bookmark featuring my two books. They had my books prominently displayed and I had barely met them and hidden my backpack and tote bag under their booth when people began to buy Truck Stuck and ask for autographs. I was scheduled to begin at 10 am, but set to work and was steadily busy signing from about 9:30 to 11 am when, when the next author came to take my place. Getting to meet other Charlesbridge authors was another bonus of coming to ALA.

I wandered around the booths of various publishers for the next two hours. I ran into Laura Montenegro, who taught the Intuitive Suitcase course I took last winter. She taught me to look at the publishers for image--what impression did the whole display leave you with--was it commercial and slick? was it arty? would you want to see your book sitting among the others in that display? I had been focused on individual books, but I think Laura's idea of getting a feel for the character and quality of a publisher's list as a whole is a good one and ALA is a great place to get that kind of feel and be able to contrast and compare different publishers.

I got copies of Alice McGinty's newly released biography of Darwin (illustrated by Mary Azarian, Houghton Mifflan Harcourt, 2009) and Kathi Baron's recent novel Shattered (Westside Books, 2009). I picked up a few uncorrected page proofs of books that caught my eye.

Then it was my turn to promote my books at our SCBWI-Illinois booth. I arranged an old journal with art for the Robin book, a dummy of Robin made by gluing together the page proofs into book form, postcards of the cover, my workshop brochure, a copy of Truck Stuck--there just wasn't enough room to show everything. But I found that my original journal and the cover of Robin were good conversation openers. I asked each person who stopped about what they did--many were authors themselves, or illustrators. Others were librarians. I offered everyone copies of my materials and traded cards with a number of people I intend to contact about workshop possibilities. I learned about curriculum tie-in ideas, about the Mazza Museum of children's book art in Findlay, Ohio (which I intend to visit on my road trip to NH), about a journal workshop for children which might be a good fit with the Robin book. Ideas abound. My head is almost as full as the backpack, canvas tote, and two shopping bags I carried home at the end of a full and rewarding day.

What I took: journal, reading book (currently reading Marco Polo, From Venice to Xanadu, by Laurence Bergreen), about 300 postcards of the cover art for The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal, camera, paints, ink, umbrella, a file folder with printouts of the emails concerning the SCBWI-Illinois booth, the page proofs to Robin (both the pasted up dummy I made of the first set of page proofs and the large black portfolio protecting the unfolded second set of page proofs and some of the original art), postcards for Truck Stuck, also business cards with Truck Stuck on them, a box of Sharpie ultra fine marking pens, the Truck Stuck bookplates, a paperback copy of Truck Stuck, the Korean copy of Truck Stuck, one of my journals with some of the original art for Robin in it, and a box of maybe 400 3-fold "Meet the Author" brochures to hand out to librarians looking for authors who like to visit libraries and present workshops.

What I'll take Monday, when I go back: journal, reading book, Robin page proofs in dummy form (but not the portfolio); about 50 "Meet the Author" brochures stuffed with Robin postcards and the bookmark from Charlesbridge, camera, Sharpie pens. I will pack much lighter and bring an empty canvas bag or two in my backpack to accommodate any further books, galleys, or catalogs that I collect before coming home.