Almost all children's authors visit schools, at least when they start out. Some well known authors love the interaction with their target audience, and continue to visit schools. Others feel burned out.
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Upside of School Author Visits
In no particular order -
- You heighten your profile
- You grow your readership
- You refine your presentation skills
- You make money from the author visit and book sales
- You develop a fan base with children, teachers and parents
- You heighten interest in yourself as an author, and in your books
- You pave the way for name recognition when your next book is released
- You interact with and gain feedback from children, teachers and parents
- You refine the logistical and business aspects of school visits
- You gather new ideas for future books by observing children and listening to them.
- You gain an insight into how school library budgets work, and how schools choose books
- You are a star for a day
Possible Downside of School Author Visits
In no particular order -
- You can suffer burnout from too many visits, and too much traveling
- You may not be cut out for public speaking, and may come to dread school visits
- It takes time away from your writing
- Time away from your family
- You feel like you've said it all before
- You feel it makes you look bad if the visit was not well organised
Avoiding burnout
The opportunity to share your book personally with children is a real treat for most children's authors. The secret of avoiding burnout lies in finding a balance between the financial and professional benefits, the opportunities it offers and still leaving time for your family and writing.
School visits are not for everyone
After you have experienced a number of author visits, you also need to reflect on whether your personality and circumstances are suited to this type of promotional work. You may choose to cut back, or to find other avenues of promoting your work. If you are not happy doing school visits, it will show.
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