What is one venue for local authors to read and sell their children’s books?
To help authors find the best venues to read and sell children’s books, we asked published authors and marketing experts this question for their best insights. From visiting the local farmer’s market to publishing your book online, there are several suggested venues where you can read and sell your children’s books
Here are six venues for reading and selling children’s books:
- The Local Farmer’s Market
- Book Trailer Shows
- Your Local Library
- Ziffit.com
- Local Indie Bookstores
- Publish Your Book Online
The Local Farmer’s Market
I love it when I see a budding children’s author at my local farmer’s market. Since farmer’s markets are family-friendly events, it’s a really great opportunity to host a story time and make connections that could lead to an author visit at an elementary school (or even getting the book into library catalogs)! Just because you have a self-published book doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice visibility. Get creative, and get out there!
Stephanie Venn-Watson, fatty15
Book Trailer Shows
Book trailer shows organized by publishers attract many kids and parents, thus making it a perfect venue to read and sell your children’s books. As an author, such events give you the chance to pitch to both parents and children what your book is all about. The shows also dock in a given location once in a while to meet members from various book clubs around your city. In such moments authors are allowed to read their books to different age groups before the show proceeds. As an up-and-coming children’s books author or even an established one, taking advantage of story time during book trailer shows is a good chance also to build rapport with your readers and get insights on what could make the context of your next release.
John Tian, Mobitrix
Your Local Library
Your local library will give you a built-in audience for your book, and even if you donate a book for public use, many parents will still be willing to purchase a copy of your book for home. Children’s books are often read and re-read (and often damaged), so parents know that it’s often worth owning a copy of a book, even if there’s one available at the library. For that reason, feel comfortable donating a copy to your library, and requesting a reading, so that you can get the word out about your book, and possibly sell more copies.
Dan Bladen, Kadence
Ziffit.com
Ziffit is an online selling and buying platform for children’s books. It is an excellent opportunity for local authors to sell their exciting children’s books at reasonable prices. This platform loves to accept your books and always strives to give you the best prices. Besides buying from authors, customers can purchase items from this retailer for their minors. Their distribution mechanism is simple and free. If you have a lot of children’s books to sell, Ziffit may arrange for a courier to come and pick them up. They will then determine your eligibility based on weight, so individuals with a heavy load won’t have to worry about getting their books somewhere – they’ll come to you!
Ryan Yount, Luckluckgo
Local Indie Bookstores
Independent bookstores are the best places for authors to read and sell children’s books. The clientele that frequent independent bookstores (ya know, avid readers like me!) are looking to hear from indie authors and love discovering new reads. Local libraries are also a good choice since younger audiences and parent-kid duos are there to learn, grow and connect!
Ruben Gamez, SignWell
Publish Your Book Online
We are moving in a digital direction, with more and more children being raised with access to computers, iPads, and phones from a very young age. They are learning from YouTube and video calling their friends before they are even able to read. How do you target your book to children and encourage them to read in today’s society? It’s simple, you should aim to publish your book online and make it readable on iPads and tablets. Instead of pushing against technology, you should work with it. There is a website that I used when I was a teacher called Epic Books (https://www.getepic.com/) which is essentially a digital library for kids. It not only allows them to read books digitally but LEARN to read digitally. I am not endorsed by Epic Books, I am sure there are other platforms out there that do the same, but because I have used them with my grade 1 students I feel confident recommending them.
louisa smith, Epic Book Society