Illustration Diversity

Let's be frank, it's not easy these days to make a full-time living as an illustrator in the UK. Many agree that these are tough times for the creative industry, with diminishing markets, stagnation, fee erosion, less risk-taking from publishers - where is it all taking us? Is it still feasible to conceive a career in illustration? Well, yes it is, says our Illustration Features editor John Shelley. The answer may be diversification.


I'm a dreamer, a head-in-the-clouds children's illustrator. But I'm also a realist. Illustration is my business. A self-employed sole trader, my creative endeavours have to pay the bills, feed my family, and keep me in ink, paint and paper. These are challenging times for artists. Fortunately as we see some portals close, others open - there are still many avenues to generate income from our art.

An Industry of Ideas

First amongst these is simply to keep working on our creative ideas and submit them - it's an uncomfortable process for some who'd rather just paint and draw, but polishing our craft and persisting with our own story ideas is the most important thing any children's illustrator can do, no matter what stage of our careers. We have to assume the days of the "passive" illustrator are pretty well over - just sending out samples or having a website and expecting emails to arrive with work commissions is almost a thing of the past - the onus is on us to come up with the projects, grow them, hone them, and get them out there into the hands of ethical publishers with budgets to see them to success.

Print sales may be down, but digital technology has opened up new opportunities and there are more platforms than ever to display a good visual narrative.

Over the Hills and Far Away

Another path is to pursue a wider market and seek commissions from overseas. The USA is a natural target for illustrators working in the English language, but other countries can also be potential markets. There are advantages and disadvantages to this - on the up side fees can be a little higher than in the UK. It's possible your style is actually more suited to a market overseas than to the relatively narrow tastes of current British publishing and you may find your own niche overseas. On the down side you're competing with the native illustrators of that country, which is a tough challenge in difficult times. You'll probably need to travel - I'm not ditching the usefulness of a website, but it's a lot easier to sell yourself to overseas publishers if you've actually met them face-to-face, either in their office or at trade fairs like the Bologna Book Fair. Though I have a US agent, most of my American commissions have developed from direct encounters with staff at Bologna.

Covers of the US and Japanese editions of my latest book Stone Giant. Commissioned by US publisher Charlesbridge, who I first connected with at Bologna. I later sold the Japanese rights to Komine Shoten when an editor saw images at my exhibition in Tokyo

Another problem is that once your book is out, it's quite hard to promote if you're not in the country, and as a foreigner you may be disqualified for consideration in key awards (I've plenty of experience of that in Japan and the US!), which again doesn't help sales. Working overseas makes it harder to build a reputation, but not impossible.

Expandng the Market

Coming back to the need to develop our ideas, not all illustrators are comfortable submitting stories, but looking beyond the pages of books and other commissioned art there are other ways. We need to loosen our boundaries, expand our creativity, and become entrepreneurs of our art. 

Recently I was at an exhibition of the Norwich Print Fair. I love the fine tactile quality of prints, the bewildering names suggesting mysterious processes - mezzoprint, dry point, collagraph, monoprint.... things I encountered during my foundation course decades ago, but was discouraged from pursuing at degree level. My tutors were adamant: "forget about printmaking, this is an illustration course, you can't reproduce etchings in printed media, you'll never be commissioned with a portfolio of prints".

Prints from previous years at Norwich Forum

Times and attitudes have changed since then though. In the past we were told to focus our creativity into specific techniques and styles to cater to the illustration market. Now however, as that market becomes ever more squeezed, with more and more competition from other illustrators doing broadly the same thing, we need to think outside the box, pinpoint what it is that defines our art, consider ways to intensify our uniqueness and turn it into income. One way is to expand our output into prints and other merchandise. At the print exhibition, representatives of MA illustration and printmaking courses expounded on how many former designers, illustrators, etc. have given up chasing commissions and turned to the printmaking fine art market.

Starting a new "branch" of art requires commitment, but it's an effort we owe to ourselves to pursue.

I love to doodle quirky images that don't easily fit into a categorised "type", they are just me meandering in a sketchbook with a pen. The more I doodle, the more I think about developing this ephemeral side of my art in some way, in addition to giclée limited edition prints from book illustrations. The thing that makes me hesitate is that need to pay the bills. I worry that I may be chasing up a blind alley, wasting precious time and never sell anything. But we have to put this sensibility aside for a moment if we want to create something new. Finding new angles for our art requires sacrifice in time and effort, starting a new "branch" of art requires commitment, but it's an effort we owe to ourselves to pursue. Yes, still focus on our career illustrations, but make time to develop other media or more personal work.

Here's Chris Oatley's post on the "Death of Illustration", recommended to me recently. I found Will Terry's video talk at the bottom of the page particularly interesting.

Selling and Marketing

Printmaking, or any kind of product created from our art, is only the first step, the key factor is actually marketing the work to the public. We still have to produce material that people want to buy! Some artists work with galleries and specific shops and don't have to deal directly with the public, others sign up with licensing agents to sell their work for stationery, interior decor and the toy industry, or work with greetings card companies. Then there is the DIY option: you may have access to a decent printer to make reasonable quality inkjet prints. Some illustrators produce and sell cards and other merchandise through Etsy, Zazzle and other shop websites, but these sites are glutted with artists selling stuff - how many actually make a decent income from it? I always wonder how the effort versus income ratio works out. We need to develop our art, but ultimately the target is to make money from it. You have the "merchandise", but then how do you sell it?

I'd love to hear back from anyone with experience of successfully (i.e. generating worthwhile income from) running a business on their illustration art. This could be fine art creations, merchandising derived from illustrations, hand-made items, selling prints, working with galleries or card companies etc, digital apps and ebooks even. Do you operate alone or work with shops, galleries, licensing companies? How do you attract the public to your works? What insights and pitfalls have you encountered?

Please write to me directly at illustrators@britishscbwi.org. Based on the responses, I'll put together another article, or articles, featuring your ideas, examples and experiences.

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John Shelley is the Illustration Feature Editor of Words & Pictures and current Central East Network coordinator. 
He's illustrated over 40 books for children, many of them published in Japan where he lived for many years. His latest title Stone Giant is out in Japan the USA.   www.jshelley.com

Jiggety-jig

Marketing and the artist – a Words & Pictures Inspiration piece 


1. Consider 
As creative people, writers and illustrators often have an ambiguous relationship with marketing - at best. We have a tendency to see it in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s words
seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil 



We associate advertising in particular with crass commercialism: hours of creative endeavour spent to sell people things they don’t need.

But there are other ways to look at it.

As we are increasingly made aware, publishing is currently going through a sea-change. There are many markets out there – and they are all in a state of flux – very like what has happened in the music industry. So the example of a successful musician [who also happens to be married to a best-selling author] should be of interest.

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman

"There is no marketing trick. There is human connection, and you can't fake it. It takes time and effort and, most importantly: you have to actually LIKE it, otherwise you'll be miserable." 

Fundamentally, she is exhorting us to share.
To share because we love what we do.
To share liberally and with enthusiasm.
To share without cynicism, and without stinting.

Here’s a summary of her key points with additional links:
I've Seen Marketing's Future, and its Name is Amanda Palmer 

This talk "Connecting The Dots" - Amanda Palmer talks art & controversy @ Grub Muse Conference is longer, deeper and well worth watching. It’s more specifically aimed at writers – but any creative person can relate to it. About half-an-hour of good stuff to ponder, especially the garret and the marketplace for this theme. [Language warning.]

2. Create 

Goblin Market by Arthur Rackham

• Choose a character in your work.
• Imagine them going to a market or souk or shop.
• List, doodle, draw, collage, or even scrawl in wax crayon what they would buy.
• What do their choices say about them?
• How do they relate to the seller?
• Haughty, friendly, suspicious, polite?
• Would they splash-the-cash, scrimp-and-save, haggle or even steal to get the goods?
• How do they get them home? Bags, crates, donkey?

You don’t have to use this scene – but it can reveal personality and drama.

By Philippa R. Francis - who writes as K. M. Lockwood

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K. M. Lockwood is a writing name of Philippa R. Francis. As well as being a regular contributor, Philippa (@lockwoodwriter) is also part of the Words & Pictures team as the @Words8Pictures Tweetmaster, growing our following and maintaining our 'Industry news' feed.

Virtual Authors

Jonathan Emmet

Virtually visiting a school in Atlanta

Much has been written recently about the benefits of authors and illustrators visiting schools and how such visits are seen as an effective way of promoting reading for pleasure to children. A Society of Authors report published in 2013 noted that schools recognise the benefits of author visits and that most schools would like to hold more, but that lack of funding prevented them.

Like many authors I charge a fee for my school visits to cover the time spent preparing my sessions as well as the time spent at the school. Unfortunately, with budgets being tight in most state schools, such fees deter many schools from booking author visits. The problem is particularly acute for small schools in rural communities where the cost of the visit on a per child basis can be three or four times that for a child attending a larger urban school. I’m a picture book author, so I visit primary schools. The last primary I visited told me that I was their first author visit in four years. At some primaries the gap has been even bigger and it’s not uncommon for a child to go through all seven years of school without an author or illustrator visit.

So how do we get authors and illustrators interacting with schools more regularly and with less expense? One solution that’s become popular in the US is virtual visits. Many US authors use Skype video software to read their books and talk to children in US schools. While many authors charge for longer in-depth virtual visits, most offer short visits for free and I think this is one reason that virtual visits have become so popular, so quickly in the US. 

A few of my picture books have been published in the US and eighteen months ago an elementary school in North Carolina asked if I would virtually visit to read one of them. It went so well that in June last year, I started offering a limited number of free virtual visits through my web site. Since then I’ve visited lots more US schools but so far very few UK schools have shown any interest. 

And another in Pennsylvania

I think the main reason I get so many more requests from the US is that my name is on a couple of US websites. Author Kate Messner has a page on her website listing authors who Skype for free and the “Skype an Author Network” is a directory site listing authors who offer both free and paid Skype visits. It occurred to me that a similar directory site for UK authors willing to Skype with UK schools might help make virtual visits more popular on this side of the Atlantic - which is why I’ve set up virtualauthors.co.uk 

To get the ball rolling, I’ve decided to follow Kate Messner’s example and only list authors and illustrators who offer free 15-20 minute visits — although authors and illustrators can obviously offer longer, paid-for virtual visits in addition to this. At present I’m restricting the directory to authors and illustrators who have had their work traditionally published in the UK (not at the author's expense and not solely in print-on-demand/ebook format). There is no charge for being listed on the site. 

My aim is to kick-start virtual school visits in UK schools, so I’d like to get as many authors and illustrators listed on the site as possible. If each author or illustrator offers just one free 15-20 minute virtual visit a month during school term time, that's potentially 10 schools a year, some of which may never have had an author or illustrator visiting them before. 

A school in Vermont  from my end.

The schools I’ve visited have been very appreciative. Teachers often follow up with classroom activities and schools have sent me letters, drawings and even an ebook the children created in response to my visit. And schools often order in copies of my books before and after my visit, so there’s a sales angle too. 

 Here’s what a couple of UK schools had to say about my virtual visits with them:

"The Skype session was fantastic and the children really enjoyed it. It was great to be able to get the children to write questions and then have answers to them. I would certainly recommend it to other teachers. The parents all heard about it when their children got home from school and it certainly impressed them." Cossington C of E Primary School, Leicestershire, UK 

  “We thought the session was fantastic - just what we needed, a real life author to give out the messages we continually say … It is a brilliant opportunity to speak with you virtually and move into the 21st century! … The session was very clear and just the right time for year 3.” Corrie Primary School, Manchester, UK 

I’m hoping that virtualauthors.co.uk will encourage more schools to invite authors and illustrators into their classrooms. Virtual visits are no substitute for an author or illustrator visiting a school in person but, who knows, once schools have seen the benefits of a quick virtual visit, they might book a few more actual visits too

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Jonathan Emmet is a children's author, paper-engineer, part-time astronaut and full-time fantasist working from home in Nottingham, England. You can find out more about him and his books here.

Titles and characters: choices with marketing in mind

Catriona Tippin

You’ve written your book. You’re researching your social media strategy. Here are some tips on spotting marketing problems at the proofreading stage – a heads up on how your title and your characters’ names translate into website (domain) names and hashtags. 



An author website may be useful and that’s a domain name you don’t need to think about too much, unless you’re toying with a middle initial, or a nom de plume. Acquire the .com extension if you can. You may plan to use (or squat on) a website that features your title. 

Try out your title as a domain name or hashtag. Runthewordstogether and check for unfortunate juxtapositions. ‘But that’s not all’ and ‘butthatsnotall’ demonstrate this phenomenon. Further sources of juvenile sniggering may be found by searching the internet for website name fails. It’s a potential problem worth checking. 

Short titles make searching easy. Think about your use of numbers in a title too. It’s conventional in the text to spell out in full numbers one to nine, then use digits for 10 and above. If used in a title either form may apply, but a tweet limited to 140 characters will favour the four characters of ‘1000’ over the 12 characters of ‘one thousand’. 

Avoid the temptation to use any of this lot for email addresses/websites/webpages: 

• CamelCase or camelCase depends on uppercase letters separating words 
• spinal-case-uses-hyphens 
• Train-Case-Uses-Hyphens and uppercase letters 
• Snake_case_has_underscores_between_words 
• SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE aaagh! 

Leave all of these for the exclusive use of computer coders and programmers. Domain names (including the domain part of email addresses) are not case sensitive and hyphens may get forgotten. Email addresses should be simple and therefore memorable. 

Avoid punctuation marks in your title, for instance, contractions that need an apostrophe (I’m, let’s, they’re, it’s) or possessives (Carrie’s, Charlotte’s). The punctuation will have to be deleted for a subsequent website name or hashtag and leave an awkward (illiterate?) version of your title. 

Think about words with two spellings; if one forms part of a potential website name it may lead to the need to buy an additional domain name and redirect from it to your main site. Alternative spellings are often Americanisms, but UK English includes curtsy or curtsey, nosy or nosey, smoky or smokey. And there’s gaol or jail. 

Check the abbreviation formed by the initial letters of your title. It doesn’t need to be catchy or memorable, just avoid any unfortunate acronyms. This might matter when your title inspires a trending hashtag. 

Your protagonist may deserve similar attention – they may earn their own website or start trending on Twitter.

• Run your characters’ first and last name together and look for dodgy juxtapositions again.
• Sometimes you can be too familiar with your characters’ names, get someone else to read them and say them out loud. There are various tricks to choosing a character name; for marketing in the digital age a couple of these have taken on more significance.
• Avoid ending the first name with the letter which starts the last name.
• Avoid ‘loaded’ names (Bart, Hannibal, Kanye, etc).
• Search for the name on Google for any unfortunate coincidences or existing existences. 

When publicising your book these details may matter. 

Catriona Tippin aka @ProofReadingTip will be back next month with more proofreading tips. To see previous tips, click on this proofreading link.

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Catriona Tippin has been a member of SCBWI since 2006 and helps organise venues for SCBWI North East. Details of her writing and illustrating here. She proofreads study guides, house magazines and publicity material for two national educational charities, in addition to working on a variety of proofreads and copyedits for the growing self-published world. Her monthly column is intended to give you food for thought, remembering “Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling or typographical error” (McKean’s Law, named after its inventor Erin McKean, editor of the Oxford American Dictionary). 

Linkedtwitfacetumbletube - From The Other Side

 Nicky Schmidt

A while ago I posted a piece about social media on my blog and how the business of building a platform, when you don’t have a book to market, is an exercise in play and procrastination. 

To take this further and clarify what I said, I want to explore and expand on the benefits of social media.

Social media has an unquestionable and powerful place in the marketing mix. Its effectiveness, however, depends on entirely on how you use it. To restate the point, if you don’t have a product to market, don’t bother. Yes, go ahead and set up your social media platforms – so someone else doesn’t take your name - but then get on with writing the book. (You can indulge in a bit of social networking to connect with your peers, publishers and agents and to understand the nature of the beast – but avoid being sucked in.)

Let’s assume that you’ve written the best book you can and now need to implement your marketing plan. 

As I said in another earlier blog post about the basics of marketing, the best form of marketing is word of mouth. 

The other critical form of marketing is customer engagement and customer relationship management. 

What social media offers is the opportunity to leverage both of these vital elements in a highly personalised way.  It allows your readers to talk about you and your book (word of mouth) and it allows you to have a conversation with your readers (customer engagement - which can in turn encourage word of mouth).  How win-win can you get?! 

At this point, two things arise: 

First off, most authors I know aren’t using social media to talk to their readers. They’re mostly using social media to chat with family and friends. While it’s important that writers have a place to share their woes, successes and daily cat pictures, to think that you’re marketing when you’re chatting to your pals misses the point. 

Secondly, while your pals may buy your book, they are not your market. And those who persistently promote their books to their friends mostly waste their time and irritate their friends.

So how can you use social media as a marketing tool?  

Engage, be real, be relevant 

Picking on the point above let’s realise for a start that you should never shove your book down anyone’s throat – no one likes it, neither your friends nor your market.  

Really good and effective customer relationship management is a two way street, it’s about having a conversation – and, like branding, it’s about being real. That means is you have to listen to what your readers are saying. And social media is a brilliant way of doing this. Write a blog post and reply to comments. Tweet something interesting, and respond directly with @ to any replies. Post interesting Facebook statuses and respond to comments.Thank people for following you. Use people’s names. Speak with them directly.  Engage, engage, engage - and promotion will take care of itself. Also remember that every person you ignore is a person disappointed and potentially a customer lost. 

People, being what they are, want to be heard. While they want to know about you, they also want to be seen as important in your eyes. It’s like any relationship and it is basic psychology.  Readers want to know you care enough to talk to them. And they will always expect real life, real human engagement with you. Consider this point next time you’re irritated by a call centre.  

Remember also that as a children’s or YA writer you carry responsibility. You may even be something of a hero because you’ve spoken to something in your reader through your book.  And being a hero is a tough act and not to be taken lightly. 

Customer relationship management, especially via social media, is so much more than promoting your books, your awards and the good reviews you’ve received.  In fact, if all you’re using your social media platform for is to say “Me, me, me!” you may as well go off and boil your ears. 

The best way to understand any of this is to put yourself in your reader’s shoes, then plot your social media strategy accordingly. 

Now, let’s consider that critical thing – your market. 

Go where your market is 

A debate arose a while back on Facebook (yes, it has its uses) about how effective social media is in marketing a book – and many authors complained that they saw limited benefit in it and far more benefit in doing school visits.  It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out this one.  School visits put you in direct contact with your audience, make you real, and give you, on the back of an entertaining presentation, the opportunity to engage your market - and sell your books.  For too many children’s writers though, the social media platforms we’re using go nowhere close to putting us in contact with our readers.  Young adult writers have a far better chance than children’s writers.  But here reality asks why any self-respecting teen wants to connect with some old fart (yes, you and me, dear), unless they’re saying something relevant (irrespective of the guise of that relevance). 

You have to go where your market is and you have to give it what it wants. Many people have said it’s important to be on Tumblr because loads of teens are on Tumblr. That may be so, but it’s only going to be effective if your market is following you and you’re connecting – and I mean really connecting - with them. 

And how do you encourage your market to follow you – well, again, first write a brilliant novel and then make sure you have lots of relevant and interesting things to say. To be perfectly honest, I’m not convinced that social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr offer much return on investment for children’s authors. Facebook has an age restriction. Twitter has never been a huge hit amongst teens. Tumblr, maybe, but only if you're able to connect with the teens who use it.  Goodreads, on the other hand, is definitely an option with teen readers.  Given all that, you are probably much better off focusing your efforts on your web page and a blog – a place where your market can reach you and interact with you in a safe space.  And in terms of what you post – make it relevant to your books.  Written a story about a pirate?  Write a post about pirates, treasure chests, antique maps and desert islands, post pictures of same.  Don’t bang on about your awards and your reviews, because the sad truth is that aside from you, no one really cares. Do things that are inclusive, involve your readers.  What they want, as I said above, is real engagement.  So make sure your posts are interesting and entertaining -  and then, critically, allow and encourage your readers to interact. 

The alpha and omega of social media is about conversation and interaction and community 

  

John Green, together with his brother, Hank, is brilliant at using social media to connect, particularly via the Ning group, Nerdfighters and YouTube vlog (video blog, for the uninitiated), Vlogbrothers.  It’s well worth looking at what they’ve achieved because the whole thing is about engaging with readers and building a community that provides a safe space for angst-ridden teens.  As a by-product, that community will inevitably buy any book Green ever writes.  

Green has done two brilliant things – he’s written wonderful books that are relevant to a particular group of teens – and he’s leveraged his market and built spectacular brand loyalty by creating a unique customer management strategy. He gives, he gets back. 

As I keep saying, this is where power of social media lies – engaging with your market. Correctly employed, social media presents a unique opportunity to connect directly with your readers and to interact with them.  Via various social media platforms you can build loyalty and a following and in doing so tap directly into your market.  You get them to buy into your brand by dealing with things that are important to them and maybe you even get to tell them about you and your book.  The most important thing though is whatever you do has to be two-way traffic. The alpha and omega of social media is about conversation and interaction and community. 

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@NickySchmidt1

Born and raised in South Africa of central and northern European heritage, Nicky is an ex scriptwriter, copywriter, and marketing, brand and communications manager who "retired" early to follow a dream. Although she still occasionally consults on marketing, communications and brand strategies, mostly she writes YA fiction (some of which leans towards New Adult) in the magical realism, realistic and supernatural genres.
When not off in some other world, she also writes freelance articles - mostly lifestyle and travel - for which she does her own photography. Her work has been published in several South African magazines and newspapers. As well as being a regular feature writer for Words & Pictures, Nicky also runs the SCBWI-BI YA E-Critique group.
Nicky lives in Cape Town with her husband and two rescue Golden Retrievers.

Marketing Part Two: Brands

By Nicky Schmidt

In the first part of this series, we looked at the basics of marketing – starting specifically with product, because without a great product, you may as well stay in your pjs and never get out of bed. Once, however, you’ve written your novel, the best one you can, you have to start thinking about promoting it, because, as I said in the previous article, increasingly authors have to manage their own promotional efforts. But before you can promote yourself or your book, you have to have a brand – that is, you have to know what you stand for and why you do what you do, because it’s your brand that defines everything about you and your books.

"What’s a brand? A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect." - Al Ries, Marketing Consultant, Chairman of Ries & Ries

You’ll increasingly have heard about publishers talking about brands and the author, or a book series, as having a brand. Harry Potter started out as a book and became a brand. So did Twilight, so did the Hunger Games. Brands are about everything that a company or product stands for – and strong brands sell. Strong brands are stories, memories, emotions and, particularly, relationships. Multiple elements make up brands – logos, fonts, tag lines, style/graphics/colours – but ultimately the brand is the visual, emotional, rational and cultural image that people associate with you or your product, the thing that makes them choose your book over another, the thing they relate to and rely on. Think Harry Potter – it’s about fun, excitement, trustworthy entertainment, justice – not just a book about a boy wizard. Think of Apple – you think cool, hip, wannabe, trendsetter, beautiful – not just technology solutions.

The first thing you have to consider is creating a brand for yourself. To that end, what mental and emotional image do you, as author, represent and present to your target market, or, what image do your books present? What do you stand for, what do your words mean? If you are writing a series, it is much easier to focus on branding the books – you have, after all, created a whole world full of common values and emotions. This is why publishers like series – they’re much easier to brand, and therefore to sell.

But what if you’re writing one off books? Then you have to look to the values and emotions that play across all your books. Consider the American YA author, Sarah Dessen – there’s a recipe and a relationship of trust – teen girls buy her books because they know they’re going to get books about love, relationships, growing up, getting smarter. The branding lies in both Sarah Dessen and her books – you think Sarah Dessen and you know what you’re buying.

But, if you don’t want to be pigeon-holed into writing books which are all the same, write under a pen name and create a second brand.

Perhaps the most salient factor for the most successful brands is the promise of consistent quality. ~ Rosi McMurray, executive director of strategy, The Brand Union

If you’re the kind of author who writes across age groups and likes to experiment with different types of stories, then your work is harder – the branding has to be about you and everything you stand for – your values, your unique take on the world, the reliability of your writing and your stories. Integrity and responsibility are critical in personal branding. People will seek you on a bookshelf because they know they can trust your words.

The problem for debut authors is that you’re starting with a single book. So my advice is, don’t worry about the marketing so much, instead, make your book as good as you can and then write another and another and another. Create the products and get them on the shelves. The big point about brands is very much about relationships of trust.

Anyone remember when Coca-Cola tried to introduce New Coke back in 1985? They changed a time-trusted recipe, which resulted in a storm of consumer protest. When they reintroduced, “Classic Coke” sales rose. Think how scores of JK Rowling fans felt when she published The Casual Vacancy. Lesson: Never mess with a trusted recipe. Know what you stand for, believe in it, nurture it, and retain it. That’s brand management.

Unless you have absolute clarity of what your brand stands for, everything else is irrelevant. ~ Mark Baynes, global cmo, Kellogg Co.

The other point to remember is that your publisher has a brand too – they will be known for producing particular kinds of books. So while you are a brand in your own right, you are also one of the publisher’s sub-brands and need to align with your publisher’s brand.

Think about what you and your books stand for. Think about the colours and sounds and shapes and smells that represent you, that you love. Create a quirky, catchy tagline for yourself. Use these things consistently on all your promotional spaces – website, blog, author Facebook page, author Tumblr page, Twitter, bookmarks and giveaways. Be your brand at school visits and signings, live your brand in all your public spaces. The easiest way to do this is to know who you truly are and to be true to yourself because ultimately you as the brand become the marketing. And remember, as Scott Talgo, Brand Strategist says, “A brand that captures your mind gains behaviour. A brand that captures your heart gains commitment.”

You’re just anybody without your identity.’ – Grenville Main, DNA Design

In further considering brands, I recently wrote a blog post on my own blog, Absolute Vanilla about Brand and Voice – you may find it worth a read – because as I see it, there is a distinct correlation between an author’s voice and their brand.

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@NickySchmidt1

Born and raised in South Africa of central and northern European heritage, Nicky Schmidt is an ex scriptwriter, copywriter, and marketing, brand and communications manager who "retired" early to follow a dream.  Although she still occasionally consults on marketing, communications and brand strategies, mostly she writes YA fiction in the magical realism, realistic and supernatural genres.    She also writes freelance articles - mostly lifestyle and travel - for which she does her own photography. Her work has been published in several South African magazines and newspapers.

Social Sheila Video: get your head around hashtags

By Sheila Averbuch 

If you're new to Twitter, hashtags (the # symbols) can be one of the most off-putting idiosyncracies. But once you understand that the symbols merely flag up an important concept in the tweet, you'll realise how helpful they can be in building your network and deepening your understanding of the industry.



Twitter, of course, only gives you a brief sentence or two to express yourself. Hashtags mark a certain word in your sentence as the key topic, to make it easier for other Twitter users to find and read tweets on a common subject. It's interesting to note that it was the people using Twitter, not the company itself, who first started to use the # symbol.

"Hashtags mark a certain word in your sentence as the key topic"

These days, you'll see hashtags appearing everywhere from the opening credits of television shows to websites promoting conferences. In this how-to video (click the bullseye icon in the video frame to watch it full-screen), I'll show you how to search Twitter for relevant hashtags, and how to go a step further and track down the most influential Twitter users chatting on hot topics, using Hootsuite.

"I recommend you limit yourself to a single hashtag per tweet"

If you want to start using relevant hashtags such as #kidlit, I recommend you limit yourself to a single hashtag per tweet; otherwise your tweets may drift into the realm of illegibility. For those of you who already use hashtags regularly, we love it if you could share useful search terms in the comments section below.



If you would like to see other how-to videos, email me at sheila@spacekidsbooks.com

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@spacekidsbooks

Sheila Averbuch lives in East Lothian in Scotland and is currently working on SPACE KIDS AND THE SPY FROM PLANET 12, a sci-fi adventure for 9-11's. She holds an MA in journalism from Stanford University and a BA from Harvard University in American History & Literature. Sheila is managing director of the content services and social media training agency ENNclick and blogs at www.spacekidsbooks.com


 

Sshh... don't tell.

I’ve been distracted this week by preparations for youngest daughter’s 18th birthday – cooking acres of lasagne and slabs of chocolate cake while devising ingenious ways to get people to mix at the party. I’m also staring defiantly at two end of the month work deadlines and being firm about the fact that Monday and Tuesday are still April. So broadcasting Words & Pictures hasn’t received as much of my attention as it should.

sshh, 'don’t tell anyone’

Consequently, I was delighted when Candy, drew my attention to an article on Linkedin on 'how to go viral'. It suggests that the secret is ssssshhh 'don’t tell anyone’. Give people the ‘social currency’ of making them think they’re part of an exclusive group that knows this amazing thing - like a bar hidden inside a hot dog restaurant in New York. Or, let them share in an emotional life changing experience, like Susan Boyle’s first appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, for example, or indeed, Bryony's post the other week, and word of mouth will do all the hard work for you. Nicky, in her excellent marketing feature this week, agrees.

'Word of mouth', of course, only works if you have something worth talking about, if it’s remarkable in some way and sometimes, remarkable is really bad. I’m sure we can think of examples of 'really bad' that don’t need any more exposure. Remarkable, however, can also be surprising; the kind of thing that as children, would have made us whisper to our friends in the playground “you’ll never guess what…” Susan Boyle’s debut was definitely surprising.

Youngest daughter, she say no.

As children’s book creators we’re after really good, even surprisingly good, so good that children and young people will go on and on to their friends about our book and perhaps more importantly to their parents for money to buy it. Barry Cunningham, in his top tips for writing great children’s fiction says that children are not the best at giving feedback he says 'they’ll love your book, whatever it is'. He hasn’t met youngest daughter, now frighteningly adult.

This week, I loved Layn Marlow’s ‘slow evolution’ to published author/illustrator. Her banner image is sooo sweet, as are all her images – look out for Christmas Tree Bear! We asked publisher Sara O’Connor and she delivered this week, too. I think we’ve only begun to discover how much we don’t know about the publishing process. Send her your questions for next month via writers@scbwi.org or leave her a comment.

I’ve certainly begun to learn from Sheila, just how much I don’t know about social media – I hope Sheila’s posts and Nicky’s marketing expertise are useful for authors and illustrators whose publishers expect them to take on a lot of their own promotion. Click on 'Pulse' in the left hand menu for posts of especial relevance to published authors and illustrators.

I do hope that whatever stage you're at, you find Words & Pictures worth whispering about.

Now, ssshhhh…. next week...

With news, celebrations, and Nick’s blog break, here are the other treats in store:
There’s a new Writing Space from Michelle Newell – look in on Monday to find out whose.
Also on Monday, Nooo! Yes. It's true.... Maureen Lynas has been online dating, SCBWI style.
On Wednesday, Rosie Bird Hawkins has a feature choc-full of ideas on how to discover stories, launching our theme for May – can you guess what that is?
And on Friday, very quietly, it’s episode two of Amanda Lillywite’s wonderful webcomic Duck & Bear.

Pass it on...

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta.

Marketing Part One: It’s not rocket science, is it?

by Nicky Schmidt

Ask any author what they’d like to know more about, and one of the responses is inevitably “marketing”. This is far less about a desire for a career change, and far more about the need to make a living as a writer.

As the publishing world changes, so authors have increasing responsibility to raise their sales figures in the hope of not just improving their living, but also ensuring future publishing contracts.

Understanding the Basics

For most authors, however, writing and marketing are uneasy bedfellows. Many see marketing as distasteful - all self-promotion and being in the limelight - when really, they’d rather be lurking in their shed writing The Next Big Thing. The irony is if you wrote The Next Big Thing, you wouldn’t have to worry about marketing – but we’ll get to that.

Unfortunately, given publishers’ business strategies (most of which seem to be about rights’ management), most authors are going to have to get used to the concept of marketing themselves. To be successful, an author has to start seeing his/herself as a small FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) company – researching, manufacturing and marketing products - and leveraging opportunities. Considered this way, one soon realises that every author has to have a marketing plan.

Before you run screaming to the hills, let me assure you that marketing isn’t rocket science – it’s psychology, common sense, confidence – and knowing who you are. You don’t need a complex 100 page document. Richard Branson is famously known for writing a business plan on the back of a beer mat, and for saying, “If something can’t be explained off the back of an envelope, it’s rubbish.” Keep your marketing strategy simple and focused.

Marketing - it's psychology, common sense, confidence, - and knowing who you are.

Through this series you will hopefully come to understand some of the fundamentals of marketing. But there’s a proviso: you have chosen to work in a tough and competitive industry which is threatened by change and difficult economic conditions. The only thing that is certain is uncertainty, and there is no sure thing. While marketing isn’t rocket science, in today’s world rocket science may well be an easier alternative to a career as a writer!

As a novice marketer there are a few basics you need to understand. They are known as the 4 P's and underpin every marketing endeavour.

Product ~ Price ~ Place ~ Promotion

In other words:

Your novel ~ How much it costs ~ Where it's sold ~ What makes it sell

You might also add three more P's:

Purchaser ~ Positioning ~ Purpose



This means: Knowing and connecting with your target market ~ Your brand and how you put it into the world ~ Why you're doing what you're doing

 ...research what your target market is reading - and most importantly - enjoying.

Unless you are self-publishing*, price and place (distribution) will be out of your hands. Even your product may be shaped by what publishers and booksellers deem will sell. But whether you are self-publishing or being traditionally published, promotion is increasingly going to be left in your hands. Before you can start promoting yourself and your work, you have to have written the very best novel you can, and then you’ll need to create a brand and get that brand out there.

Looking at it in marketing terms, and without wishing to sound trite, the most critical thing you must do is produce the best, must-have product you can – i.e. write the best novel you can. And, if you don’t want to have to end up marketing it, make sure it’s a novel that speaks to universal themes that everyone will love - in other words the infamous Next Big Thing.

If you’re going to approach your writing as a business (which you should do if you want to make a living from your writing) you’ll have to leave the writing shed and get analytical. Do your market research and understand the themes and plots that create a bestseller. Then, and this is critical, research what your target market is reading - and most importantly - enjoying. Link these elements to what publishers are putting into the market place – accepting that publishers don’t really know what they want until they see it. Also think about how you can gain maximum leverage from your novel – can it become an app, go multimedia, be turned into a film or game, spawn merchandise? Remember, there is more than one way to tell a story. Think about all these things so that they inform how and what you write. And then finally, artistic integrity and literary inclinations notwithstanding sit down and write a novel with commercial appeal.

If you're going to approach your writing as a business... you'll have to leave the writing shed and get analytical.

Now here’s the curious thing – write the novel with commercial appeal, hopefully that Next Big Thing, and you’ll discover that the very best form of marketing is word of mouth. And what’s great is that it’s powerful and costs nothing. As US literary agent, Donald Maass** says, “Success does not come from agents, advances, editors or promotion… It comes from word of mouth.” This is further borne out by Amazon’s recent purchase of GoodReads. In the Washington Post’s “Wonkblog”, Jordan Weissman says, “Barnes and Noble’s in-store displays don’t rule the book business like they used to… Instead, the business model is moving further towards word of mouth.” Readers are increasingly responsible for book recommendations. Let’s face it, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter didn’t become a success because some Bloomsbury marketing manager dreamed up a cunning marketing strategy. The first Harry Potters were a hit because people were talking about and recommending them to their friends. It was only after sales took off that marketing people piled onto the bandwagon. Marketing people love easy-sells (and long lunches).

Write the novel with commercial appeal, hopefully that Next Big Thing, and you'll discover that the very best form of marketing is word of mouth.

If you’ve not written the Next Big Thing, the problem you have is how to be noticed in the crowd. And the truth is, in today’s overcrowded market place where you are in competition with other novels, movies, TV, games and apps, standing out - as any midlist author will tell you - is painfully difficult. It can be done but it takes time and hard work, and the way forward is two-fold. Firstly, never give up. Brute determination and a thick skin are your allies. Secondly, having written the best novel you can, start building a strong brand for yourself and getting your name into the public domain. The reason why some publishers bang on about author platforms is because if you’re out there on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc., you’re already marketing yourself, which makes their job a little easier. Once you have your brand and some kind of platform, start connecting with your target market (your purchasers) in a way that is human, accessible and interactive. Brand, positioning and customer loyalty are the key elements in leveraging your writing career, and if you can do it well, you can start to make a living as a writer – or you can join an FMCG as a marketing manager!

Next in the series: Brands

*this series of articles looks at marketing from the perspective of traditionally published authors, for self-published authors wanting marketing insights, there are a host of resources available on the internet, including interviews with self-published authors on my blog, Absolute Vanilla.
** Donald Maass is also author of “Writing the Breakout Novel – insider advice for taking your fiction to the next level”.

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As well as being a regular feature writer for Words & Pictures, Nicky also runs the SCBWI_BI YA E-Critique group.  She blogs at Absolute Vanilla