Book Signings
Signings at bookshops and talking to children and adults about writing and books and reading them your stories, is one of the most pleasurable parts of being a children’s author.
Nothing beats the joy of watching a child’s face light up, smile or stare in wonder, as you read your words out loud.
I have two signings coming up soon, both mainly on ‘Queenie One Elephant’s Story’(and I’ll have a pretend cake, made by the Greensborough Cake Decorating Centre, which is a copy of the one made for the re-launch at the Melbourne Zoo on January 22 this year and a replica of the cake made to celebrate Queenie’s birthday in 1939).
I’ll also be signing copies of ‘The Dog on the Tuckerbox’ and ‘Flame Stands Waiting’.
This Saturday, 14 April from 2.00 – 4.00 p.m. at
Robinson’s Bookshop,
Greensborough Plaza Shopping Centre,
25 Main Street, Greensborough.
(Near Gloria Jeans)
Ph: 9783 6488
Saturday, 5 May, from 3.00 – 4.30 p.m. at
Eltham Bookshop,
970 Main Road
Eltham
Ph: 9439 8700
Income Tax Return
Each year I dread the compilation of figures, paper gathering and rifling through bank statements, book lists and receipts in preparation for completing my tax.
In the last few years I have found a wonderful tax accountant who does the final figure balance, but like everyone else, I am still left with the task of attacking the paperwork and finding the figures and like most writers; I hate, loathe and detest figures.
This morning I feel like I’ve been handed a precious gift. I have finished my part of the dreaded task and I am not talking about the ‘almost coming again tax year’, I’m talking about the last one, because I always, always leave this task until the very last minute.
So now that the dining table is no longer covered with receipts, tickets and lists I am free to retreat back into the much more comfortable and enjoyable place of my study and playing with words at my brand new, second-hand desk.
This year’s tax – I always plan to do it early – let’s hope I can manage it in July this year!
My 'new' desk
Country Schools and Bookshops
Last Wednesday I traveled to Traralgon and Sale in country Victoria, to talk to primary school students about reading and writing and what I do as an author of children’s books. The visit was organised by a children’s charity group and sponsored by Carpet Court to highlight the value of books and writing.
I love leaving the city behind, passing though country towns, farmland and drinking in the countryside rather than sitting in stop-start traffic.
At Liddiard Road PS in Traralgon a newspaper journo did a brief interview and took some photos with the children and during the session a cameraman recorded some footage, which I am told aired that night on Win-tv. It’s always great to get some publicity for reading and books and of course for my own books.
I travelled on then to Wurruk PS in Sale and arrived with a rainy storm in full swing and the temperature plummeting at least 10 degrees – I honestly thought it might snow!
Wurruk is one of those beautiful small country schools with mixed-age classes and as the students had also been celebrating ‘Harmony Day’ and were wearing ‘dress-ups’ it made student identification much easier for me. Another journo sat through the whole session, which I’ve never had happen before.
I was able to share with these children an educational book I wrote some time ago which was set down the road from their school. As a child, my cousins lived in Sale and my sister and I (little brothers were too young) were the city kids visiting our country cousins and we revelled in the adventure and freedom of riding our bikes along country dirt roads with our cousins’ dog Candy in the basket of one of the bikes. On one occasion Candy jumped from the basket and raced towards a rambling house on the hill. ‘Oh, no my older cousin wailed. We need to grab her, that house is haunted.’
So many years later, when I was writing ‘The Creaky House Club’, that image and house sprung to mind. The nice thing was that when my sister read the book, she recognised the house straight away.
I then raced to the Collins Bookshop in Sale where the wonderful owners, Trevor and Liz Watt, had organised a presentation at the library for me. Here I spoke to a mixed group of adults and children who listened to me talk about the writing and research behind my books. I also screened some short moving image of Queenie giving rides in 1944, which is always a hit.
Visiting the country and country schools, I love it.
Wurruk PS
Liz and Trevor Watt - Collins Booksellers, Sale
Airport
Hello
goodbye
smiles
tears
sons
daughters
mothers
fathers
every-bodies
friends
snakelike queues
waiting
struggling with suitcases
brawling with backpacks
cars fighting for space
in matchbox rows
hello
goodbye.
LA International Airport - big jet engines
Using Social Media to Your Best Advantage
I was lucky enough to recently attend the SCBWI International Children’s Book Conference in New York and one of the sessions I was especially interested in was the one on ‘Using Social Media to Your Best Advantage.’
Like many writers, I constantly struggle with the question – how much time do I spend on ‘self promotion’ and ‘marketing’ and how much time is left for writing?
So following the conference, the things that seem clear to me now are that there is no right or wrong way of marketing yourself. The advice was to look at yourself and your comfort zone, know your audience and how you want to present yourself to them.
Blogging, tweeting and Facebook – are all important but I believe you need to balance that with your writing. I think the stats are – 50% each, but is that the right balance? I suspect the answer is different for everyone.
You need to ask yourself – where and who is your audience and only use social media if you have something worthwhile to say to create a following. You also should give a sense of who you are as a person. Connect on a personal level and be patient, it takes a long time to build and retain a fan base. If you write for teenagers remember that teenagers are really into Facebook.
A few points:
Post content that engages your fans.
The ‘liking’ is important.
In the US Virtual gifts and giveaways are popular.
Where are you going to put your time? Figure out where you are now – what are your strengths and weaknesses.
Who do you admire for social presence?
Where’s your fan base?
How can you make it more efficient and fun?
Do you need to social monitor? Do you want to? (You can set up a social media calendar.)
Ask yourself – What is my area of specialty and how do I want to convey that?
Google alerts are great.
There is a ‘Top blogs’ site. Monitors top blogs on particular subjects.
In summary, be systematic, prioritise, one step at a time, be flexible – something new is always happening so don’t feel like you are being left behind. (I constantly feel that way).
Websites are as effective as Facebook and better for kids because parents see them as safer for their children.
One last thing, it’s good to re-post and share the information posted by friends and colleagues.
. . . and now I’ll leave the social media talk and get back to some creative writing.
Below are a few more photos of New York in Winter 2012.
Central Park
Central Park
Manhattten from Liberty Island