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Resources
Marketing Children's Books
Harry Potter is the new Huck Finn…and both these kids could kick the butt of any Tom Clancy hero any day of the week. That's because success in the children's book world is way more difficult than in the ranks of adult trade. Children's book publishing is as brutal as childhood itself: for a work of Kiddie Lit to succeed it must triumph against odds as terrible as the ones stacked against the new kid at school getting picked for a team of kickball. Books compete with television, Game Boys, the Internet, the telephone, sports and friends. (Parents and homework: get in line!)
It is never enough for Great Children's Literature to be anointed by critical praise, these titles must pass parental muster, be widely adopted by school and public libraries, and most important: any contender must be literally embraced by the reader. Kids books, like kids themselves, simply have to, have to, have to be popular. Kids have to want to read. And if they read something once, they will read it a hundred times. Plus, it is a truth universally acknowledged that kids read what they see other kids reading. (Note to publishers: If you want to sell a new children's book, forget the ad campaigns - just pay some kids to carry it around school for a few weeks!)
The classics are nearly always about kids surviving abuse, abandonment or the benign self-involvement of their surrounding grown-ups, a trauma which forces our young literary hero to summon inner powers and conquer a threatening world. To wit: the wicked works of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Roald Dahl, Lemony Snicket, and the estimable
Ms. J.K. Rowling. Even Anne of Green Gables had a traumatic start!
Face it: kids love Fudge (Judy Blume), Goosebumps (R.L. Stine), Wizards (Frank L. Baum and J.K. Rowling) and Wrinkles in Time (Madeline L'Engle). Little wonder that red-blooded booksellers love them, too!
The bottom line is that for a children's book to take hold, the story and characters must be of interest to kids and the book must be marketed through means that appeal to kids. Forget author tours, magazine ads, and Oprah appearances. Instead, consider banner ads on web sites that are popular with kids, consider placing the book for sale where kids buy their clothes and other gear, and seriously consider paying some kids to "model the book" for their friends. If you get two or three plants in the top 50-75 markets across the U.S., you might have a bestseller on your hands! Besides being as creative as the kids it targets, such a pint-sized promotion will generate giant media buzz and will cost a fraction of what a typical book marketing campaign costs!
Contact LeadingThinkers and find out what a world-class publicist can do for you.
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