Writing the book was the easy part. Working with my niece on the illustrations was the fun part. Publishing the book was the exciting part. Marketing it... well that's another story in itself.
Don't get me wrong. I knew all along that the book was not going to sell itself. I knew I was going to have to talk to people - constantly - which has never been a problem for me. (Although I am beginning to feel like a book pimp.) I knew that I was going to face rejection - which has always been a problem for me. But I think like a champion, dust myself off and keep going - trying to stir up that buzz that is critical in any marketing plan.
We put our PR plan in place and set about trying to get media focus. We have our outreach to school districts. My friend Ann Fiala, Founder of the Reading Instruction Company in Austin, Texas, has developed a vocabulary and reading curriculum for the book. The curriculm is free to school districts for a limited time. We are visiting book stores - all the normal things you do in a marketing campaign.
Then, everyone suggested that I twitter. "Excuse me," I said politely, "but twittering in public doesn't seem like the right thing to do." My grandmother warned me about twittering about and being a children's author and such... It was then that I learned how technologically unskilled I had become. I learned that people twitter all the time now - and in public. They twitter and they tweet. Sometimes they re-tweet. They build relationships with their twittering followers, but still re-tweet with other people. It sounds so sordid. But everyone also told me I shouldn't twitter unless I really knew what I was doing. So I didn't - not now anyway - because it is obvious that I don't know what I'm doing.
Then someone said, "Write a blog." So I did.
