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It’s Simple – You Gotta Bring the Mountain to Mohammad
by Lisa Galjanic
Selling books can look like this
As a self-published author of 6 children's picture books, I had to find a better way to market my books than going through the tired old bookstore route. I couldn't compete with the big publishing houses in a bookstore environment and I wasn't sure I wanted to anyway. Have you ever seen many children shopping for books in a bookstore? Me neither. So rather than hope the market would sniff me out, I decided to stand up and say "here I am!" Literally (no pun intended!). Here's my strategic marketing plan. Better get a pencil. I asked myself "where are the kids?" The answer came to me immediately: in school. (Yes, I am a genius.) So, that's where I went. Simple, right? Well, not exactly, but it wasn't rocket science, either. So, it wasn't long after publishing my books that I started using sales of my books to raise money for schools (and me). The school fundraising program has been a tremendous success. Here's how it works: An elementary school sponsors a book drive (read: MY book drive) and sells copies of my books to parents at a discounted price while it keeps an additional donation for each book it sells through the program. At the end of a book drive, which usually runs for several weeks, I take a vacation day from my day job and host a free storytelling event at the school. My show includes an attractive stage set (that I made myself - so in addition to being a genius, I'm also creative) with puppets representing the main characters in my stories. The children in the audience become part of the story as they all use the puppets to play the characters and immerse themselves in the tale, easily learning the lessons it teaches (my stories are all about character development). It's a highly interactive event - very improvisational - with lots of surprises each time the story is told. The children are very creative, and it's a pleasure to watch their delight in being authors and actors for the day. I have so many young fans now that I set up a fan mail page on my website for all their cards and letters. I know they're having fun, but I'm having the time of my life! The bottom line? I sell lots of books. Even Oprah would be happy - if she knew I existed, of course. But there's much more. The schools use the money they earn from book sales for other worthy children's programming and the whole thing costs them nothing, nada, nil, zippo. The children have a blast and a unique opportunity to meet the author of a favorite story. Educators and counselors use the books as tools to help them teach character development in the school curriculum, and parents get high quality, beautiful books for their children at a reasonable price. The proverbial "win-win-win-win-win-win" situation! So the moral of THIS story is: you need to figure out the 6-W sales program, the one where everyone wins, and you'll be a success, I promise! Don't just think outside the box. Hit it with a couple of depth charges. You'll be glad you did. You can read my books on my website, and they are also available through Amazon  . Titles in the series are: When Leaves Die, When Fish Are Mean, When Caterpillars Grow Up, When Squirrels Try, When Bees Win, and When Flowers Dance. The series won a Best Books award from US Book News. And, if you know of any schools that want to sponsor a book drive, give me a shout. Enjoy!
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