Author Archives: Alexis

Author Visit Survey

Dear Readers –

Are you a published author and a member of SCBWI? I have a challenge for you.
My goal is to get 1,000 teachers and librarians who have hosted author visits in the past to respond to a very brief Author Visit Survey at http://tinyurl.com/kzjnutv

How can you help? Send a short personal message along with this link to at least 10 (ten) of your past author visit hosts. http://tinyurl.com/kzjnutv

Why am I doing this survey? Because many teachers and librarians who want to host author visits have met with resistance to hosting one in their schools. As a result, I’ve been working on a study to provide statistics and stories to assist them in making a case for bringing authors and illustrators to their schools.

The study, which was piloted successfully in 2013, will gather data on what effects an author visit has on students’ attitudes toward reading writing and revision. Right now, I’m “taking the temperature” of anyone who has hosted an author visit at their school or library through this 5-minutes-or-less survey. http://tinyurl.com/kzjnutv

What’s in it for you? No one has ever done an empirical, quantitative study on author visits. Not only will you be helping contribute to this groundbreaking study that will benefit young readers, but this will give you an opportunity to connect again with your past hosts.

Need help framing your letter to hosts? Click here: Sample appeal to past school visit hosts

As of today, I have 177 responses to the survey. Will you help me push it up to the top?

Warmest best wishes,

ALEXIS

Weigh-In: Do Author Visits Make a Difference?

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Do author visits make a difference in the lives of kids?

We think they do.

And at the end of this post, I encourage you to weigh-in with an example.

Among writers, those who write for children are in a special category. We’re called on to motivate, inspire and educate students, not just to sell books. And many believe that our influence is long-term and durable.

Yet according to buzz among authors, many have been experiencing a decline in school visit invitations in the past couple of years. And teachers, librarians or parent volunteers have had to deal with resistance from administrators when proposing author visits to their schools.

Teachers and librarians feel that author visits make a difference and often share stories about the transformations they’ve witnessed among their students. But to be fair – especially in today’s tense testing climate — people who hold the purse strings want to know if the expenditure of time and money to bring an author on campus can pay off in terms of student gains or changes in behavior. A feeling isn’t enough.

To address this, Jo Anne Pandey, Ph.D., a faculty member at California State University Northridge in the Child and Adolescent Development department, and I began searching for empirical studies on author visits, but found none. So we designed a study to explore whether or not an author visit makes a difference in students’ attitudes toward reading, writing and revision. Our purpose was to find statistical data to offer schools about the value of an author visit. Our efforts have been endorsed by the Ventura County Reading Association.

To that end, we conducted a pilot study with fourth graders at one elementary school at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. The results were promising. First, a pre-test. Then one week following a one-hour author assembly, we did a post-test. The results of the pilot study showed that there were increases in student mean scores in reading interest, reading efficacy, writing interest, and positive attitudes about revision. Better still, increases were found to be statistically significant. Dr. Pandey shared details of the study at the International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research Conference in 2013.

The promising results have been encouraging enough to warrant an expanded study. In 2014-2015, we plan to conduct this study with 4th graders in 12 elementary schools in one school district (including Title I, fundamental and general schools) to see if these results are consistent across schools and a variety of author presentations.

What does this study mean to you as a presenter? It means that the results can give you one more compelling “convincer” in your arsenal of reasons for why it’s important for schools to host author visits. Schools provide assemblies throughout the year. Why shouldn’t at least one of them be an author visit, especially if that visit supports the schools primary goals of motivating students to read, write, and revise?

Educators have a gut feeling that the effect of an author’s in-person meeting with students percolates for years. But no one yet has done a quantitative study on the effect of these visits on children. This study can make history.

In the meantime, here’s how you can help us expand our study. We would like to collect your “personal triumph” stories about the impact of an author or illustrator visit on a student or school. While statistics are important, decision-makers also respond to stories!

Please share a story showing how an author visit had an impact on a school, library or individual child. Leave a comment below or contact me at info2@schoolvisitexperts.com.

Connecting Author Visits with Picture Book Month: Advice from Dianne de Las Casas

4 Ways to Make Librarians Love Your School Visit: Advice from Toni Buzzeo

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Toni Buzzeo, award-winning author, librarian and educator, has been giving great advice to authors and illustrators even long before the publication of her book, Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators and Storytellers: Real Space and Virtual Links, co-authored with Jane Kurtz, in 1999. Read on to find out her expert suggestions for making terrific school visit connections with librarians.

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I come to the topic of school visits wearing two stylish, but completely different, hats. As a children’s author, I have visited hundreds of schools across this country and around the world. And as a school librarian, I played host at Longfellow Elementary School in Portland, Maine to at least two authors every year for eleven years. As a result, I’ve gained a deep understanding of what it takes, as an author, to wow a librarian host. And I’d like to share my ideas with you.

1. Be clear, be prompt, be honest, and be gracious in your communications. Every school visit begins with a conversation, either in person, by phone, or through e-mail or snail mail. Whether the librarian is the one to reach out to you, or you are the first to establish contact, the impression you make in your first and ongoing communications will set the tone of the visit. Be clear about your needs. Hedging in order to land a visit and then suffering under unsuitable arrangements or honoraria will not serve your interests well and may ultimately alienate your host. Always respond promptly and honestly about arrangements as you plan. And above all, be gracious even when you feel put off by something that is suggested. It well may be that what appears to be a verbal or written mis-step was unintended. Leave room to discover this and smooth the waters.

2. Know and understand developmental ages and stages. Librarians, and all educators in the schools you visit, will appreciate your thorough understanding of the variety of developmental ages and stages within the groups of students that you meet. While some hosts may ask you to address a combined group of kindergarteners and fourth graders, or eighth graders and seniors, this is the perfect time to be clear and gracious. Explain that each of your presentations is designed with specific developmental learning stages in mind, making it necessary to avoid the combination of such disparate grades. It is essential that you do create presentations that are suitable for each age/grade range in the school, changing not only your content but also your method of delivery to suit the developmental needs and understanding of each group.

3. Understand and design presentations to respond to local curriculum. Your first reaction to this advice may be, “But I’m not a teacher!” Actually, that isn’t true. When you are in a school, you are temporarily in the position of an educator. Because every school hour is precious in this age of standards-driven education, and because in all but five states (see map), those standards are national (entitled the Common Core State Standards), it is easier now, than ever before, to become comfortable with the standards that govern educational goals and incorporate them into your presentations. Start here and then solicit help from teachers you know to refine your presentations.

4. Learn and practice appropriate “behavior management” techniques. If you have taught school or led Scouts or other youth groups, you already have experience in guiding children or teens to appropriate behaviors. If not, however, learning intervention techniques will benefit you by making you comfortable in dealing with students and make you a valuable visitor, readily handling disruptive students and situations yourself and moving quickly back to your presentation. Seek out avenues for learning successful interventions such as observing veteran teachers and librarians, discussing options with educator friends, and reading articles online or in educational journals.

About Toni Buzzeo: Working both from her colonial farmhouse in Buxton, Maine and her sunny winter nest in Sarasota, Florida, New York Times bestselling children’s author Toni Buzzeo has published 19 picture books so far, including the 2013 Caldecott Honor winning One Cool Friend. She also wears the hat of a seasoned educator. A former college and high school English teacher, Toni then became a practicing Library Media Specialist and was named the 1999 Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year. In that hat, she writes many professional books and articles, Common Core curriculum based on children’s literature, as well as teaching and promotional guides for children’s books. Learn more at www.tonibuzzeo.com

5 Things I’ve Learned About School Visits: Advice from Laura Purdie Salas

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In this series, expert school visit presenters share what they’ve learned from experiences in the trenches. Thanks to Laura Purdie Salas for the following contribution.

1. The school owns you for the day. Do all your negotiating ahead of time. Make sure the schedule is do-able, that you have your necessary bathroom breaks, etc. Then, once you show up, just go with it. If the school asks whether you want to eat lunch on your own or with teachers, offer to eat with teachers (or students)—whatever they will get the most out of. If the numbers/venue aren’t quite as described, oh well. They have brought you there, and all you can do is give them everything you’ve got for the day(s). The kids deserve that.

2. Keep your sense of humor. Things will go wrong. Wildly wrong. I’ve had principals change the schedule, fire drills send me into the ladies’ room with a bunch of 4^th-grade girls, slides that all appeared green because of a cable mishap, a first grader throw up, a blizzard close down a school, and much more. I learned a great lesson at a Rob Thomas concert when his tech stuff failed. He just laughed, talked with the audience, and tried to give us his best, even in less-than-best circumstances. Laughing beats crying. Save that for the car ride home.

3. If a third party arranges the visit, make sure you get a contact name, email address and phone number for someone actually at the school. And touch base before your visit. I recently appeared for a visit several hours from home, arranged by the local library through a state grant. The school had no idea I was coming. Let me repeat that. No. Idea. If I had contacted the school directly, even though the library wanted to handle all the details, this could have been avoided. (The principal was flexible, the kids and teachers were surprised, and the day went surprisingly well!)

4. Send posters and free books once the contract is signed. I had some mini-posters printed with a bunch of my book covers and an announcement that “Laura Purdie Salas is coming to school on ________!” On the back of the posters are tips to help the adults prepare for my visit. I send 3-4 posters plus 2-3 of my trade hardcover books in advance. The cost to me is well worth the extra excitement the materials generate.

5. Kids want to connect with you. That’s the most important part of your visit. Yes, design your presentation to support teachers, to correlate to standards, to share content. But then, focus on talking and sharing with kids and listening to them. Make eye contact. Be vulnerable. Be real. That’s how you reach those kids and give them a visit that they will always remember.

Laura Purdie Salas is the author of more than 100 books for kids and teens, including BOOKSPEAK! POEMS ABOUT BOOKS, STAMPEDE! POEMS TO CELEBRATE THE WILD SIDE OF SCHOOL, and A LEAF CAN BE…. She loves to introduce kids to poetry and help them find poems they can relate to, no matter what their age, mood, and personality. She has also written numerous nonfiction books. See more about Laura and her work at www.laurasalas.com.

7 Ways to Make Indie Booksellers Love You

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by Catherine Linka

As the children’s and YA book buyer for Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse in La Ca?ada, California, Catherine Linka as had countless experiences with authors and school visits. But many authors are clueless about etiquette. Take a look at the tips she shares and ee how you might improve your approach.

1. Be absolutely clear from the first conversation with a bookseller if you need to charge for a school visit. It is fine with us if this is how you make your living, but do not expect us to get the business for you. We will, however, be happy to supply books after you have made the deal. If you can afford to do free school visits, it will be a treat for us to call our customers and set those up.

2. Tell us what size of group you prefer to work with well in advance. It’s OK if you like to meet with 20-40 kids. You don’t need to see a huge group to please the bookseller.

3. Help us sell you into the school. Send us jpegs of you and your book. Forward us a short bio, and ask your publicist to send us a couple ARCs to give to teachers. Give us a summary of what you will do during your visit or suggest pre-visit activities for the teachers. Booksellers are busy, and we appreciate authors who make our lives easier.

4. If you need audio-visual equipment–give us 3-4 days notice to contact the school and get those arrangements in place. And tell us what type of hardware or software you’re bringing.

5. Be professional. Avoid off color language or controversial statements that can embarrass the school and endanger the relationship that the bookseller has with it. Booksellers work very hard to build relationships with schools and libraries, and we need authors to understand that if we take them to a school– their behavior reflects on us.

6. Give us a cell phone number so if you are late, we can reach you.

7. Do a good deed. There are some small schools in my area that are dear to my heart, because they serve kids who have emotional or learning differences or who are in the foster care system. Visiting these schools won’t sell a lot of books, but I will be a Heather Brewer fan until the day I die after watching her speak about growing up as an outcast to a group of kids who I know struggle with social relationships.

Catherine Linka is the children’s and YA book buyer for the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse in La Ca?ada, California. An MFA grad of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, Catherine’s debut novel, A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS will be published by St. Martin’s in spring 2014.

2 Economical Bookplate Solutions

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The other day, my friend Barbara Elizabeth Walsh wrote to me for advice:

This is a classic bookplate design, originally developed for Antioch Bookplates, but now owned by Bookplate Ink

“I’m on the road looking for author bookplates. One school didn’t get their book delivery and I promised I would send inscribed bookplates to them as soon as I retuned home. Do you have any suggestions?”

It’s disappointing – to you and to readers — when schools or bookstores run out of your books during your appearance. Being able to autograph and personalize a book can mean the difference between a sale and no sale. So here’s a solution. Tell the host that for any book sold after your visit, you will mail autographed, personalized bookplates. After the event, have the host email the names she / he wants written on the bookplates.

Also known as ex libris (“from the library of”), bookplates are decorative stickers that are placed in the inside cover of books to identify ownership. But classic commercial bookplates are expensive (about $.50 and up per plate) and usually don’t have enough room for an author to sign, let alone inscribe a student’s name.

I tried to find commercial designs like these with enough room for me to write a message. They were sold in packages of 10 – 12, and the costs added up quickly.

There are other products that you can use for bookplates —

Commercial name tags: School supply stores usually have decorative name tags with enough surface area for writing. You can choose a design that complements the theme of your book.

In a school supply store, I found name badges with fun colors. The writing space was a bit cramped – 2.5” x 2.25”, but they worked – and were economical at 100 for $5.00.

Shipping labels: Office supply stores have an abundance of blank white shipping labels to choose from. Select a size (from 2” x 4” to 4 up to 3 1/3” x 4” is best) and make your own design. These can be printed up at home at your convenience. They have room enough for an inscription, autograph and date.

I made my own “themed” template for Loud Emily (top) and The Recess Queen (4” x 3.25”). I use a smaller label (2” x 4”) when I donate a book to a school.

Barbara Walsh decided to buy white labels and personalize them.

Here are two of Barbara Elizabeth Walsh’s bookplate designs for The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans (Calkins Creek). I think the results look great.

Happy bookplate designing – and autographing!

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For more about Barbara’s book, explore this blog post the David C. Barrow Elementary Media Center in Athens, Georgia.

For more about Antioch Bookplate Company.

For more about Bookplate Ink.

Is Munching Lunch in Your Contract?

Happy Birthday, Kite Book!

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Today my new picture book for older readers launches — both literally and figuratively! We’re heading up to Ventura Harbor this afternoon with family and friends for a kite-fest birthday celebration. So Happy Birthday to The Kite That Bridged Two Nations: Homan Wlash and the First Niagara Suspension Bridge.

Later this month, I’ll be traveling to Niagara Falls USA and Canada for a formal launch in the territory where the subject of my book, Homan Walsh, lived in the 1800s and now rests at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York. The first is a VIP launch on 9/27 to thank experts who reviewed the book, local dignitaries, family and friends. The next two are Family Day events — one at Oakwood Cemetery, Niagara Falls, NY on 9/28 and the other across the bridge in Canada at the Niagara Falls History Museum on 9/29. A grant from the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission is helping to fund kite-making and other activities during the launch. Meg Albers, a kite expert and director of Aeolus Curricula is leading those activities.

In advance of this event, I’ll be doing presentations at the Niagara Falls Public Library, New York on 9/24, Fort Erie Public Library, Ontario on 9/25 and will be a guest of Judie Glaser’s program, Community Conversations, a TV program sponsored by the Niagara Falls City School District.

I am incredibly grateful to Terry Widener for his gorgeous illustrations, my editor Carolyn Yoder for her enthusiasm and thoroughness, and Kerry McManus and the whole team at Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills Press for their solid support in bringing this book into the world and getting the word out about it!

Now — here I go! I’m off to the harbor to fly kites!

5 Things I’ve Learned About Doing School Visits: Advice from Kelly Milner Halls

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by Kelly Milner Halls

For several years, I didn’t dare do school visits. I was afraid I had nothing of value to offer. So I observed other speakers. I borrowed this thing from one author, that thing from another and prepared. Then I did school visits for free, until I found out if those things worked for me. In time, I had the courage to charge a fee, confident I was now an author visitor worthy of a paycheck. What changed? I learned these five things – and more!

1. Don’t Just Talk — School visit audiences vary from school to school, and class to class. But if you’re meeting with more than ten kids, be sure to offer them large visual aids along with your intellectual concepts. That keeps the kids at the back of the room engaged and helps visual learners to move with you, from speech point to speech point without disruptions.

2. Don’t Depend On Visual Aids ALONE – It’s just as important that you use an engaging speaking style as it is to provide visual stimulus. Never forget – YOU are the rock star of your show. Your visual aids are like your back-up band. Join them together, and anything is possible.

3. Remind the Kids YOU Were a Kid Once, Too – When I walk out for my presentations, I get the biggest kick out of the kids’ reactions. Little kids say it out loud.
“You’re old.”
“I know!” I reply with a great big smile. “Who knew a writer could be an old lady?”
That part is obvious. And to a kid, anyone over 16 is OLD, so don’t take it personally. What is not obvious is the fact that you were once a kid, very much like they are. So give them a bridge to the child you once were. Use those over –sized visuals to prove you were little once. Use your personality to prove you’re STILL little, deep inside. That relationship is crucial. BTW, to “old” writers, anyone under 18 is LITTLE, too.

4. Have Fun! Get Sad! Have Fun! –That sounds simplistic, but it’s not. If you don’t have fun, neither will the kids. If you don’t show the sad side, you’re being dishonest. When they pay you to speak, fun better consider sharing pieces drawn from the whole human spectrum. Tell a joke related to the topics your write about. Spell out the danger that made someone a hero. Admit to something crazy you did to get the story. Tell your truth, whatever it turns out to be. Use age appropriate humor and tragedy the same way a novelist does to hold your audience’s attention and loyalty.

5. NEVER Forget How SMART Kids Are! Kids may not know as much about the planet as you do, but knowledge and intelligence are not the same things. Kids are not stupid, even when they are in kindergarten. They are inexperienced, true. But they can spot fear and falsehood from a mile away. So leave them in your car. Go out there and celebrate that potential by sharing smart, again, age appropriate information. Never talk down to a kid. Don’t patronize or be dismissive. Make a real connection through mutual respect.

For the past 20 years, Kelly Milner Halls has been writing carefully researched weird nonfiction for young readers across the country — first in magazine and newspaper articles, then in full-fledged books. From monsters to Sasquatch, from aliens to ghosts, Halls is drawn to all things odd, and is proud of it. She makes her home in Spokane, Washington with two daughters, two dogs, too many cats and a five foot rock iguana named Gigantor. She visits schools on a regular basis and will soon star in her own video series for MSN called, “Kelly’s Curiosities.”

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