Category Archives: Fees & pricing

Author Visit Worries

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School Visit - 2011 SV Stockton - Sunday Sundaes

Even seasoned school visit presenters have moments of doubt, as do authors new to the circuit. Recently, when I did a presentation on author visits at the SCBWI North-Central California Spring Spirit Conference, the participants’ three major worries had to do with the content and pacing of their presentation, what fees to charge, and getting gigs.

Since these might be some of your worries, too, here are some articles to get you started. Search for more on this blog site, and, if you are a member of SCBWI, check out my SCBWI Bulletin column, “The Truth About School Visits” for additional articles.

QUESTION: What should I do in a presentation? How do I pace my time? How do I keep from boring the kids?

ARTICLE: What Do I Do When I Get There?
ARTICLE: Plotting Your Assembly Story

QUESTION: How much should I charge?

ARTICLE: How Much Should I Charge?
ARTICLE: Fee or Free?

QUESTION: How do I get gigs?

ARTICLE: Getting Gigs
ARTICLE: Nine Business Basics for School Visits

Please share any questions you might have. I’m happy to connect you to helpful resources.

School Visits – Are You Easy for Hosts to Find?

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Magnifying-Glass-on-KeyboardIt’s one thing to say that you want to do school visits. But are you making it difficult for potential host to find you?

Frankly, I just spent a full day clicking on over 75 author websites for a Friends of the Library project. Schools don’t have the time or tenacity to go through this volume of names just to find one person for a day of assemblies.  Here are some tips for making it easy to be discovered.

Your Number One calling card is your website. If you don’t have a real author-dedicated website – preferably in your own name – you’re not serious about being an author who does presentations. Have a friend check your links to make sure they work.

What do you need on your website? I visited many “pretty” websites. “Pretty” on its own doesn’t sell a school visit. Information in an easily accessible form does. You must have at least these two buttons: one for “Books” and another for “School Visits” or “Presentations.”

Under “Books” include story summaries, reviews, awards.
Reviews that carry weight will be from any of these sources:
School Library Journal
Publishers’ Weekly
Kirkus
The Horn Book
Booklist
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Library Media Connection

Some of the types of awards that are prestigious are:
State Awards
Best Books lists (i.e. Bank Street College)
Junior Library Guild selection
Children’s Books Notable Lists (Social Studies,  Science)
American Library Association Awards (i.e. “Oscar” status) Batchelder, Belpré, Caldecott, Carnegie, Geisel, Newbery, Odyssey, Sibert, Wilder
Young Adult Library Services Awards (YALSA) including the Alex, Morris, Edwards, Printz, and YALSA Excellence in nonfiction.
National Book Award
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award

About books. If you plan to work with a bookseller at your appearance, then know that the bookseller needs you to have at least one book in print and available for students to access. If your book is digital-only, understand that many schools will not be able to provide it to share with or assign to students in preparation for your visit.

Under the “School Visits” or “Presentations” button
Describe your presentation(s) and number of sessions you can do per visit.

Tell what grades your presentations are best for: Primary (K-2); Intermediate (grades 3-5); Middle School (Grades 6-8) or High School (Grades 9-12)

Post testimonials from people who have seen you perform along with their positions (If you can’t write a specific name, put their role and school, i.e. Librarian, Buckley Elementary; 6th grader, Easton Middle School, etc.)

Outline your fees (optional). Many authors like wiggle room to negotiate, so they choose not to post set fees. Others want potential hosts to know up front what all costs will be (honorarium, travel, lodging, meals). In this area, you can breakdown options (full-day/half-day/hourly; assemblies, workshops, small group sessions; in-person/SKYPE).

For a good example of an author who includes it all, check out Lee Wardlaw’s detailed descriptions of her presentations.

Discoverability is challenging. After you spruce up your website, get on professional lists and keep them updated. If you are a member of SCBWI (and why wouldn’t you be?), be sure to update your information on the Speakers’ Bureau site. Network with authors about school visit leads. Here are some other posts I’ve done related to this topic.

SKYPE: A Great Tool for MG and YA Authors

Brochure Overhaul for School Visit Promotion

How Much Should I Charge? Three Rules of Thumb

Make it easy for hosts to find you. Your website is your first most important calling card. The next is the quality of the books you write and the presentations that you deliver. So get going!

 

 

How Much Should I Charge? Three Rules of Thumb

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MoneySign-BlackWhen you are figuring out what to charge for a school visit, here are three rules of thumb that can help:

• Be decisive about what fee works best for you.

• Don’t be defensive about your fee.

• Silence is your friend if you have to negotiate your fee.

Rule of Thumb #1: Be decisive about what fee works best for you
Authors’ and illustrators’ fees for school visits are all over the map, so you’re free to come up with your own figure.  If you’re at a loss of where to begin, check out publishers’ sites for their author and illustrator appearance pages to get some examples. The median fees (not the average) will guide you. For example, here’s what I found at the site of Little Brown Young Readers division, a publisher’s grid that includes 80 authors and illustrators from 22 states, DC and one Canadian province.

Primary grades or “All Ages” (30 author and illustrators)
FEES:
NEGOTIABLE = 2
N/A = 2
Authors/illustrators who post a local plus non-local fee = 13:30
Local fee range = $500 – $2000
Median local fee = $775
Non-local fee range = $450 – $5000
Median non-local fee = $1250

Grades 5 and up (50 authors)
FEES:
NEGOTIABLE = 5
N/A = 2
Authors who post a local plus non-local fee = 13:50
Local fee range = $250 – $1500
Median local fee =$500
Non-local fee range = $100 – $5000
Median non-local fee = $1,000

Rule of Thumb #2: Don’t be defensive about your fee.
If people question your fee, just say, “This is what I charge.” You don’t have to do a dance or explain why you’re worth it. Just know that you are worth it!

Rule of Thumb #3: Silence is your friend if you have to negotiate your fee.
I was a garage sale recently. A shopper showed interest in a table and chair set. My friend blurted, “It’s $60 or best offer.” She should’ve just said, “It’s $60” and let them make the next move. Her next action would then be determined by their actions or comments.

With school visits, don’t take a potential host’s silence as a “no.” Don’t assume they can’t afford you. They’re thinking it over. If they counter with a price or ask if you can do any better, you can either choose to negotiate or stand with your original fee.  And your silence in this exchange is just as significant. When you don’t chatter, good things can happen.

Podcast: Evergreen School Visit Advice

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Brain Burps About Books - LogoGrab your earbuds and turn up your speakers for some “evergreen” school visit advice. This is an interview that the one-and-only Katie Davis did with me on her podcast, Brain Burps About Books.  Katie is a writer, an illustrator, and a video marketing maven (her description — and it’s true!) Her podcasts include interviews with publishing industry leaders on the creation, promotion and writing of children’s books.

This interview is an hour long. In case your time is short and you want to jump to the bits that are of greatest interest to you, I’ve provided a list of topics we discussed and approximate times in the podcast they appear (minutes & seconds).
Episode #31: School Visit Questions with Expert Alexis O’Neill

00:00  General announcements
05:54 Introduction of Alexis O’Neill, SchoolVisitExperts.com
08:00 Importance of authors being compensated for work
09:01 Surprising world of school visits following publication
09:30 Selling vs giving. Expertise & intent
13:54 AUDIENCE QUESTION: What’s the best way to get school visits?
17:48 Fees & discounts
28:53 AUDIENCE QUESTION: Crowd control. How do you deal with loud, noisy assemblies? How do you get their attention and respect in a humorous way?
35:45 AUDIENCE QUESTION: How can I connect with schools? Mailings fall flat. Other suggestions?
42:18 AUDIENCE QUESTION: How can I develop a program to create an on-going relationship with a school?
46:26 AUDIENCE QUESTION: How do you get in front of the decision-makers – teachers & librarians?
52.10 AUDIENCE QUESTION: How can we promote to schools and keep “green”? Who’s the first contact at a school?
57.22 AUDIENCE QUESTION: I donated a school visit. Media will be coming. What I should I be prepared for?
01:02:05 AUDIENCE QUESTION: How do you know what to charge for the different events? Do you think it’s important to include kids in the presentation or is it okay just to do a PowerPoint to the kids?
01:09:21 END of Podcast

5 Things to Do While Schools Are Sleeping

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20150509_191953Here’s what you can do now while kids out of school and teachers are recharging their creative batteries this summer:

1. Business cards & bookmarks: Is it time for a redesign? A reorder? You can get some great deals through online printers such as GotPrint.com, Overnightprint.com and Vistaprint.com, to name a few.

2. Brochures & Websites: Is the information updated? Complete? Ask your critique group members to review your school visit page or print brochure. Better still, find a principal, teacher or parent give you feedback on it to see if you’ve made it clear how your presentation will benefit their students and tie into the curriculum.

3. Rates: Review your school visit rates. Do you need to change them for the coming year? If you’re unsure or you’re just starting out, compare with other published authors in your geographic region. A good place to start is with local PAL members of SCBWI.

4. Email updates: Enter your contacts from the past year into a database. This may include hosts of schools you visited or conference and workshop attendees. Be sure to note where you met them so that when you send them an announcement,  they know you’ve already established a relationship with them.

5. Reminders: Compose a note now to send in August reminding contacts of your availability to do school visits in 2015-2016. For schools you’ve just visited, ask them to refer you to another school. For contacts you made at events, plant the seed that you’re available in the coming year to inspire their students.

BONUS TIP
If you haven’t visited a school in 5 years, it’s time reestablish a relationship with them. Tell them what’s new. Suggest you return to meet their new batch of students.

If you do these five simple tasks (six, if you count the Bonus task!), you’ll be in great shape when the school year revs up again in August!

Pricing Lessons

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Dollar sign - goldThe new year is approaching fast. School visit invitations are ramping up – but so is your blood pressure. Do you feel as if you are constantly justifying your school visit fees to yourself and others? Do you second guess whether your services are priced to best reflect the content — and motivation — you deliver?

If you’re struggling with the fees you charge for your school visits, read this blog post by Melissa Dinwiddie, “5 Art Pricing Lessons I Learned the Hard Way.”  Replace the word “art” with “school visit presentation” and you will have some of the best advice ever about pricing.  Be sure to read the comments from readers as they share great advice, too. And when you’re done, leave a comment here to let us know what you think of this.

This guest post appeared “The Abundant Artist” blog by Cory Huff.  My thanks to Elizabeth Dulemba for bringing this to my attention.