Here's a shameless plug for another author's book - (nice change?)
Prize Inside by Seth Godin
Reading Seth's book has been both a joy and a fear inspiring challenge.
There is so much great marketing advice in his book, but one of the most important take-a-ways for me was the idea that people don't just like MORE, or WANT MORE, they are absolutely CRAZY about getting MORE!
So, as writers marketing a book, or a creative selling anything at all, we'd have to be crazy not to give them MORE!
For me the challenge is how do I give my readers, their parents and teachers more in my picture books? I wanted to find fun, creative ways to add more value to each book. Beyond telling an interesting , fun, silly or meaningful story with fab illustrations, how can I give the buyer more-for-their-money?
Without giving away the farm -- here are some simple, and some not so simple, ways I am adding value, and putting a "surprise inside" picture books.
With the very first book, Mer The mermaid and the Pearl, I instinctively created added value by ending the book on a beautiful blue ocean background. Having been a preschool teacher for many years, I knew teachers could copy out this page for their students to add their own Merfolk drawings. Perhaps for use in a Merfolk bulletin board, book covers or greet cards! This was a very simple "prize inside."
Today I'm working on a new story called Monster Mash, and together with artist/illustrator Travis Shorey, I'm are gonna get his monsters moving! It's started with a simple PowerPoint Presentation, and morphed into getting help from a student on making the animation in flash. I even hope to include a cut-out Zeotrope (See Wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope) , of the Monster Mash monsters dancing. This is a fun "prize inside" that's not so simple!
All illustrations for Monster Mash and story are copyrighted
Copyright 2014
by Robin Smith and Travis Shorey
I have several stories planned that I've requested a very special prize be created by my daughter. After nearly 10 years of guitar playing , my force of nature daughter is playing in a band and writing her own songs. (Those guitar lessons DO pay off parents!)
I've asked said daughter, Kathleen Gunderson, to write two songs: STORM, and Rainy Day Blues.
Kat's songs will be offered as a free download for a set time (one year sounds fair), in Storm! -
-a picture book is about a father and son weathering the storm in a small sailboat; and the song Rainy Day Blues will be featured in two books -- I Like Ella, and Rainy Day Blues.
It's early days, but as Seth Godin suggests, I think readers, teachers and parents
will enjoy getting just a bit more -- everyone loves a surprise!
Monster Mash
by Robin Smith, Illustrated by Travis Shorey
Everybody DANCE Now!
To see a preview of the Monster Mash monsters dancing in a PowerPoint file,
email me at smithr8020@gmail.com
Monster Zeotrope
To order books or for info on how to publish your book to CreateSpace,
Contact this author, Robin Smith
smithr8020@gmail.com
