Have you written a children’s book or are you considering it? Creating a story that captivates the imaginations of young readers is a great way to improve literacy and stimulate young minds. I still have my collection of Children’s Classics novels and other books from my childhood that sparked my interest in storytelling. Now they share a shelf with my kid’s favorite books.
When it comes to publishing a book for children, it’s not just about creating a great story. Knowing how to market a children’s book is your job as an author, whether you self-publish or publish traditionally. This means understanding who your target readership is, then developing a way to appeal to them through ads, content, events, and other marketing strategies.
Children’s books come with some marketing challenges that you might not have with other books because you’re marketing to the adults who buy them, rather than the end consumer (the child).
Parents, grandparents, teachers. They all want to buy a book that their children will love, so the first step to marketing a children’s book is writing and illustrating a book that will appeal to those children.
There are many strategies for selling the book once you’ve produced it. Let’s look at some specific ways to 10 strategic ways to market them.
What we’ll cover:
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Your profit per book: $20
In 3 months, you'll make: $90,000
In 6 months, you'll make: $180,000
In 1 year, you'll make: $365,000
How is marketing children’s books different?
Books for the general market are often marketed the same way: understand the end user’s needs and market to them directly. From fantasy novels to business books, if you know your audience, your marketing template is straightforward.
Children’s books, on the other hand, are different from marketing adult books in a few ways. The biggest way is that you might be marketing to multiple groups, including parents, teachers, and children themselves. According to Scholastic’s 5th Kids & Family Reading report, “73% of parents with children ages 0 to 5 say they started reading aloud to their children before age one.” For children ages 6-17, surveyed parents from the same report agreed with the following statements:
- “I wish my child would read more books for fun,” 75% agreed
- “I wish my child would do more things that did not involve screen time.” 71% agreed
Beyond parents, you have grandparents, teachers, and librarians who are looking for ways to put more books into the hands of children.
When marketing to this audience, every decision you make has to consider the needs of the reader (appealing cover and story), and the advocate/buyer who makes the final decision to purchase your book.
Another differentiation from marketing regular books is that once a child likes a book, it’s a pretty good indication of a repeat customer. Parents don’t want to shop endlessly for good content for their kids. It can be stressful and time-consuming for attentive parents to vet media for their kids, so once they find a good author, they’re likely to continue buying those books. This is great for children’s lit authors! Once you get you’re invited in the door, there’s a good chance that you’ll stay for a while. So how do we get in the door initially?
How to market a children’s book
Let’s consider how to market children’s books to both adults and children. We’ll discuss ads, social media, school and library visits, as well as podcasts, speaking gigs, and utilizing an illustrator if you’ve hired one.
1. Ads
Most people’s first instinct when they hear “book marketing” is probably to buy advertisements.
There are a few ways to buy ads. The first is the most obvious–look on your favorite social media platforms and see what it costs to run ads there. Facebook is a popular choice.
Another option is sponsoring influencers. You can pay relevant podcasts, YouTube channels, and social media influencers for a spot in their content.
You can also consider print ads and billboards, but when compared to online options, they’re often too expensive and less accessible. That doesn’t always mean they’re not a good option, so consider your goals, platform, and target demographic before you rule them out!
2. Social media
Most parents of young children are on social media, so you can use it to connect with parents and teachers for free or almost free. This can be as simple as posting your book cover with relevant hashtags. You can use hashtags about your book’s content that kids are interested in (#Dinosaurs #Ponies) and hashtags that target the specific users (#MomLife #ParentingHacks).
You can also search through Facebook groups for your niche, like potty-training, robots, etc.
Social media is high-traffic, low-cost, and can provide a strategic way to meet parents and expand your readership.
3. School visits
Many schools have a budget specifically for authors to come read their books to students, so reach out! Email schools and offer to come in to do a reading. Send them a media kit or info packet so they have access to the cover, synopsis, and age range, so they can plan which children you’ll read to.
Do what you can to make your visit memorable for the kids, then check to see if the school will allow you to give book information packets to the kids, so they can learn more about your books.
4. Library visits
Libraries are another great opportunity to connect with children and their parents. Libraries are phenomenal community resources that reach a surprising number of people. Talk to your local library about ordering a few copies of your book, and see if they’d let you host a reading event.
Librarians are also the best at recommending age-appropriate books to kids.
You might not make any money past the original library sale since people are “renting” your book, but it’s a fantastic way to get your name in circulation and gain dedicated readers.
Libraries are a great way for families to have a day out without feeling obligated to spend extra cash, so a reading or book signing at your local library could be the perfect way to both promote your book and give back to your community.
Side note: If you know an indie author and would like to give them some free marketing, ask your local library to order their book if they don’t already have it!
5. Get guest spots on podcasts
There are tons of podcasts for kids and their families, which make them a great way to get your book(s) mentioned to your ideal reader.
Find a podcast for kids or a family-friendly podcast that fits your author brand. Find a podcast that hosts interviews, and send them your media kit and ask if they’ll take you as a guest. Keep in mind that many podcasts, particularly popular ones, might take a few reach-outs before they get back to you about a guest spot.
There might be opportunities outside of actually having a guest spot, like finding storytime podcasts and submitting one of your books for them to read. Consider writing a short story and sending it out to as many storytime podcasts as you can find.
This is one of the few key areas to market books effectively in today’s digital climate, and one that we recommend in our Sell More Books program.
6. Book speaking gigs
A great opportunity for authors to make extra cash and build their readership is through speaking gigs.
If you’re new to speaking or have a smaller audience, you’ll likely start very small with speaking gigs, and that’s okay. Starting small will allow you to build experience speaking with less intimidating crowds at local venues.
Consider your niche, and then find groups and venues that are a good fit. You might pitch specific talks to give, or introduce yourself and see if they have a need you can meet.
As your opportunities organically grow through speaking at smaller events, your confidence and presentation skills will grow, too.
7. Use your illustrator
Writing a book is a team effort, whether you’re writing children’s or adult books, but it’s especially true when you’re writing children’s books. The illustrator is a vital part of your bookselling process and can help with marketing. With the rare exception that you’re a talented writer AND a capable artist, you’ll have to partner with an illustrator to produce your book.
Hiring an illustrator allows you to be strategic. If the illustrator already has a platform and successful books under their belt, their audience becomes your audience when you produce a book together.
You can partner with your illustrator in marketing and pull new readers for yourself from their existing platform. Just like writers, illustrators want people to buy their books! That’s double the team for your marketing efforts, so choose your illustrator wisely. Partnering with a strong illustrator is one of the biggest ways you can stand out in a saturated market.
8. Try book subscriptions
There are several children’s activity box services on the market. Some popular ones include:
Writing and marketing books for children can be tricky to navigate, but it’s worth it! Kids run through books quickly, which means it’s a lucrative genre. if you’re a children’s book author, congratulations on being part of a unique community of authors who are helping to increase literacy and a love for reading in children. The values and comfort kids receive from the books they read are worth the work it takes to get those books into their hands.
As you’re building your marketing strategy for selling your children’s book, download our free profits calculator!
The original article by Hannah Lee Kidder has been updated.
Book Profit Calculator
Enter Your Information Below To Calculate
Your Potential Book Sales
Enter your details below to see your personalized book profit estimate!
CONGRATULATIONS
Here's What You'd Earn:
Your profit per book: $20
In 3 months, you'll make: $90,000
In 6 months, you'll make: $180,000
In 1 year, you'll make: $365,000
