If you’re a children’s book author, school visits are the perfect way to get in front of your ideal audience. Two-time Argyle Fox Publishing author Catherine Tally landed half a dozen school visits in just two months. Now, she’s out for more.
How’d she do it, and how has that affected book sales? Watch the video above or read the transcript below to find out!
TRANSCRIPT*
Introducing Catherine and Her Books
Daniel Brantley: Hey, Daniel Brantley here with Argyle Fox Publishing. Catherine Talley, thank you so much for joining us and being willing to share your story of how you’ve been able to get your book in front of school kids by doing school visits. It really means a lot. Before we jump into how you’ve done that, give us a little bit of info on you—who’s Catherine Talley, and then tell us a little about your two great children’s books, Charlotte the Shark Won’t Go to Sleep and Charlotte the Shark Goes to the Dentist.
Catherine Tally: Yes. First of all, thanks for asking me. I hope that it’s valuable information I can provide. But my background—I started writing when I was in third grade.
I always like to tell people that I still have my first story and that it’s on like that yellow legal pad paper. So, anyone else who’s left-handed, that’s what I wrote on when I was little. I still have it, and it still looks exactly the same, like it hasn’t aged. My oldest daughter is in third grade, so like she is an illustrator. She’s not an author. But seeing that age and how I was writing, it’s really cool to reflect back now.
I always loved when we had to write essays for school or the essay parts of tests, that was my favorite part. Everybody hated it, but I, I didn’t mind. So, actually during COVID I started writing funny little poems and limericks just because everybody was so sad.
I posted something to Facebook and somebody commented and said I should write a children’s book. And I was like, maybe I should write a children’s book. So that pops up in my memory sometimes. And that was 2020. So, three years, almost exactly three years later is when I wrote Charlotte the Shark Won’t Go to Sleep.
So that’s the first one.
And then Charlotte the Shark Goes to the Dentist. That was last October.
Goals for Children’s Books
Daniel Brantley: And when you wrote your books, what were your goals? What did you hope would happen with your books?
Catherine Tally: Especially for the first one, I think most of us struggle with our kids not going to sleep. If you have one that goes to sleep, good for you. But I wanted to send like a message that you’re not alone, and I think that’s why the first book resonates with the parents. And the second one kind of resonates more with the kids.
I’ve learned just from asking about it, and just to see the kids smile and happy and introduce a character that maybe they could relate to. Then I think in the back of any author’s mind, we obviously wanna sell our books. Not just for money, but just to reach as many people as possible.
Daniel Brantley: And I imagine that school visits helped you meet both of those goals.
Catherine Tally: Absolutely. I have gotten to connect with so many more kids. I now have three of my own, and I coach two of their soccer teams.
So, I got support from all the kids on the teams and in all their classes and everything. That’s built in, you know, they already knew me. So, I actually did a literacy night at my old elementary school from way back when.
Though my kids are homeschooled, we got to tour the school, we got to go to the book fair. We got to do everything that the other kids would do because I knew everybody, you know, I had the support of our whole community. So that was just really cool, and you don’t realize the connections you’re making until later on when somebody refers you, you know?
And it comes back around.
How Author Catherine Tally Landed School Visits
Daniel Brantley: That’s great. It’s also good information that if you homeschool your kid, you can still do school visits as an author. Now, let’s talk specifics. How many school visits have you made and what steps did you take to land those visits?
Catherine Tally: The biggest thing was that I posted in my town’s Facebook page. When my first book came out, I, I have a pretty good Facebook following with all my friends from work. My husband and I met at work, so we have mutual friends.
So, all these people support us as a family. So, when my book came out, I had a ton of Facebook support already. I live in Griffith, Indiana, which I always tell people it’s the place in A Christmas Story. So, I thought, you know what, I’m gonna post there and say I’m open for school visits for any teachers. This was last August. So, the second book hadn’t come out yet, but I was kind of promoting it.
I thought I’ll just post in the Griffith page, see if anybody wants to take me up on an offer. And I was pregnant at the time and due in November. So, I said I was available between August and November.
Well, I think I booked six visits from that post and over 200 people reacted to it. People tagged other teachers on it, and I think I booked six just from that post alone in my area. They weren’t all in Griffith. Three of them were in neighboring towns.
Daniel Brantley: Six visits off of a single post on your town’s Facebook page—amazing! And most towns, small towns and large towns, also have a Facebook presence. So that’s something anybody could pull off.
Catherine Tally: Right, right. So anytime I have anything about my book, I just make it public. People can share that.
What Authors Can Expect During School Visits
Daniel Brantley: That’s fantastic. And when you do these school visits, are you going to a single classroom? Are you having like a big group of kids from multiple classes? Do parents ever attend? Who are you interacting with?
Catherine Tally: My cousin is a preschool teacher, so she got me in at her school in a nearby town. She got me in at her school, which was the most chaotic of all my visits. But I think I read four different times.
That was before, about a year ago, before the second one.
Daniel Brantley: You read the first book to four different audiences?
Catherine Tally: Yes. They were all next to each other, so I just moved room to room. Then I got an email about two weeks later. Some little boy went home and ranted about how much he loved my book, and then his grandma taught at a Montessori school, and I got another visit just because a little boy went home and told his family how much he loved the book.
Daniel Brantley: Love it! When you’re doing elementary visits, are those with a single classroom usually or—
Catherine Tally: It depends on how the teachers wanna do it. One of my most successful visits was when they put a bunch of classes in a gym. It was, I think, first through third grade, two classes each, so about six different classes. It was super organized. The teacher who did it had got the books ahead of time with names written down. I got there early and signed them to each kid.
So, if they want to do that, multiple classes works or just one. A teacher will contact me and say, can you come to my class? And then maybe they’ll bring the other third grade class in, and I talk to all of them. But it’s really just however the teacher or teachers want to participate.
Selling Books at School Visits
Daniel Brantley: You mentioned that the kids got books, and you signed them beforehand. Did you create a flyer that said you were coming and here’s the cost of her book to preorder?
Catherine Tally: Yes. My husband made a QR code to buy the book and put it on a flyer that said, “Catherine Talley’s coming to visit on this day.” The QR code has all the information they could scan and order the book. When it arrived, they could bring it in with their name and the teacher’s name on it, then I signed them all.
Daniel Brantley: Is that typical or do you sometimes take books with you?
Catherine Tally: I do both, because on occasion not everybody’s book maybe came in.
One mom messaged my Facebook personally and said Amazon sent the wrong book. She was all upset. I told her just to have her daughter bring cash, and I’ll bring a signed copy, and it worked out.
But I also like to donate a book to whoever had me. Somebody said by giving books away, you actually sell more books, and I totally agree. So, I’ll leave one they could put in the library or the teacher’s classroom.
Daniel Brantley: How many books do you usually take with you to the events, and how many do you sell?
Catherine Tally: At my old elementary school’s literacy night, I think I sold twenty books. The new book had just come out, so it was perfect.
The one I just did a couple months ago, I sold ten, but it was much smaller scale, and I thought that was still pretty good.
I usually just have a box. I’ll bring like twenty. I’d rather have too many than not enough. Yeah. So, I just keep them in the box they were shipped in and keep it in my car, and I bring about fifteen copies of each.
Daniel Brantley: Fantastic. And afterward, do you notice an uptick in like online sales?
Catherine Tally: Yeah. I check on Amazon just to see kind of where it’s ranked. Sometimes people don’t have any cash, so I tell them where to buy it online. After the literacy night, I got my first review from someone who was a dental hygienist and that’s great.
Immediate Reader Feedback
Daniel Brantley: That’s special. What kind of feedback do you get from the kids?
Catherine Tally: I usually start off and ask who likes to sleep? Every kid raises their hand, and I go, “Guys, no. If your parents were here, I think this would look a lot different.” It’s the same thing every time.
With the, the older kids, third grade classes, the publishing process is what holds their interest. Not only do they like the character in the book, but they want to know how I came up with her. They want to know about my Charlotte, and the number one question I get asked is, well, What’s the next one? What’s she gonna do next? And I’m like, “Well, I, I have an idea, but I’m not sure.” They want to see her go to school. And I said, “Well, my Charlotte doesn’t go to school.”
Daniel Brantley: That’s funny. Do you usually present about the publishing process or is that something that the older kids ask about and so you go into that?
Catherine Tally: The ask about it, and it always gets brought up. I find that really interesting. They even ask how to find an illustrator! And I explain that process. That’s interesting to the kids, because a lot of them like to draw.
Daniel Brantley: Do you feel you’re getting better at school visits, and what do you do differently now that makes the most of the school visits?
Catherine Tally: I get less nervous, which is helpful. Like anything, the more you do it, you’re not going to be as nervous. I don’t write it down, but I have a script in my head to break the ice. Now that I have the second book, I’ll say, “Okay, who likes to go to the dentist?” I don’t get as many raised hands for that.
I am talking to a teacher now who is in fifth grade, and she didn’t know if her kids will get as much out of it. I told her that third graders were really interested about the publishing process. She realized I was right, and she wants every kid to get a copy of my book. So, she’s having donors sponsor, so every kid gets the book.
Daniel Brantley: That’s very cool. What is your favorite part about school visits?
Catherine Tally: I think how excited they get about the character, a character I created. They just love her automatically, whether it’s because they relate to her or not. I enjoy seeing them so happy, and reading is so important from a young age. In fact, whether they’re reading the words or just looking at the pictures, being around books is good. That’s why picture books are important.
They love the illustrations, they love the bright colors.
The First Step to School Visits
Daniel Brantley: What is the best first step for writers to take who want to book visits with their local schools?
Catherine Tally: Start in your own town and branch out. Take advantage of social media because you can reach so many people in so little time.
Daniel Brantley: Are you continuing to spread out and go farther away from your hometown? And are you going to revisit some of the classrooms you’ve been to before since there are new kids every year?
Catherine Tally: That’s one of the things I thought about. If I build a rapport with these teachers, then I can keep going back because there will be different kids. That’s one of the other reasons I leave on a high note by donating a book, so they’re still thinking about it even next year. When I leave, I encourage the teachers to keep me in mind for future visits. That’s why my old school keeps having me back for literacy night—there are kids that maybe missed it.
Daniel Brantley: Well, thank you so much for your time, Catherine. It’s been such a joy talking with you and working with you to bring your books to life.
Catherine Tally: Thank you! I’m glad to have found you.
If you want to create a book that gets you in classrooms, submit your manuscript to take the first step toward publishing.
*Some parts of the video were not transcribed. Please watch video for full content.