Please welcome the talented Stasia Ward Kehoe who is joining us to discuss reaching out to schools and libraries. Stasia is currently the Author Appearance Coordinator for Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Her debut YA novel, AUDITION, will be published by Viking in Spring 2012.
What’s “Write On Con?”
WriteOnCon is an online writer's conference for kidlit writers. For more details you can check our about page.
Write On Con will take place Tuesday – Wednesday, August 14 – 15, 2012.
Interested in working with the writers of WriteOnCon for the conference? Check out our proposal form.
Finally, if you have any questions, hop on over to our FAQ section or shoot us an email at writeoncon at gmail dot com.
The Reading Room
The emphasis is on community.
Thanks a bunch, Stacia. I like the idea of shelving books at the library in order to stay in touch with what’s out there. I used to work at a bookstore, and shelving was my favorite job!! Thanks again.
Oops! I’m sorry I spelled your name wrong. I meant Stasia!
Thanks Stacia! Terrific advice. I <3 my library and always find the librarians to be so helpful. They've even pointed out local authors for me to read in the past. Great pointers you've given everyone.
This was totally awesome, Stasia! You are so experienced and your ideas are superb. I’m taking notes . . . and I’m really lucky to have a teacher sister in the Bay Area that created my Teacher’s Guide for The Healing Spell and a Mother/Daughter Book Club Guide. I really think those Guides are a *must* for authors, especially authors of MG novels.
Thank you! And why is 2012 and your book sooooo far away???
Thank you, Stasia for all those wonderful ideas! What advice do you have for a currently unpublished writer who has “stage fright” but knows speaking engagements is part of marketing your own book? Thanks in advance….
Thanks, Stacia. Wise and sound advice. I like both the suggestions of giving of yourself and time, and of being nice/mannerly (i.e., saying thank you). So… thank you.
Thanks, Stasia, for providing a great list of ideas of how to connect with readers and make it fun for everyone!
And name misspelling from me, too! So very sorry. That’s what I get for looking at other comments first. Rats. Was I blaming someone else for my own phoo-pooh? Sorry again.
Thank you! I’ve been hearing people say “form relationships with schools and libraries,” but I’ve never before heard any ideas about HOW to do that!
Great advice! I love the library.
Thank you so much for the great advice Stacia. You have certainly given me the confidence to ‘reach out’.
Thanks to all for the lovely comments (and no worries about misspelling my name!). I’ve truly enjoyed reaching out to my local school and library and have learned so much from teachers, librarians and kids! For those of you who are newer writers (or have a bit of “stage fright” like lynnangel), starting soon, small and local is a great way to figure out how to connect and what really matters to you as a writer and presenter. Important lessons for later down the road and, honestly, rewards in themselves. All best wishes, Stasia.
Stasia, my little librarian self says “AMEN!”
These tips are spot on–they really work. And it is a two way street. Librarians really do want to support the careers of great authors.
Hands down, this talk is the best on this topic I’ve ever heard.
We have author visits every year. Each visit creates scores of avid fans. The kids remember the authors and we always have checkout waiting lists for their books.
I love your ideas. I have signed a contract for my first book and am looking for ways to promote it. It will be out in about a year so I have time to work on this and your ideas were so very helpful. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Stasia. I must listen to this again. Your video is packed with great ideas to promote ourselves and our books and build relationships.
Thanks, Stasia. I got great notes from that
Thank you taking time out of your day to be a part of WriteOnCon. Terrific advice.Stasia!
I love my library and the children’s librarian is very helpful in that she saves all the magazines and publishers catalogs for me. She is also one of my first readers
Thanks for taking the time to do this on Writeoncon. I found what you said to be really helpful and it is definitely something I’ll keep in mind as I continue to write.
What you said was very helpful and hopefully something I will remember when I ever get a publishing contract. Thanks again.
Happy writing
Absolutely FANTASTIC! Thank you for sharing with us Stasia.
Thank you, Stasia! I look forward to checking out Audition. Good luck to you!
Thank you so much. That was wonderful! Do you have a link to the list you gave? That would be primo!
Very helpful tips, Stasia! Thank you so much.
I am pretty close to my library. I even worked there for a bit. But I didn’t know what gateway I could use to get into schools. A reading list. I could do that. And thanks to WriteOnCon …Boy, have I got a list. Thanks Stasia.