5 WAYS TO GET YOUR NONFICTION BOOK NOTICED

 By Jennifer Swanson

Publication day! It’s something that all authors look forward to. It’s the day your amazingly awesome book is out in the world. (Come on, that’s how we all think of our books, right?) But the real question is, how do you find readers and get them to feel the same way? It takes work. 

Here are five ways to get notice for your book (and YOURSELF!)

1. Canva it up!  (Videos/graphics/pictures/and more)  

This is pretty much where everyone starts. You are willing to do anything and everything to get your book noticed. That includes making videos, cool graphics, joining a promo group… but YouTube? Sure. Why not give it a try. Here are a few tips:

• Canva is your friend! It’s one of the best, and more importantly easiest, ways to create great graphics. You can make all sizes of graphics to fit any social media platform—including blogs.
• You can also use Canva to create and edit videos! Is your book about the ocean and you have some cool video from your vacation of the sea? Use it to create a video with information from your book. Put that video on social media or even upload it to your YouTube channel.
• Canva is also a great place to create Pins for Pinterest (see #2 below)
• You can even make a book trailer on Canva if you really want to. There is sooo much you can do with this platform and most of it is FREE!

2. Pinterest – what’s that?

You may have heard of Pinterest, but how many of you are actually on it? Believe it or not, it’s the place to be if you write nonfiction books. Pinterest is all about promoting topics, information, and FUN activities. If this sounds like something your book has, then you should consider getting on Pinterest. Here are a few tips:

• The first step is learning to make a pin. If you don’t know how, there are tons of great videos to help. Just do a google search and find one.
• Create a few boards. That means pick a topic for your board (not your book!) and start adding pins. Be sure to follow others and add their pins to your board.
• It’s all about the tags. Be sure to add tags to your pins so that they will show up in topic searches.
• Not sure how to get your information seen? Click on the analytics tab at the top of your page. This has TONS of great information about what topics are hot now, what topics will be hot in the future, and when you should post your pins.
• Pinterest can require a bit of a learning curve, but if you can figure it out and post regularly, you can get a lot in return. My Pinterest page regularly has over 25k views a month. During Earth Day last year, I hit 75k views. https://www.pinterest.com/jenswan1222/

3. Get on a Podcast!

Most people have done blog tours for their book releases. You answer a few questions about the book, your writing process, and then maybe offer a giveaway. These are still done and are a good way to reach an audience.

But podcasts are a much more exciting way to reach a much larger audience. They can be either video or just audio only, but podcasts are a way to showcase not only your book, but yourself, too. Here are a few tips for an entertaining and engaging podcast interview:

• Listen to a few podcasts by this host before going on the show. That way you’ll know what to expect
• Make sure the area in the video is neat and showcases your book in the background. Then have a copy of your book to hold up during the interview.
• Keep your answers informative but not too long. Don’t be afraid of silence. This allows the host to ask more questions. An engaging exchange is much more fun to listen to, than having one person go on and on.
• Have FUN! Be prepared with a few fun stories to share—about yourself or your book. Maybe even have a few books to recommend that aren’t yours, but would pair nicely with yours.
• Podcasts are growing! Just do a search of your favorite podcast source (iTunes, Spotify, etc.) Then send an email to the podcast pitching yourself. What have you got to lose?

4. Promote Yourself

Instead of promoting one book, promote yourself. Speaking at an event—library, museum, organizations, or even at book festivals or corporate events is a great way to get noticed.

• Check to see if your area does a summer reading program at your library. If they do, apply to be a presenter. (Check by early February, as many book out that far). This is usually a paying gig and it gets you out in the community. Plus, the library will buy your books
• Is there a local organization that is interested in what you do? Pitch yourself as a speaker. Come up with a fun (and pertinent) topic. But don’t focus on your book
• Does your book fit an event at a museum. Like World Ocean Day? Black History month? Space week? See if they need someone to speak there.
• Apply for book festivals— and don’t be afraid to ask them if they offer small stipends for travel.

5.  Hire Your Own Publicist

While this might not be the first choice for everyone, sometimes investing in hiring a publicist for a short time can be quite helpful. Your book gets exposure to places you can’t get into by yourself. You gain contacts from the exposure that you can use for your next book. This exposure can lead to paying gigs. I’ve had all of these happen. You just never know.

• Blue Slip Media https://www.blueslipmedia.com/
• Kidsbuzz https://www.authorbuzz.com/kids/

 So, what do YOU do to promote your book? Tell us below and share with everyone!

 

 

About the Author:

Jennifer Swanson is an award-winning children’s author and podcaster. A self-professed science geek, she has written 50 books for kids, mostly about STEAM. Her books have won a Kirkus Best Books for 2021, a Gold Parent’s Choice Award, multiple NSTA Best STEM awards, and received many other recognitions.

She is the creator of the Solve It for Kids podcast, the STEM Tuesday blog, and STEAMTeam Books. Jennifer routinely teaches at the Highlights Foundation and has presented at the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival and been on NPR’s Science Friday radio show. You can learn more about her here: www.jenniferswansonbooks.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing the -TEM in STEM

By Jennifer Swanson

So, you want to write a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) book. Awesome!  Why not consider a book with a technology, engineering, or math focus. It’s a great way to introduce young readers to the possibilities of a STEM career and get them excited about new and ground-breaking technology.

These are the topics that I’m very passionate about. If you look at my list of books, you’ll see many of them are -TEM topics. I am always asked where I get my ideas and more importantly, how do you sell a topic that is mostly technology, engineering, or math?

Here are a few tips to do just that.

1.  Find a BIG hook

A -TEM book needs a BIG hook, bigger than most books. That’s because they must be accessible. (If you write STEM books, you’ll hear this word a lot from your editor). Accessible means that this book must not only capture the interest of a kid who already likes science and technology but also that of one who might not.  By “hook” I mean that the topic needs to be very obvious, unique, and something that makes kids stop in their tracks. Humor is a plus. 

Let me give you an example. A few years back, I desperately wanted to write a book about the Google self-driving car. I wrote a proposal titled, “Engineering a Self-driving Car.”

Eh. Not that impressive is it? Editors didn’t think so either. So, I set about trying to come up with a really unique angle for the topic. One that would grab the reader right from the start.

Two years later, I had it. My new title was Save the Crash-test Dummies. My book would follow the day in the life of a crash-test dummy as he goes through his job. The book would depict the history of car safety engineering and end with “Crash”  driving off into the sunset in a self-driving car. Now that is a unique hook! And one, thankfully, editors loved.  

You don’t have to put your hook in the title, but if you can, that’s awesome. It’s the first thing people see, so they immediately know what this book is about.

Most of my books have their hooks in the title:

Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact

Super Gear: Nanotechnology and Sports Team Up!

Beastly Bionics: Rad Robots, Brilliant Biomimicry, and Incredible Inventions Inspired by Nature.

How do you come up with a title as your hook? Be creative.

a.      Do an internet search of terms associated with your topic. For example, when I needed a shorter ending to my Super Gear book, (a book about nanotechnology and sports), I looked up short sports terms and came up with Team Up!

b.     Beastly Bionics came from me searching for words that would describe animals that started with a “B.”

You try it! – Have a topic in mind and need a short title? Search for synonyms for your topic, or look for terms that are in the same family (like sports or animals). Want your title to be alliterative, look for words that start with  the same letter as your title.

 

2.  Expository or Narrative?

Will your manuscript be expository or narrative? That depends on you. Either is acceptable. Some amazing -TEM narrative books have done very well.

Teresa Robeson’s Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom does a fabulous job of telling the story of explaining the physics of beta decay that happens within atoms.

In her book, Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics,  Laurie Wallmark takes us on a journey with Sophie Kowalevski as she mastered differential equations (math).

Both of these books have complicated topics, but they are brilliantly explained through their narrative stories. But not all -TEM books need to be narratives.

Pretty much all of my STEM books are expository. For example, my Beastly Bionics introduces the reader to cutting-edge technology about biomimicry, the science of using nature to inspire complex problem-solving. Many of these inventions are quite complicated and to explain them in a narrative way would take too many words. Instead, I had one invention per spread. I used 5 different sidebars, high energy words, and concise descriptive terms to explain the technology and intrigue my reader.  

How do you decide which way is best for your story? Write it both ways and see which way works best.

You try it! – Take one section of your book. Write it in narrative form and in expository form. Compare them. Does one seem too wordy? Is this topic covered much better with shorter, snappier, sidebars with only a mix of narrative? Or does the narrative flow better? Which one works best?

  

3.  Explain Everything

This is the most important part about a -TEM book. When you are tackling complex technology and engineering topics, you MUST explain them well. To do this, think like a kid! Use comparisons they will understand. And words that are their level. Illustrations help, too. For example, when you describe distance, don’t say 100 yards, say it’s as big as a football field. 

 

In my Astronaut-Aquanaut, when I explain the extreme pressure you feel as you go down deep in the ocean, I tell kids to imagine themselves as a soda can being squeezed and crunched. They get the idea… ouch!

 

You Try it!- Explain to a 10-year-old how a ship floats without using the term buoyancy. (Not easy, is it?)

Whatever topic you choose, you can’t go wrong with a -TEM book. They are fun to write, amazing to research, and just might be the one thing that inspires a young reader to pursue a career in STEM. It doesn’t get much better than that. GO STEM!

 

ACTIVITY

Complete at least one of the Try-It suggestions.

 

ABOUT THE PRIZE

Jennifer will be giving away an autographed copy of Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Swanson is the award-winning author of 40+ books for children, mostly about STEM. A self-professed science geek, she started a science club in her garage when she was 7 years old. Jennifer has spoken about her books and her passion for science at numerous NSTA conferences, SCBWI conferences, book festivals across the country, the Atlanta Science Festival, the World Science Festival, and the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival. She is also the creator of the STEM Tuesday blog, STEAMTeamBooks promo group, and has a science podcast called Solve It! for Kids. Find Jennifer at www.jenniferswansonbooks.com