School Visits by Children's Book Authors
Earn Money as a Writer From Classroom Author Visits
Sep 21, 2009
A number of children's book authors earn more money from regular school visits than they do from their royalties. Others find that a series of author visits during Book Week can give a much-needed injection of funds once a year. (Tip: Book Week themes make it easy and fun to plan a classroom visit.) A writer who can (a) connect with kids and (b) provide teachers with classroom ideas can find work all year round.
It has to be said that not all children's book authors feel comfortable in a classroom. Younger children wriggle and squirm and are as likely to ask an author if she has a guinea pig as to ask a question about her books. Teenagers are masters of looking bored or making confronting comments. The secret –as with most things – lies in being prepared, and this means both knowing the audience and making sure that the school knows the ground rules.
Set the Ground Rules for School Author Visits
Prepare a marketing kit for school visits and send this out when planning the visit. The kit could include the following:
- A photo of the author
- A list of books and other relevant published works
- A list of different 'author talk' options for the school – the author can specify size of the groups; ages suited to specific talks; length of the talk (30 minutes, 45 minutes, one hour); break times included in a full day visit; small group workshop suggestions etc
- Classroom control guidelines (e.g. one teacher must be in attendance for every 30 children; no teacher necessary for small group workshops)
- Details of supplementary products/services offered by the writer – for example: master sheets for classroom writing exercises; games and exercises on the author's website; complimentary critique of three children's stories in the month after the workshop
- A copyright reminder: e.g. the classroom activities provided are for the school being visited only and are not to be passed on to other schools.
Plan Classroom Activities/Exercises Suited to the Age Group
Authors who wander into a school clutching a copy of their book and planning to spend half the time reading excerpts may find it hard to keep kids entertained. Most authors are far better writers than actors! Kids are sure to become restless if an author reads aloud in a stilted voice for 15 minutes. Once that school author visit is underway, it is essential to keep a young audience engaged.
For a picture-book audience
- Read the book aloud and pause before turning the page to ask what they think will happen next
- Read out a phrase or a sound effect that is repeated in the book, and get the children to repeat it until they know it. Tell them that when they see a certain hand signal, they should call out the phrase or make the sound. Lots of fun!
- Take props related to the story and choose kids to act it out
- Use PowerPoint to show pages from a picture book, and use the animation feature to have the text appear when you click a button - before that, ask children what they think is happening in the picture
For a junior fiction audience
- Invite them to nominate their favourite character in the book and explain why he/she/it is a favourite
- Read an excerpt where a character had to make a decision and ask what might have happened had the character decided differently
- Run a quick, fun competition (such as asking 10 volunteers to come up with a first sentence that makes readers curious about what happens next) and give a copy of the author's book to the winner (judged by a teacher, the author or popular vote)
For a teen fiction audience
- Talk about the process of plotting and coming up with characters
- Explain how authors try to make characters believable; relate this to teen dress, behaviour and way of speaking
- Ask about their current favourite books and authors
- Discuss books in the digital age: pros and cons of printed books versus e-book readers
Plan The Author Visit Workshop Activities
Some activities planned for the workshop component of your author visit can cross a wide range of ages. Activities may be simplified for younger writers or expanded for older children. Some examples of classroom exercises linked to writing:
- Drawing a picture of a scene or character from the book, then writing a sentence about it
- Giving children a basic plot structure and asking them to 'fill in the blanks'
- Lucky-dip plotting: prepare sets of cards ahead of time labelled Character, Setting and Event - 20-30 cards in each set. Children draw one from each pile and write a story or scene based on the result. (For example: an alien [character] has a crash [event] in a school playground [setting]. What happens next?)
Give Teachers Follow-Up Classroom Ideas
Teachers are always searching for ideas for classroom activities that fit in with the curriculum. Provide them with master sheets for activities, a list of ideas, or a website link for downloadable classroom ideas.
By planning an school author visit ahead of time, an author can enjoy the day and ensure that teachers put the word out to other schools - "Here's a children's book author that you really want to visit your school!"
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