Luckily, Brian was willing to share his experiences and he generously responded to some of my questions. Brian Lies Bats for the top of the car.īrian clearly spent a lot of time putting together a unique book tour and creating new ways to engage with his audience, so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about his book tour process. He even created bat musician figures that perched on top of the vehicle (when it was stopped…). And I mean a vehicle–Brian not only customized his car with a colorful “Bats in the Band” wrap, but he also built a Blue Man Group-like set of plastic tubes that fans could play using flip flops. To get out and share his book with potential readers, Brian created a completely unique marketing vehicle. That’s why I’m always interested to see how other children’s book authors do everything from Skype visits to school visits, and why I kept tabs (via Facebook) on what bestselling author and illustrator Brian Lies recently did to promote the launch of his latest “Bats” book, Bats in the Band (which is, of course, about bats that get together in a deserted theater to make music).

It’s an on-going task that authors should continue to focus on and learn more about.

And although Skype visits ended up taking a moderate amount of time to arrange and deliver, they were really successful in connecting my Ballpark Mysteries books with children all over the U.S.īut marketing your books isn’t a one-shot deal. For example, last spring I did a series of Skype school visits to share the latest editions of my Ballpark Mysteries series with children. If you’re a children’s book author (or any type of author, for that matter), you not only have to write (or write and illustrate) your book, but you have to go out and promote it. These days, authors don’t just sit home (or in a coffee shop) and write.

Brian lies bats