Happy Monday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have Mike Steele here to share about his MG historical Not Lucille. I’m really interested in the time period it’s set in and am looking forward to reading it.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
It’s 1931, and children should be seen and not heard.
Ten-year-old Lucy Contento can’t help but be seen and heard. And she’s always in trouble for it. She talks too much. She’s impulsive. She writes with the wrong hand. Her parents would be mad enough knowing she routinely earns afterschool detentions. They’d be furious if they found out she’s been sneaking onto the campus of the nearby Trenton Academy for the Deaf. But there, Lucy has met Florence, a lonely and profoundly deaf girl her own age. Florence doesn’t mind Lucy’s flaws. Though Florence can’t speak, she has a unique way of communicating. If Lucy can figure out how to learn Florence’s special language, the two could be friends.
Lucy devises a plan, but it’s going to cost a whopping $7.98—more money than she’s got. She can’t tell her parents why she wants the funds without revealing she’s been visiting Florence. Besides, her parents don’t have a penny to spare. Her father has been out of work for months. And nobody else in the Contento family has an income. Or do they …? Lucy soon discovers she’s not the only member of her family hiding something. Can she get the money she needs while keeping everyone’s secrets? Or will her scheming land her in the biggest trouble of her life?
In this story of friendship and belonging, a young girl navigates prejudice, punishment, and identity while establishing her voice in a world that often tries to keep her silent.
Follower News
Now here's Mike!
Cracking Into School Library Collections
by Mike Steele, author and school librarian
As a kidlit author, you know your target audience spends most days in a very specific setting—school. What better way to reach kids with your writing than through the school library? If you could just get your book onto school library shelves, hundreds of readers at each school would have access to it. But unless you’re a bestselling author (and if you are, you might as well stop reading because you don’t need my advice), cracking into school libraries can be a challenge. Let’s look at the three main obstacles you’re up against.
1. Lack of Visibility
Most school librarians don’t know you exist. Your publisher isn’t pumping thousands of dollars into marketing your book. You’re not getting filtered into, “Customers also bought…” carousels on Amazon. Barnes & Noble doesn’t display your book facing its entrance. And you’re not Dav Pilkey.
2. Small Budgets
It’s no secret school libraries tend to be underfunded—that’s if they’re funded at all. Some school librarians work without budgets. Some are limited to earnings from book fairs (and that can mean they only order through the fair publishers). Those that have set budgets often receive the equivalent of $5-10 per student, not even enough money to buy one new library-bound edition for each reader that visits the library in a school year.
3. Collection Development Plans
These are
the plans that guide school librarians in evaluating and selecting books to add
to their collections. Collection Development Plans vary from school to school
or district to district. Some states and districts have very strict regulations
that leave selection largely out of school librarians’ hands. Others give
school librarians more freedom. Most collection development plans require a book
meet at least one of two criteria to be eligible for selection:
1)
A
positive critique by a major review journal that features children’s books.
These publications include Kirkus Reviews,
School Library Journal, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly.
2) Alignment to school curriculum. If a book supports what students are learning in class, it’s useful to the community.
So how can you overcome the obstacles? To be honest, in some instances, you can’t. When a state or district has complete control over which titles can exist within school library collections, it’s going to be near-impossible to get yourself onto approved lists. Luckily, these situations aren’t the norm. Most school librarians have at least some professional discretion when it comes to selecting books. Below are a few tips to help you get your book onto school library shelves and into the hands of readers.
Mobilize Your Network
The people who support you and your work want to advocate for you. Help guide them. Most know school workers (some probably work in schools themselves). Don’t just hope they’ll recommend your book to school librarians; ask them to do it. When your cousin tells you she bought a copy of your book, respond, “If you like it, please recommend it to your daughter’s school librarian.” When your neighbor says she’s going to tell her son about the book because he teaches third grade, offer to send a copy to his school librarian, so all teachers at the school can access the book. When you sell a book at a signing, include two promotional bookmarks—one for the reader to enjoy and one that you ask the reader to deliver to his or her school librarian.
Offer Free Copies
You work has value. You don’t want to constantly give it away. But the reality is you probably do gift copies of your book to specific people in order to market it. Always consider how much visibility each of your donations has the potential bring. Providing a free copy to a school library has the potential to expose your work to more readers than if you were to give it to an individual classroom. When you ship copies to bloggers, you can include a note with each copy, suggesting bloggers donate to school libraries once they’ve finished reviewing. If you have success getting your freebies into school libraries, you might even designate a portion of your own marketing budget strictly to this endeavor.
Reach Out with a Purpose
Cold-calling school librarians with your sales pitch is a quick way to annoy the people you want to entice. Emails that offer nothing beyond the idea that your book exists are also a nuisance. School librarians have very little non-teaching time to sort through their professional communications (on top of dozens of other administrative duties). They’re bombarded with ads for books and other media on a daily basis. Give them a reason to pay attention to you. Email school librarians that are within your community or with which you have personal connections. Maybe offer to send free samples of your work via Book Funnel. Tell them how the topic of your book aligns with state standards or school curriculum (yes, this will require you to do some research). Ask if they’re considering virtual or on-site author visits, and let them know the topics on which you can present to students. Be sure they know what you can bring to their specific community.
Think Digitally
As schools continue to adopt one-to-one technology, consider focusing some efforts on offering digital content to school librarians. You plan to mobilize your network, right? The people in that network can recommend and request eBooks in addition to physical books. And when you reach out to school librarians with the purpose of showcasing how your book aligns with curriculum, let the librarians know they can visit your website to download lesson plans that connect your book directly to state standards. Don’t forget to mention which eBook distributors license your book.
Marketing to school libraries can be a lot of work. Take it slowly. Tailor your approach. For every successful effort to get your book into a school library, you have the potential to reach hundreds of readers.
Author Bio
Mike Steele is an elementary school librarian and children’s playwright with eight plays published and licensed for production. Not Lucille is his debut middle-grade novel. In his spare time, he likes to attend musicals, create mixed-media artwork, and win prizes from claw machines. He lives at the Jersey Shore with his tabby cats, Karen and Sox. If you spot him in the wild, he usually has a bubble tea in one of his hands. www.mikesteeleonline.com @msteelewrites
Giveaway Details
Mike is generously offering a paperback of Not Lucille for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by November 29th. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or Bluesky or follow Mike on his social media sites, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book giveaway is U.S.
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted by Greg Pattridge. You can find the participating blogs on his blog.
Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops
Wednesday, November 19th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Carter Hasegawa and a query critique giveaway
Monday, November 24th, I have a guest post by R.M. Romero and a giveaway of her MG The Tear Collector
Monday, December 1st, I’m participating in the Holly Jolly Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, December 3rd, I have a guest post by Leigh Madrid and a giveaway of her YA My Lips, Her Voice, and my IWSG post
Monday, December 7th, I have an interview with Sarvenaz Tash and a giveaway of The Treasure of Ocean Parkway
Wednesday, December 10th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Andie Smith and a query critique giveaway
Monday, December 15th, I’m participating in the Dashing December Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, December 17th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Marissa Cleveland and a query critique giveaway
I hope to
see you on Wednesday!
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