FAQ: Book review requests, website questions, sharing art etc.
INDEX:
Q. May I offer your readers a guest post / infographic?
Q. Will you help me promote my upcoming in-person event?
Q. Will you help me promote my upcoming virtual event?
Q. I am a children’s book publicist. May I put you on my mailing list?
Q. I am a children’s book creator. May I put you on my mailing list?
Q. Your FAQ used to have so much more information! Where is it?
Q. May I offer your readers a guest post / infographic?
At present, I am not seeking out guest posts or infographics for my blog.
If you are just sharing one of my own social posts, it’s fine….as long as you do NOT crop out any identifying info or copyright, or modify my art in any way. Otherwise see my Comic Use Policy.
Q. Will you help me promote my book on your Bookstagram? Or interview me on your blog? May I send you a copy of my book for review?
I do not consider myself an Official Reviewer, but enjoy posting about books I have enjoyed reading, or helping to promote books by my kidlit friends. I am not doing book blurbs at present. Reason: When I do agree to do a book blurb, it always takes me waaaaaay too long to write one (yes, even for picture books) and in 99% of the cases, my blurb never ends up being used.
Please do NOT put me on your promotion mailing list without permission. These days, my “to read” pile is massive, so I very rarely take on new commitments to read books by people I don’t know unless I am already a fan of their work. Picture books are easier for me to read/post about, especially when my own work schedule is busy.
However (psssst), if you are a debut children’s book creator whose first book is coming out from a traditional publishing house AND we have been in contact on social media, I encourage you to contact me directly (not through a publicist) and I’ll see what I can do. Use my Contact form, mention you’re a debut, make it clear why you are approaching me in particular, include all your relevant info: full title, publisher, publication date, brief synopsis, LINK where people can find out more info about your book, brief bio about you, your website and social media links. Including all this info makes it much more easy for me to help promote you and your book.
Q. Will you help me promote my upcoming in-person event?
Unless I am directly involved or you are a close kidlit friend of mine in Toronto, I rarely publicize other people’s in-person events. Reason: these types of posts are very specific to a small percentage of my followers. I have also found that the more of these I publicize, the more pressure I get from others with similar in-person events to publicize THEIR events, and negative flack if I don’t.
Q. Will you help me promote my upcoming virtual event?
It depends on the event. If I am directly involved, then yes. If it is a unique event that is free to the public and offers useful/unique content they can’t get elsewhere, then possibly. Again, my challenge is that there are SO many excellent virtual events going on all the time, especially during the pandemic: virtual book launches, online conferences and fund-raising events and panels and discussions about important topics like diversity in kidlit, interviews and workshops. Before I promote anything, I also want to check it out myself to make sure it’s legit, to ensure that it’s open to the public but also in a safe space etc. This research takes time.
However, if you’re a kidlit friend with whom I’ve had conversations or interactions online, feel free to let me know about your upcoming free public event and I’ll see what I can do. What would help: Don’t just ask me to promote the event – include ALL the relevant info, especially a link where people can find out more info and suggested wording for a tweet (note the character limit) with all the important info – target audience for your event, why they should attend, date/time, mention that it’s free, how to register, include a LINK where people can find out more info.
Q. I am a children’s book publicist. May I put you on my mailing list?
No, not without permission. I get more curmudgeonly about this over the years. These days, unsolicited book promo mailings tend to make me NOT want to promote a particular book.
Q. I am a children’s book creator. May I put you on my mailing list?
No, not without permission. As interested as I may be in you and your work, I lack the time these days to keep up with most email newsletters to which I’m already subscribed.
Q. I notice that you wrote a blog post about xxx. I happen to have a great online resource related to xxx. Could you please update your post to include my resource?
I have written thousands of blog posts over the years, have had many blog platform moves, and lack the time to keep them all updated, sorry. However, if you notice something amiss in one of my more recent (within the past 6 months) posts or in a post that I frequently reference in social media, I’d appreciate you letting me know – thanks!
Q. Your FAQ used to have so much more information! Where is it?
I’m gradually moving over updated FAQ entries from my old site, and appreciate your patience. For now, I encourage you to (1) check my Resources page, where I’m adding my most popular pages and resources, (2) using the Search (top right corner of this website) as well as a blog-specific search.