Selling Books for Your Visit

Janie Lynn Panagopoulos

Author@prodigy.net

As an author of documentary historical fiction for the juvenile market, I have been the guest speaker at many schools throughout the United States.  Because I care about my work and students, I create programs designed to get kids motivated to read, interested in history and curious about what it might be like to be an author. 

Usually my books are sold before or during a visit by the school coordinator or school volunteers so I may autograph them for the students.

There are many reasons to bring an author to your school.  An author’s visit can make books “come alive”.  It gives children an opportunity to see and ask questions about the books and the author’s life.  It gives children an opportunity to realize author’s are real people too.  Authors may also serve as role models for young budding writer’s in the audience.  But I believe the most important reason is to motivate students to love to read and write.  If an author excites a child to want to read/write the visit has been well worth the cost.  Invariably, if a child wants to read more they will also want to know, “Where can I get a book?”  Offering books for sale is yet another way to instill the value of books to children, we are remiss only if we do not make the offer.

If you are interested in generating a book sales in conjunction with my author visit (and you should), I will be happy to get you connected to my publishers or sales agent.  These people will be happy to work with your school(s) offering an educational discount and often sending books on consignment. 

My opinion is that every book sold frees up a library copy for a child who truly cannot afford to purchase one.  And, if books are not offered for sale during an author’s visit, the library cannot often handle the demand or expense of purchasing all that is needed to keep the excitement and motivation created by an author visit alive.

In the everyday world, people earn money by selling something of value, whether a product, a performance, their time, their education and or their skills.  I try to do all of these.  If books are not available for the children to purchase, my visit simply become another performance for a passive audience all too accustomed to being entertained by television or video games. 

That momentary flicker of interest in reading, writing , and history quickly fades.  At a time when our educational systems are under fired, when students are turned-off and dropping-out, we simply can’t afford to waste this opportunity to help children actively participate in the learning process.  I have, many times over, had children tell me, “Your books helped me to love to read!”  That, to me, makes all my work worth the effort.