Finding Readers: A children’s book marketing interview

Hi Builders! One of the things that picture book creators in both the traditional and self publishing realms worry about is marketing! How do you reach people interested in your picture book? When do you make a website? How often should you contact your readers? How does the public know when a book is worth their time and money?

Steve and Vicki Palmquist have been in business working on just those issues (and more!) for almost thirty years. Their business, Winding Oak LLC, offers web and print design, as well as book marketing opportunities including through their online magazine, Bookology (sign up!) They have watched publishing trends come and go and remain marketing professionals who help book creators get their work in front of readers.

Since I, and most others these days, can’t tell where the picture book market is headed. I thought I’d ask Steve and Vicki a few questions about their business and the state of children’s publishing today.

How and/or why did you get started in the children’s book marketing business?

We were initially introduced to the larger world of the children’s book business when Vicki was an RA for Minnesota’s chapter of SCBWI. We loved the community: the rampant creativity and enthusiasm and earnestness to get work published. We were fascinated by presentations made by editors, agents, and accomplished authors.

What do you like most about the industry?

The people—that includes the other publishing professionals, the creators, and the readers, along with the parents, teachers, and librarians that put books into the hands of children.

What have been a few of the biggest changes to children’s book marketing over your time in the industry?

The first has to be access to technology for authors and illustrators. Originally, the internet. We remember the first time we heard the voiceover for a commercial using the letters “www” and the name of a website. We originally found that hysterical! What was this weird “internet” idea? Now, you’re not real in any business unless you have a website. It’s also hard to ignore the intrusion of AI (Artificial Intelligence) into the realm of, well, nearly everything, including the publishing industry.

What is the one thing you recommend a debut children’s book author do to promote their book? 

Write the next one. That won’t sound like a solution to many authors, but we’ve seen it play out time and time again. This may be changing, because everything is in flux these days, but there used to be a threshold of having published three trade books before an author was taken seriously. We can all name exceptions to that rule, but it still holds true in general.

It’s hard to only suggest one thing! Here’s a few more…

• Start your social media before you need to promote a book, two years ahead.
• Maintain a contact list and apply categories to that so you can send targeted messages with specific content for specific groups of people.
• Plan to be multichannel. No one pathway is going to work miracles for promotion.
• Whatever you choose to do, be consistent.
• Oh… and the most important. Define the parameters of your online persona. What will you share, what will you keep private. We all strive to be genuine, but you should focus your content to help people clearly understand who you are. Setting boundaries also helps maintain a comfort level while you’re doing promotional work.

Are children’s books still important? How do you see the industry’s future?

If we had pearls, we’d be clutching them right now. We can’t see a world where children’s books aren’t only necessary but an important part of any child’s development. However, we are alarmed at the price of books. Even ebooks, which we were led to believe were going to be an affordable option. We don’t think the industry is doing itself any favors by pushing the edge of ever-higher pricing.

If you’ve been operating in the children’s industry for a while, you’ve seen cycles and revolutions. We foresee more boutique publishers emerging, more self-publishing, and large publishers struggling with the politics of book publishing.

What does Winding Oak strive for? How would you introduce your services to someone who was interested?

In general, we always try to be kind and respectful, balancing that with encouraging our clients to continue to grow and stretch themselves creatively. We do that by:

• Applying our depth of experience within the children’s and teen book field.
• Collaborating when creating websites to reflect an author’s or illustrator’s personality.
• Striving for originality, but also monitoring trends and incorporating best practices.
• Designing and organizing the content of a website to successfully meet an author’s or illustrator’s goals.
• Focusing on maintaining websites and creating print materials so that authors and illustrators can focus on their creative work.

Our goal is to enable a sustainable career for creators, while they work toward greater connections in the book community.

Many picture book builders have used Winding Oak’s expertise to help them find readers. If you are looking for some marketing guidance, or want to know more about their services, please contact Vicki or Steve Palmquist here. Their honesty, logic, and knowledge have introduced my picture books (and so many others, see their clients here!) to whole new worlds of readers!