26. Timely Tips
Author Visit Podcast
Shanda and Bonnie have a list of tips (from mistakes they've made in the past)! (Bonnie) Welcome to the Author Visit Podcast! I’m author Bonnie Clark. (Shanda) And I’m author-illustrator, Shanda McCloskey. (Bonnie) Today we are recording our “Timely Tips” episode! (Shanda) We live in a different world now than most of us grew up in, so we thought we could compile some of our lessons learned about speaking to today’s groups of modern kids. We’ve made the mistakes for you, so you don’t have to! (Shanda) Let’s get started on our tips… Address...
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25. Tech We Depend On
Author Visit Podcast
Shanda and Bonnie discuss the specific technology that each of them use for their school visits... (Bonnie) Welcome to the Author Visit Podcast! I’m author Bonnie Clark. (Shanda) And I’m author-illustrator, Shanda McCloskey. (Bonnie) It’s August here in GA and our kiddos just started back to school, so the school visit season is upon us! Today we are talking with all about the tech we use and depend on for doing an author visit. (Shanda) This was actually a request from a listener, and I’m so glad she wrote to us about this topic because it’s true, we haven’t gone into much...
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24. Cultivating an Artist in Residence Program to Instruct (Students), Ignite (Teachers), and Inspire (Everyone) with Trey Veazey!
Author Visit Podcast
This episode is geared toward educators, but helpful for authors and booksellers as well! Today we are talking with Trey Veazey, who is the Assistant Head of the Lower School at an independent school called The Walker School near Atlanta, GA. This past fall, Trey invited Bonnie (Clark) to be an author-in-residence as part of the school’s annual book festival. "It was an incredible experience", says Bonnie. Some of the questions and conversation with Trey… Can you tell us a little more about yourself, your background, and the annual book festival at The Walker School? Describe the Book...
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23. Level Up Your Author Visit Game (with Children's STEM/STEAM Author Jennifer Swanson)
Author Visit Podcast
Our topic today is all about leveling up your author visit game with our special guest, children's STEM/STEAM author Jennifer Swanson! Today we get to dive into the world of Jennifer Swanson! If you don’t already know of her, she is an award-winning author of over 40 nonfiction books for children, mostly about science and technology. Jennifer’s love of STEM began when she started a science club in her garage at the age of 7. And not only that, but we consider her a school visit champion! During the talk, we asked Jennifer these questions… Jennifer, in your opinion what’s the...
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22. Crafting Presentations Around Your Books (with Author Shelli R. Johannes)
Author Visit Podcast
Our topic today is all about crafting presentations and programs for school visits inspired by your books, with our special guest, author Shelli R. Johannes! During the talk, Shanda asks Shelli these questions… Shelli, on your website you have a thorough menu of different author visit presentations that correlate with various books you’ve written. Such as: Shine Like a Unicorn - Great for anti-bully week! includes reading and discussion on standing out and not being afraid to be yourself. And Theo TheSaurus - Logophiles love reading and writing! Includes reading Theo and discussing...
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21. Writer's Workshops with Lola Schaefer
Author Visit Podcast
Shanda picks the brain of author and teacher, Lola Schaefer, about how to put on writer's workshops for kids. (Bonnie Clark is on vacation). (Shanda) Welcome to the Author Visit Podcast! I’m author-illustrator, Shanda McCloskey. And our topic today is all about putting on writer’s workshops with kids, with our special guest, author, and writing teacher - Lola Schaefer! Welcome, Lola! (Shanda) We always start by telling how we’ve been doing for the past few weeks, so I'll start. (Shanda) Finished a reeeeally rough sketch dummy for the Rube Goldberg book, Visited my sister in Greensboro,...
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20. The Visit Planning Workflow Episode
Author Visit Podcast
Children's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) talk about their (detailed) workflow processes from the moment a school reaches out with interest in having them present to students to the day of the event. The last episode was about reaching out and hopefully getting a few “bites” from schools wanting to schedule an author visit with you. And let’s say it worked! A school has contacted you saying they’d love you to come speak to their students. Super! ... Now what? What exactly should you do next? For this episode, Shanda and...
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19. The HOW, WHEN, and WHO to Reach Out To Episode (for kidlit authors)
Author Visit Podcast
Children's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) talk about their various personal experiences with drumming up school visit bookings. We hope you enjoy the listen! Kid book review by Harvey, age 11. Resources and books mentioned in this episode (with affiliate links that help support this podcast): , by Karen Schneemann (Author) Lily Williams (Author) Where to find us: Bonnie: Facebook and instagram: @bonnieclarkbooks Twitter: @bonclark Shanda: Twitter: @ShandaMcCloskey Instagram: @ This...
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18. All About the School Visit Page On Your Author Website
Author Visit Podcast
Children's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) talk about how to structure and organize the school visit section of your author website in order to book more visits! A note from Ben (web developer and producer of this podcast) on websites: You don’t have to hire anyone to build you a website nowadays, but if do it yourself, you need to think about the structure of the site. It’s pretty easy to get a WordPress or SquareSpace or other site up and running quickly, but you really need to think through the structure of pages in general....
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17. What To Do In 2022
Author Visit Podcast
Children's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) look back at what worked and what didn't (school-visit wise) in 2021 in order to set new goals and improve in 2022. Kid book review by Amera. Resources and books mentioned in this episode (with affiliate links that help support this podcast): by Phyllis Harris Where to find us: Bonnie: Facebook and instagram: @bonnieclarkbooks Twitter: @bonclark Shanda: Twitter: @ShandaMcCloskey Instagram: @ This podcast is sponsored by and produced by Ben McCloskey of . And...
info_outlineAimed at authors/illustrators new to school visits, Bonnie and Shanda discuss several types of author presentations you can do and gives examples of each:
- Book specific
- Topic specific
- Process specific
- and combinations
Shanda talks about the 3-ingredient recipe that helped form her own successful author presentation, and Bonnie tells about a super fun/gross activity she's excited to try at her next presentation about speaking kind words.
Resources and books mentioned in this episode with affiliate links (that help support this podcast):
"Preparing Your Perfect Presentation", a course from KidLit Creatives. Use code: AVPTHANKYOU for 10% off!
Dirt Cheap by Mark Hoffmann
Taste Your Words by Bonnie Clark
Catching Thoughts by Bonnie Clark
Doll-E 1.0 by Shanda McCloskey (Scheduled to be back in stock early September 2020.)
T-Bone the Drone by Shanda McCloskey