![]() ![]() ![]() I can’t say they have the most fabulous looking website (!) and the user interface could do with improving, but bear with it. (As this was a more recent marketing exercise my author site was up and running and you can clearly see how easy it is to cross market to my other books from there.) software If you keep scrolling you’ll also see links to the answers sheet – shown as a screenshot above. You can view Eeek’s crossword download puzzle here. ![]() (This may not sound like much but in children’s publishing terms it really isn’t that bad – and all helps to spread the word about the book!) During that period I also I provided handouts of the crossword with books to my local bookshop, which stocks all of my books. I then tweeted links to the crossword (which can be downloaded in Word or as a PDF from my website) using #WorldCup2014 and other relevant hashtags being used for specific matches – targeting mainly soccer-loving dads! Because #WordCup2014 was trending at the time, this led to over 50 downloads over a short period. For the background images I chose an alien spaceship from the puzzle maker site’s library of images rather than one of my own graphic novel images. Thus most of the clues focused on simple general knowledge to do with the World Cup teams, matches and players. NB I now have a catch-all author website – I don’t recommend setting up separate websites for each book as there is too much to maintain and it doesn’t offer a smooth cross-marketing journey! I will in due course move the crosswords over to The Secret Lake section of – this has been on the ‘to-do’ list for a while! Case Study 2 – ‘Eeek! The Runaway Alien’įor Eeek! The Runaway Alien – in which a football-mad alien runs away from space to Earth for the World Cup – I used a crossword to pick up on the buzz of the 2014 World Cup. The crossword sheet itself is also available to download and print or share from my site which offers a further marketing / social media opportunity. The answers are available to download or view on the book’s website, and this, of course, offers a further marketing opportunity as that site includes info and links to my main author site and other books. Use clues to tempt new readers who may only take the hand-out I could have been more adventurous, but this was my first go at it and I wanted to make it as easy as possible for children to read the clues.Īs well as offering the crossword with every face-to-face book sale, I also offer it as a freebie to take away where I don’t make a sale – on the pretext that the book’s details are on the sheet should the parent, grandparent or child want to track it down at a later date □ While the software I used offers various background images that you can lay the puzzle onto (at various levels of transparency from 10%-90%) I chose a blank sheet and then added a large image of The Secret Lake book cover in one corner instead, as seen below. Of course I could have created a simple ‘quiz’ sheet but I’m not sure it would have appealed the crossword format somehow adds a fresher and more fun dimension. When wording the questions or ‘clues’ I took care to bring out exciting plot points (without giving anything away) and to allude to characters in a way that would intrigue and tempt the reader of the crossword – ie the child or parent picking it up in a bookshop – to want to find out more. My crossword for The Secret Lake takes the form of a general knowledge quiz about the story. I’ll talk in a moment about the software I used (which is fun in itself) but first here are a couple of case studies. (And let’s face it, as adults we all know the sense of satisfaction and achievement that comes with solving the simplest of crossword clues, not to mention a whole puzzle!) Solving puzzles is ‘fun’ and without a doubt appeals to children’s detective-like curiosity and often to their naturally competitive instinct. It struck me early on when taking my time travel mystery, The Secret Lake, into shop signings that having a free ‘interactive’ activity sheet to accompany it would make sound marketing sense – not only to attract parents and children to my signing table but also to help market the book after a sale, or indeed after a non-sale!) ![]() (If you caught this post on the Alliance of Independent Authors’ website recently, skip to the end of the page where I talk about new software I’ve just tried out for converting graphic novels: a full post on this coming soon!)Ĭrosswords as a simple book marketing tool If you’re looking for additional marketing inspiration for your children’s book – or indeed for a YA or adult book – below I share how I’ve used crossword puzzles to help promote my books in recent years. ![]()
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