A Song of Six Pens: Merrill Rainey

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Dispelling The Book Marketing Mystery

by Merrill Rainey

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career as an Author, Illustrator, and Paper Engineer, it is that not one project ever runs the same path. Some projects need more time, while others zip right through, and sometimes they need a little more hand holding. Each book I’ve created has had its own individual journey and that includes how I approached marketing them. When marketing a book, I always look for new avenues to attract people to my work. Some ways help me find work, and some ways don’t. When they don’t work, I learn from these experiences and improve how I approach my process the next time around. Like most things in publishing, there is not one set way to do something, and that includes how to market your book. So whether you are traditionally published, or independently published, I’ve compiled some suggestions that I have found success with over the last decade to help get my work out into the world. Marketing is the business of building an audience. So for our books and our careers to succeed, we need to build that following. And sometimes it takes a little time to do so. Hopefully the strategies below will help to dispel some of the mystery around how to market your book!

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Make a marketing plan

Marketing plans are so important! They help you define how you are going to approach getting your book out into the world and how you are going to afford doing so. When creating your plan you need to think through various things:

1. How do you plan to get the word out about your book? Will it be through social media, local advertisements, video media, etc...?

2. Decide what events you might want to attend to help you promote. Will there be a cost associated with doing so?

3. Make a list of what type of giveaways you might want to create to go along with your book. How much will they cost?

4. Will you need to pay someone to help design your marketing materials?

5. Most importantly, create a budget. Know how much you want to spend on your marketing plan. It’s easy to get excited about finding creative ways to market your project, but make sure it’s affordable, and make sure those ideas are worth your investment.

Know what your publisher’s plan is

If you are going to be traditionally published, know what your publisher plans to do to get the word out about your book before you start to market on your own. If you don’t know the details, ask what their plan is.

You should know:

⁃ Where they plan to advertise your book

⁃ What their social media strategy is

⁃ If they are sending your work out to reviewers

⁃ If there are ways that you can help support them by supplying materials that they can send to booksellers

⁃ Are they willing to help with booking school presentations, bookstore appearances, and library events

The World Wide Web

The number one thing you must have when marketing your book is a website. You need a place that you can send people to that showcases you and your books. Your site must include images of your book covers and what your books are about, links to where you can buy them, as well as a bio about yourself. You can also include any downloadable activities related to your books, and information on if you offer speaking engagements, library presentations, school visits, etc. It is also good practice to link your site to your publishers.

Once you are set up, you will want to link your site to different social media accounts. You’ll have to decide which social media platforms work the best for you. I know social media is a mess right now, but it’s still the place where publishers share about events, book releases, and other announcements. It is where a huge part of your audience engagement occurs, so it is still a viable place to get the word out about you and your work. I’m not a social media guru, but from my experiences, you’ll want to post something at least once a week to keep your audience engaged.

If you have the means to create a book trailer, I suggest doing so. Book trailers don’t have to be anything fancy. They just have to give your audience a taste of what your book is all about and where to find it. You can easily create a slide presentation in PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote, then export it out as a movie. Or if you have kids, or grandkids that are tech savvy… let them create the trailers for you. Then you can post what was created for all to see on the world wide web, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.!

Note: When possible, I like to link the sales of my book to bookshop.org. This site allows readers to buy your books from your local independent bookstore, or if you don’t have one, they can choose another store to buy it from.

Mass Media

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that any positive press is good press! That includes small town local papers to national news. Once you know when your new book will be released, start reaching out to local media sources; news station, newspapers, parents magazines, radio shows, podcast, blogs, book reviewers etc. See if they will run an interview or a special section about you and the book or if they will write a review. From my experiences, news sources are usually more than willing to help you promote and celebrate your book and yourself. The best things about these types of resources is that most of them are free, and you can normally find who to contact listed on their websites.

Also, if you attended college, trade school, etc., reach out to your alma mater. Most places of higher education have a magazine that will highlight the successes of their current and past students.

In person events

No one knows you or your work unless you are telling them. One of the most common questions I get from parents is; “My son or daughter is graduating from art school soon. Do you have any advice for them?” and my response is always “They need to learn how to sell themselves and their work, and if they don’t know how to do that, they need to learn how.” Many people in this field are introverts, but you have to break out of that comfort zone to succeed! No one else knows how to sell your work better than you!

So, with that said...

⁃ Participate in as many local events; book festivals, parking lot parties, street fairs, etc. that you can and have energy for. You definitely want to grow your audience, but you don’t want to burn out doing so.

⁃ Submit to larger national book festivals, you never know whether you’ll be accepted if you don’t try!

⁃ Connect with your indie bookstores. These bookstores are so important to the book biz! Ask to see if they would be willing to partner together to host a book launch event.

⁃ Attend writing and illustrating workshops, classes, and conferences. Networking is key!

⁃ If you have a book that has a niche topic… are there events in that same topic that you can attend? The great thing about attending an event like this is that it already has a built in audience, which you can then use to build upon and grow yours.

⁃ If you are presenting at libraries, schools, or events about your book, know your audience and find ways to make your presentation engaging for them. Engage being the key word here… you have to use a little bit of showmanship to keep the attention of your audience members big and small… Are you using puppets? Are you doing interactive read alouds? Or maybe some kind of craft activity that relates to your book? Also, be willing to adjust on the fly based on the reactions of your audience or any event issues that might arise. Being flexible and engaging will always help grow your following and lead to more presentation opportunities!

⁃ Going back to your marketing plan, know what your travel budget is. Also, know what your time is worth. Sometimes you can find, or are invited to free events, but those FREE events will come with travel costs to get there. Sometime those FREE events are great for networking and building your audience, sometimes they are not. After awhile you’ll know which events will benefit you and your books the most. A few years back I attended NERD Camp Ohio. It was a free event, I didn’t get paid to be there, I had to pay for my own travel expenses, but this event ended up being one of my favorite events of the year! I presented multiple times to teachers, librarians, book fans, etc., and from that event, I was able to acquire a few paid school visits the following year.

*Side note: Something to keep in mind while you attend in-person events; whether you sell 100 books or just 1… every in-person event is an opportunity to help build your audience!

Giveaways

I’m a big fan of creating new giveaways for my books. When Roar I’m a Dinosaur launched, I created a mask bookmark that mimicked the concept of this novelty board book. It showcased what the gimmick of the book was, acted as a toy, and functioned as a bookmark. When GIANTS ARE VERY BRAVE PEOPLE released I created a GIANT sized bookmarks which were just oversized bookmarks, but again it riffed off of the concept of the book. One other give away/tradition that I started is creating a new t-shirt design based on my new book. I would then send these shirts to a more focused audience which usually included my publishing team, bookstore owners, librarians, and other event hosts.

The trick to creating effective giveaways is to know who your audience is that will be receiving them. You must make the giveaway something that they’ll keep and not just throw away. Again, it doesn’t have to be something overly creative, just keep it simple, fun, and effective (ie. making a normal size bookmark two inches bigger and calling it giant sized).

Some giveaways are created for crowds of people and others are created for more focused audiences as noted above. Looking back at your marketing plan, when coming up with giveaways directed towards large amounts of people, you want to find something where you can get more for your money. When creating something for a more focused audience, you might want to spend a little more money for a more substantial takeaway. Remember to not stretch yourself to thin here; do what is within your means!

Here are a few ideas for book giveaways;

⁃ Bookmarks. Probably the most common giveaway, but the most effective. Make sure the bookmark relates to your book and gives some kind of snippet of what the book is about. Showcase any industry reviews, and of course include your website link so they know where to go to order your book. There are a lot of places to order bulk bookmarks from. I’ve had good luck with GotPrint in the past.

⁃ Pins and buttons. Same as with the bookmarks, make sure they relate to your book and if possible directs your audience to your website. There are a lot of venders you can choose from to order or create these, but I’ve always used Sticker Mule and have enjoyed their products so far.

⁃ Activity sheets. Activity sheets that can be downloaded from your website, or given away at events are a great way for places like schools and libraries to highlight your books and to engage with customers or students. When creating these, consider things such as: Is there a fun activity you can create that relates to your book? Mazes, word searches, and such are pretty common, but is there something you can create that would be more memorable? When Color, Cut, Create came out, I created an oversized postcard that had one of the dinosaur paper toys on it. It also included where you could order the book from. My hope with this particular activity sheet was that the dinosaur would get built, the builders would enjoy their time doing so, and then they would end up ordering the book so they could do it all over again. For GIANTS ARE VERY BRAVE PEOPLE, I did a compare and contrast activity using the art on the end pages where the kids would circle what was different in the art. The end pages at the beginning of the book showed how Bigelow saw his world and all of the things he was afraid of. Then at the end of the book, the end pages changed to show that Bigelow had gained his courage and was not afraid anymore. Then, to tie into the message of the book, I left space for them to write down what they are afraid of and what they could do to gain courage to overcome those fears.

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In March of 2025 my 7th book will release. So keep an eye out on my social media sites, website, etc., to see how I plan to get MY FIRST TOWN: A Building Block Book out into this world! Visit my site for or more information about My FIRST TOWN: A Building Block Book published by Odd Dot an Imprint of Macmillan -> https://littlerainey.com/building-block-books-myv-first-town-fall-2024

To find out more about my work check out -> Littlerainey.com

Follow me on Instagram and thread @littlerainey

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Facebook: @MerrillRainey

TikTok: @merrillrainey

Looking for someone to design your book or marketing materials? Email me at merrillr@littlerainey.com for rates.

Looking for an illustrator for you project check out HIA.com (Hire and Illustrator) or check out SCBWI.org (Society of Children’s Book Writes and Illustrators).

Meet Children's Author & Illustrator Merrill Rainey

An interview by Gloria G. Adams

We are thrilled to have illustrator, author, paper engineer, and Master Doodler Merrill Rainey as a guest on our blog this month!

Hi Gloria, Thanks for having me!

Merrill, can you tell us a little about your journey to becoming a children’s book and magazine illustrator? Is this something you always wanted to do?

Let’s start with your second question first, as it is a good one and is something I’ve been thinking about over the last year. The simple answer is that I have come to the conclusion that being an author/illustrator is something that chose me. Creating books and products for young people seems to come second nature to me. It’s just something I know how to do. I’ve always been an artsy/crafty person and my childhood was full of moments of creation, and imaginary play.

These childhood moments are what laid the foundation for the things I am creating today! When asked, I also like to tell people that I enjoy creating for children because I have never lost my inner child! So, I create the things that my inner child would want to see on the shelf.

I started working towards my illustration career while attending Kent State University. I graduated in 2003 with a BA in Visual Communication Design with a background in illustration. At that time, I had interned at the Akron Beacon journal doing editorial illustration and design work and had a few opportunities to even illustrate a few featured sections. It was an amazing internship, and after graduation, working for a large newspaper seemed like where I wanted to be. However, the newspaper industry took a turn for the worse, which left me looking for different work, specifically anything with the description of illustrator in it. I can even remember applying to the Yellow Pages to illustrate and create the ads that showed up in the coupon section.

For a while, I worked as a Graphic Designer by day and worked on my portfolio at night. In 2007, I signed with the Tugeau 2 agency, working mainly on educational illustration assignments. Then in 2010 when my son Chase was born, I finally got my first big kid’s magazine assignment from Jack and Jill Magazine. This was just the start, and soon after the completion of that first job, new assignments started coming in regularly. At this time, I was still working my full-time job. After working an 8–10-hour day at the office, I would go home, we’d have dinner and put Chase to bed after which I would go back to work on contract work until about 4 or 5 in the morning. Then, I would sleep a few hours and go back to my day job. This went on for a few years. I am not quite sure what the heck was I thinking, or how I managed this for so long, but what it came down to was that I truly wanted to succeed more than anything else! By 2012, I was eventually making enough income to quit my full-time job and start working for myself.

Fast forward a few years to 2017… a lot of things had happened in that time from the loss of a few family members (that’s still a hard one), an addition of a baby girl to our family, to taking over as the Illustrator Coordinator for the Northern Ohio Chapter of SCBWI. It was also when I connected with my current literary agent Teresa Kietlinski of Bookmark Literary. Working with Teresa is where all of the magic started coming together, we refined my portfolio, started pitching ideas to publishers, and now, almost 7 years later we have 6 books together with 2 more on the way.

I will note that through all of this, without organizations like SCBWI and The Highlights Foundation, I would not be where I am today.So many key moments in my career, like meeting mentors and publishers, have happened because these organizations exist, and I will forever be thankful!

Who are the people who have influenced your work the most?

My kids! They reopened my eyes to remember what it was like to be a child. They helped me to remember what it is like to grow up and to experience pure joy and innocence again. Observing them daily gives me a firm understanding of what it is like to be a kid learning to navigate and find one’s self in the world.

Throughout the last 10 years I’ve been offered a few opportunities to go back to work again for various companies, but I decided not to, mainly because of Chase and Zoey. We may not have everything that all of their friends do, but I want them to see that if you work hard for what you want, you can achieve anything. When they are my age, no matter what they end up being, I hope they follow in my footsteps and know that they can achieve anything by working hard. I want them to realize that some things are more important and more valuable than the latest toy or technology on the shelf.

What exactly is a paper engineer?

Paper engineering is the art of taking flat sheets of paper and turning them into something 3D or 4D. It’s similar to Origami but we paper engineers use scissors and glue. :-) It really is very comparable to architectural, or mechanical engineering. I just use paper to create my final products. When it comes down to it, we engineers (no matter what kind) use the same precision and creative thinking to build products for our end users.

Some of my favorite paper engineers are Matthew Reinhart and David A. Carter.

I’ve read that one thing you want to do is to show kids how to see things differently. This really resonated with me. Can you tell us how you feel your books accomplish this?

The Color, Cut, Create series was created specifically to get kids to see a sheet of paper and know that by folding and bending it, they can turn it into anything they want. Odd Dot and I spent a lot of time trying to make sure that the kids using these books would have a successful time creating. It was also designed to indirectly educate the user. For example, in the Dinosaur World book, all of the dinosaurs are built the same way. My hope is that once the user has built one or two of them, they will know how to build all of them. Then, when they realize they are missing a particular dinosaur that they want in their world, they will now have the ability to create it themselves!

As I mentioned above, my siblings and I spent a lot of time using our imagination and creating things while growing up, and I want to make sure that today’s generations have the same childhood opportunities I did.

I’d like to hear more about the “lunchbox doodles.” What a great idea! And why do you call yourself a master doodler?

I have one answer for both questions! The master doodler tagline came from years of creating drawings for my son Chase’s school lunches. I caught wind of this idea from another dad’s blog who put a drawing in his kids lunches for 16 years. I thought that was awesome, so I gave it a try. It not only gave me the opportunity to make Chase’s day, but it also gave me the opportunity to test how fast I could draw something or come up with new characters, as well as try out new pens, markers, etc.

I had a pretty good run with drawing a doodle every day for almost 6 years (Pre-K–4th grade), until COVID. COVID got me out of the habit of doing this every morning. Even though it doesn't happen every day anymore, I do still try to get a few doodles drawn now and then during the school year for both of my kids.

For those who want to get better at drawing and become a master doodler, my advice is to draw with a pen or Sharpie. Something that you can’t erase. Doing so will help you to be more confident and precise with your pen strokes.

How much work/time goes into creating one of your books?

It depends on the book, but on average from start to finish it’s about two years. That timeframe is after the book idea has been acquired from a publishing house. That two years doesn’t include all of the time and prep-work beforehand leading up to the acquisition of the title (which can sometimes take years.) I’ve been working on a few stories for almost five years now and still haven’t completely figured them out. When I present to kids, I talk about and emphasize how trial and error is part of this process and to not give up if your idea doesn’t work out the first time. Reworking projects is just a big part of the whole writing and illustrating process.

How did having your work displayed at the Mazza Museum come about?

For a few years, I was working in cut paper collage work for some of my magazine illustration jobs. After a while, I started to collect physical pieces of artwork from these assignments, and I didn’t know what to do with them. So, I reached out to Ben Sapp at the University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum about donating a few pieces. He graciously accepted and even offered that we could also do a small gallery show of the work. This was definitely a career highlight for me! It also gave me a little piece of mind that some of my cut paper works will be archived for as long as they will last for future generations to see.

You are currently the Regional Illustrator Coordinator for the Ohio: North Society of Book Writers and Illustrators. What are some of the things you do in your position with SCBWI?

I have been the Illustrator Coordinator for seven years now and I have loved every minute! My main goal in this role was to give back to a community and organization that had presented me with so many opportunities that helped me advance my career. When I stepped into this role, I focused on bringing in opportunities for the illustrators in our chapter to be seen by agents, editors, and art directors. I’ve also tried to focus on inspirational or educational experiences for our members. I spent a lot of time trying to build a cohesive look and feel to our local chapter by encouraging a consistent look to all of our events and graphics. It has been a wonderful experience. However, with that all said, at the end of this year I will be stepping away from this role. My time and energy is currently needed elsewhere, but I look forward to bringing in a new spark to help continue building what I have been working on for our region.

You’ve done work for hire for several magazines, been published traditionally through Odd Dot and Harper Collins, and have also published independently. Can you tell us your experiences with each and what you learned from them?

Having published both traditionally and independently, I can say that they both have been a lot of work. No matter which direction you decide to go in your publishing career, it takes your all to do it right! It takes a lot of time and effort to market your books, whether on social media or promoting at public events. It also takes a lot of time to review and edit your own work. You have to be involved in every step along the way…you are on 24/7!

If I had to choose one way to publish, traditionally vs. independently, that would be to publish traditionally. Here is why: per my experiences, publishing traditionally has allowed me to be able to work with a team of experts who know the best way to build my books so that they will be the highest quality, most user friendly, and actually get into the hands of the end user. It has allowed me opportunities to learn how the publishing world works. It doesn’t always work right, or in your favor, but I’ve gained invaluable knowledge on how to navigate situations that might arise with my next project or publishing experiences.

Are you ever planning on writing a graphic novel? (Or have you already written one?)

I have a few in the works, but nothing finished yet. Some stories just take longer to find their voice. Currently, I am illustrating the new Jack and Jill Protectors of Safe Tomorrows comic found in Jack and Jill Magazine. I am also working on a hybrid picture book/graphic novel with Hippo Park currently titled On The Air With Dr. Doodle Bug.

What upcoming projects can you tell us about?

I am currently marketing my next illustrated picture book which is a reimagined Florence Parry Heide classic picture book titled Giants Are Very Brave People, set to release on August 1st.

I am also working on two new projects. One is another paper craft book with Odd Dot titled Building Block Books: My First Town. This book is a take on the classic children’s building blocks where young builders will punch out, build, and stack a 3D city of their own. And I am working on, as mentioned above, a hybrid picture book/graphic novel with Hippo Park currently titled On The Air With Dr. Doodle Bug.

What’s your best advice for aspiring illustrators for children’s work?

If you really want it- Stick with it! Know that this career path is not your normal 9-5 job. It’s a constant hustle trying to figure out new projects, while working on current projects, and figuring out ways to market your work. Also, learn how to speak for yourself and your work, and never quit learning new skills or refining your craft.

Short and Sweet

Pantser or Plotter? Pantser

Guilty Food Pleasure? French Fries and Cookies

Favorite Hobby? Urban Sketching or antiquing for the perfect treasure!

Cat or Dog Person? Dog

Who would you like to have dinner with (living or dead)? My Dad (we lost him when I was 12.)

Do you do your best work in the morning, afternoon, or evening? When I first started out, I used to like to work between the hours of midnight and 5 am. Mainly due to the world being complete shutdown so I could just focus on my work. Now, it’s the morning hours, and sometimes late afternoons.