People are usually surprised when I tell them that it generally takes around 18 months for a picture book to go from being some pastel drawings on my desk to a finished book that they can find on the shelf of their local bookshop. This is because of all the work that goes on behind the scenes, most of which is done by the sales team.
There are an extraordinary number of children's books published each year, so there's only room on the shelves for the average bookseller to carry a fraction of what's available at any one time. Which is where the salesmen come in.
To ensure that Baby Can Bounce! is one of the lucky titles selected by Waterstones, W.H.Smiths, Blackwells etc, they must sell the idea of my book to them, long before people in the real world know it exists.
As soon as the proofed version of my book is available, they will use that for their sales pitch but, before that, they use sheets like the one above, which try to convey as accurately as possible, how totally gorgeous, and absolutely essential to their stock, my book is!
This sales sheet for Baby Can Bounce! is the one that the Egmont team have been taking out in the lead up to Christmas and will be flashing about again, as soon as the holiday is over. Good luck team!
2 comments:
Best wishes in the New Year to you and yours, Lynne! Your characters are uniquely adorable. Some scenes remind me of situations my West Coast character gets into. I think our similar climates and beach locations inspire rainy day and sandcastle images. Your book seems like a very good bet to fly off the shelves ... and I love the title. :)
Thank you - so glad you like the way it's turning out! Let's hope you're right about the sales :-) x
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