SPECIAL EP: School Author Talks - Everything You Need to Know (Part 2)

This Book Deal podcast mega Author Talk special (part two) focuses on how to deliver successful school author visits ahead of Book Week. Children’s author Adrian Beck shares how he structures presentations and workshops to hook attention early, use visuals and participation, aim for realistic activities, and leave time for Q&A; he also recounts early failures and a moment where a shoe was thrown at him, and offers practical prep tips like bringing adapters, backups, arriving early, and keeping a visible clock. Teacher librarian technician Helen Farch explains how schools book author talks versus workshops, what engages students (authentic interaction and visuals), how librarians assess authors (events, word of mouth, websites and social media), and key logistics such as curriculum links, printing, arrival, and public liability insurance. Children’s author Kristin Darell discusses building confidence in kids’ stories, tailoring sessions by age and cohort interests, managing unpredictability and tech failures, using movement breaks, handling difficult questions, networking to secure visits, and self-care during busy schedules.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 School Visits Special Setup
03:11 Adrian Beck Overview
04:12 Talks and Workshops Format
07:35 Hooking Kids Fast
10:15 Participation and Flexibility
12:29 When It Goes Wrong
14:12 Shoe Story Disaster
16:36 Money Questions and Booking
19:54 Tech Prep and Timing
26:37 Helen Farch Introduction
27:22 What Makes Visits Work
32:17 How Librarians Choose Authors
35:25 Websites Curriculum and Fit
38:39 Logistics Insurance Paperwork
41:59 Authenticity Wins Visits
42:59 Memoir Author Captivates Teens
45:38 Every Kid Has A Story
48:37 Interactive Talks For Any Age
52:32 Microphone And Room Control
55:40 Workshops With Simple Structure
59:22 Slides Tech And Backup Plans
01:04:21 Keep Kids Engaged
01:09:11 Handling Questions Honestly
01:13:10 Booking More School Visits
01:18:52 Self Care And Wrap Up

Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.

Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:

Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor

If you want to stay in the know, sign up to Madeleine, Tina and Natasha's newsletters for the latest news first.
Madeleine: Subscribe here...

Transcript

Speaker 0:09

The Book Deal Podcast Where you will discover the inspiring stories behind your favorite books.

Speaker 2 0:15

We interview seasoned and debut authors, as well as publishing industry professionals, to bring you the best tips and advice on how to get that elusive book deal.

Speaker 3 0:25

So no matter what stage of writing you're at, we've got you covered. I'm Tina Strachan.

Speaker 0:30

I'm Madeleine Cleary.

Speaker 2 0:32

And I'm Natasha Rai.

Speaker 3 0:34

And join us as we pull back the curtain of published authors.

Speaker 4 0:37

One deal at a time. The Book Deal podcast acknowledges the traditional owners of the land and waters which it's recorded on, and pays respect to their elders past, present, and emerging.

Tina Strachan 0:56

Welcome back to the Book Deal podcast and part two of our mega Author Talk special I'm Tina Strachan, and today I am bringing you a mega ep focusing on everything you've ever wanted to know about school author visits. Book Week is coming up in August, so it's a busy time for many authors as they make their way into schools to celebrate. But school talks or children's talks in general, so even at libraries or festivals or other events, can be very daunting for many, especially those just starting out. And for others that have experience, it's always great to hear advice from other authors on how to pull off a presentation or workshop for children that keeps them interested and entertained and leaving inspired for their own creativity and reading. And because every author is different and has their own unique style, I have asked not one, not two, but six different authors and a high school teacher librarian technician to share all their insider knowledge on what makes a successful school author talk. They will share what types of talks and presentations they offer, how they like to structure them, what works best to hold students' attention, what doesn't work well, any disasters or embarrassing moments and how they navigated them, funniest questions they've ever been asked, advice for how to score the highly sought-after school visits, and other important tips for making these visits run smoothly. In fact, there was so much valuable advice shared that I had to turn this into two episodes. So grab your notebook and pen because these are episodes you will want to take notes for. We are so appreciative to the stellar authors that have joined us for this school talk special and today you will hear part two with Adrian Beck, Kristen Darell, and teacher librarian technician Helen Farche. So if you missed part one, go back and check out episode 95 with Sarah Armstrong, Zanni Louise, Peter Carnavas, and Carla Salmon. These are mega episodes jam-packed full of helpful tips and advice to give your children's presentations and workshops a huge boost, and we wish you all the best of luck for your own school visits

Adrian Beck 3:11

Hello, everyone, I'm Adrian Beck, and I write lots of illustrated funny fiction for kids, like Fox Kid, and I also write some thrillers, some thrills and chills for slightly older kids, upper middle grade, and my latest one is Nowhere House. What I love most about school visits is when a kid comes up to you at the end of the school visit and they've got this little folded over bit of paper, and it's sort of approaching what looks like a book, and they said, "I haven't shown anyone this yet, but I wanna be an author too." And they've written this wild and wacky story, and all this, all these adventurous strange tangents often, often involving, you know, uh, potatoes that have come to life or some sort of strange uh, very kid-like concept, and they decide that they're gonna come and share that with you. And I reckon that's the best part about school visits, is when the kids come up to you and say, "Hey, I wanna be an author, too." That's, it's... Nothing that beats that. That's fantastic. I offer a bunch of different presentations and workshops. Uh, presentations for younger kids, it's all about just how a book is made. So there's, there's words, there's pictures, there's rough versions of pages. And we do a little bit of spot the difference between the rough versions and the final versions. And then when you start to get a little bit older, you start to, um, talk a little bit more about the themes of the books, I think. And we sort of unpack what the big questions are in each of these books. And we unpack a little bit about why, for example, if I'm writing a mystery, why do we actually like mysteries as readers, and what makes a good mystery, and that sort of thing. And then I do some workshops as well. And with the workshops, I try to, uh, approach it in s- in the same way that I approach my own, uh, idea development, and I give them some tips on how I do it. And then we all do it together on the whiteboard, come up with ideas on the whiteboard. And then I also make sure there's room for them to come up with ideas, you know, top secret ideas that they can write on their little notepads, 'cause not everyone likes to share. So, um, there'll be, um I've got all the songs from the Bridgerton soundtrack, which is all the pop songs, uh, played to classical music. And so, um, when we have a chance to do the workshops, uh, for the older kids, and it's time for them to do their writing, I'll play those songs. And, um, and that always gets a good response from the, uh, f- particularly from the teachers in the room who But the kids are thinking, "Oh, this is classical music. I should start to get to work." And then they start to think, "Hang on, I know that chorus. I know that." Um, and that kind of puts them in a good mood. So I really like the I think the presentations are the most fun, because you're putting on a show to a degree, um, and you wanna end with a big fun ending, and it's, and it's, it's very playful. Uh, the workshops, though, they're a slightly different beast insomuch as, um, you want the kids to come away with two things. You want them to be generally inspired about being creative, uh, whether that's writing or illustrating. But you also I like to make sure that they've left with an idea that they have, uh, that I've helped them develop that they can go away and work on. And, uh, you know, sometimes, uh, we might come up with stuff, and they won't go away and work on it, and that's totally fine. But those that are keen, they just haven't been able to focus their energies, I really want them to leave the room with something that maybe they could, uh, develop after I've left. All of my sessions, whether they're workshops or presentations, uh, I use a PowerPoint, um, file, because I think kids are so visual these days that they need something to anchor their eyes. And also, it's a good way to make visual jokes too. So you can, um, s- say something super serious and then click your little clicker and up comes a, a joke that completely, a visual that completely undercuts you. And so I'll definitely use PowerPoints. I think they're really important. I think it's also important to have a banner if you're able to, because kids, their eyes do wander, so you need to, um, you need to try and focus their attention as best you can, especially, um, especially if you're in a big hall and you don't have a microphone and it's the whole school, and, it, it, they can be trying conditions sometimes. So definitely a projector with some visuals, uh, really is gonna, is gonna really help you. Um, and I like to structure all of them similarly. I like to have a nice- Fun ending. Uh, and that can change depending on what the age group is. But I also like to start off by not just turning up and saying, "Hi, my name is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." I like to start off with something that's gonna grab their attention. For example, with the latest book, Nowhere House, I will show a picture of the house from the cover, and I won't talk. I will just have the words come from the screen saying, "Would you go in? Hands up." Right? And then I let it just sit there for a few seconds, and inevitably the hands go up pretty quick, and we've got the whole group with their hands up. And they start, um, th- they start to want to tell you why they would be so brave and so, you know, so, uh, such a strange decision to wanna go into a haunted house. But, um, it sort of kicks off their, um, imagination and gets them inspired from the word go. So then I'll probably after And that's, that's just for that book. I'll do other things for other books. Like for example, Fox Kid, I'll, I'll start with, "What superpowers do you want?" And then I'll go into what Fox Kid's superpowers are. So you kind of I like to kind of get in there with something that they're not expecting, 'cause, uh, I'm sure they And I don't know this for sure, but I'm sure they do hear a lot of speakers that come and say, "Well, I was a young boy, and I always thought writing might be a good thing for me to do." And I think to myself, "I don't know, that might be a bit of a turn-off." So I start with something I like to try and start with something big, and then I'll backtrack, like, maybe a third of the way into it or a quarter of the way into it, and I'll s- and I'll fill in some of the gaps of who I am and why I'm here in their classroom. But I'll do that in a humorous way as well. So I'll, um, show some humorous pictures from when I was a kid, um, just because I don't like my I don't I get bored. I get easily bored when people are taking themselves super seriously. Uh, and so I figure if I get bored, then surely the next generation's gonna be getting bored too. So I need to keep it fun and keep it light. And then that means that when you're talking about some of the more Personal things, uh, they hit a bit harder if everything else is light, you know? So at one point I do talk a little bit about how, um, I write for outsiders because I, uh, felt like a bit of an outsider when I was a kid. When I get to that point, I've feel like it's earned, 'cause I've done all this other stuff, and they sort of lean forward and they're like, "Oh, okay, he's sharing something vulnerable here." So it's kind of, um, you're using a lot of the techniques that you're using in your storytelling. You're using them in, uh, school presentation mode. Um, in- including hooking them in at the start, asking them lots of questions. And I guess the main difference is you're really trying to get them to participate, and you're really trying to get them to, um, be engaged. And a lot of the time that means, uh, asking them questions, getting them to give us, give the responses. And if you're an illustrator, and I, I dabble in illustration too, uh, you have got such a massive advantage. Even if you're not an illustrator, I would say work in some stick figure action or something, um, because you can, you can get them up, and you just do a little bit of that Mr. Squiggle challenge stuff. You know, we're c- we're coming up with a new, uh, villain for this, uh, great story that I've got. Um, what I want you to do is I want, you know, kid A, I want you to draw a nose. Kid B, I want you to draw the ears. Kid C, I want you to draw the type of shoes that they're gonna wear. And then And I'll say, "And I'll put it all together, and then we'll brainstorm a story." And they've already got skin in the game, 'cause they've come up with these bits and pieces, and they wanna see, well, what would that character be like, and what would that story be like when we're developing it together? So I try and get them involved as much as possible. Sometimes it, you know, it doesn't always go 100% to plan. Don't worry about that. That's normal. And sometimes you'll get kids, and you'll try and get them, um, engaged, and you'll try and get them interacting and all that, and they'll freeze up. And that, that happens. That's, that happens all the time. And, uh, I mean, but it's worth, uh, it's worth it because most of the time they have a ball. Um, and so you just, you just push on. I guess funnily enough, sometimes your presentation that went amazing, you know, last week, you feel like you do exactly the same presentation the next week, and you get a completely different reaction. And if I hadn't been doing it for a number of years now, I'd probably be quite put off by that. But when that occa- happens, and fortunately it doesn't happen all that often, but when it does happen, I'm not put off by it. I just know that, you know, whatever lesson they had beforehand has really got them riled up, or they've just been told to be on their best behavior before the author came in or, or whatever it might be. So don't get too, um, dismayed if you have a, uh, less than amazing session. It might just be factors that are completely out of your control. Now interaction is excellent, but you also have to manage your expectations. Because when I first, my very first school visit, there were some issues because I thought, "I'm gonna come into this classroom." You know, and, and that's the same with everyone. No one really gets a apprenticeship in school visits. They kind of have to get thrown into the deep end. And my very first school visit I thought, "I am gonna blow these kids away. They are gonna be so amazed by this." And I had this amazing theater sports inspired idea where I moved all the chairs to the front of the room, and I got them all to pretend they were sitting on a, in a bus. And they all had a little envelope, and there was all, each of them had something that went wrong, and we were gonna come up with this amazing, epic story about every kid. And can I tell you, what do you reckon? It absolutely fell flat. It was just, oh, it was agony. It was like, I felt like, you know, I felt like I was a comedian on a, on a stadium tour and no one was laughing. It was just, it was the worst, um, because I thought I was gonna revolutionize school visits and comedy in general, and turns out that probably wasn't gonna happen at any point. Um, so I, um, I think a good... You gotta aim for something realistic. So if you're getting, uh, if you're getting kids up to do stuff, you know, don't expect them to do a, a whole dance routine or, um, you know, give them something simple to get involved with. Me trying to get them, everyone on the bus to have a, uh, different story and it, and it, you know, intersects with the next person's story, and then we come up to an amazing, epic conclusion. Turns out that was perhaps a little ambitious the worst moment in one of my school visits, a lot of, a lot of my friends, author friends when I tell them about it, they, they... I feel like they don't actually believe it. But it was, it was, it was truly, uh, one of those moments where I don't think I even believed it in the moment. But, um, I'd, I'd, I'd seen the great Rai Sprat, and she was doing a lot of songs. Um, and I thought, "Oh, I used to, I used to be able to, you know, remember three or four chords. Um, I could probably have a crack at doing a song to finish one of my books." And there was a song that was quite heavily featured in the book, so it all felt orga- organic in my head. Um, and so I went up to this, I went to this school and I thought, "Right, this is going really well. I'm gonna have a crack at finishing off with a song." And I started playing, and um, I don't even... I think I might've got a few words out. I can't remember now. It's a bit of a blur. But a shoe sorta came straight at me, and sort of, it didn't hit me bang on the forehead, but it sort of, uh, glanced the side of my face, you know. And, and, and I'm like, I, I thought to myself, "What, what was that?" And I'm looking at the floor, and the shoe's on the floor. And I'm like, "A shoe just was thrown at me." And then the teacher stood up and, and sort of got in the way like she was a human shield, like I was the president or something. And, um, and she said, "Okay, thanks very much, Adrian. That's probably enough for today. That's terrific. Well done. Uh, we've ha- we've learned quite a lot today, and, uh, they ha- what a fabulous time we've all had." And I said, "Oh, okay. Fair enough. We'll, we'll wrap it up then. That's good." And, uh, and I've never tried to sing a song ever again to a s- anywhere, really. Um, and look, I like to think that that young man was having, just having a bad day. And, um, you know, it wasn't one of those leather, hard-soled shoes. It was a nice soft, uh, so you know, it was a nice soft runner. So I, I'm, I'm thankful for that. But, um, yeah. Uh, that was probably a bit of a low point. Um, but again, and this may be just, um, wild, dumb optimism, I choose to think he was having a bad day. I choose to think my song was excellent. And you know, once I would've hit the chorus, uh, everyone would've been singing along, and linking arms, and clapping hands, and dancing all through the school. So I think it's a missed opportunity from that school, to be honest The obvious question we all get asked, I think, is how much money do you make? And then we get asked, um, uh, I don't Maybe, maybe, um, maybe this is just a male author things, but we get asked our favorite footy team and, um, l- uh, Ronaldo or Messi, uh, you know. And, uh, yeah, it's, it's a lot of stuff about football and soccer and and how much money we make. They're, they're the ones I reckon, I reckon I even got teachers, uh, teachers have asked me how much money you make, uh, at times. And of course, we're all just, um, r- most of us aren't gonna answer that. Most of us are going to, um, you know, skirt around the issues there. And so I just say I make millions of dollars and, uh, leave it at that I think the best thing to do if you're looking to increase the amount of school visits that you're hoping to do would be, firstly, you probably want to approach, uh, a booking agent, because they can absolutely look after that whole side of things. And schools know to approach booking agents, you know, particularly around Book Week time. Um, and th- that'll be the easiest way for them to find, uh, an author to speak. But, I mean, another way you can do it is obviously using social media, uh, and maybe show some clips of you in action to show that you've got a little bit of experience under your belt. Um, and, you know, it's obvious that the kids aren't rioting at the time. That helps as well. Um, any sort of, uh, proof that what you've done in the classroom, um, is inspiring the kids. So, you know, some, uh, photos of some drawings that they might have done and things like that I think all help show that you're, um You can do it, and you're in the middle of it. Uh, I've heard of people that do, you know, letter drops to schools, which, um, I wonder if that's maybe a thing of the past now, though. People don't love getting lots of bits of paper and having to sift through all that. So, um, perhaps it's, um, a lot of word of mouth and, uh, going to, uh, uh, library conventions and things like that and trying to spread the word that way. And, uh, I think the One of the best ways of, uh, getting a lot more school visits is just showing that you're part of the community and giving lots of examples of, uh, stuff that you've done and what you teach. And e- look, even if you haven't been in the classroom, you could literally just do a 30-second, uh, uh, video or even a, a blog or something like that and just explain the sort of things that you would put in, or you could say you do put in your presentations. Um, and people get a flavor for, uh, what you can offer. I think that's Uh, and, and I, I really think that- In this, uh, digital age that we live in, a human coming into a classroom and talking about creativity is gold, I reckon. So if you can show that you're an authentic creator and it's something you're really passionate and care about, and that you can, uh, legitimately inspire the kids, I think people would be, uh, very open to, uh, considering having you coming in, for sure I think you need a bag of tricks, like Felix the Cat, when you go to a school visit. And I have a, I have every cord I think that's ever been produced. I have every adapter that's ever been made. And I have the, I have it in a canvas bag, and I just, I have that, I just have it aside, and I take it to every school visit. And you might need one or two things from there every, every so often. Um, and you know, most of the time maybe you don't need any of it, but there's so many things, there's so many elements that can trip you up. And it's stuff like I, I take a, a pack of, um, whiteboard markers, because sometimes they don't always have whiteboard markers. Sometimes they don't have the rubbing out thing. What are they called? The eraser. Sometimes they don't have even a whiteboard. I used to carry around a little, um, A4 whiteboard just in case, and then I lost it at a school and I haven't done it since. But I think it is a good idea. Um, and also have your PowerPoint on a USB just in case, because sometimes no matter what, what plugs you've got, what special adapters you've got, somehow the technology just doesn't work. Um, I'd also, I'd also have a think about, um Just be aware of how to plug in your own HTML cord, HDMI cord into a TV. Like it's not too tricky to f- find the right, um, input. And if you bring your own cord, then you can do it. Because quite often, surprisingly often, you'll go to a, um, classroom and the teachers are wonderful, but they don't really use the technology all that much, and so they don't know how to plug in a- Uh, your specific computer into their devices. But, uh, uh, 90% of the time, if you know how to plug in an HDMI cord into a TV, then you're gonna, um, you're gonna solve a lot of those technical issues. And inevitably, when you go to a school, the AV guy, he's sick today, or the AV guy, he's on holidays, you know? Um, so y- yeah, oftentimes you'll be problem-solving. So, um, with that in mind, I try to get into the classroom as soon as possible. So I'll, I'll be at schools, um... I don't like getting it to schools any later than 30 minutes before I'm meant to do my talk And I'll rush through the, um, the sign-in process, and I'd l- I'd like to be in the classroom at least 20 minutes before the kids are in there. Now, quite often you'll have kids in there from the last session, or kids will arrive early, and you'll be mucking around with technology trying to get it work. And, and I, I There's no solution for that. You're just gonna, you're just gonna be watched while you do that. That's just, there's no way around that. That's just how schools operate. Um, and you just have to, uh, just power forward with trying to get things working. Um, but yeah, give yourself plenty of time. And the first thing you You, you gotta prioritize what you're setting up, too. If you are heavily, uh, dependent on the PowerPoint, which is completely natural because, uh, some- I take a lot of Myself, I take a lot of cues from the structure of the PowerPoint. If that's your priority, get that working first. Don't worry about putting your banner up. Don't worry about some, um, some little prop that you might mention in the Q&A at the end. Don't worry about any of that. Um, just prioritize what you need to set up first. And, um, also, the other thing I would do is when if kids are gawking at you and thinking, "What's going on here?" Uh, have a chat to them like they're humans. I mean, uh, I don't ig- I don't ignore the, the kids that are in the room. I have a chat to them saying, "Oh, yeah. I'm just gonna set this up. I can't wait to have a chat with you guys." Um, and try and, you know, try and get them on side and, uh, and they'll be much more open to the session if 'Cause again, they feel like they've got something invested, 'cause they've seen you set it all up, and they feel like they know you. They've got the, uh, behind the scenes, you know? And that c- that can actually work in your favor at times as well. Last of all, um, uh, make sure you've got a clock in sight. Uh, and if you don't have a clock, uh, do what I do, 'cause most A lot of school halls don't have clocks. Um, and this is a bugbear of mine because I find myself in a lot of school halls wondering what the time is. Um, and that's fine because, uh, normally you, they don't need them. You're the only, uh, person that really needs a clock in a school hall. And so I have an app on my, um, on my phone which, uh, displays the time massively. And so I'll put it on, uh, I'll put it on the little table nearby. And so at a glance I, I can see exactly how much time I've got left. And, um Always, I always leave about five minutes for questions at the end because kids have millions of questions, and if they don't get to ans- ask their questions, uh, I f- I feel like they sometimes can get a little frustrated. So make sure you leave a little bit of time at the end for their questions. And usually, as hilarious, I'm sure, as hilarious as the rest of your talk would be, um, they will also come up with some hilarious, uh, questions and strange suggestions towards the end of the talk too, which really makes it feel like, again, it's interactive, and again, that you've shared a unique experience with this group as opposed to just trotting out the same, uh, routine for everyone you've seen. Last of all, with school visits, it's fun. You know? We think we have to get in there and, you know, heal the world. Really we're in there showing that, uh, being creative is fun, role modeling, role modeling creativity, um, to kids, and showing that it's, uh, an important part of the culture and the world that we live in. And get in there and have fun, and just show how passionate you are about, uh, about the job, about the act of creating. And, you know, we're not there to nec- I mean, we, we'd like to teach them, we'd like to teach them as much as they're open to receiving, but ultimately we're there to excite them about the act of creating, and the act of reading, and the act of storytelling. And, um, you can do that by playing the fool, or you can do that by just showing how passionate a- you are about your craft. Either way works- Mm-hmm as long as you leave the room, and hopefully you've left the room with, you know, a few kids, hopefully most kids, eager to start picking up a book

Helen Farch 26:37

My name is Helen Farch. I'm a library technician who manages the school library at Forest Hill College in Melbourne in Victoria. So we're a government coeducational school, a secondary school. As part of my role I do organize, author visits for our school. So I've organized a number of those over the last few years. I have quite a bit of experience with organizing author visits, choosing authors for the visit. I also go to lots of book events, so I, have the opportunity to meet lots of authors and speak to them and get a good feel for the authors out there and the ones that I think, would really work well with interacting with our students. So when I have an author visit our school, it, it can be one of two ways. So it could just be an author coming in and doing a presentation, just a general presentation about themselves, about their books, about their writing journey, 'cause the kids are always fascinated by an author's writing journey. The other type of author visit we have is where it's more of a workshop, with s- some selected students. So it might not be with a whole... In our experience, in my experience with my school, we, it's not necessarily with a whole year level cohort. It will be with some selected students, possibly a writing, workshop or an illustrating workshop. So two different types of author visits, but really I guess what makes them successful is the same thing. And it really is, it's interacting with the students, um, trying to get that to and fro- through with them. Um, I always try to set the scene for an author coming in to visit with that interactive thing. Like often what I'll do is an introduction to the author, but it might be with a bit of a quiz. Like, do you think author such and such is a dog person or a cat person? And the kids will vote and have their say, and then the author will answer the correct thing. Or it might be three fun facts about author such and such. So try to set it up as that sort of more fun, relaxed, interactive type, interaction with the kids. Look, it helps to be funny, but that sounds awful because not everyone might consider themselves being funny. So I don't want authors to think, "Oh, I'm not funny. I shouldn't do school visits," because it's really just being yourself and being natural with the students and having interaction. I really do think it works best when there is that interaction between you and the students. That's, I think it's just, it's really just being authentic and being yourself is, whether it's just a normal presentation or if it's a workshop, that's probably the best advice I can give, is just be yourself. And just try to get the kids involved. And that's even if you're not doing a workshop where it might be a writing workshop where you might have worksheets or something for them to do, so obviously then there's actually like, something physical that you're getting them to do. So even if it's just more a general presentation, just maybe having some back and forth questions and things like that, that, always gets the kids involved and more engaged with what's going on. It's great to have a visual aid, and yeah, whether that's photos or a video, a book trailer for your book, something like that. They like the book trailers. They like seeing all the little videos, if you have those. Also just photos. Like, we had one author come in and they showed, a photo of what the first page of their book looked like when they first sent it to the publisher and how it looked at the end, and how, after it'd been through the editing process and everything. And the kids were just like, "Wow," like, "Wow." You know? 'Cause a lot of them still think, oh, you just write something and it's done. So that visual clue, or that cue of, being able to show them, like that, that really gets them involved as well. Kids are fascinated by the journey. They love to hear about things that you think everybody knows. The ki- often the kids will have no idea, and they find it absolutely fascinating. What I've really seen that's worked best with our students in terms of holding their attention is really to have that just natural interaction with them. Um, and I know I said previously be funny. You don't have to be funny, you just have to be authentic with them. That's the thing that really holds their attention. Don't try to put on a show, just be authentic with them and have a chat. I haven't had any nightmare stories, but the one that I thought didn't go as well as I had hoped was when it was more the author talking at the students and not really doing that interaction. And, you know, the kids start to drift off their attention So it's, having that interaction. If you're just doing a bit of a TED Talk and talking to them, it might be really interesting for an adult, but the students would need, just need that bit more interaction to keep them engaged. In terms of advice for authors who are, who are trying to get into doing school visits, I can really understand how it can be quite tricky. Particularly if maybe you don't have a speaker's agency that you're signed with. I think for myself, I guess I tend to book authors that I know. So they're authors that I have met at book events and chatted to, and so I've already got a bit of a feel for them as a person. And look, and I would say, and I hate saying it because it's not where everyone, a space where everyone feels comfortable, but seeing them on social media, having an idea of like if they've been on so- you know, they have a social media presence, and you hear them speaking and talking about their books or just talking about themselves in general, it gives myself as a school librarian a feel for again what, if I haven't met them in person, of what they're like and how they might present and interact. But I feel really uncomfortable in a sense also recommending that because I know it's not a space that every author is comfortable being in. And that's fine because I'm not gonna sit here and say, "Oh, you have to be on social media or you're never gonna get school visits," 'cause that's not true. But if you are comfortable in that space, I can see the, it's the benefit because people do, um, they g- yeah, they get, they feel like they know you. They've got an idea of what you're like, as a presenter because you're presenting yourself. Also, I guess I also from hearing authors speak on podcasts, again, that's hard because not everyone gets a chance to be on a podcast. So I don't want to be discouraging. But it is hard if you do maybe approach a school directly and you're not someone that they, that the school librarian actually knows. So it's really hard if we get that message and we know nothing about you. So it's tricky. I feel like I'm being very discouraging, but, um, I'd say I guess if you're out there as an author and you are interacting with people at, at book events and things like that, um, and you get to meet someone who says they work in a school library, have a chat to them. A lot of the time it's also word of mouth from other school librarians. If I may be looking for someone who can talk to a certain age group or on a certain subject, you know, I'll put out to my network saying, "Any recommendations?" So, if you do visit a school and you think it's gone well that doesn't hurt to ask the school librarian at that school to, mention you as a possibility for certain things. I'd say at the very least, definitely have your website up to date, and have information on your website. Look about yourself. Again, it doesn't have to be a lot, but just a little bit. Um, say where you're based as well, because sometimes it can be hard to work out, oh, is this a Victorian author? Because if you're from Perth, then that's obviously not gonna help me. And have a section maybe on, on school visits about the things that you're comfortable with, um, presenting, particularly if you wanna run a workshop about the sort of workshop. If you want people to consider you for a writing workshop, list the sort of things that you've done before or you like speaking about plotting or something if there's something you specialize in, then that would be really handy to have there. And even you could look at the Victorian or the Australian curriculum and look at what they cover in English, and you could then say, "You know, I can help cover these parts of the curriculum." Because then if you are messaging a school directly, you can direct them to your website, and then we can go there and we say, "Oh, okay, well, we actually have, our year sevens are doing poetry next semester or next term." And oh, I can see, what you can present to a school meets with that. So that would be, I think, a really valuable, 'cause a lot of times that information isn't available. And so particularly if you don't wanna do social media, again, perfectly valid, at least have your website really up to date. And even if you have done some school visits with the schools that you've been to possibly, if they're happy with you to use them as a reference. Because again, then it could be we reach out to our network and just say, "Hey, what was, you know, such and such like, or were they good with this age level and stuff?" The other thing is, particularly if you're- Just getting into school visits, I'd say don't pigeonhole yourself to a certain age group. So I've had authors visit our school who might traditionally be, um, associated with presenting to primary schools. Again, they've come to my school, they've been great. I've had authors who, write for adults. They haven't written middle grade or young adult books at all, but I've had them come visit because, and run writing workshops because the skills are the skills. And I know that the people I've asked in are great presenters and are great, educators as well, and have a lot of experience. So don't say, "Oh, well, you know, I write junior fiction. I can only pitch myself at prep one, two," that sort of age level maybe. Don't pigeonhole yourself because your skills transfer to all age groups. So I'd say, don't limit yourself in that respect. If you do, have a school visit booked the things that make the visit run a lot smoother, they're things that are pretty obvious. But yeah. Like get in touch with the school librarian a few days beforehand. Just check things like do they have a TV or a projector, if you need that. Make sure you have the right kind of connectors or they can provide, if it's HDMI. If you've got a Mac and you need a, an adapter. Some schools you can stream to the TVs, others you can't. Um, arrive early because it can get very stressful if you're thinking, "We start in 10 minutes and they're still not here." So it happens, Trams get delayed and there's accidents or whatever. There's traffic. But try to arrive early. Then you've got chance to actually just have a chat with the school librarian as well. And if you do have worksheets or things that you want to be available on the day, send them through a few days if you need the school to print them out or something like that. Just give the school a few days to organize those things. One thing that I've come up against that can be an issue is particularly if you're not with a speaking agency, public liability insurance. You'll need public liability insurance. Our school, and I know a number of schools have, a website called SAM for Schools. I'm sure there's other ones. But if we have an author visiting, we need them to be able to register on that website. And to be able to do that you need public liability insurance. I've actually come across, situations where I want a particular author to visit. They don't have their own public liability insurance. Um, but the fact that they were with a speaker's agency meant that I could get around it. I just had to book through the speaker's agency as opposed to directly with that author. Which adds expense from my side of things. But really wanted that author, so we did it. That's maybe something to have ahead of time, is to make sure you have public liability insurance or you know how to get it, quickly, if a school comes and asks for that. I know some schools, probably more independent schools, often they have all sorts of induction paperwork and things like that you've gotta do beforehand, so just be aware of that. Again, it's not to put you off doing it, it's just, sometimes it can take a bit of that behind the scenes organizing. Particularly if there's all these sort of induction paperwork and things like that you need to fill out, then obviously that takes time. So it's contacting the teacher librarian, school librarian enough times. They would normally tell you, but, if it's something that you're not sure about, just make sure you're in contact with them beforehand and make sure all those sort of things are, sorted before you actually attend on the day. We have been lucky in that we've had a lot of really amazing, dynamic author visits at my school. The reason they've been so good, I'm probably repeating myself, but- They've been authentically them. So sometimes that can mean you get an author in who does hundreds of school visits and conferences and is so experienced with speaking in public like this. And they're funny, and they're got all the great stories, and they know what engages the kids 'cause they've done it hundreds and hundreds of times. When we have the author's visit, there are teachers in the library as well that are there for crowd control, if you like to use that phrase. But, the really experienced ones, they are pretty good at doing that themselves and don't take any, crap, basically. Sorry, language. But they, you know, If some of the kids can start ask some relatively impertinent questions, they know how to shut them down. So I've had the great author visits because I've had the really experienced authors On the other hand, I've had an outstanding author visit from an author who has only ever written one book at this stage. I mean, I believe that she's planning to write more, but she's written one book. It was not a book that any of our children, students had read. She'd written a memoir, um, about her experiences with childhood cancer. So a pretty gritty topic, and it was a pretty gritty book. And she came. The students, because of the nature of her book, which I had read, and this is s- someone I'd actually connected with over Instagram, and we had, messaged back and forth. She's not from Melbourne. She was happening to be in Melbourne. She said, "I'd love... Can we organize it?" So we did So she presented to older students, our year 11 students, just because of the nature of her book. Now we're not talking an easy cohort of students here. We're talking a pretty difficult cohort at the time. Not your most academic. Definitely not your readers. She had them eating out of the palm of her hand because she was herself, she was authentic, she told it like it was, didn't sugarcoat things. And they were absolutely enthralled. So much so that I had this, these group of boys, and you would never think that they were like, "Can we have our photo taken with you?" Think of the opposite of a student, of a group of students who would be interested in an author, that was these students. And she did it not because she was experienced at school visits, and not because she'd written a whole heap of books and done this all the time, but just because she was authentic. And you know, you, I think I'm repeating myself, but that is the s- that's the recipe to success. You could be a really quiet person, and that's authentic of you, and you're that with the students, they will connect with that. And because most of the time, you know what? They just wanna hear a good story, and you're an author, and you can tell good stories.

Kristin Darell 45:38

Hello, my name is Kristin Darell, and I am a children's author. I write junior fiction and middle-grade books, uh, which are warm-hearted. They're contemporary fiction. My first series was Football Fever, which came out four years ago. Uh, my second series, Turanga Presents, was out in 2023, and my most recent series, It's a Twin Thing, book one was out at the start of 2026, and book two, The Big Switch, out in August 2026. And that makes 10 books in four years. So I am very tired but very excited to h- be sharing so many, uh, special stories with kids that really draw on everything that I love in the world, which is, um, a fabulous thing to talk about and write about The things I love most about school visits are encouraging children to realize that every one of them has a story to tell, and that every story that they have is unique, which really means it can never, ever be wrong. And I ask that question of kids at every school visit I do, which is, "Who thinks a story can be wrong?" And I point out I'm not talking about spelling or punctuation or capital letters or grammar, I'm talking about the story. Who thinks their story can be wrong? And inevitably, quite a number of kids will put their hand up. But the truth is that if you are telling a story that is authentically yours, that is coming from you, only you can tell it. So there is absolutely no way that story can be wrong. And so when I say that to kids, especially when I'm doing, say, a writing workshop, I get the most incredible, crazy ideas that our adult brains, I think, sometimes limit us by. So we go, "Well, you can't have that and that. That's just not logical." Uh, and as children's authors, I think we do break those walls a lot and we do put crazy things together. That's why we do what we do. But I know myself, sometimes I get hesitant to do that. So when you give a child permission and say, "It doesn't matter, it can be wrong," um, they will let their imaginations run in a way that is so inspiring, even to me as an author, to read what they do. And I have kids test me sometimes. I do little, uh, exercises with them where we talk about building a story by asking your character questions. And one of the things I get them to talk about is what is your character's weakness or w- or, and what is their want? And I show them how we put those things together. And some kids will test me by putting something really random with something else really random, and they're like, "That'll never work. This isn't gonna work." But then I show them how it does. And often those two random things come up are the most exciting story of all. So that's what I love. I just love seeing kids suddenly go, "Ah, maybe I can write a story." Uh, and that the best place to start about that story is, uh, with yourself. So all of my books, particularly my twin books, 'cause I'm an identical twin- draw on some part of me. And what I try to encourage the kids to do when, in my author presentations, and my talks to kids are very interactive, so I'm getting a lot of feedback from them. Even in a room of 100 or 200 kids, I still, I like to walk around with the microphone, get in amongst the aisles, like walk in amongst the kids, and really get them thinking about their own stories and how much they have to share, and how unique that is. Um, I never sort of expected any of my initial stories to have a lot of me in them, but I was a sports kid. Like, I loved sport. I was not a soccer player. I probably shouldn't say this out loud and give it away, but I was terrible at soccer, uh, or football. But, um, I love sport, I love team sport, so I drew on that passion when I wrote those books. I'm a passionate animal lover. I have lots of pets, um, dogs, lizards, snake. Um, I have always done stuff with the zoo. My daughter is part of the Youth at the Zoo program. So writing the Taronga series drew on my passion, and then twins, obviously, it's about me. So by you showing kids those examples in my talks, which is sort of what I lean into with my visual presentations, I show them how I build, take a little piece of me and build that into something more. And I can do that whether it's a big group talk or whether it's a small workshop, um, in a school, whether I'm talking to K to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 It's the same concept. All I do to adjust it for the different age levels is the way I present it. So the message is the same, and I think that's what's made me more confident with my author presentations, is that my messaging is largely the same. But I will also talk directly to the schools about what their cohort is particularly excited about. Is it football or is it sport or are they a very conservation-aware, animal-loving school? Or, you know, is it something... Or are they a really general wide cohort? And because of... And then I'll focus in on whichever sort of group of books or stories are going to really tap into what those kids love. And if it's a big broad thing, then it's a bit of everything. It... And I'm lucky, 'cause I have animals, I have sport, and I have a series, the twin series, that is very much these kids in their school. Imagine like the Friends TV show but for kids stuck in a school. It's a cohort of big kid- a group, big group of kids who do crazy stuff, and they're all amazing, girls and boys, and I just happen to be focusing on the twins. When you go into schools, you are presented often with a big variety of options, and sometimes schools will get you in to talk to the entire cohort from K to six. And in some schools that's maybe 100 or 200 kids, but in other schools you can end up with a giant massive hall filled with three or 400 kids, which is amazing and exciting and the energy in that room is really, really phenomenal. But I am a probably a hybrid type presenter where I'm not overly performative. I don't run around and have big music blaring and, and I love the presenters that do that stuff, but that wouldn't be authentically me. And- Um, I can't do that. And the kids would see straight through it, and that's the, the key. Kids see straight through you, so you need to do what you feel really comfortable. Turns out I am quite funny apparently. Um, I don't think I'm that funny, but the kids find me funny, so I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. But I'm, I'm leaning into it, and that's fine. So when you are talking to the different size groups, though, how you present to them changes. So even if it's a common thread in your presentation, how you deal with it changes. I always like to have a microphone in a big group so I can be mobile, walk around, and so that every kid can hear me. And Sally Rippin, the children- Australian Children's Laureate from 2024 and 2025, told me something once which was a really great advice. She always uses a microphone, even when she's in small rooms, and she does that so that she's not just yelling at the kids all the time. Because you can use your voice fluctuation to draw them in. If you talk quieter and, "Guess what?" You know, "Can you believe it? It's amazing." And then you get that big variety, um, and you can't do that in a big room if you don't have the microphone. So I was always a bit anti-microphone. I can project. I don't need a microphone. But ever since she told me that, I've changed the way I do my author talks, and it has made a massive difference. You see the kids lean in to hear what you're gonna say next, and it allows you to be more like an actor, where you're drawing them in. Because that's what we are. We are engaging kids. We are telling them a story. So whether you are in a really big group, which I love to do, I also love to break it sometimes. So I'll often recommend if the school can, that we do K to 2 in one block, and then either 3, 4, and then 5, 6, so three blocks. But if I can If we're only doing two, then I'll do K to 2 and 3 to 6. Because you can talk differently to those different cohorts. And I like to get right down on the ground with the K to 2s. I like to be right in there with them, talking about characters and stories and, "What do you like?" and, "What's your favorite?" You know, and really give them the time to breathe. So while I'll do a similar presentation for the younger kids, I like to- Always talk less and get them to talk more. So let's really give 'Cause every kid in K to 2, what, they put their hands up. They put their hand up before they've, you've even finished asking them a question. They don't often even know what the They don't have an answer yet, they just wanna be picked. So I pick as many as I can, and if that means we spend five minutes just getting answers to one question, that's fine by me, um, because the questions are relevant, and then I let them lead the pace of the talk. So with the young kids, I have less in my presentation so that I can allow them more interactivity. When a really big group, that can be trickier, when you've got the little ones in there as well. But I do make a point in the big groups of kind of strategically asking questions from a- throughout the room. 'Cause I'll often have the littlies at the front, and then, you know, they get older as they move back in the room. So I always make sure that I'll pick a couple from the front, one from the back on one side, one from the other side, so that everyone gets a really good chance to talk. Um, I love doing workshops. I absolutely love being in rooms with small numbers of kids so we can really get one on one, find out what makes that kid tick. Um, especially the reluctant ones that don't necessarily want to write a story. I love getting in there and showing them that it's not complicated. There is a formula. You can use it, and it doesn't matter what you insert, you're gonna come out with something fantastic. But lean into what you're passionate about. Lean into what you love. So often with the writing workshops- I will give them structure, I'll teach structure, I'll teach planning, but the content I will let them lean into whatever they want. I mean, I did a workshop once that was a football-themed one where we built characters, and then we turned that into a story, and discovered that one of the kids had created a, a sausage dog that loves hot dogs, but wanted to play football with the humans, and happened to be a very, very good, um, s- a football player as a goal kicker, which, you know, is crazy for a s- little sausage dog. Uh, and then, um, at the end of the story, um, they were, you know, this dog had to, um, kick the winning goal, and the team had taken a chance on the dog, but then a hot dog van drove by the football field. And then the kids have gone, "Dot, dot, dot, to be continued." I'm like, "No, y- you have to finish that story. I wanna know what happens." So it can go anywhere, and it doesn't matter because in the end the goal is that we want them to have a story. So when I'm in a... The other thing I would say about workshops is I like to provide a workbook. Now, um, some schools don't have the capacity necessarily to print loads of workbooks, and that's okay. Um, in those cases I will put it up, I put it up on the screen the questions for the kids to copy down anyway to work through, so they create, like, their own workbook. But if th- if they can, and the workbooks are very simple. They're not fancy, complicated ones. I just create them in a Word doc, and I give them to the schools ahead of time as a PDF to print out for the kids, um, because I think it helps to guide the kids through, and it makes it feel achievable for every kid. Sitting there with a blank page in front of you can feel quite overwhelming. I mean, it feels overwhelming as an adult author sometimes to sit there with a blank page. What I want kids to feel is comfortable, and that they can do something. Now, some kids will write, brr, heaps and heaps and heaps. Other kids might only write a few words. But whichever one it is, um, s- every kid will end up with words on the page. So, um, I- Do little videos in my presentations sometimes as well, particularly around my Taronga ones. I interviewed a koala keeper, and that interview led to Pooh at the Zoo, the first book in that series. So I show them snippets. I get them to tell me what did they hear, what was interesting in what she just said, and then I show them how that became the book. So that's also another trick and tip. With the twin books, I show them photos of my twin, my sister and myself when we were young, and I show them how that led to that part of the book. This passion that we had as, going into the bush has led me to put, um, you know, the kids living near some national parks with cubby houses, and they hang out in the bush with their friends, you know? So i- by showing how relatable it is, putting lots of personal pictures, but also other exciting fun things for the kids, telling them stories about yourself that they can then relate to I think really, really works. I use PowerPoint But sometimes, um, it's good to have a PDF version of your presentation because sometimes the school computers when they need you to put it into their own computer, uh, it wigs the PowerPoint out. Um, I, I... With a PowerPoint it's good to have good solid fonts. Um, I like to use things that come on as I go, as I talk, but sometimes that can be dangerous because if it doesn't work, um, you miss bits. So having an option, if it's feeling a bit clunky, I'll just have set slides that just come up, they come up and I talk through each part of the slide. Um, so having backups on that is a really good idea. And I have a permanently set up little pouch with a turtle, 'cause I love turtles, um, that has like a long, um, HDMI cable because the schools often will have them, but I like to have my own just in case there's an issue. I have two different clickers and I'm still trying to find the perfect clicker, um, which is like to pr- like change my slides. Um, I think someone needs to develop a better one. I have loads of adapters, um, that allow you to plug different things in, um, different things bec- And then I'll have my computer, I'll have my s- presentations on a USB, and I'll often email them via WeTransfer to the school ahead of time in case they prefer to download them directly onto the school computers. Um, I also have an app on my computer that one of the schools got me to get called Vivi. A lot of the schools are using Vivi in their classrooms, and if you've got Vivi on your laptop, you can ac- they can give you a classroom code and it'll automatically stream your presentation to the school interactive board. So it really just depends, and that's great when you're in libraries or classrooms, which a lot of my presentations are. Um, in a hall, inevitably you're gonna be plugged into a school computer, but be mindful that that could be at the back of the hall in the corner in a little room, and you're at the front of the hall, which is why clickers can work. Can s- you can struggle f- with the clicker, so sometimes you actually just need to ask one of the teachers to change your slides if the clickers don't work. So just be aware that it's okay if all of those things happen, um, and just be flexible with your own presentation style to make that work as well. Look, school visits, the reality is they can be unpredictable, and you've just got to accept that some are gonna go better than others, which is why being authentically yourself is so important. Uh, I have had disasters in schools where it felt like a disaster to me, but inevitably the kids still had a great time. It just wasn't necessarily Didn't kinda go the way I'd hoped it would go, and I think that's because I was well prepared ahead of time. But in the early days, I, I really was tripping and stumbling my way through and just hoping that what I was trying would work. I mean, that first time you use a new presentation, inevitably something's gonna go wrong. The timing isn't quite right. Doesn't matter how many times you practice it, you forget what you're gonna say next. Um, and that's where slides can be really helpful. So what happens if you don't have your slides suddenly? I rely quite heavily on the slides to remind me of what I'm gonna say next. So I learnt very quickly. I had one event where it just, the tech just didn't work, and I wasn't well prepared for that. Now luckily, I'd actually printed out my slide deck on A4 bits of paper, and so I had that with me. But I thought, "Well, hang on. What am I gonna do? I don't have lots and lots of props. I don't have a lot of visuals now. How am I gonna keep these kids entertained?" And I realized that the kids don't necessarily need the visuals. They just wanna hear what you have to say. So I used my A4 bits of paper to remind me what was coming next if I needed to, but I'd also realized quite quickly that because my presentations follow like a story that I'm telling the kids, I didn't need them that much in the end. But I also realized that you don't need a whole lot. So if you're not someone who feels really comfortable doing big slideshows and making them look fancy, they're not They are great, and they're a useful additional tool, but don't necessarily rely on them, 'cause you cannot count on the fact that they will definitely be there. I've had times where video was quite an important part of what I was doing, getting the kids to explore the Taronga, like a Taronga interview and, you know, w- how we create a story from that, and the audio didn't work. So I had to then say, "All right, if I talk to you about this So we had to sort of adapt on the fly. Uh, and it's Your heart rate goes up, and you get really nervous, but the kids don't care, and they don't know. So, um, the biggest thing I would say, though, is remember this is about the kids. So- I, I have seen some presentations where they're for kids, but the presenter is talking to the teachers or the adults in the room, and the kids switch off. Their eyes glaze over and they're not interested anymore. It's, um, really important to watch the kids, because if the kids are fidgeting or wiggling or whispering or... It means you've lost them. Um, so sometimes with the younger ones or with the older ones, that can happen at around the 30-minute mark. So I find that at that point, especially if they're sitting on a hard floor in a hall, they, their bums get tired. They get numb and they wanna wiggle or move. So I work into my presentation, I watch the kids, and I can see that they're all getting restless, and I'm like, "Right, up we get." And we do a funny little, you know, "Put one hand in the air and wave it. The other hand in the air. Put one foot out. Now put your other foot out, but don't... You know, shake both feet together." And they're like, "You can't do that." You know, and you jump up and down. I get them to take a big breath in, a big breath out, big breath in, big breath out. Wiggle some more. Yell at the top of their voices. "All right, everyone sit down and be quiet." And then you've got them for the, the run home at the end of the talk. The times where I haven't done that- I've regretted it because you lose them, and then that tail end where you're really trying to bring it all together and say, "Now remember, you can do this," they're gone. So talk, definitely talk to the kids. Remember that they are your audience, not the teachers. Um, the teachers like do- hearing what you're saying to the kids, and it's important to share things the teachers can draw on later. So have that hidden vegetables in the bolognese, have those story structure comments and things where the teachers will go, "Yes, yes, tick, tick, tick." But remember, it's about the kids. You are there to inspire the kids, and what won't work is if you don't remember that the kids are who you're there for. And that's the same with a workshop or with an author talk to any age. So that's a really important thing. So, um, I haven't had any massive disasters, but I have had tech failures. It has freaked me out, and I have had to go back and really stop and go, "Okay." Now, I don't necessarily prepare a whole bunch of offline things. I just roll with it. If it happens, I'll just deal with it, and we have a lot of fun. Oh, the other thing I, I think works in those instances is I like to get kids up. So, for something, even if it's a small thing. Get a helper, get a volunteer, get a couple of them up. The minute you do that, the whole room comes alive because kids love to be involved. Um, sometimes I'll get, if it's a bigger thing like a script reading or something, I'll get teachers to pick the kids. If it's, um, something just more fun, um, then, um, you know, I'll just pull anyone up. Or kids that have made a big effort to contribute so far, um, give them a little reward. Um, and, um, I will also talk to the teachers ahead of time if it's something that I think is going to require some kids. So with my football series, I have turned one of the scenes into a play where we, I get the kids up, they act the scene out, and we leave it on a cliffhanger. And then it opens a conversation, what would you do in this situation? It finishes with one of the characters asking another a question, "What would you do?" And we talk about all different possible outcomes and how they could shape the story. So you wouldn't wanna throw that two or three-page script at a kid- Without any warning. So I will reach out ahead of time if that's the presentation I'm choosing to do. So in order to sort of make it work and make it run smoothly, as well as having all your gear prepared, I always email the schools with a good lead time to s- ask them, "What is your school interested in? What area of my work would you like me to focus on?" My presentations all have a common theme, that everyone has a story, um, and helping them find their story, but I can tailor it to whichever thing is gonna engage their cohort. And if I And then when the teachers come back and tell me, I will then suggest, what about this, what about that? And if the play reading thing is something that particularly appeals, I'll send that ahead of time so the teachers can share it with the kids and everybody knows what's going on. So that's really important. Um, the other thing that can become quite tricky is kids' questions. So inevitably when they ask you questions, some kids will give you a statement. That's fine. I think one of the funniest things that's ever happened to me is all the kids were just telling me great stories. Like, said, "Anyone have any questions?" "Oh, I did this," and, "I did that." Um, and the teacher said, "Okay, everybody, just stop. It's, a question has a question mark on the end, so you need to, um, you know, be able to ask it as a question." And this one little boy had his hand up and, and I said, "Okay, what's your question?" He goes, "Did you know that this morning I went off and I did some soccer practice and I scored a goal?" And I thought, gold, and we all laughed because he did what we asked, he asked a question. And I said, "No, I did not know that." Um, so that was gold. Um, the other thing to be prepared for is kids can ask hard questions, and when you are in a room full of kids and they ask you a hard question, you gotta really think about how you're gonna handle it. You can't dismiss it, because that kid is, uh, is putting themselves out there to ask you a tough question. You don't wanna ignore that kid, but you don't wanna give them an answer that isn't real, in my opinion. It's my opinion. Um, so you get lots of funny questions. You get kids telling you they've got nits. You get all sorts of stuff, so you just gotta roll with that. But you also, um, this hard question I got once which stopped me in my tracks, it was about a, I think the kid was in about year four, said to me, um, "You're an, you've done lots of things," 'cause I share my journey into becoming an author, which was a long and windy road through ski instructing, journalism, and into children's writing sort of m- relatively mid-life. Um, this kid said, "You've done lots and lots of things. Um, is there anything you regret doing or anything you would've done differently?" And I stopped, and I had a choice at that moment. I could say to that kid, "No, I love my life and everything is amazing." And it's true, it is. But do I re- I, I sto- I gave him the courtesy of stopping just for a second, and I went, "Wow, what an am- amazing question. You have got me thinking in a way I have not thought about things before." And I said, "You know what? I'm gonna be really honest with you. When I started as a journalist 25 years or more ago..." Well, actually, it's 30 now. That's scary. But I, at the time, knew I wanted to be a writer, but I'd never had an author visit, so it never occurred to me that I could be an author. So I said to the kid that, I told them, him that, and I said, "So if I had one regret, it would perhaps be that someone had said to me 30 years ago, 'You can be an author.'" But in sa- So I regret that I didn't have the chance to start doing this amazing job 30 years earlier, but would I be the author I am today, telling the stories I am today, in the way I'm telling them today, if I wasn't, hadn't been a journalist for 20 years, if I hadn't been a copywriter, if I hadn't had the experiences in zoos, if I wasn't a mom of two teenage girls? Would I be able to write the stories I can? No. Would I have written different stories? Yes. Would I still be an author now? Who knows? So that st- And it, all of the kids, it sparked all these other questions about choices and life and journeys, because I took a moment to answer a tough question in a real way. So be ready for that, because kids are gonna ask you stuff, and you're not gonna be ready for it. So that's, um, I think probably the main thing that I would be wary of. Just be really prepared that anything can happen. It feels like only five minutes ago that I was a debut author, and it was only four years ago. And getting into schools can be tough. School budgets are being cut, librarians' jobs are at threat. Um, some schools aren't even having libraries, which is just gobsmackingly unbelievable to me. Every school needs a library with a qualified librarian or teacher librarian in there. Um, but they're under pressure, so they need to pick people. If they can choose one author in for the whole year, they wanna know that that author is going to deliver. So some of the biggest things I would recommend getting in initially is networking. Get out there, get to other events, get to book launches. Um, teacher librarians are some of the most amazing people, and they show up at book launches. Introduce yourself, say hi, um, talk about what you do. Um, pitch yourself to them in a way, because if they know you personally, they're gonna have more faith in you. If they've s- talked to you, they'll see the sort of person that you are. So networking, getting out and about. I know we're all busy. It can be really tough to juggle writing, creativity, families, other jobs, you know, whatever it is. But wherever you can, get out. Get into conferences as well. Go visit people, talk to people, and get some sort of presence online. So I really don't like social media. It is a grind. I grind my teeth having to do it. But by putting as little reels or videos of yourself talking about yourself, what you're passionate about, um, a little bit about your books, even a teaser of the sorts of things you would talk to kids about, this is what I love, then they will get a sense of how you can present. It's one thing to put it up as static images with text and reels. I... Sorry, with text. Um, that's great, but it doesn't give them a sense of you as an orator or a presenter or someone who can talk. So get out there with the reels, put them in. You don't have to do lots, just a few Um, that's something I would really recommend. If you can get into a local school or a local library, um, I don't like to advocate doing lots of work for free, but the reality is at the beginning, you have to give some for free. Um, I take the view that when my books first come out, I like to do some publicity, um, visits. So maybe the side effect is you get a bookseller like Larrikin House or somebody come along to sell the books in the school, but you give the presentation for free, right? The things that that gives you is, one, experience. Um, you're not being paid, so there's less sort of stress about that. Um, but there is still a benefit to you if the kids get your books, which is great. Um, but the, a teacher librarian will then see how you present, get a testimonial from them. Ask them, "Please, if you have a network of teacher librarians, if you have liked what I did today, I would really appreciate it if you would share that with the, your network, because that would mean a lot to me as a new author. Um, I wanna share my message with more kids in more schools, and I'd really appreciate it." And be patient, because the reality is, year one, it's, you're gonna get a handful. But if you do it right, you get those testimonials, you get out there, you do some for free, support other authors, get to know people, it will grow a little bit every year, and it becomes an exponential flow. The more you get into, the more recommendations you'll get, the more, the more visits you'll do, which then exponentially grows that network. Start with your local area. Y- if you have kids, go to your local school, offer a visit at your, the school that already knows you. If you, um, have people you know, ask other authors, "Do you mind putting in a recommendation for me?" If you know them well, and if you've got a testimonial, um... Because sometimes I might get, I might already be, be booked on a day, and I get a request. If I know someone's out there, if I feel comfortable that I can recommend them, I'll happily do it, if I know they're free. So lean on your colleagues, lean on your networks. You will need to probably do a few for free just to, um- Get your experience and get some reputational rungs, um, because they do put a lot of faith in you if you're the only one they're getting. Um, and get out there and show your face in whatever way you can, in person. I like to host other authors too. So I love to get out there and interview other authors at book launches. Offer to launch people's books for them. Offer to do a Q&A with someone in your local area. Um, you know, s- uh, tell your publisher, you know, "Oh, you know, if you've got any oth- one doing a- a... launch a kids book, if they need someone, I'm happy to do it." You know? You do that for free. You don't get paid for that. But again, it puts you out there. People see how you engage and present. So it's hard. Um, you've gotta be patient. Um, I'm still building. You know, I've... I'm better known now in my s- in Sydney, where I am a local author, but Melbourne, Queensland, it's tricky. It's hard because they go with local people. So start with your local area, um, and go from there, because it will grow. And just be patient, um, because it will happen. And be grateful for every opportunity you get, because every time I get in front of kids, it just lifts me in a way that nothing else ever will. And my final tip, I would say, um, for school visits, is have a snack kit, a health kit prepared, because you don't always get time to eat. Even if they offer you food at the school, you often don't get time to eat it. Um, I always have water, always have a muesli bar or two, or whatever your, you know, energy poison is. A chocolate bar, I can't eat chocolate, so for me it's a muesli bar. Um, and have something, a throat lozenge, because even if you don't have a sore throat, it just keeps things relaxed in your voice. Um, so just have your own self-care kit, because it is amazing, stimulating, exciting, and rewarding, and exhausting. So be kind to yourself when you're doing author visits, because it will take it out of you, um, and you, you know, and you need to look after yourself so you can do more

Tina Strachan 1:19:49

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Book Deal Podcast. If you are enjoying the pod, we'd really appreciate you following or sharing the show in your podcast directory, checking us out on Instagram and Facebook, or supporting us through our Patreon community at patreon.com/thebookdealpodcast