http://susannahill.blogspot.com/
http://www.susannahill.com/HOME.htmlhttp://www.susannahill.com/bio.htmlhttp://www.susannahill.com/books.htmlhttp://www.susannahill.com/teachers.htmlhttp://www.susannahill.com/links.htmlhttp://www.susannahill.com/contact.htmlhttp://susannahill.blogspot.com/http://www.susannahill.com/news.htmlhttp://www.susannahill.com/CRITIQUE_SERVICE.htmlhttp://www.susannahill.com/MAKING_PICTURE_BOOK_MAGIC.html
http://susannahill.blogspot.com/p/would-you-read-it.htmlhttp://susannahill.blogspot.com/p/summer-short-and-sweets.htmlhttp://susannahill.blogspot.com/p/oh-susanna.html

March 15, 2011

A Few Words About Postcards...

So it turns out marketing is a hotter topic than I realized.  People are pretty interested.

In response to a question about postcards, I promised to post pictures of my most recent ones, so here they are:

Here's the front of the April Fool, Phyllis postcard...
... and here's the back
I really like how Jeff was able to put the Punxsutawney Phyllis cover on the front, since April Fool is a sequel.

And here's the front of the Can't Sleep Without Sheep postcard...
... and here's the back.
(It's hard to see that the back of the Can't Sleep postcard does actually extend to the right so there's room for the address and stamp, but it's there!)

I am so lucky to have talented illustrators to work with!  The basic information on the postcards is just the book cover, a review or two, website, and school visit information.

I hope that helps answer the questions about the postcards.  These two were both made on Vista Print (not by me! - one by Mike Wohnoutka and the other by Jeff Ebbeler - I'm still learning how to upload templates to Vista Print...) but I've also heard good things about GotPrint and I personally have used Zazzle a number of times because it's so easy to work with for the non-computer savvy such as yours truly :)

In answer to another question about supplemental materials, I have made a lot of them myself - the classroom guides to the early books, madlibs, library activities, word searches etc., but my wonderful illustrators have been terrific abut making coloring and activity pages to go along with the books - fun things that teachers can use in school, or that parents can download for fun at home.  They are all on the School Visit page of my website, along with the new fancy classroom guides for April Fool, Phyllis! (and coming soon for Can't Sleep Without Sheep.)  I just asked Jeff, Nicole, and Mike for what I wanted, and they put their own creative spin on it.  Then we can all post the activities on our websites.

I hope that answers some of the questions, but please feel free to ask more, and also share things that have worked for you!

2 comments:

  1. Susanna -

    I often hear that illustrators and authors rarely talk (or e-mail or whatever). It sounds like you've had lots of contact with yours. Have you had to ask to get in touch through the publisher?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Megan, I didn't have contact with them before the art was done. With Jeff, after I got the proofs from the first Phyllis book I asked the publisher for his email address so I could tell him how much I loved his work. We've been in contact ever since, although I still didn't discuss the second book with him while he was painting it. I found Mike online through his website, and Nicole contacted me - now that everyone's on the internet, we can all find each other without the publishers. But I think there is still sort of an "etiquette" - you know your editor doesn't want you interfering in the artist's process, so you can meet and say hi or whatever, but I think it would be very frowned upon if you were to try to influence the direction of his/her work.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you and try to respond to every comment. Please share your thoughts!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...