When I published my first children’s picture book, Arthur Zarr’s Amazing Art Car, I didn’t know that speaking at elementary schools was a possibility, much less selling books through author visits. As luck would have it, a librarian from my niece’s school invited me to do presentations for kindergarten through fifth grade. I was extremely nervous and almost said “no.” I’ve never spoken in front of hundreds of children, I worried. And then, another scarier thought: Kids can have short attention spans, right? Tough crowd?

Fortunately, I accepted, and now, 10 years later, I have visited over 100 schools and sold over 5,000 books throughout Texas, Louisiana, and beyond. As it turns out, kids aren’t scary at all; they’re an amazing audience, and they ask the most interesting questions. Since that first colorful PowerPoint presentation, I’ve published a second picture book called Yazzy’s Amazing Yarn about yarn bombing, and it’s also a hit with the schools and their students. Soon, I hope to add my two middle-grade novels that my agent is pitching to publishers to grow my school sales.

Cathey Nickell signs books at a recent Houston school author visit.

Word of Mouth

After that initial speaking engagement, I received word-of-mouth referrals and quickly became known throughout the Houston-area school districts as “The Art Car Lady.” I was encouraged to email librarians, and more schools began to hire me for paid school appearances. At my school visits, I talk about writing, publishing, creativity, and inspiration. At the end of my presentation, the students go outside and see/touch/experience a real art car that I’ve invited to tag along. It brings the whole book-creating process full circle from that first spark of inspiration to the actual hold-it-in-your-hands book. Do a quick search of “Houston art cars” if you don’t know what they are—you’ll thank me!

Sales Matter

Entertaining children and inspiring them to become better readers and writers is my goal. But hey, being an author-publisher is a business, too. Selling books is a top priority, and I’ve found a lucrative way to do this through my school author visits, and I work hard at it. I’m not set up behind a table in a live hand-selling event; that would never work at school visits because parents make the purchasing decisions, and elementary students don’t typically carry their own wallets. When a school hires me to speak, I share a book preorder form (in English and Spanish) for them to distribute to parents in advance of my visit. The form includes a description of my two books along with blanks to fill in their child’s name for a personalized autograph. Cost and payment options are listed at the bottom, such as: cash, check, Venmo, or Zelle. Some authors use QR codes or other links that take the buyer to a payment option.

Here’s how the preorders work. A few weeks before the approaching author visit, the school circulates the form to parents, teachers, and school staff. I encourage the school to publicize that autographed and personalized books will be available on the day of my visit, and they generally do a good job of this—with a few gentle prods from me. I also provide publicity posters that they hang around the school, reminding kids to order a book(s). Some authors prefer to send the order form out after the school visit—they feel the kids need to meet them first to become interested. But I’ve tried it both ways, and I get far more sales before the school visit.

Here’s an example of Nickell’s book preorder form, which she provides to schools in English and Spanish.

My usual point of contact at the school is the librarian. But since both of my picture books carry a whimsical outsider-art theme, I sometimes work with the school’s art teacher as well. Occasionally, but not often, a specific grade-level teacher has hired me, so I work with them. That point person circulates the preorder flyer. It varies from school to school, but in some cases, this means the school prints paper copies and hands them out; some schools send them out electronically through a campus newsletter. The point person then gathers the forms—complete with payments or payment method attached—and holds the orders for my arrival; they are sometimes able to give me a heads-up about quantity, but I always plan for extras.

Nickell, pictured here with an art car called "Chalkstang," invites an art car and its driver to accompany her on each school visit.

Book Fulfillment

My self-published books are printed via offset press, so I have the inventory with me. That means I bring the books to the visit, sign them at the school, and leave the autographed copies to be distributed that day or soon thereafter. If my books were printed on demand, I would need to order and receive author copies before the school visit, which could be a challenge as I often don’t know how many books have been ordered until the day before my visit. My author friends who are traditionally published tell me that they set up sales through their publisher, a local bookstore, or through other companies that handle book sales.

For those authors who do virtual school visits, they could offer the book pre-order form and then bulk ship the books to the school upon receipt of orders and payments. One time, I flew to Atlanta for a school visit and packed 50 books in a suitcase! Returning home with empty luggage and happy readers was very satisfying.

Nickell provides posters to the schools in advance to advertise the upcoming book sales.

By the Numbers

So, you might be wondering: How are my school visit book sales going? I limit myself to around 25 visits per year; I typically sell anywhere from 10 to 110 books per visit. At large, private (and sometimes public) schools, I’ve sold as many as 200 books in one day. Selling books in advance and directly to the parents via school visits is by far my most profitable sales method, as compared to my online sales with Amazon, indie bookstores, direct from my website, or in person at rented booths at festivals and events.

Librarians and I make a great team. I depend on the librarian to promote the order form to the parents, and the librarian depends on me to deliver an informative, inspiring, and entertaining presentation. It’s a win-win, and—despite my nerves—I’m glad I said yes to that first school visit invitation.

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