Interview with Katie Davis

Katie Davis: First let me thank you for all your kind praise and tell you how much that means to me. Clarity isn’t easy for me because I’m very attentionally deficit and have so much going on my head. It was laborious for me to plot out Video Idiot Boot Camp over the course of a year so it WAS clear and step­ by ­step for non ­techy writers, and when I re­wrote and expanded How to Promote, it was the same. So your words mean a lot to me. There were many reasons to write the book. First, so many writers ask me questions about marketing through Brain Burps About Books, my podcast about the craft and business of children’s publishing. I thought, “Why not put it all in one place?”

But I also thought it would help to promote my own platform and my growing coaching business, and it has definitely done that.

Kirsti Call: You have nine children’s books published and more coming soon.  How has children’s book marketing evolved over the years for you?

KD: It’s become more and more boot strap for me. Indie publishing has contributed to that, and my desire to keep my hand in a business I love so much has too. I couldn’t sell a manuscript for a few years, no matter what I wrote, so I changed my business model and branched out.

KC: You really emphasize reciprocity on your website, in your videos and in your book.  How has reciprocity helped you in your career?

KD: It’s gotten me good karma! That can’t be bad, right? In concrete terms, it’s spread my name around by getting links shared. I just think when you’re kind it comes back to you. Maybe not in the exact same terms, but in some way, some how. And if not, so what? There’s no downside to generosity. I also share a lot through my newsletter here.

KD: Start building your platform now. Don’t wait. All your platform is is how you present yourself online. Be yourself, be generous and be kind. Get involved in a few places and share information of interest to others about what you are all writing about. Don’t only talk about yourself and your own work.

KC: If you were a children’s book, which one would you be, and why?

KD: I could say I’m the book left open on the floor, mid­ read because I’m an open book, but that’d be cheesy and a bit of a cheat. I could say I’m my own I Hate To Go To Bed! because I’d rather stay up and write but then that’d be using my own book and that’d be weird. I could say I’m Carolyn Crimi’s The Loud Family, because I’m loud and funny, and so is that book and that seems appropriate. So yeah, that’s the book I am right now. Awesome question.

Thanks again for having me!

KC: Katie, it’s a pleasure!

Related post: Let the Marketing Begin! By Carol Ekster