School Visit Resources

By Sarah Lynne Reul

When I first got into this industry, I didn’t even realize that author/illustrator school visits were a thing! I had so much to learn about the craft of writing and illustrating books that I couldn’t even wrap my head around the concept of what could come after publication.

Since I’ve been lucky enough to have my first three books come out this year, school visits are suddenly on the radar. For the past few months, I’ve been studying up to make sure that my presentations offer students & teachers the best possible experience, and I’ve discovered some really fantastic resources. One of the best things about the kidlit world is that so many of the experts are very generous with their knowledge.

Here are a few of the many resources that I’ve discovered:

Alexis O’Neill’s School Visit Experts website has tons of great articles – she also writes a column for the SCBWI bulletin – The Truth About School Visits.

Here are a few favorites:

Kim Norman’s Cool School Visits website:

Includes lots of excellent posts such as:
- Four website MUST-HAVES to win more author visit invitations
- 15 things I’ve learned about author school visits
- 21 ways to spend your summer getting ready for next year’s author visits
- Kim also recently released a book compiling all of her best advice – Sell Books and get Paid doing Author School Visits

Michelle Cusolito & Jeanette Bradley recently ran an excellent 2018 Survey: Transparency in Pay for Author and Illustrator School Visits. Their posts, on Michelle’s blog, provide a thorough discussion of the results. There are six in all, dealing with pricing, gender gap, virtual visits, free/reduced price visits & next steps.

A few other helpful posts I’ve found include:

How to Create An Author Program That Schools Will Want – a post by Carmen Oliver on the Cynsations Blog
Annemarie O’Brien’s post Author School Visits: 12 TIPS offers another great roundup of resources.
Kirsti Call’s posts right here on Writers Rumpus – 3 Secrets to School Visit Success & School Visit

In addition to all of these resources, be sure to check out the websites of your favorite authors and illustrators. Many book creators list info about their school visits, and it’s super interesting to see what each person highlights when they discuss their presentations.

If you’ve checked out all of the above links and still feel like you need help, the Highlights Foundation offers a multiple-day workshop on Crafting Successful Author Visits – their next session runs in Spring 2019.

What other resources have you used when creating your school visits? Please share in the comments!

Sarah Lynne Reul is an illustrator, writer and award-winning 2D animator who likes science, bright colors and figuring out how things work. Learn more at reuler.com.