Sunday, April 12, 2009
Author School Visits
During university breaks, I often do school visits. Public, private, and international schools worldwide invite authors and illustrators to visit for a day to give talks and workshops to students. Most visits take place at elementary schools, but middle and high schools also bring in authors. Recently I visited a number of international schools in Japan for presentations relating to my picture book The Wakame Gatherers.
Author visits benefit the schools by enabling students, teachers and librarians to interact with the author of a book that they have read or been read, to learn more about the creative process, to learn more about the specific topic or theme of a book, and to gain insights into the world of writing and publishing. School visits obviously benefit authors by providing an opportunity to spread the word about their books. But more importantly, they provide authors with direct reader contact and a chance to hear questions, to learn what moments in their books resonate with readers, and even to field suggestions for changes and intriguing ideas for sequels and future books.
School visits are not as simple as just walking into a classroom and talking about your writing life. Teachers and librarians expect a solid presentation that ideally ties into some curriculum goals. Usually authors read a portion of the book aloud; many include a PowerPoint presentation. Some authors include content that relates to the book; for example many of my sessions cover wakame cultivation and harvesting in Japan. Some authors include writing, movement or storytelling activities that relate to the book’s focus.
On a typical school visit day, authors visit 4-5 classes. Each class is usually between 40-50 minutes long. Sometimes longer workshop sessions are planned. In a single day an author may present to multiple grade levels; at one school recently, I saw every student from grades 1-8.
International schools in Japan often share expenses when inviting authors from overseas. Funding usually comes from Parent Teacher Associations. Author fees typically run from 30,000 yen to 70,000 yen for a day, depending in part on the author’s notoriety and the number of books published. Award-winning overseas authors sometimes charge up to 200,000 yen, but few schools can afford such high fees.
School visits offer authors an opportunity for earnings beyond their meager royalty checks. They offer opportunities to talk with librarians who read hundreds of books each year. Most valuable for me, school visits offer me an opportunity to connect directly with young readers. The frank and sometimes unexpected questions asked by children are always an inspiration, and their enthusiasm encourages me to keep playing with words and to continue navigating future, sometimes overwhelming, projects.