DISTRIBUTION ... Day Care Centers
THIS IS A MORE TARGETED PITCH and NOT VIABLE FOR ALL AUTHORS
FRIDAY
Today the lesson will be short and sweet. Day Care Centers will not be a viable DISTRIBUTION option for most authors. Here I am addressing Day Care Centers for babies to young children up to about 11-years-old. So if you are writing for that age group then this article is for you.
I understand that some Day Cares extend to higher age groups and I also know there are Senior Day Care Centers (for mature adults not high schoolers), but the majority of Day Care Centers in the U.S. cater to Weeks Old up to Pre-K or into elementary age children.
If you are a Children’s Book Author who writes for this age group you need to follow a similar process as regular schools (if you missed that go back to the previous distribution article). Just like you can no longer walk into a school office and talk to someone, you can no longer walk into a Day Care Center. You must have an appointment so you will need to find out:
if they allow authors to read to the children
who is the Day Care Center Director
and how do they like to receive information (phone, email or appointment)
There should be any number of Day Care Centers in your area and they are easy to look up online or note locations when driving by them. Some of them also have websites where you might find information. Calling is the first step.
There are usually two ways that this works. Either the Day Care Center will buy books to give to the kids. Or they will send a note home to the parents telling them they can buy a copy of the book for their child at some agreed upon price.
Note: I forgot to mention that this is usually how you sell books to children in public and private schools also. They pay you to speak but they don’t usually buy books for the children unless the PTA gets involved. They send a note home saying an Author will be reading or speaking and the autographed book is available if you send money with your child by a certain date.
It may take some time and energy but don’t be discouraged. Keep contacting them until you get a yes or a no. Also once you have established a relationship or secured an appearance; ask if they know of other Day Care Centers in the area you can contact. You can also ask if they know of any upcoming events in the area for Day Care Personnel. Some of these events allow tables or sponsors and they are much more reasonable than professional association conferences and events.
I will continuing addressing the other distribution options in future articles.
Cheers to your distribution success, Liz