Illustration by Grace Lin from Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Do you as a creator with a new book have to appear places or go on tour?
I will answer that question with a question (if I may). Is the time and money spent planning appearances the best use of your time and money? Is there another way you can spend your valuable commodities that has a broader impact and reach?
Take the grand Grace Lin for instance. She is a super star when she appears anywhere, but with her new book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon she is hoping not to travel as much as she did for previous books. What to do instead?
How about an authorless author event? Can an author create a way for bookstores, libraries, or organizations to celebrate the release of her book without her being there? Yes. An author can create an event kit that let’s readers play with the plot, experience a series of teasers, and WANT the book.
For an event kit for Grace Lin’s Where the Mountain Meets the Moon we created Minli’s Journey. The event allows reader to play the role of Minli. They mirror her quest to find the Old Man of the Moon to solicit his help in changing her family’s fortune. Readers are given a bag of tools and as they journey through the room are given 10 puzzles to solve. They solve the puzzles by using items in their tool bag or things they pick up along the way. In the end they are rewarded with a mysterious gift, the meaning of which can only be determined by reading the book.
A test of the event kit with a group of young readers proved our wee thesis. As soon as the event ended, the readers had their faces buried in the book wanting to know what all the teasers in the event meant and why they were grasping a large pearled marble.
You can download the event kit HERE and see a slideshow of readers engaging in the event HERE.
SO MY ADVICE… take your readers on a journey in events (as well as in print). But don’t make the journey yourself.
