As those of you who are keeping up-to-date with our blogs about the My Super Family children’s book series will know, Bronny recently gave a workshop at the St Kilda Library about writing children’s books and self publishing. The same day the 25 tickets became available, the event was sold out, and even then an extra 5 people came in! Plus it was so popular that it ran 20 minutes over the 1 hour and 30 minutes allotted! We are very pleased to see such interest in the books (My Super Single Mum, My Two Super Dads, and My Super Groovy Gran), as well as what Bronny had to say! Bronny also talked about marketing and how promoting your books are so important to the self-publishing process.
Bronny opened with a reading of My Super Single Mum that was well received, with positive comments on both the words and illustrations. Participants also appreciated the important messages key to the My Super Family series: values of love, safety and security in families. She also tailored her discussion to the needs of the participants – who were budding authors and illustrators as well as those with books already published. She hoped to better help them with their own writing by asking everyone to introduce themselves and to chat about their own ideas and goals. Creating a network of like minded individuals is so important in the creative process for brainstorming and industry contacts.
The workshop also covered writing conventions, and Bronny provided a writing exercise that helped the participants figure out where they wanted to go with their ideas, as well as stimulating networking between the participants. This exercise was simple and effective and provided every participant with their very own children’s book idea and skeleton to go home and work on.
Bronny gave useful insights into self publishing, and the importance of finding an illustrator for children’s books, as well as how she came to find Muntsa (they met at the online artistic community Lost at E Minor when Bronny was creating AskBronny.com). As a successful self published author, Bronny also gave the participants realistic estimates on the costs of self publishing, and how much it would cost for a first run; information that is crucial for any author considering the self publishing path.
During the workshop Bronny also provided useful tips and information on the importance of marketing, and how to utilize the internet; teaching the participants how to set up their own websites and online stores, as well as how to make use of social media. At the end of the workshop, Bronny conducted a Q&A session with the participants to ensure that they went away with a clear understanding of her discussion, as well as to give them a chance to find out useful information specific to their own needs.
The event was a complete success; the workshop receiving really good feedback – with everyone rating it either 8, 9 or 10 out of 10! Hopefully this workshop is the first of many more to come for the My Super Family series!
As a direct result from this we will be putting self publishing and writing tips on our Facebook page regularly. So make sure you like us so you can get all the latest information!
For more information on Bronny’s Picture Book Writing and Self Publishing workshops send an email to Melissa at melissa@bronnysandmuntsa.askbronny.com/. Bronny is available to present for your Library, Community Group or Event.
