Several months before your book is released, be sure to find out if your house will be purchasing coop, and if so, for which weeks. Knowing these dates is incredibly important, because this is when you are going to do the most publicity and (if you are spending any money on your own) marketing. You’ll want to work the hardest to promote your book during the two or three weeks when it’s most visible in the stores.
Every author receives copies of their own book after publication, and the day these arrive at my house are the same day they leave, signed to several dozen reviewers I’ve met online. Along with signed copies, I also ask the reviewers if they would like a guest post on a particular topic of their choosing (or a generic one), a Q&A of their own making (or, again, a generic one), and whether they’d like two free books to give away on their site.
Whenever something upsetting occurs, always discuss it with your agent first, then have the agent speak on your behalf. Emotional people make bad business decisions, and throwing a wobbly on the phone to your editor (however close the two of you have become) definitely ranks in the bad decision category.

Now, Michelle’s ideas, while genius and required reading, as I said, aren’t the only ones out there. What other marketing or promotional ideas have you seen out there? One of the most successful author-propelled campaigns I can think of is John Green’s Brotherhood 2.0. Not just a one-off book trailer, but a year-long project that’s seeing a definite result in sales of his new book Paper Towns. Between crafting the perfect prose, are you thinking of promotional ideas? You should be!

Other than good writing, what do you think it takes to have a successful career as a children’s book author?

Ok, fine. I pushed for a list of questions you might want to ask an agent, and this was one of them. I still think it’s a great question, and I’m pulling it out as my first official “Ask Daphne!” post.
Some might say that good writing is all it takes to have a successful career as an author. I’d say good writing can take you very far as a writer, certainly, but to be an author – to get invited to conferences, have your name bandied about the internet by fans, become a brand– it helps to be a fantastic self-promoter. Sure, you may sign a big, fabulous deal with Giant Publishing Company, Inc., and they may throw loads of money at you for publicity, but much more likely, you’re going to have to be the one pounding the virtual pavement, updating your blog, making sure that people come to you for new and exciting information. Seth Godin, marketing guru, recently put out a free ebook I recommend called “Money For Nothing” in which he outlines the three things your blog or website should be to direct traffic to your site: Unique, Useful, and Updated. Those are three words we kept in mind in designing ktliterary.com, certainly, and they should go for your author blog, too.
Looks, books take a long time to write and publish. Between pub dates, what are your readers going to do? Well, they might read other books (and we hope they read LOTS of books), but we hope they’re also going to look for more information about their favorite authors. So let them find something! Keep it unique, useful, and updated, and you’re well on your way to a successful career as a children’s book author.
It also helps to have a day job.