The Story Behind the Casey Grimes Books, Part 2

And all the ideas you sent me

Hey, if you’ve been a Sylvan Spy member a while, this may not be part 2 for you. It might be part 3…or 17? But we’ll let that slide, ok?

Last month I filled you in on the challenges facing the Casey Grimes world. If you were one of the folks who sent a note over, thank you very much. The interest in the signed copies of books was great too. Thanks, really. To be honest—since that’s what I try to do here—the notes and kindness made my heart hurt in a good way. The autographed books will be up for a few more days in case you still want to jump on that.

So, what next? Well, I’m still squaring off against the Facebook ad platform on the daily as I test new ads for the books. No big breakthroughs yet, but maybe some cracks with light shining through. It’s a project.

Here’s one of the new ad images I’ve been testing.

I also returned to editing the audiobook of The Mostly Invisible Boy. The word on the street is that it takes between three and six hours of editing per finished hour of audio…and so far I’ve found that to be true. Holy creeps. But we’re gonna get it done this summer, and I’ll be sending along a teaser like I promised.

Now, last month I said if you had ideas on how to introduce Casey Grimes to more people, I’d love to hear ‘em. And man, did you deliver. Here are some of the ideas you sent over.

1. Go to events and conferences and promote the books. This is a good long-term plan that would also be fun. Banners and cardboard cutouts and raffles and meeting readers and my kids helping out at the book table. Plus, I enjoy public speaking… If I have the margin to pull it off, this is something I’ll do in the future.

2. Tell Sarah Mackenzie at Read-Aloud Revival or _____ (other well-known person/ program) about Casey Grimes. Here’s the thing. Someone like Sarah is so famous that she only adds books to her lists when she discovers them herself or they are mentioned by friends. So…if you happen to know Sarah, I think it would be fantastic if you told her about Casey Grimes. :) The same would be true for other well-known people, sites and programs. It usually comes down to a personal connection. Now, if you’ve got a connection like that, with a person or review site or program, let’s make it happen. If you’d like to run it by me or get a free review copy to pass along, please get in touch. (Thanks to several of you who already have.)

3. Get the books in libraries. A great idea, and here’s an open secret. Most libraries are happy to add books to the system when a reader requests them. That’s because their big goal is to put books on the shelves that people will actually read—especially kids. You can make these requests in person or online. Around the Kansas City area where I live, there are dozens of Casey Grimes books in the library system—and I didn’t request any of them! So if you want to help the Casey Grimes world out, this is something you could do in just a couple minutes. Feel free to let me know how it goes.

   

4. Forget Facebook and advertise on other social platforms. Unfortunately, FB is where it’s at for book advertising these days. I have several marketing mentors who test all the platforms and handle loads of accounts. FB doesn’t have a rival…yet.

5. Advertise on Amazon. This is something I’ve tried before and may try again in the future. It’s a long game and not a quick fix, especially for kids’ books.

6. I am telling all my friends, cousins, neighbors, and even the mailman about the books. I got several notes like this, and they are just the best. My goodness. You are amazing.

7. Let me promote your books at an event or book fair. First, let’s state the obvious. If you’re willing to do this, you’re awesome. Second, if you have an event in mind, let’s put it on the calendar so I can get you what you need: flyers, review blurbs from teachers, a store discount code, whatever.

8. Make the Sylvan Spy a paid subscription. This is a weird one because I’ve always viewed the Spy as my chance to be generous and give readers inside stuff. I’ve been thinking about it... If there was a paid version of the Spy, it would need extra content. Deleted scenes from books. More short stories. Recipes from the Trickery Cafeteria. Insider Guides to all the stories. Printable pictures and maps. Writing advice for young authors. Live chats and Q&As. A Sylvan short story writing assignment. Video or audio of me talking about Casey Grimes stuff. We’ll see… as always, feel free to tell me what you think. Whatever happens, there will always be a free version of the Sylvan Spy.

Let’s hit pause. Unfortunately I can’t mention each note you sent—this email would become a book—so I had to smash similar notes together. But if you sent an email and didn’t get a reply, please resend.

As I wrap up, I do need to point out a cool thing. The Spy looks a little different ‘cause it got a tech upgrade. Not quite as cool as a 127-Spiker or Tree Rocket, but…you can now like, comment on, and share the Sylvan Spy…using the like, comment, and share buttons, surprisingly enough. The buttons are at the top and bottom of this email. Maybe give it a try.

You can also take this secret Sylvan Spy survey, and I hope you will. It's a quick one, and will help me make the Spy even better.

Here in Kansas, we’ve had several thunderstorms. You’d think that would be a good thing, and usually it is, but we also have sweltering heat. So when you step outside, it feels like someone wrapped you in warm, damp gauze that smells like rotten leaves. Who wants to stay outside in that?

Baby Murklurkers, that’s who. The evil little beasts crawl out of muddy stream beds where they’ve been hiding, eating fish and frogs and causing erosion while they learn to levitate. These poisonous, flappy monsters like to lie on roads and bake in the sun. If you happen to be taking a walk, or riding your bike or scooter, and you see a sort of triangular flattened shape that looks a little like black plastic—watch out! If you’re driving down the road and think you might see one, you’d better run it over just to be sure. It’s better to be safe than sorry.