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Author Visit Podcast

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by Shanda McCloskey and Bonnie Clark

4.9(11 reviews)

26 episodes

Updated Daily

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Podcast Overview

A podcast dedicated to demystifying the art and business of school author visits for authors, illustrators, educators, librarians, parents, and booksellers.

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Publishing Since

5/29/2020

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Recent Episodes

September 12, 2023

26. Timely Tips

Shanda and Bonnie have a list of tips (from mistakes they've made in the past)! (Bonnie) Welcome to the Author Visit Podcast! I’m author Bonnie Clark. (Shanda) And I’m author-illustrator, Shanda McCloskey. (Bonnie) Today we are recording our “Timely Tips” episode! (Shanda) We live in a different world now than most of us grew up in, so we thought we could compile some of our lessons learned about speaking to today’s groups of modern kids. We’ve made the mistakes for you, so you don’t have to! (Shanda) Let’s get started on our tips… <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Address students as non gender specific. Say something like… hello friends, or young scientists, or my friend in the back row with a green shirt that has their hand up. (Do not assume a child is a boy or girl just because they appear so. Trust me on this one! </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Acknowledge a serious student comment If a child tells you something unfortunate directly to you or aloud in a presentation, just stay cool. Say something like… I’m really sorry that happened or that must’ve been hard. Then redirect the attention back to the intended subject. The student will felt heard and not embarrassed. </li> </ol> <ol start="3"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Off topic student answers/questions Say … that would be fun to talk about later if we have time, but right now let’s keep going on this… </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Responding to an incorrect student answer Say something like… that’s a really good guess or I like the way you’re thinking, but actually… </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Be careful not to embarrass a kid volunteer Remind all the students that the task at hand is new to this person (such as drawing a robot) so we definitely don’t expect perfection, and we are just having some fun. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> If a child argues your point in a presentation Say something like… You are very smart, my friend! But can we agree on this part? And then leave it be. Or that’s an interesting idea. I’ll have to think about that. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> What if a child throws up, loses a tooth, or starts their period during the presentation? Most of the time teachers are keenly aware when their students are off and will jump to handle the situation before you even notice it, but if you do, never appear surprised or grossed out. Just motion to an adult in the room if needed. Appear unwavered and continue with your presentation as if nothing happened at all. The students will follow your lead. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> When asking for a kid volunteer, wait a moment to allow for shyer kids A few extra seconds might be all the time a shyer child needs to muster up the bravery to raise their hand. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> As kids come into the space and get seated BEFORE I officially start, I like to pass the time and small talk with some of the students and ask them things like What’s for lunch today? or What were y’all doing before you came to the library? I think it helps all of us shake off nerves and just establish a comfortable environment and approachability. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Start with engagement A sure fire way to grab kids’ attention is to start with a question they can respond to with a simple show of hands. Depending on your purpose for speaking you might ask, “How many artists do we have in the room?” Something as simple as this will immediately get students involved and thinking. Using enthusiasm in your voice and body language helps engagement too. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> End with engagement At the conclusion of your talk, maybe you could ask for another show of hands in response to the same question you asked at the beginning of your presentation? “Now, how many artists do we have in the room?” See if the number of hands that goes up changes because of the presentation. Or simply end with good ole Q&A! </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> At some point things WILL go wrong. Don’t sweat it. Learn, adjust and move on! </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Bonnie Tip I like to show a picture of myself at the age of the group I'm speaking to- it gets their attention & they seem surprised that I was ever a kid! </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Bonnie Tip sometimes I ask the teachers what their specific protocol is (or tips and tricks) for getting back the attention of an excited group (ie: "one, two, three, eyes on me) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Bonnie Tip For K & 1st grades instead of asking for questions at the end (because up get a lot of random comments and ZERO questions) I ask them something specific for example for TYW: "Tell me something KIND you can say to someone and what that TASTES like) </li> </ol> (Shanda) That wraps up our 26th Timely Tips episode! You can find me at shandamc.com, on Twitter/X: @ShandaMcCloskey, and on Instagram/Threads: @<a href= "https://www.instagram.com/shandamccloskeydraws/">shandamccloskeydraws</a>. (Bonnie) This podcast is sponsored by AuthorVisitCentral.com and produced by Ben McCloskey. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate-and-review us on Apple Podcasts! (Shanda) What did you think about this episode? Or maybe you have an idea for a future episode? Let us know through the contact form on AuthorVisitPodcast.com. Happy school visit season! Bye!!!

August 17, 2023

25. Tech We Depend On

Shanda and Bonnie discuss the specific technology that each of them use for their school visits... (Bonnie) Welcome to the Author Visit Podcast! I’m author Bonnie Clark. (Shanda) And I’m author-illustrator, Shanda McCloskey. (Bonnie) It’s August here in GA and our kiddos just started back to school, so the school visit season is upon us! Today we are talking with all about the tech we use and depend on for doing an author visit. (Shanda) This was actually a request from a listener, and I’m so glad she wrote to us about this topic because it’s true, we haven’t gone into much detail about our tech requirements thus far! But before we get started, let’s catch our listeners up on what we’ve been up to for the past few months. What’ve you been up to, Bon? (Bonnie) I’m really happy to be back in the saddle with you Shanda!! I know we didn’t intend to take a break for this long but honestly I needed it. I’ve had some life things going on and honestly I have been discouraged on the book front for a while now, but things are looking up! I’m excited to announce that I have signed with a new agent: Kristin Terrette of MLM. We’ve been social media friends for years and liked each other’s posts. She’s an author turned agent and turns out we have a similar connection to the way we first met Shanda…My husband Keenan cut her and her family’s hair years ago! She lives here in north GA so it’s kind of cool to be able to meet in person and have coffee and talk about books. I had a fantastic experience with my previous agent- I adore her personally and professionally, but I really felt like it was time for a change. Already I feel re-energized, hopeful about my projects and I feel like my creative spark is back. SO yay! (Shanda) Summer was busy with family stuff - both daughter’s birthdays, a family reunion, a family vacation, and some bigger house projects like cleaning out a big attic/closet space. I was in waiting mode as far as work stuff went, which was actually a good thing. I was waiting on the 2nd round of sketches feedback from Chronicle for the Rube Goldberg nonfiction book by Catherine Thimesh I’m illustrating, and also waiting on a contract from Disney Hyperion for an illustration project about an autistic child, called Lilibet makes a Friend by Kersten Hamilton. My agent also sent out my young graphic novel book proposal to a handful of editors, so I'm waiting on those responses too. Lots and lot’s of waiting. (Bonnie) Let’s dive in… Slides? Programs? Bring a computer? Use the school’s? How do you read your book? Shanda: I read the book on slides (spread by spread) so it’s easy to see. (I try to memorize the book so I don’t crink my neck or face away from the audience while reading too much) I’ve never been handed a PDF of my books with the text and all from my publishers so … To get the book into slide form I’ve done two things - 1. I took pics of the actual book pages, but the color always looks a bit off, so 2. I’ve recently discovered that if I borrow the e-book from Libby, I can flip through the book and take screenshots of each spread. The colors are perfection! And I figure it’s not stealing since it’s my book :) But I wouldn't do that with a book that isn’t mine. What’s in your tech kit that you bring to each school? Extra Cords/adapters? Backups? Shanda: I bring my own my laptop computer and it’s charging block/cord, USBC adapter, HDMI cord, a 10 ft extension cord, a remote clicker with extra AAA batteries, and a jump drive just in case. PDF version of slides on jump drive, emailed slides to myself. What’s gone wrong before? What did you do? Shanda: Even with all my cords and dongles (I hate that word) I still ended up not being able to use my own computer at a school once. So they brought in a school computer and I used my jump drive to access the presentations, but there was not enough processing power/memory/whatever on that computer to open my presentations. Luckily, I had one saved as a flat PDF. So I used that and just flipped through the PDF for the presentation. Of course, I couldn’t play any videos on it but it was better than nothing - which is what I did for the first presentation of the day while the librarian and other education tried to troubleshoot. After that experience, I was happy as a clam to use a simple PDF with no videos. (Shanda) That wraps up our 25th episode all about the Tech We Depend On! You can find me at shandamc.com, on Twitter/X: @ShandaMcCloskey, and on Instagram/Threads: @<a href= "https://www.instagram.com/shandamccloskeydraws/">shandamccloskeydraws</a>. (Bonnie) This podcast is sponsored by AuthorVisitCentral.com and produced by Ben McCloskey. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate-and-review us on Apple Podcasts! (Shanda) What did you think about this episode? Or maybe you have an idea for a future episode? Let us know through the contact form on AuthorVisitPodcast.com. Happy school visit season! Bye!

Episode thumbnail for 24. Cultivating an Artist in Residence Program to Instruct (Students), Ignite (Teachers), and Inspire (Everyone) with Trey Veazey!

April 18, 2023

24. Cultivating an Artist in Residence Program to Instruct (Students), Ignite (Teachers), and Inspire (Everyone) with Trey Veazey!

This episode is geared toward educators, but helpful for authors and booksellers as well! Today we are talking with Trey Veazey, who is the Assistant Head of the Lower School at an independent school called The Walker School near Atlanta, GA. This past fall, Trey invited Bonnie (Clark) to be an author-in-residence as part of the school’s annual book festival. "It was an incredible experience", says Bonnie. Some of the questions and conversation with Trey… <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Can you tell us a little more about yourself, your background, and the annual book festival at The Walker School? </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Describe the Book festival for our listeners (if you haven’t already). </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> How many years have you been doing the book festival? How did that start in the first place? Was the festival your brain child? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> 5th year </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Previous iterations </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> USM FBK CBF </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Kimberly Willis Holt </li> </ul> </ul> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> You added the artist-in-residence to this year’s festival, correct? What led you to try this? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> An old idea spurred to action by your episode with Joyce Hesselberth </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> How’d it go? And what led you to Bonnie as your first Artist-in-Residence? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Counselor </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Local artist </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> I’d love to hear from Bonnie on how it went </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> What was your favorite part of the most recent festival? And the worst part? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Favorite: Curious George (<a href= "https://costumespecialists.com/">Costume Specialists</a>) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Worst: I never see anything 🤣 </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Is the book festival something you could only viably do within a private school setting with more freedom and funds or do you think public schools could make it happen as well? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Central Primary & Glen Oaks Park </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Reference the flood </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> PARTNERSHIPS </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> How do you fund an event like this? Book fair/book sales? Grant? In the school budget? Other? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> However you can </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Office of Development </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> How do you handle book sales at the festival? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Talk about pop-up shop and pre-orders </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> What’s one thing you’ve learned over the course of doing the annual book festival? Or what’s your main advice you have for schools wanting to try something similar? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Ideas are like plants. They take time. You have to plant the seed and tend to those ideas. Sometimes, you have to reseed the idea, and sometimes, you have to prune it completely and start fresh. The thing is that the ideas will never grow if you first don’t plant them. Give yourself ample time to sprout, but one thing you will not here me say is to start small. If you dream big, lean into that. Of course, check your boxes and make sure things are handled, but don’t minimize the impact you can have on your school community because there are too many details. Every tapestry is made of individual threads. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Support system on-campus and off </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Independent booksellers (cost-benefit analysis) </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> What’s something you learned from adding the artist in residence to the book festival this year? </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Opportunity for students (independent selling point) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Increased network and professional opportunities </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="3"> This very podcast </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="3"> GCCL </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> Capacity for unique experiences each year </li> </ul> </ul> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Anything you wish I had asked? </li> </ul> Thanks for joining us, Trey! That wraps up our 24th episode about Cultivating an Artist in Residence Program to Instruct (Students), Ignite (Teachers), and Inspire (Everyone) with Trey Veazey! This podcast is sponsored by AuthorVisitCentral.com and produced by Ben McCloskey. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate-and-review us on Apple Podcasts! What did you think about this episode with Trey? Or maybe you have an idea for a future episode? Let us know through the contact form on AuthorVisitPodcast.com. Thanks for listening!

26 total episodes available

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What is Author Visit Podcast?: A podcast dedicated to demystifying the art and business of school author visits for authors, illustrators, educators, librarians, parents, and booksellers.
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

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