One of the hardest things for debut authors, even for established authors, is finding new ways to reach out and address your audience. Your readers.
Whilst we have social media, interviews, podcasts and such all at our fingertips, nothing really beats seeing your book out in the wild with excited readers.
Before I was a writer, I was (and still am) part of a worldwide community of Book Fairies.
I was surrounded by books and amazing authors. I didn’t for one minute, when I joined up, think, “hey, in a few years, it will be my book we will be hiding”. But dreams can happen. In just a few months, my book, Just Like Me, will be featured in a Book Fairy campaign and hidden throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland for new readers to discover!
Who are these Book Fairies you ask?
The Book Fairies launched in 2017 on International Women’s day with the support of 30 representatives from around the world. The aim of the Book Fairies is to spread the magic of reading and books. A worldwide book sharing project which has over 100 countries signed up, each with their own Book Fairies hiding books in plain sight for unsuspecting finders. They even had a rather extra special Book Fairy helper on hand too, Emma Watson. Emma joined the launch to ‘fairy’ some books from her Our Shared Shelf book club collection in and around Paris.
Each book is adorned with the Book Fairy sticker (available in many languages online) which invites the finder to take the book, read it and leave for another to find once they have finished.
Photos of course are taken by the Book Fairies and put up onto their various social media accounts to leave clues to where they have been leaving books for the day. We also encourage that our finders take photos of their finds, using the hashtags #ibelieveinbookfairies and #bookfound to let us know our books are in safe hands.
Anyone can be a Book Fairy, and the hope is that finders will also be inspired to start their own Book Fairy journey by heading to the website and ordering their own stickers to hide their own books.
The books we hide don’t have to be new, we Book Fairies believe in recycling and repurposing, and what better way to do this, than to share your old books too. Especially if it helps create some shelf space for your next round of book purchases.
Book Fairying is about spreading kindness and doing something for others. Sharing the joy and magic of books, in a fun and, maybe, unexpected way. It’s a project that is intended to reach out to all readers, young and old, and to get books into the hands of people who want or need them.
Imagine how you would feel, if you stumbled upon a book, in the wild, wrapped up in ribbon, with a little note welcoming you to take it home and read it.
A special gift, left by a fairy, just for you.
So how is this helpful or relevant to me as an author you ask?
The fairies love working with authors and publishers. Whether including new and exciting books for campaigns (International Women’s Day, Pride, Black History Month, etc), helping promote debut authors, features for their monthly subscription box (free postage worldwide) highlighting indie authors, or showcasing books which are being turned into feature films, the Book Fairies are always happy to help.
Social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) are alive with many wonderful books to share with the online book community. The worldwide instagram account has over 120k followers, and each individual country, state and city each have their own followings too.
The great thing about having Fairies worldwide, is that you probably have a local team of Fairies who would love to connect with you and see what they could do to help.
Local giveaways, competitions, author interviews, even organising you to be a ‘Book Fairy for the day’ so you can experience the magic in action.
Books featured in online campaigns have included:
Jojo Moyes, Night Music (UK)
J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone . Mina Lima Edition (Canada)
A Natural History of Fairies (USA & UK)
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden (Worldwide)
Phaedra Patrick, The Secrets of Love Story Bridge (USA)
Nicole Yoon, The Sun is Also a Star (Worldwide)
Shay Bravo, Historically Inaccurate (USA)
Bethany Clift, Last One At The Party (UK)
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (Worldwide)
Parnaz Foroutan, Home is A Stranger (USA)
There are so many amazing projects going on within the Book Fairy community, from supporting little libraries, readings, book swaps, donating books to hospitals/refugee groups and so many more fabulous ideas. You can find out more about what the fairies have been up to by heading to their website and reading their blog. Information about how you can get in touch with Book Fairy HQ can also be found on the website. You can also find them on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Do you believe in book fairies? I do.
AUTHOR: Louise Gooding is the author of Just Like Me; 40 physically and neurologically diverse people who broke stereotype. Featuring names such as Stephen Hawking, Simone Biles, Harriet Tubman, Frida Kahlo, Naoki Higashida, Ludwig Van Beethoven and many more! Just Like Me is Louise’s debut book, and will be released March 11th 2021.
Louise currently lives in Switzerland with her partner and three children having moved from England nine years ago for work. Louise decided, that after working in children’s entertainment, she wanted to channel her creativity into books. Having a neurodiverse family herself, Louise wrote Just Like Me to increase the visibility of disabled and neurologically different people in children’s books. You can order your copy of Just Like Me here. For more information on Louise, head to her website. You can also follow her on social media. Twitter & Instagram: Onceuponalouise.