Multicultural Children's Book Day

#ReadYourWorld

Supporting our LGBTQIA Kids

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Guest post by Afsaneh Moradian

 

Our story 

About two years ago, my child informed us that they are nonbinary. That they don’t identify as either boy or girl and that their pronouns are now they/them.  Of course, this was fine with me. But, it did take a lot of work to stop using she/her in reference to my child. I’d been doing that for so many years, I was on autopilot. I tried and made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. Then I saw my child’s face when someone called them she. My child cringed and felt so uncomfortable. 

[Read more…]

Sky-Diving to Success Through the Sliding Glass Doors of Picture Books

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Women’s History Month is celebrated throughout the whole month and we are thrilled to share with you this guest post by author Vivian Kirkfield.

SKY-DIVING TO SUCCESS

THROUGH THE SLIDING GLASS DOORS OF PICTURE BOOKS

I had a lucky childhood.

I didn’t have to worry about food or shelter or safety. And growing up on the Lower East Side of New York City, I learned early on that people came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I didn’t need books to introduce me to different cultures – I just played with the neighborhood kids – their family backgrounds spanned the globe. [Read more…]

Avoiding Selfishness: Promoting Others During Challenging Times

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{Guest post from Charlotte Riggle}

This year, sales and promotions are hard. There’s a pandemic going on. In-person events are canceled. There are no book signings, no holiday bazaars. People are worried about their jobs, or they’ve already lost their jobs, so they don’t have money to spend. It’s really tempting to do one of two things:

• Give up
• Become selfish

If you give up — that’s pretty obvious, what I mean by that. You just decide that nobody is buying books this year, nobody’s going to read your blog, so you make yourself a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies, and you think about something else. And maybe you need to do that for an afternoon, or a day, for your sanity. But it’s not a good long-term strategy.

So, what do I mean by “being selfish”? That’s when you put all of your energy into promoting your own books, or blogs, or whatever you do. You quit thinking about other people. You quit listening and spend all your time talking. You join 100 groups on Facebook, and the only thing you ever post is about yourself and your books.

Tweet: When you put all of your energy into promoting your own work, you quit thinking about other people. It’s time to change that habit. #BeTheGood @MCChildsBookDay

And that’s not a good long-term strategy either. People start scrolling past your posts. They quit answering your texts. They’re tired already, from the pandemic, and politics, and life. And you’re just making more demands on them.

So, what can you do instead? Start putting less time into trying to be successful yourself, and more time into helping others succeed. That’s what Multicultural Children’s Book Day is about. The people who started MCBD all have their own books out. But they’re not here to talk about their books. They’re here to talk about YOUR books.

And you can do the same thing. Promoting other people’s books, helping other writers and bloggers, without the expectation that they’ll help you in return, but because you’re committed to helping others — it’s powerful.

But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Zig Ziglar said, “You will get everything in life that you want if you just help enough other people get what they want.”

Ari Kaplan said, “People think self-promotion is about yourself. It has nothing to do with promoting yourself. It’s about promoting others and let that speak for your character.”

When asked what it takes to sell more and achieve more, Thom Singer said, “Many mistakenly think the answer involves special skills, mysterious business plans, and a lot of luck. The truth is it is easy. Simple. I mean so simple it is nutty. Help other people.”

And that’s what we’re all here for–to help each other.

If you’ve never thought about promoting your books by promoting others, you may be wondering what it looks like. It looks like sharing links to other authors on your social media. It looks like reviewing other people’s books on your blog. It looks like figuring out what parents and teachers and librarians need right now and helping them get that, even if they don’t buy your books. It’s doing for others what you’d want them to do for you.

That’s it. That’s how we’ll all succeed: by lifting each other up, serving others, loving others.

author Charlotte Riggle

Charlotte Riggle is an award-winning author and a passionate advocate of disability representation in picture books. In her joy-filled holiday classic, The Saint Nicholas Day Snow, best friends Catherine and Elizabeth have an unexpected sleepover on St. Nicholas Eve. They bake cookies with Catherine’s mom, squabble with Catherine’s little brother, worry about Elizabeth’s grandmother, and learn the real story behind their family’s different St. Nicholas traditions. The book wraps you in the comforting embrace of family and friendship and the sparkling delight of snow. Lots and lots of snow.

 

 
Charlotte lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest, in a house full of books and music and a fluffy brown dog. She shares picture book reviews and stories of faith and philoxenia on her website, on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter.

The differences between MCBD’s Sponsored Posts and Sponsorship Levels

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Its no secret that Multicultural Children’s Book Day is committed and passionate about shining the spotlight on diverse and multicultural kids’ and YA books in as many creative ways as possible.

Over the years, we’ve worked hard to fine-tune our paid offerings so that they give our authors, publishers, and organizations the most “bang for their buck.” Spreading the word of diverse books, authors, publishers, and resources in the most effective ways possible is what we strive for on a daily basis.

To date, our two most popular and effective options are our Sponsored Post Program and our yearly Sponsorship Level opportunities. We’d love to spread the word of diversity in children’s literature via either a Sponsored Post or a Sponsorship Level for MCBD2020, but we also know that figuring out the difference between the two can be confusing!

With that in mind, here are some of the differences between the two:

The differences between MCBD’s Sponsored Posts and Sponsorship Levels

SPONSORED POSTS:

*Are offered during February and September (what we call the “off-season”) and the article we write for you “lives” on the MCBD site forever.

*Sponsored Posts also come with robust social media. Go here for more specific information.

*Sponsored Posts are highly targeted information and shareable images that we promote heavily for a few months and then sporadically throughout the year.

*Sponsored Posts do not include any matching to book reviewers who will create their own reviews of your book.

*Currently, we only have one other Sponsored post schedule (for September) and our web traffic is still very vibrant during the off-season. You have a wide range of dates to pick to have your Sponsored post go live!

Sponsored Post Package

*I (Becky) personally love creating Sponsored Posts because they are so in-depth and personal. You would be working closely with me to create your Feature Article that will appear on the MCBD blog and have full approval over everything.

SPONSORSHIP LEVELS for MCBD2020:

*Sponsorships are only offered from October to January 1 of any given year and are a unique marketing tool to help authors, publishers, and organizations to tap into the HUGE momentum and buzz that surrounds our on and offline event. MCBD2020 is on 1/31/20, but things really start to get exciting and crazy around November 1.

*As part of your Sponsorship for MCBD2020, you will be matched with as many reviewers as you would like. We have a huge pool of over 800 people who sign up to get a free diverse book (supplied by you) and they, in turn, share their review and thoughts of your book on their own social media channels during the month of January.

*The buzz during our holiday is enormous and our hashtag #ReadYourWorld has historically trended on Twitter during the celebration day.
*If you choose a Medallion level Sponsorship, your logo and 2-3 book cover images become part of our active Pinterest Pinning initiative (Pinterest is a huge traffic driver for us)

*You will have a listing and links on either our Medallion Level Sponsor Page or Author Level  (whichever level you choose) and that information will remain on our site for one year.

*If you choose a Medallion Level (Platinum through Bronze) your linked logo will appear on the sidebar of the MCBD site and stay there for one year.

*Your information is promoted and shared via social media from the moment you sign up and the promotion of your book or business will become heavier as the online celebration nears.

*GO HERE to download our Sponsorship Packet so you will have deeper details and rates.

As always, don’t hesitate to email me (Becky (at) MulticulturalChildrensBookDay (dot) com) if you have any questions. We are always available to help our participant SHINE and gain traction in the diverse children and YA book world.

We look forward to working with you!

The Author/Platinum Sponsorship July Flash Sale has BEGUN!

It’s time!

Back by popular demand is our MCBD 2020 Author Sponsorship July Flash Sale! And this year, we are throwing in a special deal on Platinum Level Sponsorships as well (limit of 3)!

Go here to see past Medallion Level Sponsors and Author Sponsors(MCBD2019)

Planning for MCBD2020 is already underway and we can’t help being in awe as to how far this non-profit initiative has come.

Mission:  Raise awareness for children’s books that celebrate diversity by getting more of these books into classrooms and libraries. Multicultural Children’s Book Day is celebrated on the last Friday of January. 2020 will be our 7th year and our much-anticipated Twitter Party on the day of the celebration grows bigger (and more fun!) every year.

From October through February, Multicultural Children’s Book Day is especially active on social media and the buzz surrounding this event gets national even global support and recognition. The whirlwind that is Multicultural Children’s Book Day is a proven way to get books into the hands of young readers while also raising awareness with parents, caregivers, teachers, and librarians.

We know Author Sponsorship is an amazing and powerful way for Authors to get visibility and readership for their work. Last year’s July Flash Sale was huge success and authors and publisher appreciated the cost savings.

NOTE: Medallion Level Sponsorship options for MCBD2020 (1/31/20) will be available by September 1, 2019…but in the meantime…

Lock in your MCBD 2020 Author Sponsorship during the July Flash Sale!

During the July Flash Sale, the Author Sponsorship price of $129 will be slashed to $89 for Author sponsorships purchased in July for MCBD2020—that’s a 30% savings!




Recognizing all of the wonderful authors and illustrators that bring multicultural children’s books to life is very important to us. As a way of acknowledging their work and shining the spotlight on specific authors, the MCBD Team has created a very special sponsorship option.

GO HERE to read deeper details and don’t let this opportunity pass you by!

**sale ends July 31, 2019