Multicultural Children's Book Day

#ReadYourWorld

A July Flash Sponsorship Sale Tutorial+ The Power of Collaboration

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As I type this, I am so proud that  Multicultural Children’s Book Day is in its eighth year. Eight years!

Time flies when you are loving your work! If you are new to this initiative, Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD) is a non-profit initiative that is dedicated to supporting and shining the spotlight on diversity in children’s literature and their authors and publishers. Read more about our mission here.

The MCBD on and offline celebration occurs on the last Friday of January and our next celebration will be 1/29/2021.

So many amazing things have occurred over the last eight years and notable headway has been made in raising awareness on the importance of diversity in kid and YA literature. Check out our past post, 5 Ways that Increasing the Awareness of Diverse Books is Paying Off for more facts and victories.

But, I am also keenly aware that today’s world is not what it was 12 months ago.

If you are an Author or Publisher, I’m sure you have noticed that it seems that people are pulling back from buying a bit. And rightfully so. People are scared and unsure about where the next paycheck is coming from. I also know adults and kids alike need distractions, escape, and positivity that reading a book can provide. So if it feels like your book promotions/launches/sales are falling flat, don’t despair.

Keep going. Keep writing. Keep sharing.

I was recently doing some reading on innovative ways to marketing books during uncertain times and every.single.article mentioned collaboration as one of the most powerful ways to get your work in front of new eyeballs and pocketbooks.

THAT, is what MCBD is; collaboration. Authors and publishers support our non-profit with Sponsorship purchases so we can continue to donate books to organizations, centers, classrooms, and under-served readers.

In return, these same authors and publishers are tapping into a monstrous social reach and powerful name-recognition that we have worked 8 years to build.

It’s a win/win.

So, if you are a diverse children’s book author or publisher, being part of this epic online celebration is yet another unique and exceptional way to be seen.

To be heard. To be discovered. And our July Flash Sale is a way to save some moolah while locking in either a Platinum Level or Author Sponsor Level for 2021.

If you are a diverse children’s book author or publisher, go here to download our Sponsorship Packet for 2021 to see all the perks that are included in the different levels of participation.

**Our Super Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Levels will be available September 1, 2020***

If you want to save some $$ and get on board for our 2021 celebration….

Go here to read more details about the Flash Sale.

Go here to secure a Flash Sale Platinum Level (only 2 spots left!)

Go here to secure a Flash Sale Author Sponsorship spot for 2021 (unlimited)

**Our Super Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Levels will be available September 1, 2020***

In a nutshell, ALL MCBD sponsorships provide participants with an amplified level of visibility and recognition for their multicultural/diverse children’s and YA books.

Sponsorship Level Perks also include:

  • Social proof that publishers, book reviewers, book buyers, and educators take note of for years to come
  • Those who participate as a Sponsor during this wildly successful event also know they are tapping into epic buzz and visibility on social media.
  • Our Sponsors are also matched with as many or as few vetted book reviewers who will read, review, and share the book on their social channels.
  • The opportunity to be of service and work towards the greater goal of getting diverse books into the hands of under-served readers.
  • As a non-profit, MCBD also works tirelessly to get those books in front of parents, caregivers, educators, and librarians while also getting them into the hands of young readers. Read more about our mission here.

Proof of Success and Warm Fuzzies from our 2020 Event

Maybe it’s just us, but the MCBD Team felt that our 2020 on and offline diverse kidlit celebration reached a whole new level of “Epic-ness!”

Needless to say, there were many, many examples of Multicultural Children’s Book Day Celebrations that made our eyes leak with happiness. Here are three stand-outs:

#1-Heartwarming Classroom celebrations: Over the last seven years, support and recognition from educators and librarians have continued to increase. This makes us incredibly happy. Some of the best rewards for the hard-working MCBD Team are to see all of the smiling faces and little hands clutching multicultural books and enjoying a classroom celebration.

Find a plethora of examples that will make your heart sing and give you the warm fuzzies for weeks on the Multicultural Children’s Book Day blog here!

#2-We Trended on Twitter!

January 31st was a tough day to try to trend on Twitter against a trifecta of disturbing and sad (Kobe Bryant, Coronavirus, Impeachment)…but we did it! During our #ReadYourWorld Twitter Party, we slightly broke the Internet with all of our diverse book-loving magic and trended on Twitter. Yay us!

Multicultural Children's Book Day 2020 Trends on Twitter!

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 Trends on Twitter!


From Super Platinum Sponsor, Make A Way Media

This is just a small sample of the global fun and book-inspired participation. Search #ReadYourWorld on any social media channel to discover MORE memorable moments of Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020. THANK YOU, everyone!

Ways To Get Involved

Some other things you can do to not only stay in the loop on what Multicultural Children’s Book Day is up to but also raise awareness for your work in affordable ways. Here are a few ideas:

1. Join our private Facebook Group of over 1500 like-minded book reviewers, publishers, authors, and educators. Just be sure and note the rules (book promotion is limited to Monday Marketing only).
Multicultural Children's Book Day Facebook Group
2. View our timeline for event planning HERE. This will give you an idea of what our process is and know when and where to look for signups and updates.
4. Participants and supporters can also stay in the loop with the festivities via the event’s hashtag #ReadYourWorld on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media.

5. Social Media Shout-Outs! Leverage the robust social media presence of MCBD with the uber-affordable Social Media Shout-out to shine the spotlight on your book (or an author or book you admire). Multicultural Children’s Book Day has some serious social media juice on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and shout-outs are a marketing nugget of gold for authors and publishers! Get all the details HERE.

 

6. Guest Posts on the MCBD Blog: Tell us the story of your author’s journey. Tell us why YOU think diversity in kidlit is important. Tell us about a diverse book-related topic that you believe in, have experience in, or one that simply needs deeper discussion. Connect with the Project Manager at Becky (at) MulticulturalChildrensBookDay (dot) com with your idea and to request our Guest Post Guidelines.

Have questions on How You Can Get Involved In Multicultural Children’s Book Day? Connect with the Project Manager at Becky (at) MulticulturalChildrensBookDay (dot) com.

Others ways to participate in the Multicultural Children’s Book Day Initiative:

    1. 1. {Teachers} Multicultural Children’s Book Day FREE Book for Your Classroom Campaign-If you know of a classroom or library that would like a free hardcover, library-approved, diversity children’s book, have them sign up HERE.
    2. {Parents/Librarians/Teachers/KidLit Lovers} Free Book to Review. MCBD offers a free diverse children’s book to parents, grandparents, and educators that are willing to write a review and this year we are not limiting reviewers to just bloggers. Just share on your review on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or your blog. Get sign up details here.
    3. {Everyone} Be an MCBD2021 Sponsor: Sponsorship is not only a great way to support this event; it is an excellent way to get an author’s name and books in front of thousands of readers. Sponsorship levels range from Platinum to Author Level and a Friends of MCBD option is also available for those who would like to support the initiative with a monetary donation. MCBD Sponsors not only keep the MCBD machine humming, it enables us to support underserved readers, libraries, and schools all year long.
    4. {Everyone} Multicultural Children’s Book Day Free Resources, Booklists, and Extension Activities for Teachers and Parents. Enjoy this vast resource list of diverse children’s books categorized by culture, religion, sexual orientation, special needs or ethnicity.
    5. Check out the MCBD2020 Big Giant Linky for HUNDREDS of diverse kids’ and teen book recommends and reviews to help expand your home or classroom bookcase. Go HERE and scroll down.

 

– Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay

– Twitter https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay

-Instagram https://www.instagram.com/readyourworldmcbd/

-Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/pragmaticmom/multicultural-books-for-kids/

As the next MCBD event approaches on January 29, 2021, I encourage everyone to follow along via the MCBD website and social media to win even more books, hear from authors and learn the importance of “windows and mirrors” in today’s children’s literature.

 

Social Media Shout-Outs for Diverse Children’s Book Authors

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We all have family favorites when it comes to books for kids. The ironic thing is that oftentimes some of our favorite books are from authors that are not household names or even have been published traditionally.

Hidden gems in the genre of multicultural children’s books lurk on every home’s bookshelves, but because many of these favorite authors don’t have huge marketing budgets, they remain a “best-kept secret” despite the fact they produce amazing diverse books for kids.

But Multicultural Children’s Book Day has come up with a fun and clever way to use our vibrant social media channels to shine the spotlight on diverse, multicultural, #OWNVOICES, and global-themed children’s books and authors. Our Friends of MCBD Social Shout-Out feature has been around for years, but sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of our other features, resources, and offerings.

Social Media Shout-Outs for Diverse Children’s Book Authors

Our Friends of MCBD Social Shout-Out feature is also a fundraiser that helps us continue our initiative of getting books into the hands of underserved readers and classrooms all.year.long. So, if you’d like to show some online love while also raising funds to support our cause, this $25 option is a unique and effective way to give a “shout-out” to your own books, or your favorite author’s.

The $25 Friends of Multicultural Children’s Book Day Social Shout Out

Anyone with a PayPal account can gift an online “shout-out” to an author friend who has a book with diversity themes. MCBD will then acknowledge the Social Shout-Out shout-out on their Twitter feed (over 13.5K followers), Instagram (over 9K followers) and Facebook as well.

Nominate and Donate HERE to support the cause and purchase a Friends of Multicultural Children’s Book Day Social Shout Out!

Friends of Multicultural Children's Book Day Social Shout Out

After checkout, contact Project Manager Becky to share who your shout-out should go out to. Becky (at) multiculturalchildrensbookday (dot) com.

Go HERE to support the cause and purchase your Friends of Multicultural Children’s Book Day Social Shout Out

BOOK REVIEWERS, WE.Need. YOU.

If you love diverse books for kids and have a social media platform to share a review on, we want to give you a FREE diversity book to review!

AND…you don’t have to be a blogger to review multicultural children’s books for our MCBD2020 (1/31/20) online event. You just need to have a love of diversity in children’s literature and be willing to share on your social media platforms such as Facebook (Pages only-no Facebook profiles), Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or YouTube. We encourage honest Amazon reviews of assigned books whenever possible as well.

SIGN UP HERE to be an MCBD2020 book reviewer ASAP and go HERE for the detailed explanation of what it means to be a valued book reviewer for our MCBD2020 celebration

(Signup deadline is 12/15/19)

Facebook for Business and Authors – Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

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Guest blog post by Susan Mayfield of Reduce the Chaos

With the recent changes on Facebook and the decreased reach for business pages, a lot of business people and authors are re-evaluating keeping a business page on Facebook. Some have made the drastic decision to delete their Facebook business pages or abandon them.

Facebook for authors

Stop! Before you follow them and delete your business from Facebook, you might want some facts to help make a more informed decision. I understand the frustration of the reduced reach on Facebook unless you pay for ads. However, there are still some valid points to having a business page and a quality, active presence. There are also some things that are working for organic reach if you have an engaged community. Until there is a more viable alternative, Facebook is one of the main places where the action is going to be when it comes to prospecting for clients and customers. [Read more…]

Need marketing help for your multicultural children’s or YA book?

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If you feel like you are shouting into the void when it comes to marketing your multicultural children’s or YA book, we have an idea that just may be the ticket!

Book launches and special author events are a great marketing tool and an excellent time to gain the visibility that is critical to driving traffic and selling books. That’s why MCBD is offering a limited-time chance for publishers and authors to leverage the buzz and reach of our site and social media for their own campaigns.

Our highly successful online event garners HUGE social media share impressions from January 25 through January 27th and the buzz continues all year-long. We also love any opportunity to support diverse book authors while also keeping interesting book-related information in front of our social following and loyal readership.

With that in mind, we’ve created our new Multicultural Children’s Book Day Sponsored Post Package as a way to leverage our robust 260,000 strong social media following and give authors and books the boost they need. 

(option now OPEN until September 2019)

Sponsored Post Package

Intrigued? We hope so! Our Sponsored Post option is only available Feb-September so don’t delay. You can find examples of Sponsored Post that we’ve recently completed here …

 

Jason Low

…and here. Good stuff 🙂

Want to Get Started?

To begin collaboration with Multicultural Children’s Book Day, please contact Becky (at) MulticulturalChildrensBookDay (dot)  com or visit the MCBD site HERE to get the full scoop on this clever marketing option.

Hope to hear from you soon and don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions 🙂

Fundraising | Help us get books into classrooms!

Support our cause and help us get free diverse books into the hands of teachers! GoodWorld.com has helped us set up a new fundraising option and it’s Easy Peasey Lemon-Squeezey!

A $10 donation will help us get 2 books in the mail for 2 teachers, a $25 will help us get 5 books out…and so forth. GoodWorld will also provide you with a receipt for taxes purposes too. Cool, eh? Every little bit helps!

Go here, click DONATE on the right sidebar, and select an amount you are comfortable with. OR click the lovely red Good World Donate button below. Thank You!