Shows
Author Visit Podcast26. Timely TipsShanda 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...2023-09-1226 min
Author Visit Podcast25. Tech We Depend OnShanda 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...2023-08-1726 min
Author Visit Podcast24. 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… Can you tell us a little more about yourself, your background, and the annual book festival at The...2023-04-181h 03
Author Visit Podcast23. Level Up Your Author Visit Game (with STEM/STEAM Author Jennifer Swanson)Our topic today is all about leveling up your author visit game with our special guest, children's STEM/STEAM author Jennifer Swanson! Today we get to dive into the world of Jennifer Swanson! If you don’t already know of her, she is an award-winning author of over 40 nonfiction books for children, mostly about science and technology. Jennifer’s love of STEM began when she started a science club in her garage at the age of 7. And not only that, but we consider her a school visit champion! During the talk, we asked Jennifer these quest...2022-11-1741 min
Author Visit Podcast22. Crafting Presentations Around Your Books (with Author Shelli R. Johannes)Our topic today is all about crafting presentations and programs for school visits inspired by your books, with our special guest, author Shelli R. Johannes! During the talk, Shanda asks Shelli these questions… Shelli, on your website you have a thorough menu of different author visit presentations that correlate with various books you’ve written. Such as: Shine Like a Unicorn - Great for anti-bully week! includes reading and discussion on standing out and not being afraid to be yourself. And Theo TheSaurus - Logophiles love reading and writing! Includes reading Theo and discussing how to fall...2022-09-0140 min
Author Visit Podcast21. Writer's Workshops with Lola SchaeferShanda picks the brain of author and teacher, Lola Schaefer, about how to put on writer's workshops for kids. (Bonnie Clark is on vacation). (Shanda) Welcome to the Author Visit Podcast! I’m author-illustrator, Shanda McCloskey. And our topic today is all about putting on writer’s workshops with kids, with our special guest, author, and writing teacher - Lola Schaefer! Welcome, Lola! (Shanda) We always start by telling how we’ve been doing for the past few weeks, so I'll start. (Shanda) Finished a reeeeally rough sketch dummy for the Rube Goldberg book...2022-08-0456 min
Author Visit Podcast20. The Visit Planning Workflow EpisodeChildren's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) talk about their (detailed) workflow processes from the moment a school reaches out with interest in having them present to students to the day of the event. The last episode was about reaching out and hopefully getting a few “bites” from schools wanting to schedule an author visit with you. And let’s say it worked! A school has contacted you saying they’d love you to come speak to their students. Super! ... Now what? What exactly should you do next? For this episode, Shanda and B...2022-06-2426 min
Author Visit Podcast19. The HOW, WHEN, and WHO to Reach Out To Episode (for kidlit authors) Children's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) talk about their various personal experiences with drumming up school visit bookings. We hope you enjoy the listen! Kid book review by Harvey, age 11. Resources and books mentioned in this episode (with affiliate links that help support this podcast): Go with the Flow, by Karen Schneemann (Author) Lily Williams (Author) Where to find us: Bonnie: https://bonnieclarkbooks.com/ Facebook and instagram: @bonnieclarkbooks Twitter: @bonclark Shanda: https://www.shandamc.com/ Twitter: @ShandaMcCloskey Instagram: @shandamccloskeydraws ...2022-04-1426 min
Author Visit Podcast18. All About the School Visit Page On Your Author WebsiteChildren's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) talk about how to structure and organize the school visit section of your author website in order to book more visits! A note from Ben (web developer and producer of this podcast) on websites: You don’t have to hire anyone to build you a website nowadays, but if do it yourself, you need to think about the structure of the site. It’s pretty easy to get a WordPress or SquareSpace or other site up and running quickly, but you really need to...2022-02-0423 min
Author Visit Podcast17. What To Do In 2022 Children's authors, critique partners, and friends (Bonnie Clark and Shanda McCloskey) look back at what worked and what didn't (school-visit wise) in 2021 in order to set new goals and improve in 2022. Kid book review by Amera. Resources and books mentioned in this episode (with affiliate links that help support this podcast): The Gift Shop Bear by Phyllis Harris Where to find us: Bonnie: https://bonnieclarkbooks.com/ Facebook and instagram: @bonnieclarkbooks Twitter: @bonclark Shanda: https://www.shandamc.com/ Twitter: @ShandaMcCloskey Instagram: @shandamccloskeydraws 2022-01-0729 min
Author Visit Podcast16. Creative Add-Ons for School Visits: A Talk with Shannon Anderson Bonnie and Shanda interview award-winning Children's book author and national speaker, Shannon Anderson, about her experience offering creative add-ons for school visits. SHANNON ANDERSON IS AN AWARD-WINNING CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR AND NATIONAL SPEAKER. SHE TAUGHT FOR 25 YEARS, FROM FIRST GRADE THROUGH COLLEGE LEVEL AND WAS NAMED ONE OF THE TOP 10 TEACHERS WHO INSPIRED THE TODAY SHOW. SHANNON LOVES DOING AUTHOR VISITS, PROVIDING PD FOR TEACHERS, MENTORING ASPIRING WRITERS, AND KEYNOTING AT EVENTS. Let’s get to it! … Questions we asked Shannon: Shannon, when we first started chatting about you joining us on the p...2021-10-0558 minAuthor Visit Podcast15. Artist In Residence Programs: A Conversation With Joyce Hesselberth Bonnie and Shanda interview author-illustrator, Joyce Hesselberth, about her experience doing an artist in residence program in collaboration with a school. Joyce Hesselberth is the author-illustrator of several artful educational books including: Mapping Sam, Pitter Pattern, and Shape Shift. Joyce also has a brand new beautiful book out called Beatrice Was A Tree. Fun fact: Joyce is another agency sister of mine! Let’s get to it! … Questions we asked Joyce: To start, we’d love to hear about your new book, Beatrice Was A Tree, and the inspiration behind it! So I was super intri...2021-07-1035 minAuthor Visit Podcast14. Talking to Students about Social Emotional Learning with Susan Verde Bonnie and Shanda interview New York Times Best Selling Author of the I Am Series, Susan Verde, about her author visit philosophy surrounding social emotional learning (SEL). Susan Verde, is the New York Times Best Selling Author of the “I Am” series (which were illustrated by Peter Reynolds): I Am Human, I Am Yoga, I Am Peace, I Am Love and I Am One, along with many other books and a brand new book called THE TOSSY-TURNY PRINCESS AND THE PESKY PEA! A fairy tale to help you fall asleep! (illustrated by Jay Fleck). Fun fact: Sus...2021-05-0649 minAuthor Visit Podcast13. Online Platforms & School VisitsBonnie and Shanda interview elementary school media specialist, Jennifer Lewis of Indian Knoll Elementary School, about her experience and expertise with Microsoft Teams as a virtual author visit tool. Jennifer Lewis is the media center specialist for Indian Knoll Elementary school here in Canton, GA. This is her 24th year teaching and 10th in the media center. She’s been with Indian Knoll since the school opened ten years ago. She is very involved with the Georgia Library Media Association as part of the communications committee and she serves as their Library Media Specialist of The Year ch...2021-04-1930 minAuthor Visit Podcast12. What is Author Visit Central?Bonnie and Shanda talk with Ben McCloskey, (Shanda's husband) the co-creator and web developer of AuthorVisitCentral.com, about the service it provides and the gap it closes when it comes to selling books for an author visit. If you are an author, illustrator, librarian, educator, PTA parent, book seller, etc. and you have questions about Author Visit Central, feel free to contact Ben and Shanda at: info@authorvisitcentral.com This podcast is sponsored by AuthorVisitCentral.com and produced by Ben McCloskey of EngineIndustries.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on...2021-03-1730 minAuthor Visit PodcastWhat Librarians WANTCohosts, author-illustrator Shanda McCloskey and author Bonnie Clark have a conversation with elementary school librarian and media specialist, Beth Mitchell, about what makes an author visit fantastic and memorable (from her point of view). Beth has been a media specialist for 11 years starting in South Carolina and then moving to GA. She has an outstanding husband and is the proud mother of two sweet little girls. Who they love reading with. Beth is a "dream big" kind of librarian. She loves working alongside teachers and students to make dreams realities. In 2014 she brought Jan Brett to her...2021-02-0843 minAuthor Visit Podcast10. Beyond the Basic VisitCohosts, Shanda and Bonnie have a conversation with non-fiction STEM author Erin Twamley all about how she approaches school visits differently! Erin Twamley lives in Alabama, but has worked all over the world to create a new generation of Everyday STEM Superheroes. As an author and educator, her hands-on STEM encounters and nonfiction children’s books engage the next generation in protecting and creating a sustainable planet. In 2018, she established ErinEDU, an educational consulting group with a mission to cultivate curiosity and ask questions by sharing the adventures of diverse professionals in STEM Careers and six STEM Su...2020-12-0235 minAuthor Visit Podcast9. Getting GigsCohosts, author-illustrator Shanda McCloskey and author Bonnie Clark, share how they got their very first school visit gigs as well as more ideas to bring in business! This podcast is sponsored by AuthorVisitCentral.com and produced by Ben McCloskey of EngineIndustries.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share it with others who might enjoy it too! Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Visit Podcast! Resources and books mentioned in this episode (with affiliate links that help support this podcast): Rain Reign b...2020-11-2021 minAuthor Visit Podcast8. Bonnie's Double School Virtual ExperienceAuthor and co-host, Bonnie Clark shares her recent experience of virtually visiting two schools. What went right and what went wrong. You can find us at ... BONNIE: BonnieClarkBooks.com Facebook and instagram: @bonnieclarkbooks Twitter: @bonclark SHANDA: ShandaMc.com Facebook & Twitter: @ShandaMcCloskey Instagram: @shandamccloskeydraws This podcast is sponsored by AuthorVisitCentral.com and produced by Ben McCloskey of EngineIndustries.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share it with others who might enjoy it too! Thanks for listening to this epi...2020-10-1034 minAuthor Visit Podcast7. Interview with author-speaker couple, Chris Barton and Jennifer ZieglerJoining us today for an interview is not one, but two incredible authors, Chris Barton and Jennifer Ziegler, who have made a lovely life together of Texas living, family, and author/speaking careers! Chris Barton is an avid school speaker and a New York Times Best Selling Author! His work includes an extensive list of starred and award-winning children’s non-fiction books such as: Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions, illus. by Don Tate and What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, illus. by Ekua Holmes...2020-09-0459 minAuthor Visit Podcast6. Four Ways to Sell Books at School VisitsBonnie and Shanda countdown 4 of their favorite ways to sell books at in-person or virtual author visits for "traditionally published" books. Below, you will find our discussion along with each book sale method mentioned listed with pros, cons, and sample sale fliers to model your own after if you like. #4 - Bookshop.org #3 - School's local bookstore #2 - Author's local bookstore #1 - AuthorVisitCentral.com Resources and books mentioned in this episode (with some affiliate links that help support this podcast): Reinventing the Author Visit Webinar with Kate Messner AuthorVisitCentral.com B...2020-08-2542 minAuthor Visit Podcast5. Presenting To TeensBonnie and Shanda discuss the interesting nuances of presenting to teens and high school audiences with guest young adult author, Christi J. Whitney, https://christijwhitney.com/. Books we mention in this episode (with some affiliate links that help support this podcast): Grey by Christi J. Whitney Shadow by Christi J. Whitney Midnight by Christi J. Whitney Catching Thoughts by Bonnie Clark Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin (paperback) Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin (hardcover)2020-07-2539 minAuthor Visit Podcast4. Designing Your Presentation: 3 Ingredient RecipeAimed at authors/illustrators new to school visits, Bonnie and Shanda discuss several types of author presentations you can do and gives examples of each: Book specific Topic specific Process specific and combinations Shanda talks about the 3-ingredient recipe that helped form her own successful author presentation, and Bonnie tells about a super fun/gross activity she's excited to try at her next presentation about speaking kind words. Resources and books mentioned in this episode with affiliate links (that help support this podcast): "Preparing Your Perfect Presentation", a course from KidLit Creatives. Use...2020-07-1138 minAuthor Visit PodcastWhere to BeginCohosts Bonnie and Shanda, discuss WHY they do school visits, WHAT school visits might be like in the fall (predicted by librarians), and HOW to get started by thinking through a few logistics. Resources discussed in this episode: Book by Kim Norman Sell Books and get PAID doing Author School Visits Virtual Author Visit Etiquette Poster https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2020/05/i-can-zoom-buncee-posters.html Highlights Workshop on Creating Author Visits https://www.highlightsfoundation.org/12473/guest-post-andrea-j-loney-three-tips-for-awesome-author-visits/ Creating Engaging School visits Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/122633751263332/ 2020-06-2749 min
Author Visit Podcast2. Amplify Black Voices with Books, Speakers, and ActionsCo-hosts Bonnie and Shanda, and guest Tosha Sumner (a.k.a- T.L. Sumner) discuss racism and small ways we can begin to move forward to foster positive change and uplift black voices as librarians, teachers, educators, authors, illustrators, booksellers, parents, and people. Books mentioned in this episode: Just Like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton I Love Me! by Laronda Gardner Middlemiss, illustrated by Beth Hughes Brown Sugar Babe written by Charlotte Watson Sherman, illustrated by Akem The book links above are affiliate links that help support our podcast. 2020-06-1144 min
Author Visit Podcast1. It's the Author Visit Podcast!Shanda and Bonnie introduce themselves and lay out what can be expected from the new Author Visit Podcast. We had a great first podcast recording! Sure, we are learning this platform as we go, but all-in-all, we are super excited to start this venture with you! Here is a list of books mentioned in this episode and affiliate links: Taste Your Words by Bonnie Clark Catching Thoughts by Bonnie Clark Doll-E 1.0 by Shanda McCloskey T-Bone the Drone by Shanda McCloskey Fire Truck vs. Dragon written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Shanda McCloskey Bedtime...2020-05-2928 min