Welcome to Tuesday Debut!

You’re here just in time for a special treat!

We began the year with a feature from Picture Book Junction ’23, a picture book promotion collaborative whose members have been kind enough to come and share their knowledge and experience with us so that we can learn how to use a collaborative to promote our books, too.

As you all know, Tuesday Debut primarily exists to introduce debut picture book authors, illustrators, and author/illustrators, but from time to time we get to visit with debuts of other kinds (publishing houses, co-written books, self or hybrid published books, etc.)

Today, I am thrilled to introduce the third of our three-part series (which is becoming a four-part series to be completed in the new year because of some publishing delays 😊) on picture book collaboratives with Picture Book Junction ’23. (For Part 1, please go HERE. For Part 2, please go HERE.)

Ana Siqueira, Marie Boyd, Aimee Isaac, Lisa Varchol Perron, and Suzy Levinson kicked off the series in January with how to find or form a picture book collaborative, what kind of work was involved, and how they felt being part of the group was helpful to them.

Jack Wong, Vicky Fang, A.J. Irving, Gabriela Orozco Belt, and Sarah Hovorka followed in June with how the group split up tasks such as website creation, graphics creation, social media, events, and giveaways and reviews to keep the commitment manageable and fun.

Today, we are lucky to hear from Dominique Furukawa, Astrid Kamalyan (who was also featured on Tuesday Debut HERE), and Helen Taylor, talking about how they keep the momentum going, coming up with fresh posts and publicity ideas to keep new books visible approaching launch, and what happens after books have launched. They are also very generously offering 2 Giveaways! Just leave a comment on this post by Monday December 5th at 3PM Eastern (and if you’re feeling extra-nice, share this post or the authors and their books on social media) to be entered in a random drawing to win one of these fabulous prizes!

Domique will be offering a personalized, signed copy of her book, BLACK GIRLS: A Celebration of You (US addresses only, please)
Helen will be offering a personalized signed copy of her book, HOW TO EAT IN SPACE (US addresses only, please)

How wonderful is that?!

So let’s get right to it and see what we can learn today!

SLH: How do you maintain momentum after the launch?

Dominique Furukawa: Will you ask me this after my next book?  Ha! I’m currently in the “my book just came out that was fun now what do I do” slump. 

Based on that I will say that pre booking all of my launch events was so helpful. If I could do it again I would have planned even more, even earlier.  Due to the subject matter of my book I’ve started getting  a few requests for Black history month events. So getting those set up now has been helpful to keep me working through the holidays. 

Right after I sold my book I had the crazy opportunity to chat with author Brit Bennett (yes, THAT Brit). One of my questions was “so what should I do while I’m waiting for this book to come out?” Her response was “Write the next one”. I did and it sold! So even though I’m currently coming down from my debut launch excitement, I’m still moving forward in my writing career with work I did two years ago.

Dominique Furukawa is a licensed clinical social worker and children’s picture book author. She lives with her wonderful family in the greatest city in the world, Los Angeles, CA. She is passionate about teaching little people big things in a way they can understand. Her debut picture book is Black Girls: A Celebration of You (Harper Collins, 2023).

Get in touch: 
Website: www.dominiquefurukawa.com
Instagram: @dom.furukawa

I love Supporting Octavia’s Bookshelf and Paper Heart Books through Bookshop.org. You can also find my book at Target and Barnes and Noble

SLH: How do you come up with fresh posts and publicity ideas as you approach book launches so that you keep new books visible without causing your audience to tune out?

Astrid Kamalyan: We did a good amount of planning as a team at the very beginning, and one of our goals was to introduce ourselves in a way that would be useful and interesting to the community. We created these Q&A posts where each of us shared tips and lessons learned from our writing journey. Later on, as our books started releasing, it was important to follow everyone in the group, to not miss any important updates. Of course, we knew the release dates for titles, but there is so much more beyond just that – starred reviews, awards, events, etc. So on Twitter the easiest way to do that is by creating a list, and on IG, we asked that people DM us posts they want us reshared or added to stories, as well as adding people to “Favorites. I know I am going a little technical here, but I am sharing this because, at first, it may seem overwhelming but if you have a good system, everything is manageable. I feel like as a team we go more with the flow and support each other beyond just the scope, and it works, both publishing and social media are a little unpredictable, so flexibility is very important.

Astrid Kamalyan comes from a big, happy Armenian family, where she is the oldest of five siblings. Childhood summers spent in Artsakh are what inspired her to paint with words. Astrid’s debut picture book Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and received starred reviews from Kirkus, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly. 

Astrid loves globetrotting with her husband and two sons. She currently shares her time between Chicago and Yerevan, Armenia.

Get in touch/Social Media:
Website: astridkamalyan.com 
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/astridkamalyan  
IG: https://www.instagram.com/astridkamalyan/ 
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/astridkamalyan.bsky.social 

Signed copies from Abril Bookstore, a portion of proceeds are donated to organizations that aid the forcibly displaced families from Artsakh: http://www.abrilbooks.com/books/children-s/ages-6-10/babo.html 

Other: https://www.amazon.com/Babo

SLH: To what extent do you continue to share books from the group after they have launched? Do your methods change at all?

Helen Taylor: I would say the methods remain pretty similar, but the difference is that once a book is out in the world, people start interacting with it, so the nature of what you can do and talk about expands. There might be events to cross-promote (or even collaborate on). Or opportunities to recommend another person’s book to others during a panel or school visit. When I find people’s books “in the wild” at my local bookstore or library, I try to share a pic on social media. I think the nicest thing about joining a group like Picture Book Junction is the connections you make with fellow creators. Supporting one another through the book launch process is the “official” part, but unofficially, I feel like I’ve gained a bunch of new friends that I will happily cheer on for years to come.

Helen Taylor is a science-loving children’s author whose favorite questions are “how?” and “why?”. She started telling quirky stories in the museum world, about polar bear hair plugs, catfish physicals, and other curiosities. Now, she writes books that inspire kids to wonder about their world in new ways. How to Eat in Space is her picture book debut.

Get in Touch:
Website: www.helenstaylor.com 
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/heyhelentaylor/
X: https://twitter.com/heyhelentaylor
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/heyhelentaylor.bsky.social 

Signed copies available from Bookshop Santa Cruz: https://www.bookshopsantacruz.com/how-eat-space-helen-taylor-signed  
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

Thank you all for joining us! Readers, if you have questions for Dominique, Astrid, and Helen, please post them in the comments below and if they have time I’m sure they’ll respond!

And remember leave a comment on this post by Monday December 5th at 3PM Eastern to be entered in the random giveaway drawing!

All of their books may be purchased at Picture Book Junction 23 HERE

We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:

– purchasing their books

– recommending their books to friends and family

– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians

– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores

– suggesting them as visiting authors at our children’s schools and our local libraries

– sharing their books on social media

– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.

Thank you all for stopping by to read today!  Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday!  Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book 😊

Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts?  Check them outs HERE on the Tuesday Debut page!