Planning a Virtual Author Visit for Your Classroom

As someone who’s done (and still offers) school visits, I understand how powerful author visits can be for kids. Unfortunately, they can be logistically and financially challenging to organize. Hence the increased popularity of virtual author visits. Virtual author visits are a more accessible alternative. If you’ve been thinking of planning a virtual author visit for your classroom, homeschool, or library, I have some tips — both from my school visit experience and from arranging author visits (we’ll be hosting a bunch this fall, so stay tuned for more info).

Why author visits are important

Author visits are exciting for students, teachers, and parents, and have such a positive effect on young readers in many ways. They:

Spark joy: For many kids, meeting their favorite author is the closest thing to a celebrity encounter that they’ve had in their young lives. How wonderful to not only hear from this author but also ask questions, and learn about the inception and creation process for their favorite books! The joy alone is reason enough to invite an author your young readers love. But also, seeing an author they may not be entirely familiar with also encourages kids to try new books and learn more about an author’s work, so it’s a win-win!
Inspire students to tell stories: If you have students who love writing, reading, and storytelling, you NEED author visits. It’s so motivating to hear about authors’ daily lives and processes. After one of my school visits, many students actually told their teacher that they wanted to become book bloggers! It’s amazing how quickly kids pick up inspiration and for how long kids in that middle grade range will hold on to dreams ignited during that period of life.
Complement school readalouds: I especially recommend author visits as a complement to readalouds because they bring the book to life in such a memorable, powerful way for young readers. Even for adults, I’ve noticed how much an author visit to my Patreon book club after reading their book enriches our experience. So if you’ve enjoyed a book as a class, or plan to read/teach a book this school year, consider inviting the author for a visit.

Do virtual author visits make a difference?

Absolutely! While nothing beats an in-person visit, virtual visits are also wonderful. They’re also more budget-friendly and less logistically difficult to plan.

🚨 Can’t handle the stress of reaching out to authors and organizing virtual author visits? You’ll love our new author visits offering. Starting September 2024, Reading Middle Grade is hosting a different middle grade author every month. For $100/month, your entire class can join the visit with other classrooms, libraries, and homeschools across the US & Canada. You’ll also get a copy of the author’s newest book and a discussion guide for the book! No need to plan anything — just show up with your class.

LEARN MORE ABOUT AUTHOR VISITS

How to plan a virtual author visit for your classroom

Now that I’ve gotten you excited about author visits, I’ll walk you through how to plan a virtual author visit for your classroom, homeschool, or library!

Set your budget

This is the #1 step because for many kidlit authors (especially the popular ones), you’ll need a budget! On average, virtual author visits cost anywhere between $75-$500, depending on the author. If you decide to do a virtual author visit with us, you’ll only need to pay $100 for a maximum of three classrooms, no matter the author.

Some authors are happy to visit virtually with classrooms who’ve read their books, so do not despair. A couple I found in my research are Allie Millington and Chris Grabenstein. However, most authors have a small fee (and should) because they’re sharing valuable time with kids and preparing engaging presentations to keep them occupied for about an hour or so.

If you’re stuck on getting a budget for school visits, try raising funds in your classroom or through your school management (think field trip funds or PTA funds). You can also apply for grants like the Amber Brown Grant (I’m happy to write you a support letter if you’re doing author visits with me) or check out this post on more ways to pay for author visits.

Decide whom you want to invite

Once you’ve set your budget, figure out who you’d like to invite. When deciding on who to invite for our author visits, I consider:

How popular their books are with my audience (think about which books the kids you serve LOVE)
Whether I have the budget to invite them (back to #1)
If the author has a book releasing soon (authors might be more willing to do visits around their release dates since they’re in full publicity mode)
Including a diverse offering of authors (especially in terms of race & gender)
Whether or not I love this author’s work (since I have to make a discussion guide for the book)

Depending on your school and other limitations, you might have to consider other criteria, but I find these five above to be reliable touchstones for me.

Reach out to your chosen authors

Now, it’s time for the most nail-biting part: writing invitation emails. Most authors have their Appearances email on their websites or a contact form to get in touch. I keep my emails simple and try to include the month of the visit, duration, agenda, and budget in my first email to avoid too much back-and-forth.

The text below is a draft I use (modified to use for your classroom):

Hi [AUTHOR NAME],

I hope you’re well! My name is [YOUR NAME], and I’m a [YOUR ROLE] at [YOUR SCHOOL]. My class and I loved/are reading your book [AUTHOR’S BOOK TITLE] this fall, and we would love to invite you for a virtual author visit in [MONTH]. We would love a [DURATION] visit, including a [YOUR PREFERRED AGENDA]. We are happy to pay your stipulated fee/Our current budget is [YOUR BUDGET]/Could you please let me know how much this would cost? Please let me know if you’re interested in this.

[YOUR NAME]

Feel free to copy and paste this as you reach out to authors!

Draft an author visit contract

Here’s hoping you manage to book the virtual visits of your dreams and you’re on to the next step: drafting a contract for the visit. I NEED to have a contract because otherwise, too much logistical information falls through the cracks. Contracts do not have to be super formal or confusing. For my author visits, I created a one-page contract that basically mentions:

The date and time of the visit
Logistics (who’s setting up Zoom, for example — I do that!)
The stipulated fee
Cancellation and refund terms (because life happens)

Once my contract is done, I get the author to sign off on the terms, as do I! And then, I’m ready to start the next phase.

Drum up excitement

This is my favorite part (besides the actual visit): spreading the word. As an educator or librarian, you’ll need to tell your kids about the visit and get them pumped about meeting this author.

To make the visit even more enjoyable, consider:

Getting many students to read at least one book by the visiting author
Setting up a library display for each visiting author
Building anticipation by reminding students of the visit throughout the preceding month

Organize logistics

As the visit date gets closer, it’s good to get clear on the nuts and bolts. Think about:

Which videoconferencing tool will you use? (I love Zoom)
Who will manage the Zoom room during the visit? Will you have other teachers or tech staff on duty?
Who will ensure that the visiting speaker gets paid?
How will the Q&A run? Will teachers moderate, or will students talk directly to the author?
What is the best set up to ensure all students can see the screen?

And so much more!

When I organize virtual author visits, I handle everything related to videoconferencing, paying the author, ensuring the event starts on time, moderating the event, and so on. You only have to think about rounding up the kids and connecting to Zoom!

Enjoy the visit

Now it’s time to enjoy the visit! All your hard work has paid off. Try to focus on enjoying the presentation and having a good time — after all, you’re meeting a famous author too :).

An easier way to organize virtual author visits

If planning a virtual author visit feels like a lot of work on top of your teaching schedule, I invite you to book a visit with us! We help schools, libraries, and homeschoolers connect to a wide range of middle grade authors with little to no stress and at a wildly affordable price.

If you’re a school outside the US, we would be happy to discuss a customized visit since you’re in a different time zone. Just email us at [email protected] for more information or if you have any questions!

US & Canada educators, head over to our author visits page for more information or join our Author Visit waitlist.

Homeschoolers, you can join forces with other homeschooling parents to split the fee if it makes it easier for you.

Our Fall 2024 Author Visit Schedule

Take a peek at our fall 2024 author visit schedule! I’m already emailing Spring 2025 authors and getting contracts signed too (all work you don’t have to be thinking about at all).