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Hallie Patterson 鈥�07 is creative. She has to be, really.

Her 鈥渃lients鈥� are kids, and getting them interested in books can be daunting, especially given the technological distractions in today鈥檚 world, not to mention the challenges the pandemic poses for authors trying to meet their young readers.

Patterson is the children鈥檚 publicity director at Abrams Books, a midsize publishing company. 鈥淚鈥檓 responsible for media and events, which are essentially how you break down publicity,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are other pieces to it, but basically I secure media coverage and arrange author events for all of our kids鈥� book titles.鈥澨�

She recently returned from a book tour with Jeff Kinney, author of the 鈥淒iary of a Wimpy Kid鈥� series, whose books have sold more than 250 million copies.

With COVID-19 affecting personal contacts, Patterson and her team devised a drive-through tour to mimic traversing a movie set designed around the book鈥檚 sports theme.听(Photo: Patterson, right, poses with Cori Cusker 鈥�02 and author Kinney at the event in the Arizona bookstore where Cusker works. Rowley Jefferson is a character in Kinney鈥�s books.)

鈥淲e had an oversized soccer goal and giant blowup balls. Parents tried to 鈥榢ick鈥� the balls with their car into a goal. The tours always culminate with Jeff handing the kids their signed copies of his book on a themed-device, which this time was a lacrosse stick, to embrace social distancing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of fun,鈥� Patterson said.

She works with a marketing agency to arrange the sets. For the most part, independent booksellers across the country host them, set up their venues and sell the books.听

On the media side of the business, her goal is to make consumers aware of a book. 鈥淚 work in tandem with our marketing department, which handles advertising and billboards, etc. I put together a list of media contacts to pitch. I might say, 鈥楾his book would be particularly good for The New York Times to review,鈥� or 鈥榯his author would make a great segment on 鈥楥BS This Morning.鈥欌��

She identifies producers and editors to pitch. 鈥淥nce I鈥檝e secured something and an editor or journalist has said, 鈥業鈥檓 interested; I want to cover it,鈥� I set up an interview with the author or send copies to the reviewers and coordinate those details with the author.鈥�

Patterson works with a wide range of children鈥檚 book authors, many of whom 鈥測ou wouldn鈥檛 necessarily recognize, but are wonderful to work with.鈥� A few of her recognizable favorites in addition to Kinney are Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai; Bill Nye, The Science Guy; and Savannah Guthrie, former co-host of the 鈥淭oday鈥� show.

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