Discoverability

The Big Green finally arrived in UK shops in January 2026. It launches in US shops in March. The story about this book has just begun.

We have been careful and attentive to how the book is portrayed, and hopefully, this will make it more discoverable. There are so many new titles released each year that the biggest challenge to their success is whether or not readers know they exist.

This post is about ‘discoverability’. If you’re a creator, what can you do to help your book be discovered? It turns out you can do a lot. Most publishers will have a standard marketing plan they will share with an author and illustrator. Sometimes the marketing budget is large (we’d all love a big budget), so the plan is fuller, but mostly the budgets are modest and contain a list of basic activities to draw attention to the new book. Discoverability is not marketing. It’s the stuff that leads to marketing. All the thinking about what the book is, why it exists, and who the chosen audience is can help inform a marketing and sales plan, and the creators are the best people to feed into this conversation. For The Big Green, I thought long and hard about what the book should do, what it can’t possibly do, and why I made it in the first place and realized that there was a part of the audience I could reach more effectively than the publisher.

I also practiced my words about how the book was made until they sounded short, sharp, and conversational, whether on social media or in conversation. Some of it is outside my comfort zone, but that’s an opportunity to do something new, like a podcast interview with Bex on the Fun Kids Radio. Being prepared meant that I said pretty much all I wanted to, and it felt great.

Chaos at Charlie & the Chocolate Factory & A World of Unbelievable Facts – Fun Kids Book Quest

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and Bex is celebrating in style with a very special World Book Day episode of Fun Kids Book Quest! First up, Bex is joined by Chris Lloyd, diving into Funny FACTopia!: World Book Day 2026: Follow the Trail of 100 Wacky Facts. Get ready for brain-boggling trivia, unbelievable true stories, and the kind of facts that’ll have you racing to tell everyone in your class. Then, it’s time for mischief and mayhem with Sibeal Pounder, chatting all about Chaos at the Chocolate Factory. Expect sweet surprises, sticky situations and plenty of laughs from the world of Roald Dahl's Charlie & The Chocolate Factory Finally, Bex sits down with Nathaniel Lessore to talk about Against All Odds, a powerful & funny story about friendship, resilience and finding your place when the world feels stacked against you. Three brilliant authors. Three amazing books. One epic World Book Day celebration. Grab your favourite book, dress up as your favourite character, and join Bex for an adventure packed episode of Fun Kids Book Quest!Join Fun Kids Podcasts+: https://funkidslive.com/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1. Chaos at Charlie & the Chocolate Factory & A World of Unbelievable Facts 29:46
2. TV Star Alexander Armstrong's Epic New Adventure Story🗺️⚡ 21:26
3. Esme Higgs and The Pony Whisperer🐴🌈 18:01
4. Saving the Planet and Spooky Mysteries 👻🌍 20:19
5. Living at 10 Downing Street and Tales from the British Empire with Sathnam Sanghera 🏛️🌍 23:33

You can listen to Bex on Fun Kids (weekdays from 4pm) on DAB Digital Radio across the UK, on the free Fun Kids app, and online at funkidslive.com

Assume that discoverability will take time and start your flag waving early, like up to six months before publication. Be available and discoverable yourself so that the book can have a better chance of succeeding. Talk to your publishing marketers, or try to understand book marketing more if you’re self publishing, because you are the stage when your lovely idea has become a product that now needs to perform. Your knowledge about it is valuable.

If you’re in the UK The Big Green is available from online stores.