International School Visits
Why do them, how to get them
I love doing international school visits. So far, I’ve been to English language schools in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Dubai and Indonesia.
Why do them?
Career-wise - it’s great to introduce new readers to my work and it’s fun to see how far my books have spread into other countries.
Joy-wise – I love doing them. It’s fun to see a school in another country and the school (usually) treats authors very well with fantastic food and proper coffee. Sometimes you end up at the same school as other authors and that can be great. I had a blast in Dubai with a big group of authors, and in Indonesia this year it was brilliant to find an author pal had been booked for the same school.
And, once you finish your work, you can add on extra days to see the country.
Are the schools different from UK schools?
Yes.
They tend to be much, much bigger in terms of numbers of children. Because of this, I often end up doing two or three days at a school. This year I was in the same school for five days and I still only saw the junior school.
They are physically bigger too and, because they are fee-paying, they have a lot of fancy stuff like swimming pools, outdoor playgardens, swanky canteens. There’s often a proper auditorium or beautiful library to host talks.
There is usually a high number of non-teaching staff so you’ll have tech people and janitors who help set up computers, chairs etc. They also have an ACTUAL librarian who is with the author throughout every session (so, so helpful. I wish ALL UK schools had trained, paid librarians).
They are also super grateful that you’ve come, and will put loads of effort into publicising and arranging your visits. They make you feel really special. Yes, SOME school in the UK do this too, but lots don’t (side-eye).
What is the school looking for?
It’s a big risk for a school to have a UK author visit them, because the expenses are so high.
They want someone with a good variety of books and sessions, because they need you to cover a wide age range. I’ve been asked to do everything from nursery to A level students - a broader remit than I cover in the UK. I’ve also often been asked to talk to parents or teachers while I’m there.
They need you to be very flexible about your sessions and timings and I kind of think of it like ‘they are booking me for the day so my time is their time’.
How do you get the visits?
I pitch for them myself. I don’t have a secret method, just chutzpah. BUT it can be quite a faff. There’s a lot of admin (even more than normal school visits!): back-and-forth emails, visa, taxes, decisions on flights and hotels, research on the region. If you can’t be bothered with all that, see the section on Agencies, below.
For me, I start by looking at the biggest cities, making a list of the international schools and emailing them. I send a list of sessions I do (nursery to Year 13) and what each workshop involves. I tell them my pricing (see more, below). There’s always a long dialogue about exactly what they get for their money, and sometimes the school will want a Zoom with me to check me out.
Now that I’ve been doing it for so long, I do get schools approaching me. It’s like anything, if you do it a lot, and do it well, word will spread.
Another route is to do a virtual visit to the school you like and hope they book you for more sessions. A virtual visit helps put the school’s mind at rest that you are worth it (which you totally are).
What about agencies?
There are agencies that pitch you to international schools (eg Authors Abroad). They cover lots of different countries and help you sort out all aspects of the trip including flights, visas, book sales etc. I’ve never worked with them because I like to organise my own stuff, but if I was going to a region I didn’t know well, I might think about using them.
There’s a lot less faff for you via this route. They are usually dealing with schools they’ve worked with before so they know the right hotels, how the school works, and can give you advice on the city etc.
They will also give you advice on fees and negotiate with the school for you.
Fees
Even if you are arranging this yourself, you’ll find some schools like to pay for and sort out your expenses (flight, hotel) themselves, and pay you a day rate for your event on top. They pick the hotel for you, book and pay for the flight and give you a food budget. The day rate might be perhaps £300-400?? (This is VERY rough).
Some give you a larger per-day lump sum to cover your travel, food and fee, in which case they leave you to buy your own flight and book your own hotel. I prefer this method as I like to choose my own hotel and flights. If you are negotiating this, spend time researching the costs and work out a rough expenses budget for yourself. South East Asia can be cheap if you eat local food/street food but the Middle East is not, so make sure your costs are covered. Then add on a day rate similar to the one above. (Again, this is a rough guide. Feel free to ask for waaay more if you want. Go You!)
Whichever method the school chooses, I ask for a car to school and back from the hotel (because they know the traffic systems much better than I do) and for lunch/cuppas during the day.
Visas, Tax and Admin
This aspect can a be a bit stressful because countries vary in what they want. I ask the school which visa to get, and I write on the bottom of my invoice that the school is responsible for advice on visa and any additional costs.
Schools may pay your invoice in full with no questions asked, but many might impose their government’s withholding tax. Where the UK has a tax treaty (as it does with 130 states around the world) this can usually be avoided by applying in advance for a Certificate of Residence from the HMRC and emailing it to the school’s accounts department. But schools may still ask for additional documents and supporting material to verify your tax status.
Many schools will ask you to do their child safety course – that can be an online test or a chat with the relevant safety officer – in advance of your visit. Occasionally I’ve been asked for a DBS (the Society of Authors has a DBS service, by the way, and also a public liability insurance option that works abroad).
Book sales
When agencies send you to a school, they tend to sort out books to sell. They post them there (often sale or return) and are responsible for getting the unsold books home again.
When I do it myself, it’s trickier. I can’t carry unsold books around with me and it’s too expensive to post them home, so I have to be very organised ahead of my visit (and hope the school is too!). Ideally, I get the school to pre-order the books, and ask the bookshop to post them in advance of my visit. This doesn’t always work out. Last time, I did end up carting a box of pre-ordered books in my luggage because the timing was too tight.
What do you do at the school?
As I mentioned, you have to be really flexible in terms of age range, and content. I adapt my sessions to large groups or small groups and make sure I have follow-on work I can do in a classroom.
I find the visits super-friendly and there are lots of teachers wanting to hang out with you in the day or even for dinner at night. If you like your space, and need silence, you will have to be firm about carving out your own time.
I hope this helps. Do ask me anything!
Thanks for sharing Abie , it’s really generous of you ☺️✨
Really interesting, Abie!