Display or disappear: The Importance of free previews for digitally marketing children's picture books in the time of COVID-19 and beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified (early 2020 through the time of writing in early 2022) the need for publishing companies to digitally market their children's picture books as people were encouraged to stay home and businesses went mostly online. There arose a heightened importance for free previews—tools from within digital marketing, to be used by publishing houses to connect with buyers online. Free previews are visual samples of a product. As the children's picture book marketplace is competitive and the content heavily illustrated, free previews provide online evidence of a book for customers see what they are buying before purchase. Focusing on North America and using case-study support and analysis from inside a Vancouver-based book publisher Greystone Kids, this project report investigates how free previews are important to promoting children's picture books in light of COVID-19 and will continue to be significant as the publishing industry proceeds into the future.