Smith, best known for award-winning children’s song and book The Wonky Donkey, flew from his hometown Queenstown yesterday, for a five-week tour of Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
His publisher, Scholastic, was keen for him to return to the region to build on the strong response and thousands of sales generated by his previous tour, he said.
"It’s a hugely competitive market, but if you can get a foothold, the potential is massive."
As well as performing nearly 90 shows at schools and libraries, he would make appearances at librarian and teacher conferences.
During his first promotional tour to the region two years ago, he discovered his books — which come with CDs — were a popular resource for children learning English.
The combination of words, illustrations and music meant any child could get something out of them, whether they were mainly aural, visual or kinesthetic learners, he said.
As if he is not busy enough, Smith is working on a new book — his eighth — with Alexandra illustrator Bruce Potter, with whom he collaborated on Kaha the Kea.
He will publish The Drizzly Bear later this year through crowd-funding, something he has already done twice successfully. He is also crowd-funding the release of a 17-track, two-CD album, Not Just for Kids 2.
Why produce CDs in this day and age? Children’s albums were "listened to in cars 90% of the time", he said.
To top things off, his song The Scariest Thing in the Garden is a finalist for the APRA Best Children’s Song award at the 2018 New Zealand Children’s Music Awards. The winner will be chosen on May 6.
Just making the top three was "an honour", as it was the first time a song of his had made it that far since The Wonky Donkey won the top award a decade ago.
