Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Looking For A Children's Book Reviewer?

All writers know that book reviews can be a great way to get the word out about a new book. The hard part is sifting through the thousands of reviewers that can be found online. My criteria for a good book reviewer is as follows: First their site must look attractive, be easy to navigate, and their reviews must be of high quality. This is not to say that every book will receive a good review (honesty is important) but that the reviewer took the time to explain what was great about the book or what was lacking in a friendly and non-combative way. Secondly, they must review for the love of literacy and not for the love of money. I want to be sure when I receive a review good or bad that it is on the merit of my writing and not on the merit of my pocket book! And thirdly, I want a reviewer that actually reads my book. If a reviewer is claiming to have read a thousand books in one year let's say, then there is a good probability that they aren't really reading all the books or that they are just skimming the books. My book is important to me and I want it to be important to the reviewer.

So to this effect, I have put together a list of six children's book review sites that I feel meet these criteria. I seriously suggest before sending any book to a reviewer or review site, that you send a query e-mail briefly describing your book and asking if there is an interest (many times contact information is available on the site). If no e-mail contact information is mentioned, be sure to send a short letter with your book thanking them for taking the time to review your work.

1. Stories for children e-zine magazine

2. National Geographic Kids

3. Christian Children's book Review

4. Booklist Online

5. BookReview.com

6. Biblio Reads

And as a last note, always remember to send a personal thank you to any reviewer that reviews your book. Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!

2 comments:

  1. Would you recommend these sites to contact if you are a dedicated reader of children's literature to become a reviewer?

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  2. Hi Aileen, I just wanted to let you know that bookreview.com link is broken — that site actually recently shut down. If you'd like to replace it, I'd love to offer up a very similar resource from me and my team :) It's a book review and recommendation platform called Reedsy Discovery, which features tons of up-and-coming books from a wide variety of genres. You can check it out right here: https://reedsy.com/discovery. Let us know what you think!

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