Children’s Book Authors - How To Get Rave Reviews For Your Books

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be a children’s book author. Chance would have it while I was working part-time in the Junior’s Department at a department store that I would end up talking to parents outside of a changing room. Parents would tell me about their children’s awards, accomplishments, what interested their children, and what plans their children had for themselves. I was so impressed with some of the aspirations of the children that I asked the parents if they were tracking their children’s accomplishments in which most of the parents said they were not. I began to encourage the parents to track their children’s activities through resume development – this gave me the idea, that children can benefit from having resumes, and that’s how my book, Resumes for Children – 17 Years Old and Under, was born.

Fast forward - I’ve written the book, now how do I let people know about it and to recommend it? The first thing I did was to talk to other children’s book authors to see how they were marketing their book, and I received a lot of information. I tried some of their suggestions, but with little success and a lot of expense. I then investigated some ideas on my own which began to work for me and here they are.

• Seek out book awards. I entered book award contests, but my entries were contingent upon the cost to enter. To date my book, Resumes for Children – 17 Years Old and Under , has won three book awards: Mom’s Choice Award® Gold recipient , Best Parenting Book Badge from RadicalParenting.com, and the Eric Hoffer Award Finalist . My book also has several on-line Honorable Mentions.
• Get book reviews from teachers. If you don’t know some teachers make every effort to contact some and send them your book. Tell them that, with their permission, their review will be posted on your website for all to see. Give them an incentive that they may keep the book after they have reviewed it. A teacher review may also be a great gateway into a school library or a school speaking engagement for you.
• Get parents to review your children’s book. Give them an incentive that they may keep the book after they’ve reviewed it. Ask if their review can be posted on your website.
• Get children to review your children’s book. Not only give the child the book after they review it, let them know, that with their Mom and Dad’s permission, their review will be posted on your website.
• Get a celebrity to endorse your children’s book, if you know one, and some people do.
• Get best-selling authors to give you book reviews. Best-selling authors are those who have sold thousands of books. Search out websites of best-selling authors and just ask.
• Use FREE Pitch Services. What’s a Pitch? A story or news idea submitted by people like you and me to Journalists, Reporters, Columnists, Bloggers – you want them to write on what you’ve pitched to them. Your story or news idea can end up in a popular magazine, newspaper, or blog, etc. The free Pitch Services I use are those in which Journalists, Reporters, Columnists, Bloggers, etc. submit stories or news ideas they want to write about – I receive these inquires free of charge. There are times when I receive, on a daily basis, 10 or more of these inquiries in my inbox. If you can supply the information to them for their story or news idea, pitch the information to them.

• Bill & Steve Harrison\'s Reporter Connection

• Mommy Blogs are great to inquiry about getting reviews for children’s books. Mommy Bloggers are so eager to review items that will educate, entertain, and enlighten children. Not only will Mommy Bloggers post reviews on their websites, but they’ll post reviews on other sites as well as to their social networking pages. Some Mommy Bloggers have more than one website too.

You may Google the Top 100 Mommy Blogs to begin your search for reviews.

• POP Alert Service. I really like this one. POP means Post Our Pitch. Momfuse.com will send out a review pitch request for you to over 1,000 Mommy Blog websites. The owners, which are Moms, will contact you directly and ask to review your children’s book, and you’ll send them your book. This is great. For a nominal fee to Momfuse.com (http://www.momfuse.com). I put in my pitch request with Momfuse.com one evening and the next morning my e-mail inbox was full of requests to review my children’s book. I was also asked if I wanted to participate in some giveaways in which I did participate.

Don't forget about book review websites abroad and international Bloggers. Some of these international Bloggers will love to review your book, interview you and host a giveaway. Here are some international Bloggers.

• Talkmusebanter.blogspot.com (India)
• onceuponabookcase.blogspot.com (UK)
• The-bookologist.blogspot.com (Philippines)
• Booksoutofthebookshelves.blogspot.com (Brazil)
• Theundercoverbooklover.blogspot.com (Philippines)
• Serenehours.blogspot.com (Vietnam)
• Literalmentefalando.com.br (Brazil)
• Mientraslees.com (Spain)
• The-itzel-library.blogspot.com (Mexico)
• sheknownasjess.blogspot.com (Australia)
• aik-friendsnfamily.blogspot.com (Malaysia)

Realize that mailing books out of the country can be expensive, and you might NOT want to send your book by e-mail; you don't want any pirating of your book. Ask for a link to where your book review can be found.

• Increased traffic to your own website
• You’ll be easily searchable on the web
• You’ll receive review requests from all over the country and from other countries too. It does get a little costly to send books to other countries but it’s well worth it. I’ve had to send books all the way to Australia – OUCH!
• You’ll soon be viewed as an expert or an authority in children’s literature
• You can be one of your city’s or town’s local celebrities
• You may be asked to participate in author events or in children’s expos
• Your book may be used in children’s organizations
• Increased book sales – book reviews help sell books

Book reviews are not difficult to obtain, you just have to know where to look to get them.