For Authors: Review Guidelines

Valerie Harmon, Author, Editor, Book Reviewer

Hello fellow Author!

Once reading devices added color to their abilities, illustrated children's e-books have became a reality. And the niche is exploding! Unfortunately, the quality of the picture e-books can be hit and miss. As a children's book author, a free-lance editor, an experienced advertising marketer, and a mother, Valerie Harmon decided she'd highlight the best children's picture e-books and do her part to lift the quality within the niche. If you have a children's picture e-book for her/her team's review, please read and follow her guidelines below.

1. Harmon will ONLY review fully-illustrated children's picture e-books. PLEASE do not ask her to review books from any other genre. If you are looking for reviews in a different genre, check out The Kindle Book Review or The Indie View.

2. Please submit your book with this form: https://forms.gle/4P9dbkdcbrMWarJQ8. Note: You will need a PDF version of your book, and (optionally) links to your website, GoodReads book and author/illustrator pages, Amazon book and author/illustrator pages, and Facebook page (for your book/author, not personal), as well as a one paragraph biography (and images) about the author (and illustrator if desired).

3. These are Harmon's rules of reviewing:

A. She and her reviewing team is under no obligation to review your book.

B. They review it for free, and give a fair and honest review.

C. They will NOT review a book that they feels rates below a 3. Please remember literature is subjective. The Reviewing team will rate the book according to their opinion. If they don't connect with it, believe the book needs work, and/or is not eligible for a 3-star rating or higher, they are not required to write a review.You may agree or disagree, but remember, in submitting your book you are asking for their opinion.

This is the rating system they use:

5 Stars – Great illustrations and great storyline, they could see this book in a bookstore. 
4 Stars – A great read, but not big publisher quality. 
3 Stars -  A decent book. They'd recommend it but there were a few flaws (storyline issues, distracting typos, average illustrations). 
2 stars and under –WE DO NOT WRITE REVIEWS UNDER 3 STARS.

D. The team might review the book on this blog (if it's 4 or 5 stars). Harmon reviews 3 stars and up on Amazon (for The Kindle Book Review). She often links her blog reviews to The Indie View. She also reviews for The Reader's Favorite.

F. If your book is about farting or burping, the team is not interested in reading it or reviewing it. They also reserve the right to not review your book if they don't feel it is a good fit. Remember, reviewing and rating is subjective.

Want to review children's ebooks too? Lives change, and sometimes there's an opening on our review team. If you would like to join this Children's eBook Review Team, then fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Yc9gH32MiKVJLJCfA.

5 comments:

  1. Hello there,

    I saw your website. It looks really nice, except I couldn't find your email address anywhere. Oh well.. this way works, right? I have a request about a review.

    My wife and I have been putting hundreds of hours into drawing a children’s book. It’s not an ordinary story, but a search book. Have you heard of “Where is Waldo?” Ours is a similar concept, but it’s more focused on kids and on strengthening the family, with pages about a birthday party, petting zoo, swimming pool, playground, etc. The title of the book is, “Find the Cutes.” Now that the book is done and that my wife and I are investing in printing, we need some help. On March 1st, we will launch a project on kickstarter.com. You may have heard of it. It’s a crowd funding website. To get our name out there and achieve our goal, we would love for you to review our book and post something on your Facebook page, your blog, and/or any other places where people could see it... whichever you want of course.

    I know you only accept reviews in specific months, but can we send you a PDF version of the book in the beginning of March? That and some more fun images you can use and a link to the kickstarter project? You can select whatever fits your page or blog best. That way, you would have another appealing story, and it could help us get sponsors on kickstarter. (Our website iswww.findthecutes.com). Let me just say “thank you” ahead of time if you are willing to do that for us.

    Hope to hear from you soon.

    Vincent Noot, Illustrator

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just replied on your website contact form :) I will see if I can add a contact form here so people can contact me directly without me posting my email address for spam to see. :)

      Delete
  2. So the question is: how do I get my hardback illustrated children's book, Stinky and the Night Mare, into a picture e-book format? It's currently on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Powell's -- and in a growing number of indy bookstores (albeit a small number) in NC. While I have a PDF format, I don't have an e-book format.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Skipmars,
      I have an illustrator who handles that part of book making, but I have read the free book published by Amazon that explains how to put your book into .mobi format. Here is the link: http://amzn.to/1Ezrnb9 Thanks to your question, I think I will create a blog post to help other authors with the same question.
      Best writing wishes,
      Valerie

      Delete
  3. Dear Valerie, Illustrations are being completed as I write. I am hoping to get reviews against pre-orders prior to publication in a few weeks. Is that a possibility with you? Book title: Ants In Space! Thanks, G J Griffiths (gjgriffithswriter.com)

    ReplyDelete