Links to All Lois W. Stern's Articles Posted Here - So No Need To Go Fishing

YOU CAN FIND ALL MY ARTICLES HERE

by Lois W. Stern 

Your TheNewBookReview Review Acquisition Coordinator

Creator of Tales2Inspire®

Click on any title below to read that article.

Guest Post: The Big Lie About Book Reviews

Today's guest post by loannis Tsiokos debunks one of those myths authors hear about reviews but also offers a new resource--one you don't want to miss! Watch for future guest posts on this blog from this new force in the world of book reviews. If you are having trouble getting book reviews, try #TheNewBookReview's Lois W. Stern's free book-review-getting service by going to https://bit.ly/FreeBookReviewMatchingService on this blog. Use the link or go to the tab at the top of the home page. It's part of Lois's #AuthorsHelpingAuthors project.

 

The big lie about book reviews

By loannis Tsiokos

Here is the big lie they told you about book reviews.

“You need sales to get reviews”

You most certainly need reviews to get sales, but the reverse is not true. In fact, book sales is the slowest process when it comes to reviews.

To get reviews you must put your book in the hands of Book Reviewers. That simple.

The three kinds of book reviewers.

Professional reviewers, book bloggers and casual reviewers.

Book bloggers and casual reviewers are almost always interested in the content of a book. They don’t care much about the publication year or publisher’s name.

The good news is that, although professional reviews can be a lot harder to get, casual and blogger reviews can be just as valuable.

The bad news is that finding casual reviewers to review your book on Amazon is still not easy.

That is perhaps because, you are not supposed to find them.

They need to find you.

Sure, you can give a book to somebody and ask them to review it, but if they were not already looking for that kind of book (and the chances of that are slim), getting them to read it and review it (for free as per Amazon’s terms) is not going to happen.

Note that I did not say that it’s hard to give away free books to people and ask them for reviews. People will happily accept freebies, but you will need to push several thousands of copies to get a handful of reviews. And to do that, you need marketing dollars and marketing knowledge.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no way to avoid marketing. The idea is to make is cost effective and worth the effort.

So, how do you get reviewers to find your book?

Think of the perfect reviewer. No, that’s not the one who would leave you a five-star review although I see where you are coming from. The ideal reviewer is the person who would have bought your book even if it was not a free review copy. Therefore, the ideal reviewer is nothing more than your target reader.

Once your target readers finds your book, you can offer them a free copy and ask for a review. You cannot offer a free copy “in exchange” as per Amazon, so be careful of the language you use here.

By free copy, I mean one of three things. You can either send them the ebook file or you can send them a Prepaid Amazon link, or a Gift Amazon link. The first one is self-explanatory. Amazon pre-paid and gift links are basically secret Amazon links where somebody can claim a free Kindle version of your book.

Prepaid and Gift links are not the same although they appear to be. One important difference is that prepaid links cannot be exchanged for credit whereas gift links can. Therefore, with prepaid links you can be 100% sure that the recipient will get the book (and you will also get the royalty payment back). However, prepaid links result to Unverified reviews whereas Gift links result to Verified reviews.

Getting your review copy to the hands of your target reader will also require a marketing budget and marketing knowledge. However, you will end up spending way less per review.

So, what’s your next step?

Unfortunately, you cannot use Amazon ads to offer free review copies in exchange for reviews. BookPub does not allow links to lead funnels so that can be restrictive. That leaves you with Google and Facebook ads, but you have to know what you are doing.

If you use Google, you will have to host a page where you kindly ask for a review and offer a free review copy.

If you use Facebook, you could ask for people to get in touch with you through your page. A better strategy is to ask readers to simply comment on a post and have a bot reply back to them with the review copy. This process, and even the follow up, can be automated entirely.

Finally, you might just want to try Fiveabook, a website that I started to help authors and publishers get reviews for their books.

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST BLOGGER

Ioannis Tsiokos is a programmer, author, book publisher and entrepreneur. He has published over 100 non-fiction titles. He owns and is managing director of Fiveabook.com,  a website that connects authors who want reviews for their books with readers that enjoy free books. Find him on Twitter @fiveabook.

MORE ABOUT THE BLOG, THIS BLOG AND ITS BENEFIT FOR WRITERS

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you a badge similar to this one to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too! 

Free books . . . Free Reviews - What Could Be Better? Plus Hint #Five

Site Offers Foreword Review FREE

There is a new free service that will benefit readers. The media release is below. Authors  seeding reviews will also find the information about Foreword Reviews magazine useful, I'm sure. ~ Carolyn Howard-Johnson 

ForeWord Reviews Offered FREE on Zinio!

Same resourceful literary magazine,
now available digitally online

TRAVERSE CITY, MI; Sept  20, 2011―ForeWord Reviews, the only book review magazine to feature independent publishers exclusively, is now available online free from Zinio, one of the world’s largest online magazine and newspaper sources!

In response to our readership’s expanded use of digital devices and online sources,
and evidencing a growing concern for the environment, ForeWord has
partnered with Zinio to deliver professional, independent book reviews online. Read ForeWord Reviews from your iPad, iPhone, Android device, desktop, or laptop—book reviews, peer opinion pieces, and author interviews accessible at a moment’s notice while still preserving the aesthetic of the magazine.

"For the first time, in addition to our regular print magazine, ForeWord’s readers can subscribe to a digital version for easy access—anytime, anywhere," said ForeWord Reviews Publisher Victoria Sutherland. "The digital version of ForeWord Reviews allows us to better serve readers by providing enriched content from advertisers, such as links and videos, and by giving free, immediate access to all the outstanding articles and reviews you’ve come to expect from ForeWord Reviews."

Benefits of ForeWord Online to librarians and booksellers:

• Timely and immediate access to ForeWord’s professionally written reviews
• Eliminate the hassle and clutter of storing hard copies
• Shop for books with one click, right from the magazine
• Bookmark articles and reviews for easy reference
• Instantly archived editions
• Easy to sync ForeWord Reviews with your computer and mobile devices
• Share a link electronically with colleagues
• Reduce your paper use!

Sign up for your free subscription! It’s easy, and it’s free. Receiving the digital version of ForeWord Reviews from
Zinio is easy.

1. Simply click on this Zinio link.
2. • Click on ForeWord Reviews if you’re a Zinio subscriber; or
   • Fill out the fields provided to create a Zinio account.
3. Enjoy reading ForeWord Reviews online at your convenience!

-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Midwest Book Review Editor Reviews Book on Getting "Forever Reviews"

Title: How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically

Subtitle: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Publisher: CreateSpace, 4900 LaCross Rd., North Charleston, SC 29406

Author's website: http://howtodoitfrugally.com
ISBN: 9781536948370

$17.95, PB (also available for all ebook readers on Amazon)

340pp

Purchase on Amazon

Reprinted with permission from the Midwest Book Review

Reviewed by James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief of Midwest Book Review

Full disclosure -- I have been the editor-in-chief of the Midwest Book Review for some 43 years now and I have known Carolyn Howard-Johnson in a professional capacity as a freelance book publicist and promoter for more than two decades. I and the Midwest Book Review are mentioned quite positively a number of times in the pages of "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically", which also includes her adaptation of our "Reviewer Guidelines". We are cyberspace pen-pals and I have given positive reviews for her two previous 'how to' books for writers and publishers: "The Frugal Book Promoter" and "The Frugal Editor".

"How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" deftly draws upon Carolyn's many years of experience and expertise in helping writers avoid various kinds of pitfalls, misconceptions, and in dealing with the out-and-out scams perpetrated on unsuspecting authors, as well as helping them reach their dreams of great reviews, great book tours, and great launches.

Every aspect of acquiring usable reviews on a 'shoestring/no-string' marketing budget is covered. Of special note to me as an editor of reviews is the fifth section (Writing Reviews Are Powerful Platform Builders) with its instructions on writing professional quality reviews.

Thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, style, commentary and presentation, I have only one little quibble with this first edition -- half the references to the Midwest Book Review are not on the page numbers cited in the Index but are to be found a couple of pages later! I know because (my ego being what it is) that's the first thing I looked at when picking up the book for review! But this is something easily corrected in what is certain to be the next printing now that I've drawn Carolyn's attention to it (she is a notorious stickler for detail!).

A fundamental and superbly organized do-it-yourself instruction manual and guide, "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" should be considered mandatory reading for every self-published author aspiring to a professional career and every independent press publisher seeking to achieve financial success. It could well serve as a curriculum textbook for college Writing/Publishing courses.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" is appropriately subtitled -- The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career.

Unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Writing/Publishing instructional reference collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.99).

Simply stated, this comprehensive, definitive, do-it-yourself guide, "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically", is the next best thing to hiring Carolyn to personally create a review driven marketing campaign for your book.

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

A New Year Gift for Authors, Reviewers--and Readers--from The New Book Review!

You're right! This isn't exactly a review. It's better. I'm sharing an except from my new How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically with all my reviewer visitors and subscribers and author visitor subscribers. Perhaps it will even encourage the many readers who drop by for great reading ideas to write reviews of book you read. The authors who make books possible will love you for it! 

Off-The-Wall –Alternatives for Authors and Reviewers

Making Your Reviews Into Workhorses

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Excerpted (and adapted) from Carolyn’s new How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career.

Authors rarely get the most from        their reviews. Surprised? I think it’s because the idea of extending a review’s value doesn’t occur to them. Reviewers have the same problem because these days so many reviews these are written by superfan readers. They aren’t professionals, so they have no idea how to distribute content beyond posting their review on Amazon.

Reviewers can get more mileage from reviews by getting them reprinted in more venues than just online bookstores. Authors can do it for them, too.  And, no, it isn’t stealing or plagiarism if you get permission from the reviewer first. In fact, it can benefit the reviewer.

When you distribute reviews beyond their original placement, it’s like getting a little marketing bonus for your book. Here’s how authors can do that:

§       If your reviewer doesn’t normally write reviews (these reviewers are often called reader reviewers), suggest she send her review or the link to her review to her friends as a recommendation.

§  

     If your reader reviewer lives in a town with a small daily or weekly newspaper, suggest she send her review to one of the reporters or editors. She may realize the thrill of being published the first time.

§  

      Ask professional reviewers—the ones who review for journals—to post her review on Amazon.com, BN.com, and other online booksellers that have reader-review features. I have never had a reviewer decline my suggestion. It is ethical for a reviewer to do it or to give you permission to reuse the review as long as she holds the copyright for the review. (Most reviewers do not sign copyright-limiting agreements with the medium who hires them.) Get more information on Amazon’s often misrepresented review policies in Chapter Eleven of my new How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically under “Managing Your Amazon Reviews.” 

§       After you have permission from the reviewer to reprint the review—whether she is a pro or amateur--post it on your blog, on your Web site, and in your newsletter.

§  

     Once you have permission to use reviews, send copies of the best ones to bookstore buyers and event directors as part of your campaign to do book signings, to speak, or do workshops in their stores. Go to (midwestbookreview.com/links/bookstor.htm) for a starter list of bookstores.

§       Use quotations from the reviews to give credibility to selected media releases and queries.

§       Send quotations (blurbs) from the reviews you get to librarians, especially the ones in your home town or cities you plan to visit during book tours. Include order information. Try Midwest for a list of libraries (http://midwestbookreview.com/links/library.htm).

§       Use snippets from positive reviews as blurbs in everything from your stationery to your blog.

§  

      If your reviewer doesn’t respond to your request to post the review on Amazon, excerpt blurbs from them and post them on your Amazon buy page using Amazon’s Author Connect or Author Central features. They will appear on your Amazon sales page. Yes, that’s ethical, too!

§  

      Include the crème de la crème of your reviews on the Praise Page of your media kit and inside the front cover of the next edition (perhaps a mass market edition like the pocket paperbacks sold in grocery stores?). See my multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo) for the complete—and I do mean complete—lowdown on media kits.

      Hint: Occasionally authors get reviews on Amazon that, shall we say…don’t thrill them. Reviews like that can be minimized by asking others for reviews. As new reviews are added, the old ones tend to get buried in the lineup of reviews. We can also (pleasantly!) refute a position a reviewer takes using the comment feature—or thank them for bringing something to our attention. We can also dispute their validity with Amazon, though that rarely works.

You can use some of these suggestions as part of your keeping-in-communication-with-reviewers effort after her review has been published.

There is more on how Amazon can help authors early in their review-getting process. in my multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books, How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career. As long as it’s nearly impossible to do without Amazon and still have a successful book campaign, we might was well get them to return the loyalty we show them in as many ways as possible.

----

Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. The books in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers have won multiple awards. That series includes both the first and second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. Her next book in the HowToDoItFrugally series for writers will be How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically.

The author loves to travel. She has visited eighty-nine countries and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague. She admits to carrying a pen and journal wherever she goes. Her Web site is www.howtodoitfrugally.com. 

MORE ON THE NEW BOOK REVIEW

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Review from Andrea's Bookshelf at Midwest Book Review

How do you thank a reviewer when you can't trace her down? It's in my How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. Using The New Book Review is a good idea, but it doesn't quite cut it as a real thank you!  (-:  Anyway, here it is from the "shelf" of the almost anonymous Midwest Book Reviewer, Andrea, with permission to reprint as Midwest always does for its reviewers and reviewed authors!

Title: How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically
Subtitle: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Third in the #HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for writers
From the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Press
www.howtodoitfrugally.com

9781536948370 $17.95 pbk

$9.95 Kindle amazon.com

The third book in the "How to Do It Frugally" series by award-winning author Carolyn Howard-Johnson, How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically lives up to its title, as an instructional guidebook for maximizing publicity from sources of free reviews in order to build a sustainable writing career. Chapters discuss how to avoid scams (especially pay-for-review scams), how to create a query letter for reviews that stands out from the pack, what to do with good reviews once they're obtained, how to respond to negative reviews or manage Amazon reviews, and much more. "Authors should not ask professional reviewers or journalists, 'Are you interested in an interview, too.' Just like literary agents prefer you to pitch one book at a time in your query letter, reviewers, too, will be more easily convinced if you focus on the review." How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically is an absolute "must-have" for any aspiring or practicing author! Also highly recommended are the previous books in the series, "The Frugal Editor" (9781505712117, $17.95 pbk / $3.99) and "The Frugal Book Promoter, second edition" (9781463743291, $17.95 pbk / $5.99 Kindle).



MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Andrea's Bookshelf at Midwest Book Review Recommends Writers' How-To Book

How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically
Subtitle: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career
Series: The multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally.com
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
HowToDoItFrugally Press
www.howtodoitfrugally.com
9781536948370 $17.95 pbk / $9.95 Kindle 
Available as a paperback and e-book on Amazon

Reviewed by Andrea Kay for her bookshelf at MidwestBookReview.com


The third book in the "How to Do It Frugally" series by award-winning author Carolyn Howard-Johnson, How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically lives up to its title, as an instructional guidebook for maximizing publicity from sources of free reviews in order to build a sustainable writing career. Chapters discuss how to avoid scams (especially pay-for-review scams), how to create a query letter for reviews that stands out from the pack, what to do with good reviews once they're obtained, how to respond to negative reviews or manage Amazon reviews, and much more. "Authors should not ask professional reviewers or journalists, 'Are you interested in an interview, too.' Just like literary agents prefer you to pitch one book at a time in your query letter, reviewers, too, will be more easily convinced if you focus on the review." How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically is an absolute "must-have" for any aspiring or practicing author! Also highly recommended are the previous books in the series, "The Frugal Editor" (9781505712117, $17.95 pbk / $3.99) and "The Frugal Book Promoter, second edition" (9781463743291, $17.95 pbk / $5.99 Kindle).


MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ). This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Grab One of These Books for FREE. Help Another Author and Watch Them Return the Favor.

Plus Hint Number Seventeen for Getting Them

Carolyn offers some hints for helping potential reviewers  say yes to you when they already feel stressed to the max. Here are two of them:

* Suggest your prospective reviewer include their expertise in the review. Example: "I am a chiropractor and found lots of new ideas for marketing my business, without seeming unprofessional, in this book." 

* Suggest your reader write a review between 100-450 words. This one bit of information can make them look more professional and they'll be grateful for that."  

How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically  - page 132

Carolyn Howard-Johnson

________________________________________________________

Here is our Authors Helping Authors Way to Getting FREE Books 

and FREE Reviews.  

STEP 1:  Read the descriptions to discover a book that appeals to you.

SEE GRAPHIC BELOW.

STEP 2: Contact its author to request your FREE copy.

STEP 3: If you don't have time to read the entire book, ask the author to suggest about 50 pages or so to get its full flavor. 

STEP 4: Write an honest review within 30 days and e-mail it to the author.

STEP 5: Post it on Amazon only with consent of the author.

bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview

CLICK ABOVE TO VIEW OUR LISTING OF FREE BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND REVIEW.

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Easy Ways to Get Involved in Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Easy Ways to Get Involved in Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019

The online world is buzzing with the excitement and anticipation as the global online diverse children’s literature celebration known as Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD) draws closer. This on and offline diverse kids’ and YA book-related event is in its sixth year and their mission of getting diverse children’s books into the hands of readers, parents, caregivers, teachers, and librarians has never wavered. To date, the non-profit has worked diligently to get over 5,000 free diverse kids’ and YA books into homes, classrooms, daycares, organizations, and libraries.

How MCBD Came to Be
After being frustrated by a lack of diverse and multicultural children’s books available to their own families, reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Audrey Press Books and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom decided to take matters into their own hands. The book-loving moms then teamed up to create a much-needed national event and on January 27th, 2012 the first ever Multicultural Children’s Book Day was celebrated.
Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day platform, the mission from Day One has been to not only raise awareness around kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to also get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries.  
“Kids need to ‘see themselves’ in the pages of the books they read,” noted Budayr. “We are determined to not only shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books available but also offer visibility for the amazing authors and publishers who create them.”
Now in its sixth year, the MCBD online celebration attracts thousands of supports, over 600 book reviewers and dozens of quality authors and publishers. The non-profit has also shifted from an “every January 27^th” model to “the last Friday in January” to avoid conflicting with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The upcoming MCBD celebration will occur on and offline on January 25, 2019. 

4 Ways to Get Involved in MCBD as an Author or Publisher

1.     Donate Books: Diverse kids’ or YA books donated to the MCBD non-profit are used a variety of ways including donation to the over 2,000 classrooms waiting for a free diverse book via the Free Diverse Books for Classroom Project, as books given to reviewers to review via social media during the January event, or as prizes for their wildly popular (and much-anticipated) Twitter Party on January 25^th.

Go here to learn how you can donate brand new diverse books to the cause: http://bit.ly/2zx1YjX

2.     Multiple options for Sponsorship: Sponsorship is not only a great way to support this event; it is an excellent way for authors/publisher to get their books in front of thousands of readers. All Sponsors get a name mention within the hundreds of reviews that get posted from December to January 25^th and also on the sites of MCBD’s 26 CoHosts and Global CoHost sites. Go here to learn more about MCBD2019 Sponsorship: http://bit.ly/2TXuh3x

3.     Connect with Multicultural Children’s Book Day on social media: NOTE: Their official hashtag is #ReadYourWorld

- Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay
- Twitter https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay
-Instagram https://www.instagram.com/readyourworldmcbd/

4.     Guest posts: The MCBD Team is always looking for quality diverse children’s book-related guest posts on their blog. Authors and publishers are invited to share the story of their writing journey or their thoughts on the importance of diversity in children’s literature.  

4 Ways to Get Involved as an Educator or Librarian
Throughout the months of November-January, leading up to the celebratory day, educators, librarians and parents can start planning and preparing with FREE activities available today at www.multiculturalchildrensbookday.com
FREE Classroom “Empathy” Kit:  
The free Classroom Empathy Kit focuses on empathy and compassion through shared booklists and special home or classroom activities. The kit includes 18 book recommends on the topic of Understanding Immigration and Refugees, Classroom Empathy Activities, and a very special custom printable Empathy Poster courtesy of author/illustrator Juana Medina. Educators, parents and librarians can sign-up to receive the free classroom kit here: http://bit.ly/2BGu4uQ
FREE Poverty Doesn’t Discriminate: Understanding Poverty in America Classroom Kit:  
Created in 2018, this free classroom kit includes over 2 dozen poverty in the U.S.-themed book recommends for ages 4-12, two classroom or home activities, and a copy of the official “Poverty Doesn’t Discriminate” Classroom Poster thanks to the talents of award-winning illustrator, Mehrdokht Amini. http://bit.ly/2P6cXWE
Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: Curated lists of books about diverse topics including: countries, religions, holidays, ethnicities, in addition to special needs and LGBTQ. http://bit.ly/1kGZrta
Share a Classroom Celebration: Teachers who host a celebration in the classroom can send in a picture of their party to receive 3 free diverse books and a swag pack as a thank you.  Teachers and librarians can enter their event info HERE (http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/category/offline-classroomlibrary-event-project/)


Don’t forget to connect with Multicultural Children’s Book Day on social media and be sure and look for/use their official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

Thank you for reading!

Carolyn Wilhelm, Wise Owl Factory

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS AND ANOTHER FREEBIE

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. C. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Carolyn the link to this post, too!

The Magic of Book Reviews ~ With Lessons From the Little Red Hen

THE MAGIC OF BOOK REVIEWS ~ WITH LESSONS FROM THE LITTLE RED HEN

by Lois W. Stern

Your #Authors Helping Authors NewBookReview

Acquisition Coordinator

As authors, we know the importance of getting book reviews. We ask our friends and personal contacts to write reviews for us, post notices about our books on author friendly websites, upload our e-books to sites that invite us to do so . . ., all in the hopes of attracting potential reviewers. Sometimes we even pay companies to review our books, while enticing others to do so. 

Hey folks, maybe we are overlooking the greatest source of all, the one right at our fingertips - our fellow authors. 

So what’s with this Little Red Hen

In the childhood fable, The Little Red Hen, when the hen asks a cat, dog and mouse for help planting, harvesting and grinding the wheat, she gets no takers: "‘Not I!’ said the cat. ‘Not I!’ said the dog. ‘Not I!’ said the mouse." So she ends up doing all the work herself. But when the preparation was all done, even though all the barnyard animals were eager to share in the feast, she did that part all alone as well. 

We have an Authors Helping Authors platform right here. So let’s build an Authors Helping Authors mindset right now. Read through the brief synopses you see listed below. A least one of these books surely will pique your interest. Contact that author for a FREE copy with an understanding that you will review their book within 30 days..

On a time crunch? Aren’t we all! So today I would like to share some ideas to keep your reading and review writing time both Frugal and Ethical. 

• Read the Amazon posted synopsis of the book first for an understanding of that book’s content.

• When you contact the author for a free copy of the book you are reviewing, ask them to also send you any promotional materials they have on hand for a quick overview of content and style.

• Ask the author of that same book to suggest about 50 pages to give you its style and flavor. 

• Write a first draft of your review. It doesn’t have to be long or flowery. (A review of 150 words or more is fine.) It doesn’t have to be 5 star either. (Just be sincere, yet kind. And if you think this book deserves less than four stars, decline to review it, but give the author some helpful hints on what they could do to improve it.)

• Try using your review to help promote yourself. (When I add my photo to the review image box, my name, and the words, Author, Creator of Tales2Inspire® seem to pop right into the box.)

Let me help you with my regular post of free books to review right here on #TheNewBookReview. 

Here is the link on how to submit your book to get FREE reviews (except for the cost of a book):

https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-new-book-review-offers-way-to-call.html

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MORE ABOUT YOUR TRUSTED REVIEW ACQUISITION COORDINATOR

Lois W. Stern is a multi award-winning author whose work has been featured in The New York Times, on Local Access TV, and in live presentations in many varied venues. She has now published ten Tales2Inspire books of her contest winners' stories. Fans of Chicken Soup for the Soul are particularly enamored of Tales2Inspire books, because aside from their dynamic inspirational themes, they are filled with original photos to enhance the power of each story. Lois invites interested readers to get a FREE Tales2Inspire sampler book at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts and to learn more about entering the next Tales2Inspire contest at: www.tales2inspire.com/contest. She is also a regular contributor to this blog. Learn more about her at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/tales2inspire

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tales2inspire2

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More About #TheNewBookReview Blog 

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning #HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers . Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission form . 

Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page. And know that Carolyn Wilhelm, our IT expert, award-winning author, and veteran educator, makes an award image especially for those who volunteer to write reviews from Lois's review-request list and post them in the spirit of her "Authors Helping Authors"  project.

Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find Carolyn's also blogs at SharingwithWriters and The Frugal smart and Tuned-in Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing #amwriting