Donna L Martin's THE STORY CATCHER: Part Five

It's incredible the number of things that need to be done before a book's release. And I'm not even talking about the editing, revising, proofreading, illustrations, formatting, binding, creating ebook files, or any of the other things my publisher, Anaiah Press is doing as we count down the final days before my book, THE STORY CATCHER, is born on January 20th of next year.

I'm thinking about how an author has to be prepared on THEIR end by release day. This week I'm focusing on future book reviews of my manuscript. When I signed my book contract, the head of Anaiah's marketing/publicity department, the lovely Melinda Dozier, sent me some "homework" to do in preparation of my book's release and one of the things I needed to provide is a list of anyone who might be willing to review my book when it comes out.

The only way to find THAT out was to ask and boy, was I overwhelmed with gratitude at the number of people eager to help me out. I quickly created a STORY CATCHER STREET TEAM and here are some of the wonderful supporters of my work who told me they would be happy to review my book:

Newbauer,Connie

Bain, Karen

Milhollan, Robin

Cox, Tracey M

Snow, Meradeth

Taylor Saba N

Irwin, Christine

Jensen, Stacy

DeWitt, Johnell

LaCroix, Debbie

Call, Kirstine

McPherson, Kim

Lin, Emily

Reid, Jennifer

Cho, Tina

Brock, Belinda

Hill, Susanna

Sadd, Donna

Marple, Joanna

Bayar, Amanda

Vucak, Stefan

Schrauben,Cindy

Weibel, Erik

Others signed up to be part of my book tour and still others will show their support through the actual purchase of my book. I have tremendous respect for those willing to review my book and I value their honest opinion of THE STORY CATCHER. I know some will like it while others might not find it to be their cup of tea. But that's okay! I value ALL reviews...positive and negative...because I see validation of my work in the good and challenges to improving the commercial appeal of my stories in the bad. Always a lesson to be learned on that path to publication.

I've also listed some blogs and websites below who offer all types of book reviews. Some support the smaller presses, some are on a much larger scale but ALL have one thing in common...a deep, sincere love of books!

School Library Journal...http://www.slj.com/about-us/review-submissions

Publisher's Weekly... http://publishersweekly.com/pw/corp/submissionguidelines.html

The Children's Book Review... http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/media-kit/submission-guidlines

Bergers Book Reviews...http://bergersbookreviews.com

American Library Association... http://www.ala.org/offices/booklist/insidebooklist/booklistproc/proceduressubmitting

Kid Lit Reviews...http://kid-lit-reviews.com/policies-ratings-reviews/review-policies/

Kirkus Services...https://www.kirkusreviews.com/author-services/indie/

Midwest Book Review... http://www.midwestbookreview.com/get_rev.htm

YA & Kids Books Central... http://www.yabookscentral.com/info/10892-write-a-review

The Horn Book...http://www.hbook.com/about-us/submissions/

Book Page...http://bookpage.com/content/submission-guidelines

Booklist Online...http://www.booklistonline.com/get-reviewed