Bola Ajumobi owns Slimy Book Worm- http://www.slimybookworm.com/
an online bookstore that also provides book reviews that help parents, grandparents, educators and those interested in purchasing great quality children’s books. Slimybookworm selects books that give the reader good value.
I had the opportunity to interview Bola on my Your Book As a Business Radio show, you can listen here, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your-book-as-a-business/2012/05/19/guest-bola-ajumobi
Bola offered some great insights about the value of book reviews, including the fact they are a useful tool for parents, grandparents and educators in choosing books that are well written, and have been “vetted” as appropriate content for children.
For authors, Bola suggested that when approaching reviewers, the author should:
- Do some homework, visit the reviewers blogs, website and reviews to determine that your book fits with the reviewers genre and review guidelines
- Send a personalized pitch or request for the review
- Build a conversation, connection and rapport with the reviewer
- Do your part to help share and promote the review (e.g. post on social media, blog about it, put the review on your website, etc).
Bola stated that some of the most important features in children’s books are:
- The cover… people are drawn to that first (and people do actually judge a book by its cover)
- The quality of illustrations are very important
- The ability to get the book in front of the audience (children and parents and educators)
Other features such as stickers, pull out card, Q&A at the back of the book are all great ways to create a higher level of engagement between the reader and the book, and these are great added value. These are the types of books that people are more likely to pick up for gifts for children.
We are learning that readers love the questions we included at the back of Toby's book, the questions encourage conversations about animal assisted therapy, kindness, and friendship.
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| Toby soaking up the excitement the day his new book Toby The Pet Therapy Dog & His Hospital Friends arrived. http://www.ontobysterms.com/ |
To read the review that Bola completed for Toby The Pet Therapy Dog & His Hospital friends, please visit: http://www.slimybookworm.com/blog/review-of-toby-the-pet-therapy-dog-and-his-hospital-friends
To listen to Bola Ajumobi, and her wise words about children’s books and book reviews, you can listen to the audio at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your-book-as-a-business/2012/05/19/guest-bola-ajumobi.
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