AUTHORS & PUBLISHERS

We no longer accept submissions for review.

Please read these guidelines THOROUGHLY before emailing or submitting your book for review.

PLEASE NOTE: Regrettably, we do not have the resources to answer emails about whether or not review copies have been received. If you'd like to know if your book arrived safely in our hands, please send it with delivery notification.


At Christian Children's Book Review (CCBR) we cover a small - but important - niche of books. All review copies need to meet the following criteria:

1. The book(s) must have a true Christian or biblical message. This may be subtle, but it must be present. Books with a "good moral" only, but no actual Christian or biblical message will not be considered for review

2.  The book(s) must be for children. (Age range: infant to teens.)

Please note that books not available to our readers directly through Amazon.com or ChristianBook.com may not be reviewed. (Books listed as "out of print" on Amazon cannot be reviewed.)

At CCBR, we far prefer print copies of books, since we test read them to children. However, we will occassionally accept galleys, .PDF files, or Kindle files.


If you are an author or self publisher, please also review the "Do's and Don'ts" section below.

If you think your book(s) meets our criteria, please email CCBR's Managing Editor, Cynthia Marcano, for details about where to send your review copies.

Here's what you can expect from us:

* If the book isn't yet released to the public, we will review it within the month after it's released.
* If the book is already available to the public, we will typically review it within four months (assuming it meets our criteria).
* Once the book is covered at Christian Children' s Book Review, we will do our best to send you a link to our review. Please feel free to quote us.

Dos & Don’ts
of Getting Your Book Reviewed
(at Christian Children’s Book Review and elsewhere)

Here are a few tips to ensure your review copies make the strongest impact, no matter where you send them.

Please don’t contact reviewers until you have actual review copies. A reviewer can’t write about your book until she actually reads it, no matter how terrific your press kit or as-yet-unpublished manuscript is.

Don’t send your book to a publication that doesn’t review the sort of book you’re trying to market. If your novel is a historical romance, don’t send it somewhere only looking at contemporary romance. Don’t imagine someone will read your book and think it’s so great they’ll print a review of it, anyway.

Don’t pester. Once you’ve sent a review copy, don’t pester the editor or reviewer. Reviewers aren’t obligated to review your book if they decide it’s not right for their readers. It can also take many months for a review to actually appear in print. At Christian Children’s Book Review, we generally get reviews up within six months (and often in much less time), but sometimes it takes longer. Too, seasonal books take precedent, so if you submit a non-Christmas book within months of Christmas, it may take even longer for a review to appear. If you just want to make sure your book arrived safely, send a pre-printed, stamped envelope saying “[Book title] arrived safely at [publication’s name].” Most reviewers will do their best to drop the postcard in the mail to you. (Remember, reviewers love books…and therefore authors! But they tend to be busy, overworked people.)

Don't send your book via registered mail. If you want to make sure it arrives, send it Priority Mail with tracking.

Don’t ask us to buy your book. You’re asking reviewers to do you a favor by promoting your book.

Don’t demand to know where the book will end up once it’s reviewed. At Christian Children’s Book Review, we either keep review copies for our own children or give them to our local library or a favorite charity.

Don’t argue. If a reviewer misstated facts, it’s fine to write a letter to the editor (or make a comment on the blog). But remember, your potential readers may come across your letter, so be professional and don’t argue with matters of opinion.

Please do follow the publisher’s guidelines. At Christian Children’s Book Review, we only review children’s books with real Christian or biblical content. Yet we often receive review copies for books not meeting these guidelines. We can’t review the book - so the author or publisher just wasted time and money.

Do make sure your book is available new through Amazon.com. This is industry standard. Most reviewers will not take the time to review your book unless they know every one of their readers can easily get their hands on it. It’s not enough that you sell the book on your personal website; many readers don’t trust personal websites.

Do know that quality counts. If your book is full of typos or is otherwise shoddy, don’t be surprised if most reviewers won’t write about it.

Do understand that self published books face an uphill battle. Many, probably even most, reviewers won’t write about self published books. We at Christian Children’s Book Review aren’t that strict, but consider this problem carefully before you invest in self publishing.

Do be sure to include your contact information with the review copy, even if you’ve contacted the reviewer before. (Contact information should include a snail mail and email address.) This makes it easy for reviewers to follow up with questions - and send you a copy of the published review.

Do encourage future reviews. Make it easy for reviewers to contact you by always sending a business card (or some other piece of paper with all your contact info on it) along with your review copies. Include your latest catalog, too, and email the reviewer with press releases for your company’s newest titles.