Harvest McCampbell, Book Reviews

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Book Reviews

Published Reviews   Reviews For Your Titles   

Credits

Digging the Dirt

In Print

Published Reviews

Adult:   Fiction    Non-Fiction

Children:  Fiction   Non-Fiction   Picture Books

(This is just a small collection of sample reviews, many more are on file.)

Poetry

Words

Adult Fiction Reviews

Earthly Joys, by Philippa Gregory, Simon & Schuster; published in the Bigfoot Valley News 12.13.06 (355 words)

Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears, by Robert J. Conley, University of Oklahoma Press; published in the Big Foot Valley News 1.03.07 (562 words)

A Long Stay in a Distant Land, by Chieh Chieng, Bloomsbury; published in the Bigfoot Valley News 8.01.07 (455 words)

Amazing Dairy-Free Desserts, Penny Wantuck Eisenberg, Surris Books; published in the Bigfoot Valley News 4.11.07 (285 words)

Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes, the Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs, by Neal D. Barnard, MD, Rodale; published  in the Bigfoot Valley News 3.28.07 (509 Words)

Magic of Irises, Barbara Lawton, Fulcrum Publishing; published in the Bigfoot Valley News 4.4.07 
(170 words)  

(Note to authors, publishers, and periodical editors: If you would like to see a  review or two on a specific topic; let me know, and I will see what I have on file. havest95546@yahoo.com  Use “Review Request” as your subject line so I don’t mistake your  e-mail for spam.)

The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, Philip Pullman, Scholastic Press; published in the Bigfoot Valley News 6.22.07 (185 words)

Nicky Deuce, Home for the Holidays, by Steven R. Schirripa & Charles Fleming, Delacorte Press;  published in the Bigfoot Valley News 6.27.06 (374 words)

Papi’s Gift, Karen Stanton, Boyds Mills Press;  published in the Bigfoot Valley News 5.23.07 (194 words)

Children Just Like Me CELEBRATIONS, by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley; Published  in the Bigfoot Valley News 12.20.06 (154 words)

School Smarts Planner, American Girl;  Published Bigfoot Valley News 8-15-07 (114 words)

First Children, Growing Up In The White House, by Katherine Leiner; Published  in the Bigfoot Valley News 2.14.07 (315 words)

A Happy New Year’s Day,  Roch Carrier, illustrations by Giles Pelletier, Tundra Books; published Bigfoot Valley News 12-27-06 (248 words)

Bunny Mail, Rosemary Wells, Viking; published in the Bigfoot Valley News 6.22.07 (192 words)

The Beginning of the Chumash, retold by Monique Sonoquie, illustrated by Joel Rivers, Indigenous Youth Foundation;  published in the Bigfoot Valley News 4.11.07 (163 words)

Questions? Comments?
Send an e-mail to:
harvest95546@yahoo.com

Reviews For Your Titles

Prepublication and Books in Print    Manuscripts (Coming Soon)

Prepublication and Books in Print  

Fee based book reviews, press releases, and prepublication blurbs are available for quality topic appropriate titles.  Please read through the list of topics, sample book reviews, my background, and fees before inquiring.  You may also be interested in reading some comments about my book reviews, which are posted here.  (Please note, most of these comments are from my former column, The BookWorm, and not from this fee based program.)

For an idea of what your review may cost, here is an estimate for a book of 150 pages, with links to more information about each of the charges.  Following the estimate you will find information on additional services that would increase your charges, if requested. 

Example of total expenses for a book review: 

Evaluation                                                                               $  20.00
Reading Fee (for 150 page book.)                                          $150.00
500 word review                                                                     $  50.00
Cover scan optimized for Internet                                             $  20.00
One free submission                                                                _______
Total                                                                                        $240.00

This estimate assumes that research and fact checking are not needed.   Additional submissions can be added at $10.00 each; which may necessitate more cover scan optimizations, and possibly some research to find the best outlets for your review.  The estimate also assumes that you will provide your own tracking.   

Please note: All reviews will be honest and unbiased.  For an example of what this might look like if I find problems with content search on: Arctic Dreams / Harvest McCampbell.   For another example, this time where the problem was with the grammar and editing, search on: “Mama Bear Baby Bear” / Harvest McCampbell. 

After taking some time to look over the topics, sample reviews, and fees you are invited to send a plain text query about your title to: harvest95546@yahoo.com (Use “Review Query” as your subject line so I don’t confuse your e-mail for spam.  E-mail including attachments, graphics, or “stationary” will not be opened.)  Include the title and publisher of the book, a short description, the number of pages, the appropriate age range, and bios for the author(s) and illustrator(s).  Links may be included to any of this information, if it is available on the web.  If the title seems like it might be a good match to my areas of expertise and my readers’ interests, we can proceed to the evaluation. 

Custom Review Services

Evaluation, Reading, Review, Approval, Cover Scan Optimization, Submission, Advanced Marketing, Tracking

Evaluation:  On receipt of the book (or manuscript) and a $20.00 evaluation fee, a further determination will be made about the material.   A short evaluation form will be provided, which will indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the work, whether it will be accepted for review or editing, and if there will be a need for research or fact checking.  (If research or fact checking are needed, an estimate will be included.)  The evaluation form will also indicate my reading schedule and fees.  Should the material not be accepted for review; books will be donated to the local library, either for cataloging or for free distribution to the community. Manuscript materials will be recycled or composted (unless a prepaid preaddressed envelope was included at the time the material was submitted). Books that are unlikely to receive a positive recommendation will not be accepted in this program.  Please contact me by e-mail if you have any questions: harvest95546@yahoo.com  Please use “Book Review Query” as your subject line so I don’t mistake your e-mail for spam.

Reading:  The reading fee is pretty straightforward at $1.00 per page.  This covers my reading time, a small amount of incidental research and note taking, and will vary from title to title. 

Review:  The first review will be charged at the nominal rate of .10 per word. Expect your review to be between 150 – 500 words; unless you specifically request a different range.  Longer reviews may require a prepaid deposit. If you would like your review to run more than 500 words, please send include that request when you send your book in for evaluation. 

Approval:  Once your review is written and edited, it will be sent to you for approval.  (Rewrites will be charged at .50 a word.)  Writing fees are due and payable upon receipt of the review, and must be paid before requesting rewrites, submissions, or other work.  I will retain copyright to the review until the writing fee has been paid.  Upon payment, you are free to use the reviews for your marketing needs.

Cover Scan Optimization:  All book covers will be scanned and optimized for the Internet before reviews are submitted for publication. The $20.00 fee should be remitted at the time the review writing fee is paid, unless you will not be using the submission service.  If you plan to contract for submissions to print based periodicals, scans will need to be optimized according to the requirements set by the periodicals, at their request.  The fee for each print optimization will be $20.00.  This cost needs to be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to contract for submissions to print based media--a separate fee can come into play for each publication.

Submission:  Once approved and paid you may wish to have the review submitted to a number of venues for publication.  The first submission is included in the cost of the review.  You will be provided with a short list of websites to choose from, all of which provide “feeds”—allowing your review to appear on a number of different web sites.  Additional submissions will be charged at $10.00 per publication or web site.  I have a number of sites on file that accept and publish my submissions; however, I am happy to place submissions with any publication or web site that you request.   (If you are uncertain about the most effective places to send your review(s)—I can make recommendations for you to research; or if you prefer, I can provide research for my standard fee.)  All submissions will be made singly, and by hand, to reduce the likelihood that they end up in the recipients spam folder. 

Please note that submissions to websites and publications with editorial staff can be problematic—not only because they may request specially formatted cover scans, but also because they may request rewrites. This can involve multiple contacts before including the review in their content.  If you cannot absorb the cost of the additional time that may be involved, print media and websites with editorial staff should be avoided.
Publication of your review cannot be guaranteed at all sites or publications to which it is submitted; reviews may be subject to screening by editors and webmasters.  However, my content is welcome (and even requested) on many websites.  Once the reviews are on the web, they are very likely to be picked up by still other websites and the word will spread. (This is called “viral marketing.”) Here is a recent example of an article that was submitted to three web sites and then appeared on a total of twenty different websites within four days:  A Horse, to Carry Our Dreams.  While this particular example is not a review, reviews submitted to the right websites will do exactly the same thing.

In addition, with your approval and at no charge to you, your review may go out to publications that have requested free content.  You may also personally submit the review (and any advanced marketing materials) to publications and websites, post to your own website or profile, and use excerpts or quotes in the print version of your book or in your marketing materials, at no additional charge. 

Advanced Marketing:  You may wish to have reviews of several lengths written to target the web sites or publications where you hope to have them appear.  Press releases to publications that write their own reviews or articles about the author and their work may also be a useful part of your marketing plan.  After the first review, additional written materials will be charged at .50 per word as long as they are ordered in a timely manner.  (If you wait too long I may need to charge a reading fee to bring your material back into focus.)  Please provide photo copies or tear sheets of a few reviews or articles from your target publication(s); or working link(s)—if your target(s) are on the Internet. The more information you can provide, the less likely a research fee will need to be incurred. 

Tracking:  Last but not least, the websites where your reviews and articles appear should be tracked.  You can do this yourself by searching on the name of the book or the title of the review.  The searches should be done at least three times a week for up to two weeks after each submission, and then once a week for several weeks or even months—depending on the lead time of the publications. When you find sites that have published your review, copy the web address to a document, and consider posting it to your web site.  If you are unable to track your reviews yourself, I can provide this service for my standard research fee.

Please contact me by e-mail if you have any questions: harvest95546@yahoo.com  Please use “Book Review Query” as your subject line so I don’t mistake your e-mail for spam. 

Top, Evaluation, Reading, Review, Approval, Cover Scan Optimization, Submission, Advanced Marketing, Tracking

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Harvest McCampbell

Bio, Book Reviews , Credits, Digging the Dirt, Home, In Print, Kudos, Poetry, Top, Words