[Suzpol]

I've been reading an article about publishing and marketing children's book and it got me thinking. How do authors/publishers find bloggers to read and write about their books. YA is fairly easy as there are some young bloggers out there, children's books aren't so bad but what about picture books?

Part of the article talked about children finding their own books without their parents buying/borrowing for them. Apparently they'd be recommended by librarians but there are fewer librarians nowadays and many of the current lot don't read as widely and often only within the published lists which makes it harder for new books that haven't made it to the lists.

And what about picture books? That's a specialty of its own as you've got to marry the pictures with the words. And as a blogger you've got to be able to understand both.

Do you know of any young people blogging? Would love to welcome them here.

[Meredith]

I'd be interested in the article that you refer to in your post, Suzie. I only review children's books and haven't come across any young people who blog on the same topic. It is always interesting to get children to choose their own books as they are often not what we would choose!
Picture books are in a league of their own, I agree. There are many little nuances to a picture book - limited words, number of pages and the old adage, 'show don't tell'.
The publishing companies that I review for, I approached originally, but I'd like to support some of the smaller companies in helping them get the word out as well.

[Suzpol]

It's in the most recent issue of The Victorian Writer published by Writers Victoria.
http://writersvictoria.org.au/magazine

I'm putting the call out for young bloggers, I know of a couple but I suspect I need to go through their parents so I'm doing exactly that.

[Meredith]

Thanks Suzie, I will check it out.

[Suzpol]

Just putting in all the blogs or forums I've been given so I have all my research in the one place.

Picture Books Only
The home of #pblitchat http://picturebooksonly.wordpress.com/

Not that she's done books yet, but I'm keeping her here as I've found so few really young bloggers. Hey It's Nadiahh http://heyitsnadiahh.wordpress.com/

Inside a Dog is a forum for teens to discuss books, it's run by the State Library of Victoria. http://www.insideadog.com.au/

Some young reviewers here on Kids Review Crew http://kidsreviewcrew.blogspot.com.au

Due to the amount of time it takes to read and review a book and the need to have adult supervision I envision we'll have more co-operative kids blogging sites in the future.

[Suzpol]

You're also a member of Writers Victoria?

[Brona]

I was a preschool teacher for 18 yrs & now manage the children's section of an Indie bookshop (& run a story time for under 5's), so picture books are something I know a little about!

My reviews tend to focus on how they work as read alouds to small & large groups, as that is what I know. I also have seen which books chn return to over the years as well as which ones catch their eyes in a bookshop setting (very often NOT the same books at all!) The same often goes for shortlisted and awarded picture books - the ones the judges and librarians like are not always the ones that the chn turn to time and again.

[Suzpol]

I'm very pleased to have you here, Brona. You're the first dedicated picture book reviewer I've seen.

[Brona]

I'm very pleased to have you here, Brona. You're the first dedicated picture book reviewer I've seen.

Louise at A Strong Belief in Wicker also blogs about Australian picture books & junior fiction (when not blogging about France!)

[Suzpol]

Awesome!