Reviews & Reviewers

*** Do you do book reviews and would like to share them on this blog? If so, do email me. ***

I am opening up Wednesday evenings to post guest book reviews, not reviews of your own books but books that you have read. Guidelines:

• The book title, author name/s, genre and purchase link of the book you are reviewing
• Up to 1,000-word first-person review of a book of any genre, without spoilers wherever possible (if there are spoilers, your review should put a spoiler alert at the beginning).
• Please be as constructive as possible, say why the book does / doesn’t work.
• Star rating (out of 5).
• Your name, website address, titles of your books and purchase links.
• Photograph of the book cover you are reviewing as well as optional photographs of yourself and your books (as low-resolution <200kb jpgs please) as separate files, not embedded in your text.
• Short third-person biography for yourself / your writing.
• All content has to be family-friendly please so no strong language or violence. 

***

I don’t do book reviews (this blog is a full-time+ job) but list below some who do. If you’re a reviewer it maybe worth seeing if they need more reviews (and if you’d be interested in reviewing my novels, do email me).

• click here for reviewers of children’s books
• click here for crime reviewers
• click here for fantasy, horror, sci-fi genres reviewers
• click here for flash fiction / short story reviewers
• click here for historical reviewers
• click here for non-fiction reviewers
• click here for reviewers of poetry
• …pages for reviewers of other genres to follow

General / multi-genre book reviews sites include (NB. unless the site has a submissions page, check that they are willing to take unsolicited submissions before sending anything)…

• http://abookishlibraria.blogspot.co.uk
• According to http://www.oxfordpoetry.co.uk/links.php, Ambit magazine welcomes “completely unsolicited poetry, short fiction, art and reviews”.
• http://www.armchairinterviews.com/submit-a-book-for-review.aspx (NB. read their terms & conditions first)
• http://askdavid.com
• http://bookalicio.us/category/reviews
• http://bookersatz.blogspot.com
• http://www.booklore.co.uk is “a book review site operated by avid readers who love books”.
• bookoxygen reviews a variety of novels especially literary and is reported (by The New Writer magazine) to receive 7,000+ hits a week.
• The Book People has a list of their favourite ten: http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com, http://blbooks.blogspot.com, http://www.bookrabbit.com, http://bookreviewsformums.co.uk, http://katymoran.co.uk/book-review-blog, http://www.lovereading.co.uk (mentioned above), http://www.reform-magazine.co.uk/index.php/category/reviews (literary).
• http://www.bookreview.com
• http://bookriot.com/review-policy
• Books à la Mode reviews at http://thestephanieloves.blogspot.com.
• Booksie (recommended by Wasi Abbas).
• http://catwisdom101.com is “always looking for the best in cat-related fiction or nonfiction to review”
• Cindy Vallar “reviews maritime piracy and Age of Sail fiction and non-fiction for children and adults”.
• Darren Sant‘s Daz’s Short Book Reviews (short being the review not the books!) He especially welomes crime, sci-fi, post apocalyptic, zombie. http://www.santsrants.blogspot.co.uk
• http://debsbookreviews.blogspot.com
• https://www.facebook.com/BookReviewsByLynn
• http://gossamerobsessions.blogspot.co.uk
• My writing friend Helen M Hunt does book reviews on her http://bookersatz.blogspot.co.uk website but I know (because I’ve seen them!) she always has a lengthy pile to wade through.
• www.HIPliterarymagazine.wordpress.com is looking for poetry, fiction, non-fiction, plays, reviews, essays etc. Submissions to ace.coker12@gmail.com.
• Salt Publishing’s Horizon Review reviews literature and art.
• http://www.imabookshark.com
• Jaidis Shaw now reviews books on her Juniper Grove site.
• Jessica Buike (you can read one of her reviews here)
• Julia Hughes has a list of reviewers on her website: recommended reviewers
• http://www.kindlebookreview.net/freereview.html is a network of authors who review other author’s books (mostly fictional)
• K-Trina Meador (http://www.authorkmeador.com): Although unable to provide specific reviews due to current workloads, K-Trina has offered to feature authors on online magazine The Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/books-in-austin/k-trina-meador). All she asks is that the author subscribes to the magazine and shares it with their contacts, a very fair ask I would say.
• http://www.lovereading.co.uk
• Makeuseof.com has a great list of their top 8 book review sites which are: New York Times (listed below), Allreaders.com, Bookpage.com and Bookreporter.com. The other four are “Also worth mentioning capturing almost the same type of writing and quality Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and The Telegraph“.
• Martha A Cheves (you can read one of her reviews here)
• Malcolm R Campbell reviews books (amongst other postings) on his Malcolm’s Round Table’s website: http://knightofswords.wordpress.com.
• Malcolm and colleagues review books on a 100%-review blog called Literary Aficionado.
• Micki Peluso (contributor to my blog) reviews best sellers on Readertoreader and The New York Journal of Books.
• New York Review of Books: http://www.nybooks.com
• New York Times Books: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books
• Pat Garcia‘s http://patgarciabookreviews.wordpress.com
• Phyllis Zimbler Miller invited authors who are after reviews to list them here.
• If you would like to be considered for a review from a fellow author, take a look at Philip Newey’s website. The best of the bunch (4*+) will appear on his site.
• Publishers Weekly review books but request them 3-4 months before publication. See here for mainstream publications and here (which they’ve aptly named DIY!) for self-publishing.
• www.raintaxi.com
• Australian author Stephanie Campisi runs http://www.readinasinglesitting.com.
• http://redsquarereviews.com/rsr/submit-your-project (NB. they charge $499 for a professional inc. market research evaluation of your book ahead of the review but be warned they may not then review your book!)
• http://www.reviewcentre.com
• http://reviewthebook.com/index.php/home/publisherguidelines.html
• http://www.theromancereviews.com
• http://www.rtbookreviews.com
• Sarah Baethge at http://sarahsreadings.wordpress.com
• Scintilla Press welcomes book reviews (and submissions of fiction, non-fiction, poetry).
• http://silent-airports.blogspot.com (Carlo Kamchis hosts the book review section of Laissez Faire)
• http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books.html
• http://www.smashattackreads.com
• http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers
• http://tifferzbookreview.blogspot.co.uk
• Stormi at http://writesthoughts.blogspot.com.
• I’ll add more here as I find them.

Below, thanks to Delin Colón, is a list of some book reviewers based in the US. You can mail a copy of your book, a press release, and complete sales sheet to:

• The Wall Street Journal, Eric Gibson, Leisure & Arts Features Editor, 200 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10281
• Alternative Press Review, Columbia Alternative Library, PO Box 1446, Columbia MD 65205-1446
• American Press Service & Features Syndicate, PO Box 917, Van Nuys, CA 91408
• American Book Review Unit for Contemporary Literature, Campus Box 4241, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4241
• Book Talk JL Syndicate, 399 NW 10th Court, Boca Raton, FL 33486
• Based in Goshen, MA is http://www.featheredquill.com is a “book review site that reviews mainstream, small press and self-published books. Thank you to book reviewer / author Diane Lunsford for that.
• Kirkus Reviews, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
• Newspaper Enterprise Association, 200 Madison Avenue, Floor 4, New York, NY 10016
• The New York Times Book Review, 229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
• Publishers Weekly, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010
• Reader Views has reviews, interviews, videos and awards. Thanks again to book reviewer / author Diane Lunsford for that.
• Los Angeles Times Magazine, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
• Foreword Magazine, Alex Moore, Managing Editor, 129 1/2 East Front Street, Traverse City, MI 49684
• Small Press Review, P.O. Box 100, Paradise, CA 95967
• James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review, 278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575 (http://www.midwestbookreview.com/get_rev.htm)
• Book Review Editor, Library Journal, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10010
• Hollywood Inside Syndicate, Attn: John Austin, P.O. Box 49957, Los Angeles, CA 90049-0957 (non-fiction only)

I was going to add some from the Writer’s & Artist’s Yearbook, Writer’s Handbook and Writer’s Market but looked in their listings (under reviews and book reviewers), and there weren’t any!

You could also try listing your book with the Book Club Reading website (although there is a fee to pay).

If you fancy becoming a book reviewer, there’s an interesting article on http://ezinearticles.com, and then of course I can list you here. There’s also a great: ‎6 Common Myths About Book Reviews.

***

Although I don’t review novels, I do review short stories of up to 2,500 words on this blog Short Story Saturdays slot. I keep the reviews short (no point in having it longer than the story!) then have a quick biography of the author (you), if you’d like to provide one, a photo or two (again optional) and links to your website and if appropriate, where people can buy your book/s – in other words the same sort of thing as listed at the bottom of any of the guest interviews, spotlights etc.

So, if you have a story you’d like me to read and don’t mind ‘firm but fair’ do email me. If you’re feeling braver, I also in-depth critique fiction of ideally up to 1,000 words (I can go up to 2,000) for my Podcast.

Philip Ellis reviewed Chris Hamilton-Emery’s 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell and Sage Cohen’s book Writing the Life Poetic – details on the Post-weekend Poetry page.

I’ve listed the reviews of my eBooks on the Books – mine page and that is all of them, honestly, I’ve not left out any bad ones (for instance, there are two 1* for Feeding The Father on Goodreads ). I do have a 3* for April’s Fool for being scant on detail, which made me laugh as someone else (in YouWriteOn) had said there was too much (that’s the worst review, I also have 4*s and 5*s). But that’s the great thing about writing fiction, different things please different people.