Tagged: conflicts of interest

Book Reviewing Criteria

[UPDATE 29/01/13: It breaks my heart to say this, but The Mad Reviewer is no longer accepting submissions for review.  If you’ve contacted me as of 2:04pm CT, I’ll still process your request.  However, I am not accepting any new submissions.  Check back in 1-2 months and we’ll see if I’m open for business.]

Since I started accepting book review requests from authors, I’ve had a surprisingly large response.  As much as I would like to, there aren’t nearly enough hours in a day to read all of them.  Therefore, in order to get a review, you must follow the instructions and guidelines below or I will reject your request.

What I Review

  • Teen-targeted self-help
  • All of the major YA genres: romance, fantasy, sci-fi, historical, realistic, etc.
  • Nonfiction teens would be interested in.
  • Self-published fiction that fits the above guidelines.

What I WILL NOT Review

  • Erotica.  Not interested, people.
  • Spiritual fiction.  I will not touch religion on this blog.
  • Poetry.  Unless you’re Dante, Homer or Virgil.
  • Short stories (unless they’re in an anthology).
  • Any unpublished work.

So your book fits the criteria, great!  What do you do next?

1.  You must contact me via the Contact page here on my blog.

2.  I check my email three times per day, so I expect you to at check it at least once.  I don’t like waiting around for an author’s reply for days.

3.  You must have a blog and/or official website as well as membership to 2 or more social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Fark, Reddit, etc.  If I have to take time out of my day to read and review your book, you had better take the time to publicize my review, but only if it’s good.  I certainly don’t expect you to publicize a bad review.

4.  When you contact me, you must be able to provide me a free copy either in PDF or paperback.  I personally prefer physical copies of books, but I know shipping to Canada can be costly.

5.  When you give me a free copy of your book, it does not guarantee you a good review.  I give full disclosure in a review when an author has contacted me to prevent any conflicts of interest.  I review all of the books I read honestly and if you don’t like it, don’t bother wasting my time.

6.  You may mention if you want to do a giveaway or interview, but you must wait until I publish your review before we actually go through with it.  I’m not going to do a giveaway for a book I didn’t like.  You must also have a sizable enough social network to promote it through so I can actually get more than 5 entries.  Otherwise, it’s just a waste of my time and your money.

I reserve the right to accept or refuse your request on a case-by-case basis.  I also reserve the right to call you out publicly on my blog if I feel you have mistreated me (as in name-calling, excessive snarkiness or anything that could be called ‘cyber bullying’).  When you submit your novel to me, you are acknowledging that if you are rude to me that you may become the subject of one of my articles and/or that your words may be included at the bottom of my review of your book for all to see.  These guidelines are in effect as of November 27, 2012 and are not retroactive.