Thursday, November 11, 2010

Review Policy

General information

I am currently accepting select Adult, Young Adult, or Middle Grade books for review. You can send emails to SmallReview at yahoo dot com.

I accept print ARCs, finished copies, and audiobooks. If the book is a part of a series, then I may need the previous books. If you are requesting an audiobook review, then I may request a print copy of the book as well. In the case of audiobooks, there will be two reviews: one for the story, and another reviewing the reader/audio performance.

I am NOT accepting e-books, self-published books, indie press books, or interactive media books at this time. Review requests for these books will not receive a reply. Exceptions include those already on my TBR


Genres

You can check and see if your book is on my TBR list. If it's there, then you know I want to read it! You can also browse my Review Index to get a feel for my interests.

I accept Adult, YA, and MG fiction in the following genres:
  • Fantasy
  • Historical fiction and select historical non-fiction
  • Fairy tale/myth retellings
  • Paranormal 
  • Mystery
  • Gothic horror/romance
I am NOT accepting books in the following genres:
  • Non-fiction (with the exception of select historical books)
  • Memoirs/modern biographies
  • Contemporary 
  • "Issues" books (dying mothers, cancer diagnoses, mental illnesses, family drama, etc)
  • Extremely political or "hot button" topics
  • Poetry
  • Free verse novels 
  • Short story compilations
  • Overtly preachy religious fiction (Christian values are fine)
    Accepting Books

    If I accept a book for review, that does not guarantee a review.

    I will make every effort to read and review in a timely fashion and with regard to release dates, but I cannot guarantee this. I prefer to receive a book 3-4 months prior to when you would like the review posted.

    Please note: I schedule my posts months in advance (that is, if you contact me in January, the odds are slim to none that I will have an opening available for you in February).

    Reviews

    I will write a review for almost every book I finish. Many reviews will also be posted on Goodreads, though not all and they may be modified. My reviews are written in a relaxed manner reminiscent of a conversation among friends. They are not meant to be objective literary critiques.

    I write fair and honest reviews, but this does not mean I will always write positive reviews. My reviews are my opinion, and if I don’t enjoy a book then my review will reflect that.

    With that said, I strive to explain why the book in question did not work for me personally. I do NOT write nasty or snarky commentary about the author. 

    If I do not finish a book I may write an explanation for DNF-ing. These explanations are different from standard reviews and will state that I did not finish the book, what page I read up to, why I did not finish, and if I plan on ever picking up the book again. 


    Review Structure

    All reviews will include the following:
    • Cover art
    • Book stats: Title, author, publisher, page count, release date, series status
    • Where I received the book
    • My review: What I liked and didn't
    • Star rating

    Star Rating:

    =  I loved this book and want to own a copy!
    = I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't a perfect "Special Shelf" match for me, but I really liked it.
    = Probably the most commonly used rating, 3.5 stars is for a book that was "above average," though not perfect for me. This is a good, solid rating.
    = I liked this book overall, but there were enough things that bothered me to affect my enjoyment.
    = Significant number of things I didn't like that negatively impacted my overall enjoyment, though I may still have liked some parts of this book.
    = I really didn’t like this book at all. 

    = For those books that were extra special for me. Sometimes they moved me emotionally or made me think deeply about a topic. Sometimes they were beautiful stories. Most of the time they were the books that I need to own and will reread over and over again because I love the characters and story.


    Half star ratings are also used. Each book will be rated according to its genre. That means a MG book, a YA book, and a classic may all receive the same rating, but they are not equivalent to one another. Ratings are based on my personal enjoyment of the book and are not meant to be objective ratings.


    Giveaways

    I am happy to host a giveaway for you! My criteria for hosting giveaway books is the same as that for review books. Please refer to the the genre, publisher, and book format requirements for review books.

    Entries will be compiled using Google Docs and the winner will be chosen using Random.org.

    If you would like me to host a giveaway for a book, please be sure to include the following information in your request:

    • Title/Author
    • Format of the book (ARC, hardcover, softcover, audiobook)
    • Shipping requirements (US, US/CA, or International)
    • Run time of the giveaway
    • Any additional information you would like included (photo of prize, blurb, signed?, etc)

    Please note: Following Small Review will never be a requirement for entry. I will not host giveaways where entrants are required to "like," follow, tweet, or make any other endorsements. Extra entries will not be given at this time.


    Author Guest Posts and Interviews


    * Please Note: At this time, I will only accept guest posts from authors.

    I am happy to host authors on Small Review! At this time, I will only be hosting authors whose books I have either read or added to my To Be Read list. I am not currently accepting "form" guest posts where the content has already been posted on other blogs.

    If you would like to be featured on Small Review, please email me with the following information:
    • Your name and the name of your book
    • A brief description of your book (or link to Goodreads)
    • Do you prefer a guest post or an interview? Will you provide a topic/questions or would you like me to? *
    • The month/date you would like to be featured**
    • If you would like to include a giveaway 

    *Please note: If I have not read your book yet and you are coming up with your own guest post topic, then I prefer, but do not require, you send me a copy of your book.

    If I have not read your book yet and I am coming up with the guest post topic or interview questions, then I require a copy of your book and 3-4 months advance time to read your book. If this is not possible for some reason but your book is on my TBR, then we can try to work something out.

    ** Please note: I schedule my posts months in advance (that is, if you contact me in January, the odds are slim to none that I will have an opening available for you in February).

    Requests to Host Me On Your Blog

    Thank you for your interest! I am honored, but unfortunately my schedule does not currently allow for me to write guest posts. I am happy to participate in an interview, however.

    23 comments:

    1. I read up on the Grab Galley (Simon & Shuster) tip you gave me. In order to be eligible you have to have a blog or some other association ie: teacher etc. Then I guess you go to the website and sign up for the program. If accepted an email will come when a galley is ready to be read. If you accept the galley instructions on how to download it will follow.

      Unfortunately, the only reader this site supports in the Sony Reader. The other option to read it on a computer, but I hate that. Kindle format is not supported yet. I'm not sure why.

      Thanks for the great tip though hope this makes a little more sense for you on how to get started!!!

      ReplyDelete
    2. Oh, too bad about no Kindle. I know you like reading on yours. Thanks so much for looking into this and getting back to me! You rock so much :)

      ReplyDelete
    3. Hey, I borrowed your outline for this... there was some phrases I just couldn't change...

      Thanks for the awesome ARC guide!!! :D

      ReplyDelete
    4. I love your blog Small! I have been inspired by you to improve my blog so I wrote an actual review policy. Like the previous commenter I borrowed some of your outline for this. Thanks!!!

      https://booktrina.wordpress.com/review-policydisclaimer/

      ReplyDelete
    5. Thank you both! I'm glad you found my policy helpful, and thank you for linking to me :)

      ReplyDelete
    6. Hey Small, great blog you've got going. Wanted to let you know I used your review policy as a guideline for mine. Thanks for the help :)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Thank you for letting me know! I'm very glad it was helpful to you :)

        Delete
    7. Hello, I'm gonna follow your blog for sure.
      Your ARC guide is really helpful, and that led me to your review policy.
      By the way, I used your review policy as a guide to mine.
      http://bookishpotato.blogspot.com
      :))

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. I'm happy to hear that :D I'm glad you found it helpful!

        Delete
    8. Thanks so much for this. I have used your review policy as a guide for my own. Unfortunately it's turned out quite similar :S

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. That's ok! I'm glad you found it helpful :) If you could please just link back to my site as your reference that would be great. This way people won't think there's plagiarism involved. :)

        Delete
    9. Thank you again for this and I used your review policy to further improve my own review policy!

      ReplyDelete
    10. I'm just starting my own blog and i had a few questions I was hoping you could answer. How do giveaways work when an author has contacted you that they would like for u to host a giveaway for their book? How do you receive audio and ebooks? And on a separate note on the top of you blog there are 7 buttons (home, about, review policy, etc.) and I can't figure out how to add those to my blog (mine only has the home option).

      ReplyDelete
    11. Hi, I've just started my own blog and I used your review policy as a template for mine because I think you worded everything very well. I hope you don't mind! I changed some sentences and edited a few things. I linked your review policy at the bottom of mine as a reference: https://izzyreadsblog.wordpress.com/about/review-policy/

      ReplyDelete
    12. Hello!! Just wanted to share that I used your review policy as a guide for mine. Somethings I did change to fit my preferences and my tone of voice, but the majority of the guideline stayed the same.

      ReplyDelete
    13. Here's my Review Policy adapted from yours. Thanks so much for letting us use it :)
      http://wildcatloves.blogspot.com/p/review-policy.html

      ReplyDelete
    14. Hello! Your blog and several others have inspired me to start my own book blog! I hope you won't mind that I used your review policy with a few changes! This is the link for the post https://camilleareads.wordpress.com/reviewpolicy/

      ReplyDelete
    15. Hi i used your review policy to help me as a guideline to build my own most things were the same however i changed some things around to suit me, Thank you for this it was such a big help

      ReplyDelete
    16. Thank you so so so much for this! I followed your policy pretty closely because it is what I was already thinking but of course changed some things to match me a bit better!
      If you are ever in the neighborhood please check out my blog Lynn's Tidbits! Toodles!

      ReplyDelete

    It's all about friendly conversation here at Small Review :) I'd love to hear your thoughts!

    Be sure to check back again because I do make every effort to reply to your comments here.

    Because I am absolutely terrible about following through with blog awards, I can't in good conscience accept any more. Thank you very much for thinking of me though!

    Spam WILL be deleted. Attacks on myself or other comments WILL be deleted.

    Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...