DO YOU WANT ME TO REVIEW YOUR BOOK?

Since I started publishing book reviews I get 1-2 emails a week from people who want me to review their books, and usually 5-10 a day for the first two or three days after a review. It’s starting to become a logistical task to cope with the requests, so I’m writing this Note to give me a link to reply to those emails with.

1) If book reviews start feeling like work I’ll stop. You don’t want that. So all other guidelines, if you find them annoying, should cause you to refer back to this one.

2) Sure, send me a copy I can read in my Kindle app. I will at least look at it, and I may even read and review it, but no promises!! My work life, personal life, other projects, and mental health all affect how much time and energy I can put into a task like reading, which requires single focus.

3) I relish the challenge of writing positive reviews. Snarky takedowns are fun and a good outlet for some of my adolescent tendencies and emotions, but they are easy AF. I could write them half asleep. Plus, I would only do that to books that deserve it (i.e. Woke crap). None of my readers are going to be publishing Woke crap. So if I review it at all, it will be at least largely/mostly positive. If you prefer to read critical reviews, I’m not your nerd.

4) This doesn’t mean that if I’ve had your book for a long time, I didn’t like it. I get into both “moods” and “modes.” Maybe you sent me horror when I was in a romance “mode.” Horror will come back around.

5) You can’t read it before I publish it, but I will give you a heads-up of when the publication is coming.

6) I’m not changing any of my usual procedures for this — I don’t paywall reviews but I also limit comments to paid subs. So you’ll be interacting in the comments (if you’re one of my paid subscribers) with a small portion of my overall readership.

7) If all of the above is fine, then you don’t need to ask for permission. Just send it to hollymathnerd at gmail dot com with “my book for review” or some such in the subject line.