10/2018: I’m currently closed to unsolicited book reviews.
:: You’re here because you’re interested in having your book reviewed by me on this blog. Great! Please read this page first before sending me an inquiry.
About me: In addition to being an avid reader, I’m a novelist and journalist. I have a master’s in creative writing from Johns Hopkins and a Ph.D. in English. I teach creative writing. I’ve also written some book reviews.
If you have a book you are interested in having me review: Email me. Put “Book Review Request” in the subject line, along with the author’s name. Make sure that your book meets my author and genre guidelines below, and please briefly explain how it does so in your email. You can use the back-cover copy if you’d like.
Guidelines for Whom I’m Interested in Hearing From
- RE: Authors. First, I only read women and woman-identifying authors, with a special call out to women of color. Then, if you meet that first criterion, I’m interested in hearing from self-published and small-press authors. Let’s get your books reviewed. (“BUT KATIE YOU DON’T REVIEW MEN?” No. Everyone else does. You’ll be all right.)
- RE: Genres. I read urban fantasy (my fav), high fantasy and SF (especially with a romance element), and straight-up romance and erotica. Please no YA, MG, poetry, or short story collections. I seriously prefer a romance element. Books cannot be too sexy.
- Examples of books I’ve read lately and loved: Paladin by Sally Slater (High Fantasy); EVERYTHING by S.M. Reine (Urban Fantasy—but not so much the Preternatural Affairs series because of the male POV); the Blade Song series by J.C. Daniels; EVERYTHING by Courtney Milan (Historical Romance); and Elsa Holland’s Velvet Basement series (Historical Erotic Romance). You get the picture.
- RE: Point of View. If the book is written in the first-person POV, it must have a woman or woman-identifying POV. If the book alternates first-person POV or is in third-person POV, it must include a main character that is a woman or woman-identifying.
- RE: Format. I read books on my Kindle, so I’ll need an eBook in .mobi format. (If you don’t have a .mobi, let me know—I might be able to work with something else.) Please don’t mail me hard copies of books.
What Happens Next
- You email me, telling me a little about your book and ask for a book review.
- I tell you if I am interested in reviewing your book. Lots of things affect whether I can review a book, including time limitations.
- If I say “yes,” you send me your book cover, a .mobi file (either via Amazon Kindle gift or via email) and I put you in the queue.
- I write a review to post on this blog, Goodreads, and Amazon. I’ll tweet the review to you and post it on my Facebook author page.
- Because I’m also a novelist, some authors like to pull quotes from my reviews to use as blurbs. Is that okay? Of course it is.
If you want to read reviews that have appeared on this site, just click “Book Reviews” in the “Blog Article Topics” menu in the sidebar, and they’ll appear.
Withdrawing from Reviewing: I reserve the right to withdraw from reviewing after I’ve read a portion of the book (i.e., 30-50 pages) and determined that it is not in the author’s best interest that I review the book. My goal with my book reviews is to help authors find audiences and to help readers find great books. If, after 6 months, a review of your book hasn’t appeared on the blog, you can presume it isn’t going to. You may, if you like, email me and ask why I chose not to review the book.
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