I like to read and review books, and I love to help out my fellow independently published authors. That being said, I want to be clear with my expectations. Given some past experiences, I felt the need to establish a book review policy to be more transparent.
Note: When another author offers to participate in my blog, I usually return the favor by purchase that author’s book and writing a review. If you’d like to participate, check out this page and reach out.
Social Media Posting
When I review a book, the review will be published to my feed on the following social media outlets:
- My blog feed on Goodreads
- my Author Page on Amazon
- Truly Novel Reviews Facebook
- Truly Novel Reviews Twitter
Where else I will post
I usually post on my other site: Truly Novel Reviews, which is 100% dedicated to reviewing books.
I also post a review directly on the book’s page on Goodreads and Amazon.
My Review Ratings
I rate books according to the following:
- 5 Stars – the book knocked my socks off. I couldn’t put it down, and I wanted more after I finished.
- 4 Stars – I enjoyed the book and found the story and characters engaging. I wouldn’t read it again. The majority of my reviews for books I enjoy fall here.
- 3 Stars – The book was pretty good, but the story or characters felt a little flat.
I will give 1/2 stars on my blog, but since I’m not able to do that on Goodreads or Amazon, I only cover the 3 ratings here. If for some reason, I am unable to finish a book, I will not post a review on my author site. It is unlikely, but I may post a star-only review on Goodreads. I also may post a short review on my Truly Novel Reviews site as well, with a DNF rating and the reasons why I was unable to finish.
What I will not review on this blog
- Horror (I’ve never been able to read it. No, not even Stephen King. Sorry.)
- Erotica (I’d consider it on Truly Novel Reviews if the story is there first.)
- Work that has not been professionally proofread (at a minimum). My preference is that the author has completed full rounds of developmental edits, copy edits, and proofreading. I am an editor (no, my work is not perfect), but simple issues jump off the page at me. I will tolerate a few errors, but if I’m running into them on every page, you can expect some feedback about the work, and I’ll refrain from posting a review.
- Nonfiction (unless it’s memoir or story-focused biography-think Unbroken or The Boys in the Boat.)
- Books where religion is the key focus.
- Books where any extreme social topic or political view is a key focus.
What I prefer
- Fantasy with strong and thorough worldbuilding, but not just for the sake of being cool. Your worldbuilding should serve your story.
- Post apocalyptic
- Dystopian (highly selective)
- Contemporary (highly selective)
- Light Sci-Fi (hard sci-fi for me is the same as worldbuilding for the sake of being cool. Most of the time, I don’t feel like it serves the story.)
- PNR
- Romance (highly selective)
Overall, your story must be character and world driven for me to really enjoy it.
Other Book Review Policies
If I’ve been working with you on a book review and choose not to publish a review, I will share the reasons with you.
If you have an abundance of anything in the Turkey City Lexicon, I’ll likely provide that as feedback too. Well-positioned instances used infrequently may be okay, but as a regular usage, anything on that list makes for a hard reading experience.
Sign me up now!
Fill out the form below to request a review.