Review Policy

I absolutely love to read, as evidenced by the fact that I have this blog.  I am happy to hear from publicists and authors about review opportunities.

While I do recommend you read my review policy in full before pitching me, here is a summary of the terms all review requests and pitches I receive are subject to:

• All books are accepted on a review consideration basis. This means I do not guarantee a review for any book.
• I do not schedule review dates after accepting a book for review consideration, so please state up front if there is a date or range of dates you would like a review. I normally do not accept review copies if there is a date attached.
• I am not currently participating in blog tours due to time restrictions.
• I work about two months ahead of time, so if you’d like me to consider a release-week review of your book, please keep that in mind when pitching.

Pitches:

I love hearing about new books from publishers, publicists and authors.  If I don’t respond to your pitch, please don’t take it personally – I receive many pitches, and in order to save time, I usually don’t respond to the ones I’m not interested in.  Please don’t take that as a sign that you shouldn’t pitch other books to me in the future though. 

When pitching, please include the following information in the body of the email, not in an attachment: the book’s title, author, a summary, the publisher, the release date, and any preferences regarding review date (if you want the review posted in a certain time frame, for example).   If restrictions aren’t included up front, I will assume I can post the review at my convenience.  While I do accept attachments, I prefer all the above information included in the body of an email to be consumed at a quick glance.

Please make sure you review this review policy in its entirety before sending a pitch, though; when I receive pitches, I assume the sender is familiar with my policy.

Unsolicited Review Copies: 

I love receiving review copies and do try to review every book I receive.  However, I unfortunately cannot commit to reviewing all the unsolicited review copies I receive.  If you’ve sent me an unsolicited review copy and would like to know whether I’m planning on reviewing it, feel free to reach out to me – but make sure I’ve had enough time to receive and look over the book!

Books I Love to Review:

• South Asian Fiction, or books by South Asian authors
• Contemporary Fiction
• Literary Fiction
• Multicultural/Ethnic Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• Women’s Fiction
• Mysteries/Suspense Fiction
• Memoirs
• Travelogues
• Cookbooks & Foodie Memoirs/Non-Fiction
• Historical Non-Fiction
• Science, Space & NASA Non-Fiction
• Non-Fiction about Art & Archaeology
• Dystopian Fiction
• Graphic Novels/Memoirs
• Teen/YA (Paranormal & Dystopian)

Books I Occasionally Accept For Review:

• Middle Grade Fiction (South Asian only)
• Teen/YA (Contemporary)
• Chick Lit

Books I Don’t Accept For Review:

• Self-Published Novels
• Self-Help
• Fitness
• Guides (such as travel, do it yourself)
• Christian Fiction/Non-Fiction
• Children’s Books/Picture Books

E-Books: 

While I do have a Sony Reader, I generally only accept hard copies of review books.  I will make the occasional exception.  Galleys must be in unprotected epub, pdf, or doc format.  My Sony Reader cannot open password protected documents. If I do accept your electronic review copy, please understand that I will place a review priority on hard copies of books I receive.

Posting Reviews/Time Frame:

I post one review per day, and try to give the review the entire day at the top of my page.  Because I usually have a month’s worth of reviews advance posted (sometimes more, sometimes less), it is difficult for me to post a review on short notice.  If your review needs to be posted on/by a certain date, please let me know that up front.  I try to be realistic about time frames – sometimes it can take a few months for me to get to a book, as I receive more review copies than I am able to read. 

I may also choose to do a “short” review if I find I don’t have a lot to say about the book, or a “did not finish” review if I found myself disliking the book and couldn’t finish it.  If I look over the book once I receive it and decide that it isn’t a good fit for me, I may choose not to review it, though this happens rarely.  While I would love to review every book I accept a pitch for, sometimes some books are just not a good fit.

Blog Tours:

I have restricted the blog tours I participate in because it has become increasingly difficult to commit to a certain date for posting a review.  I do need to receive the book at least three weeks prior to the review posting date; if I do not, I may have to reschedule the posting date.  Please note that I do not conduct author interviews or ask for guest posts, but I will happily offer my review of the book.

Author Interviews, Guest Posts, and Giveaways:

As mentioned previously, I do not conduct author interviews or ask for guest posts.  However, I do giveaways in cooperation with publishers and blog tour groups.  I do prefer publisher fulfilled giveaways, as mailing costs are expensive.

ARCs vs. Finished Copies:

While I prefer finished copies to ARCs, I will happily accept either format for review.  I don’t generally accept bound manuscripts.  I do NOT sell ARC’s.  Occasionally I will give them away on my site or swap them, but I will not make profit from them.  If you don’t want me to give away ARC’s that you send me, please let me know.

Manuscript Reviews:

I do not offer manuscript edits or reviews. Because my time is limited and my blog is a labor of love, I will not consider a manuscript for review unless it has a publication deal and the release date is imminent (like any ARC or a galley).

Honesty in Reviewing:

I am completely honest with my reviews, regardless of the source of the book.  If you are expecting a positive review because you sent me a review copy, please don’t bother sending it – I love reviewing, but I lose integrity if I’m not honest with my readers about how I feel about a book.  Additionally, I do disclose the source of the book with every review.

Contact Me:

I can be reached at skrishna [at] skrishnasbooks [dot] com.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or possible books for review.

Copyright:

I work hard on my reviews and take the issue of copyright very seriously.  Please do not copy any of my reviews, posts, or my custom template without my written permission. 

While I understand authors and publicists want as much exposure for their titles, I will have to decline any request to post my reviews to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or any other third party sites.  I like to keep my content limited to my blog, where it is under my control.

Disclosure:

When the source of a book in my reviews says anything besides “Personal Copy” or “Library”, it means I was provided with a free book for the review.  As I said previously, whether a book is a review copy or not does not impact how I review it.  Additionally, the links in each of my posts are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I receive a small amount of commission.

About Me

I'm a 28 year old book lover living in the Washington, DC Metro Area.  I’m also a member of the NBCC (National Books Critics Circle).

I am a freelance writer, editor, and book reviewer in my day job. Unfortunately, I cannot edit your manuscript for you, so please do not ask.  Additionally, I do not review titles I have edited because it would be a conflict of interest.

If you’re interested in learning more about how I read quickly, unfortunately, it’s not something I can teach - it’s something I’ve always been able to do naturally.  All I can recommend is to read as much as possible because I’ve noticed my own reading speed increases the more I read.