Well I think I have finally digested the Steeler’s Super Bowl victory enough to return to the topic of books. This is important. As I slide into the dark night of the soul that is the NFL off-season I will need something to focus on and books – and golf – will be a good way to occupy my mind.
With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to set out some guidelines for those wonderful people who send me books in the mail. What follows is generally how I plan to deal with review copies.
Books I Request–
– I will do my best to read and review any book I specifically request. There might be some exceptions (the book isn’t what I expected, it is really bad, etc.) but for the most part if I ask for it I will review it.
– I will do my best to do so in a timely manner, but this is not always possible. I am after all basically an amateur. Life often interferes and I can’t get books read and reviewed as quickly as I would like. But I do everything in my power to post reviews of requested books within a reasonable turnaround time. Sometimes the turnaround time will be a few days, others it might take a couple weeks, and sometimes it might take months. But I eventually work my way through the books and post a review.
Unsolicited Review Copies
– I make no promises to review books that are sent to me unsolicited, but I think it is good to make others aware of these titles. In order to facilitate this, I have started a new series called “In The Mail” (see here and here) where I make note of the interesting books that come my way. This way readers hear about new books, publishers and authors get some notice, and I get to see some books I might not otherwise have noticed.
– If for some odd reason the quantity of unsolicited books overcomes my ability to note them, then I will let you know. But I have a hard time seeing that happen.
– One piece of advice. If you want me to read and review your books it would be better to browse through some of my reviews and get a sense of what I like. This way you don’t waste your time and money sending me books I unlikely to read.
Free books are one of the coolest things about this blog and so I want to attempt to act in a fair and straightforward way. So if you are a publisher, publicist, or author please keep the above in mind. If you have an questions or need an address to send me a book, please use the email address at the top of the left column. And thanks.
