*** Read the whole review policy before jetting us off an email please. Consider also reading:
5 Tips for Getting Your Book Reviewed plus some other pet peeves and what not to do here: Review Update: Don't Waste My Time or Yours
-- We are also not in a position to do blog tour stops at this time, please do not send requests for this. (**HOWEVER if you would like just our book review to be part of an existing tour, we need at least one month in advance to be able to place the review within a specified date range. With three months in advance being preferable)
Our thoughts on what we want:
We review adult or young adult novels. (If adult novels, preferably new adult. New adult being novels with college age protagonists) -- Wordcount needs to be at least 60,000+ words Genres we like: fantasy, science fiction, romance. Occasionally maybe a little historical fiction or mystery. It'd have to be a dang good book to lure us away from these genres. We find it hard to slog through extremely technical science fiction or very detailed high fantasy. Be aware we don't do well with bitter-sweet endings. We're a happily-ever-after type of flock. We also want the novels we review to have some romance. We love to discover new scenes that make us go "Aww!" and curl up farther into the couch. The more romance the better, but if it's got great suspense, action and plot too? That's the icing on the cake.
Our thoughts on what we DON'T want:
Genres we don't like: non-fiction, horror, literary, memoir, western, erotica, books with gay/lesbian themes. We just can't do horror. For why this is see here: Why Being an 'Anne' is Both Exciting and Horrifying. We will not read anything that has any explicit sex-scenes. We read clean books. See here: Clean -'Sweet'- Romances Are Definitely Not Dead If an intimate scene is part of the story line we do not mind mention of it (think Stephenie Meyer's The Host) but anything more and we won't touch it. An abundance of sexual references is a huge deterrent and not tolerated. If sex is one of the main subjects and your characters are constantly talking and thinking about it? We won't like your novel. Heavy profanity isn't appreciated. Keep in mind we're pretty understanding, but a large amount of blatantly obvious typos tend to ruffle our feathers (most especially words that are missing). We don't review collections of stories or poetry.
Our Review Includes:
- Title, author, length
- heat level
- a rating (1-5 scale)
- a summary of the book (usually from Goodreads)
- one or two paragraphs with our opinion
- a buy now button for Amazon
NOTE:
The subject line of your email request must read Book Review Request - 'Title of Novel'.
The body of the email must have these five things:
1. The following statement 'I have read the Review Policy and know that this book does contain some romance and does not have anything the Peacock Flock does not want to read'. Please do not send us a request if your book does not fit into the above statement.
-- although paraphrasing the above statement does let us know you read the policy (good on you), the review request needs to have the statement as written above.
2. An intriguing and interesting blurb about your novel. (think query letter like. See: QueryShark -- what are the stakes? who are the main players -- the romantic couple? avoid the hard sell)
3. The cover art for your novel in the body of the email. Just copy and paste it in. (If all else fails attach it, but we'd prefer it in the body)
4. Something about yourself and how you found our site
5. A .PDF (preferred) or .epub file of your novel (or just chapter 1) attached *See below
The body of the email must have these five things:
1. The following statement 'I have read the Review Policy and know that this book does contain some romance and does not have anything the Peacock Flock does not want to read'. Please do not send us a request if your book does not fit into the above statement.
-- although paraphrasing the above statement does let us know you read the policy (good on you), the review request needs to have the statement as written above.
2. An intriguing and interesting blurb about your novel. (think query letter like. See: QueryShark -- what are the stakes? who are the main players -- the romantic couple? avoid the hard sell)
3. The cover art for your novel in the body of the email. Just copy and paste it in. (If all else fails attach it, but we'd prefer it in the body)
4. Something about yourself and how you found our site
5. A .PDF (preferred) or .epub file of your novel (or just chapter 1) attached *See below
At the moment the wait time for a review is anywhere from two weeks to six months. Preference is given to those authors with great blurbs that drawn us into the novel, to those who've read the complete policy and to those who also support this blog - see below.
**Right now we only want e-copies of your novel. The preferred format being pdf files (although kindle editions are okay if .pdf is not available)
** Do not send a coupon for Smashwords (or any other site) or a link to a free download. We will not use them and will no longer consider your review. ONLY send requests with a .PDF file attached (or a kindle readable) ebook. If you prefer to not send your full novel send just chapter 1.
**Right now we only want e-copies of your novel. The preferred format being pdf files (although kindle editions are okay if .pdf is not available)
** Do not send a coupon for Smashwords (or any other site) or a link to a free download. We will not use them and will no longer consider your review. ONLY send requests with a .PDF file attached (or a kindle readable) ebook. If you prefer to not send your full novel send just chapter 1.
**Send requests for only one novel at a time.
**And (can't believe we have to say it) start with book 1 in your series, don't send requests for the second book when we most likely haven't read the first
**And (can't believe we have to say it) start with book 1 in your series, don't send requests for the second book when we most likely haven't read the first
*We respect your work and will not share it with anyone
Other thoughts:
Reviews are every Thursday. Although we hope it doesn't happen, occasionally -despite us enjoying the initial blurb- we find we cannot finish a novel. We will read the first 50 pages of every novel we commit to review. If however, we do not wish to read past that we will endeavour to give the author as much information as we can at to why we were unable to finish the book. We also post reviews to Goodreads, and to Amazon. We'd love to be able to respond to all review requests personally but as the volume is now quite overwhelming we can only respond to requests we are interested in. If you haven't received a response in two weeks, we were not intrigued enough by your request or we don't have room in the review queue. (We'll keep a list of reviews that intrigued us and may contact you later for a review) We can be a harsh party of birds but we're usually fair, a note should be made to prospective authors who'd like reviews, there will occasionally be some very small spoilers in order to give the best review.
If we sound like a good fit send your Book Review Requests here:
dpederson12(at)yahoo(dot)ca
All prospective authors please consider supporting the blog:
Like me on facebook
or follow my blog >>
Thank you.
The Flocks' Review Code:
If you are an author looking for more reviewers, here are some sites that list other blogs and websites that are currently accepting books:
http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html
http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/
That's it from the flock!
Err... Umm... My book in this series I'm creating doesn't have any romance yet, but it will, a little in the next book, but mostly just relationship values. I compare my series to harry potter, star wars, lord of the rings, and marvel. It's deeper than those, and this book is just a start of 92 pages. archalabao@mail.com if your interested? It's just a fun read.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but the novel needs to be finished. And I'm not in position to take on books outside of my specified requests for what I want to review. Additionally please read the post linked at the top of this page '5 Tips for Getting Your Book Reviewed'. This is not the process by which you should contact a reviewer, as stated in the above policy and in the '5 Tips' post. Good luck with your writing.
DeleteI was poised and ready to request a review, and then I re-read the policy. Granted, this book is more of a cliff-hanger since it is part of a series, but I'm not sure I'd define my endings as happy. =)
ReplyDeleteWell good on you! As a reviewer it makes it easier to define the niche you want to read and most especially because as a reader I know what I like and don't like. Some people don't mind unhappy endings, but it's not my cup of tea. That said, if it's a cliff hanger with an eventual happy ending at the end of the series, that might be okay. I've read some books like that and enjoyed them. However -I'll be posting about this on my Lasera blog sometime soon- I think each individual story (even in a series) needs it's own arc with a resolution and conclusion, but it can also have questions that'll be answered later in the series. Good luck! And thanks for the comment
Delete65,000+ words? Well BPG: Prototypes is only 40,000+. I like your blog and hope you do well in the future.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... most of the time I find there isn't enough development at less than 65K and just me personally if I get attached to characters I want as much time with them as possible (which is why I love series). Thanks again, and I hope your book does well too.
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