Reviewing Policies

I’ve been getting a lot of review submission requests recently, and I just wanted to clear up a few things with regards to that. So here’s a few guidelines for those who are interested:

1. I am only accepting novellas and short stories right now.
2. Self-published works are more than welcome.
3. The novellas I read are typically between 25,000-30,000 words, so keep that in mind when sending your work to me.
4. The short stories I read are typically between 5,000-10,000 words, so keep that in mind when sending your work to me.
5. NO novel submissions at all, at least not for the remainder of this year.
6. NO comics submissions at all.
7. I am accepting works that are in the following genres:
   1. Science Fiction – Space Opera, Military Fiction and Near-Future only. NO post-apocalyptic fiction.
   2. Fantasy – Epic/High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and Military Fantasy only. NO romance-heavy fiction.
8. The turnaround on reviews is about 3-8 weeks.
9. I’ll need a high-res/high-quality cover image, a synopsis/premise, and a digital review copy in either EPUB, PDF or MOBI format.
10. All submission emails must be titled: “Review Submission for the (short story/novella) (name of story)”. Eg. “Review Submission for the short story Crusade in Stars”.
11. I’ll also need your social media info – Facebook and/or Twitter, as well as that of your publisher, should you have one so that I can appropriately tag my reviews once they are on social media.
12. The reviews will go up on one of two places, either on the blog here or on The Founding Fields, where I’ve been contributing for almost three years now.
13. Links to the reviews will be posted on social media and on Goodreads. I will post links/content on Amazon or any other website only on request.
14. I reserve the right to refuse any request and simply sending me a submission is not an acceptance unless I write back to you.

VERY IMPORTANT: I guarantee only a fair review, either positive or negative depending on my reading experience. If for some reason I cannot do a review, I will let you know as soon as I can. But it bears mentioning that if I don’t finish a story, irrespective of length, then I generally do not review it. I have huge backlogs already of things and I prefer to focus on what I did finish.

And that’s really it. My reading preferences are no mystery if you follow me on social media and/or Goodreads, so please make sure that you only submit what I have indicated and not anything else.

Ratings Guide (Updated 23rd September, 2014)

• 9.5-10 – Worthy of being a classic and “Book of the Year” status. Flaws can be ignored.
• 8.5-9 – Minor noticeable flaws but a great book and “Book of the Month” status.
• 7-8 – Overall decent but some glaring flaws.
• 5-6.5 – Too problematic. Recommended with caution.
• 3-4.5 -Far too many flaws that outweigh any strengths. Not recommended.
• 1-2.5 – Absolutely not recommended. Avoid at all costs.