For advice on writing and getting your book reviewed, please click here.

BookBrowse's Submission Criteria

BookBrowse's editorial format allows us to provide featured recommendations of only about 30 books each month - a tiny fraction of the books published but still more than even an avid book lover can read. So, sadly, we have to reject many more books than we can accept.

Please review the submission criteria below, which are applied to all books submitted for review at BookBrowse. These are provided to ensure that you have a clear idea of the kinds of books we feature, and do not put your time and effort into suggesting a book which is not a good match.

We strongly encourage you not to send us copies of books unless we have specifically requested that a copy be sent directly to one of our reviewers. The vast majority of unsolicited books sent to us are donated to our local "Friends of the Library" group unopened. Whereas over 80% of the books that we specifically request for review end up being featured at BookBrowse. So, please save your money and don't send us a copy of your book unless we've asked for it.

We do not accept payments to review books and becoming a member of BookBrowse does not give you an advantage over others when it comes to having your book reviewed. We do post author interviews and reading guides, but only when they are supporting a book that we are recommending.

Please ensure that your book meets all the criteria below or you will be wasting your time completing the submission form.

• The book will be of appeal to BookBrowse's visitors who are predominantly USA adults aged 35+ who enjoy intelligent fiction and narrative non-fiction.
  


• The book fits into one of the genres in the left hand column below
  Because we recommend so few books, there are some genres that we do not cover at all, or rarely cover, in an editorial capacity. This is not to say that our visitors may not be interested in them but simply that, editorially, we can't be all things to all people!
  
  

  Genres we tend to recommend	Genres we don't cover, or recommend rarely
  Novels	Romance
  Historical Fiction	Sci-fi
  Mysteries/Thrillers	Religion - both fiction & nonfiction
  Short stories	Business books
  Books for young adults	Books for 9 years & younger
  Biographies	How-to books
  Narrative history, science	Books reliant on pictures to communicate
  	Poetry
  	Self help, e.g. advice, diet, health
  	Overtly partisan books

  
  


• You truly believe the book to be exceptional with some element that sets it apart from others in its genre.
  


• The book is in general distribution in the USA and can be ordered through any USA bookstore.
  


• You have at least one glowing review of the book from an established media source, on- or off-line. This means a review written on behalf of, and published in, a recognized media source. Visitor reviews submitted at Amazon etc do not qualify. Please state the name of the reviewer; the name of the magazine, newspaper or website; and the date of publication - we will verify this so please don't make it up!
  


• It is available in the USA in a physical format - not just as an e-book
  


• The book was originally published in the USA no more than 3 months ago.
  Of all our submission criteria, this is the one that tends to cause the most push back from authors. We are sorry but it simply isn't possible for us to review books that have been published for longer than this. The reality is that so many thousands of books are published each month that we are running to stand still to keep up with them, so we simply have to have a firm cut off to keep somewhat sane! Also, because we're assigning books for review 2-3 months ahead, a book that is already a few months old when submitted, will be closer to 5-6 months old by the time we review it.
  


• You hold the copyright, or have approval from the copyright holder, to supply BookBrowse with an excerpt of a minimum of 2,000 words, preferably 3-6,000 words that can be published at BookBrowse for an unspecified period of time (we do not require any sort of exclusivity).
  


• The book is not overly specialized.
  For example, books about how to train for a particular career, or to learn a particular computer program are not suitable. We also do not accept books that are highly partisan in nature - whether political, religious or otherwise. This includes Christian fiction.
  


• The book is aimed at adults or young adults.
  


• The book does not rely on pictures to communicate its message.
  For example coffee table books or picture books for younger readers.
  


• Publicists and publishers: Please do not send us detailed information on your entire front list, let alone your back list (yes, it has happened!) - please focus on the title that you consider the strongest candidate for BookBrowse.



If your book meets all the criteria above, please click below and complete the online submission form.

Book Submission Form




What Next?
We will acknowledge receipt of your submission immediately. Then we will put it in the queue of submitted titles. We look closely at every submission and will be in touch a.s.a.p. to request a review copy if we think we might be able to feature your book. We only request books that we are genuinely interested in and ask that they be sent directly to the reviewer who will read it. Of those books that we request, we end up reviewing about four out of five.

In a perfect world we would like to write a detailed response to every person explaining why his/her book has or has not been shortlisted for BookBrowse but, unfortunately, time restraints and the sheer quantity of submissions do not allow us to enter into this level of dialogue. Thus, in general, after the initial email confirming that we have received your submission, you will not hear from me again unless it is to request a review copy.

As already mentioned, with a format that allows us to recommend only about 30 titles each month, we must reject many more books than we can accept. Many factors influence our decision, the perceived 'quality' of the book being only one of them. Other factors include the level of interest BookBrowse's audience have in a particular theme/genre and the number of books already scheduled for a particular time period (at any given time we are usually scheduled about 2 months in advance).