Review Policy

I am open to working with various authors, publishers, publicists, and literary agencies - reading and reviewing ARC's and backlist titles. I would love to hear about your book as well. 



What I do/don't accept:

• I focus mainly on independent/small press and self published literary fiction.
• My preferred format is printed/bound books, though I have reluctantly moved into the digital age and accept ebooks for review (PDF and epub).
• I also accept audiobooks - most especially for books published by the Big 5 (I save all my reading attention for the small press, but I'm happy to lend my ears to the big guys).
• I prefer Literary Fiction. Horror, and Bizarro/Weird Fiction, though I occasionally find some genre literature intriguing (but for the love of all things literary, please... NO PITCHES for non-fiction; YA; historical fiction; thrillers of any kind - especially crime, war, or legal; cozy mysteries; romance; or any combination thereof).

My acceptance of your book does not guarantee a review. It simply means I am agreeing to consider it for review. The order in which I review books, when I do review them, is at my discretion.




How I review, when I review:

I write honest reviews that are given a star-scale rating. I try to keep the audience in mind when rating a novel, so even though the book may not be best for a reader who is unfamiliar with that particular genre, I may still recommend it to readers who enjoy its specific subject matter.


The ratings are as follows:
1 Star - Would not Recommend
2 Stars - Recommended Lightly / Not suitable for...
3 Stars - Recommended to readers familiar with author and genre
4 Stars - Strongly recommended
5 Stars - Highly recommended / The Next Best Book


I do not require my review contributors to use this rating system.


Due to the overwhelming amount of review copies that I have, I am turning away most pitches at this time. Those that I do accept are still not guaranteed reviews.

Because of the sheer number of pitches I receive, I make no promises to respond to all of them. If I am interested in discussing your novel further, rest assured, I'll be in touch. There is no need to send follow up emails.



How you'll know I've reviewed, when I review:

I confirm receipt of all books via email/twitter. When I do review, I post them on goodreads, and possibly within The Next Best Book Club (TNBBC) group page, Twitter, and Bookstagram. 




Labor of Love, baby...

I do not receive any compensation for my reviews, and the reviews I write reflect my own personal experience with and opinions of those books. Same goes for our review contributors.




In Lieu of a review, at my discretion:

I may offer to invite the author or publishing company to participate in one of the blogs features or series upon/in place of reading the novel, and will post links to the feature or series on the above-mentioned web pages. I have also hosted Author/Reader Discussions and giveaways but have put that series on hiatus. 




I look forward to working with you, and becoming a part of the book promotional process!
To contact me please send an email to mescorn@ptd.net