Become a Reviewer

       
We're looking for strong reviews of books by, for, and about women. (No, you do not have to be a member of the Story Circle Network to submit a book review.) We prefer to publish reviews of books published within the last two years, as well as reviews of the classics, but we will consider other submissions. If you wish to review a book outside these guidelines, please first contact an editor for approval.

Browse through our reviews and review categories to see the kind of books we're interested in reviewing. In addition, consider the following:

  1. For a list of our categories, see the Category Index. Please be sure that the book is currently in print and is offered for sale by Amazon.com. We are more interested in women's memoir, biographies, non-fiction, and serious fiction. We are selective about the genre fiction (mysteries, paranormal, romance, and chick lit) we review.

  2. If we have not previously published your reviews, you must query us by email before you submit. With the query, please send a brief bio. (For sample bios, see our Review Team.) If you are a guest reviewer (if you have posted 1-4 reviews in the past 12 months), you must query us before submitting a reviewer-initiated review.

  3. If you are querying us about a reader-initiated review, please include the Amazon link to the book you want to review. We do not accept reviewer-initiated reviews of self-published books unless we have first seen a hard copy of the book and are assured of its production qualities.

  4. We may edit your review for length, clarity, or style, or return it to you with suggestions for revision. Proofread your work, please. We will return reviews that require substantial editing. We may also change the categories to which you have assigned the book.

  5. Please submit all reviews via our easy-to-use online book review submission form. (Only automated submissions will be accepted.)

  6. When you submit a review to us, you are giving us first-time non-exclusive rights to publish it on our website. You retain the copyright to your work and are free to publish it elsewhere after it has appeared on our site. If you wish to submit a review that has appeared elsewhere, or if you have other questions about exceptions to this policy, please contact the editors.

  7. If you are a Story Circle member, you are also giving us one-time, non-exclusive rights to print your review in the Story Circle Journal. (Shorter reviews are usually chosen for the Journal.)

  8. We usually (but not always) post the review on Amazon, unless you tell us not to.

  9. We'd like to know about your own personal experience of reading the book. In what important ways did you connect with it? How does the author's story relate to your own personal story? What did the book teach you or help you to see about your own life? How might it help other women? We like reviews that go deeper and help readers understand the "why" of the book, not just the "what."

  10. Reviews may include relevant quotations from the book. For an example, see the review of Durable Goods. Notice how the reviewer uses quotations to illustrate a point she wants to make about the book, as well as give a sense of the unique voice of the narrator.

  11. Our reviews are designed to guide readers to books they will find valuable and enjoyable. If you don't like a book well enough to give it at least three stars on Amazon (or a C+ in general), please don't review it. We encourage you to include whatever negative comments you feel are necessary to explain your evaluation of the book, but we do not publish reviews that are strongly negative.

  12. For an example of a short, impressionistic review, see Peace at Heart. For a longer, more analytic review, see the review of A Match to the Heart.

  13. We would like to know something about the author's background, education, or training and how this has impacted her work. What other books has she written? Please supply any details that will give the reader a context for the book. We will also ask you for the author's website, if she has one.

  14. Avoid using the copy on the jacket flap, the blurbs on the cover, and the press release that may have come with the book.

  15. Please do not use the review as an opportunity to promote your own activities. If you are a Story Circle member, you may send your news items to news at storycircle.org.

  16. Under no circumstance will we accept a review written by the book's author. If you are an author and want us to review your book, see Getting Reviewed.