Exceptions may be made for blog-tour organizers and publicists I have worked with in the past--meaning that I've accepted their book offers and met my review-posting commitments--depending on my interest in the book offered.
I am not an especially fast reader, and I have a family, a full-time job, and other responsibilities unrelated to book blogging. In order to fulfill the review obligations I already have pending, I will only accept a limited number of new review offers--please read on to find out more about the sort of books I'll consider. Thank you for your understanding.
My goal is to post book reviews here at least once a week, on average. I began this blog as a means of recording and remembering the books I read. Publicists are welcome to contact me at 3.rsblog AT Gmail DOT com if they would like their books considered for reading and reviewing here. I also continue to purchase, read, and review books for my own enjoyment.
Some things you should know about my book-review practices:
- I review every book I read, including books that I purchase for myself. If your book doesn't sound like something I would read if I chose it on my own, it's most likely that I will politely decline your book offer up front.
- I seldom read or review self- or "indie-"published books, although I may discuss them in on the blog if I have an existing personal relationship with the author. For clarification on my position, please refer to this post.
- If I don't respond to your offer, please consider it declined, and please don't take it personally!
- I occasionally participate in book blog tours in addition to posting independent reviews.
- With the exception of blog tours, I do not commit to a specific date for posting reviews unless it is is discussed in advance, and I will not post reviews of ARCs prior to publication date. If timing of the review is a concern, we should discuss this via e-mail.
- Accepting your book offer does not guarantee a rave review, but it does mean that I will review it as fairly as possible, like it or not.
- I do not guarantee that unsolicited books or ARCs (from any source) will be read or reviewed.
- I disclose the source of the book within my review; this is a way of acknowledging and thanking the provider, and in alignment with the Blog With Integrity disclosure principles and FTC regulations.
- I include "buy the book" links in my reviews through my IndieBound Affiliate account.
- I cross-post/link all reviews on LibraryThing and GoodReads. As a rule, I do not post reviews on Amazon.com or other consumer sites.
- My reading choices are primarily driven by story and subject matter.
- I am primarily a general-fiction reader--"realistic," "domestic" and "literary" are also fitting descriptors--who prefers novels that don't fall squarely into the conventions of one genre or another.
- Memoirs and narrative nonfiction are my preferred nonfiction categories, but again, the story has to interest me. I am also interested in (recent) history, biography, and popular-culture topics.
- I do not normally read or review short stories, horror, romance, fantasy (pretty much anything categorized as "paranormal"), self-help, books marketed as "inspirational," or children's books. I will occasionally read and review non-genre, realistic fiction targeted for the YA market.
- I have been posting here regularly since March 2007, originally under a Blogspot URL. I acquired the custom domain http://www.3rsblog.com in July 2008.
- This blog has a growing subscriber and readership base, with over 600 feed subscribers at present and average monthly pageviews of 1600+ (1450+ uniques). It has a Google PageRank of 4, a Blog Grade of 97 and a Website Grade of 96 (via Grader.com).
- This blog has a Facebook page, and all posts are linked there and on Twitter.
- This blog will consider author guest posts, but does not do author interviews.
