Something I’ve been thinking about for some time is communicating to authors about how they should approach me (or other book bloggers) about reading their book. We’ve had much discussion on our Book Blogger page and so I’ve put fingers to keyboard with a bit of a rant. I’ve published it as a page so that it’s easy to find.

I feel it needs to be reworded a little to calm it down and make it rather more professional but it’s infinitely better than my original. Except for getting someone to edit and proof it for me I’ve followed exactly the same guidelines I provide. I’ve done two structural edits on it, a line edit and a proof, then I’ve proofed it again. I wonder how many mistakes there are.

Anyway, here it is, please have a look and tell me if you feel I’m being unreasonable. When I first started I was so excited to be sent a book for review I felt I had to finish and review it even though I didn’t enjoy it. But now that I’m a lot busier I don’t have the impetus to finish books I’m not enjoying. I do want to be able to help authors improve their work so I’ll endeavour to provide some feedback and then encourage them to find an editor.

I was reminded a few weeks ago that I’ve been blogging for a long time. Because I’ve been blogging for almost eight years I feel I have a little gravitas. There are people who’ve been blogging for longer but they remember me from my first year and this is what prompted me to decide it’s time to publish some rules.