In all honesty, the challenging part is making authors understand that when they submit their books to a review site, we are there for our readers and not necessarily there for the authors. This may sound harsh but bear with me. As a reviewer, we need to inform the reader on what the book is about, the good and what we felt might be lacking in the book. We never bash, that’s not our intent. A reader seeks out review sites to get an impression on a book, to spend their hard-earned money or not. At times, there are some reviews that are not favorable and this is the part that is always distressing.
How many books do you review a month?
We’re not a big review site but I believe I can safely say we review anywhere between 10 to 20 books a month.
How many staff reviewers do you have?
There are seven reviewers currently.
Are you currently recruiting more reviewers? If so, what are your guidelines?
Yes, reviewers are always welcome. Guidelines to be one of our reviewers is simple:
Send me a sample review of a book. Once I review it I send the reviewer a template how I like the set up of a review done to place in the site. The next step would be for the reviewer to send me a bio, website link if any, what genres they are willing to review, and whether they accept ebooks, print copies, or both formats. Anyone interested can email me at: museitupeditor@yahoo.ca with Reviewer Request on the subject heading.
How should an author contact you about a review request? Do you review e-books as well?
On the website, our guidelines clearly mention to look over our Reviewer Contact page, find a reviewer who is suitable for the book’s genre, and to email the reviewer directly.
The reviewers preferences, whether ebook or print are mentioned.
How do you select the books you review? How do you determine which reviews to post on your site?
As I wrote above, we accept all genres except for pornographic stuff. We review anything from picture books to erotica. After all, we are a review site catering to all readers.
Do you think there’s a lot of ‘facile praise’ among many online review sites? What is your policy when it comes to negative reviews?
Article comments
1 - Margay
Thank you, Lea, for giving such a great interview. Lots of good info here!
2 - Joy Delgado
Mayra, thank you. Lea, thank you. I like your rose rating system and the fact that you look at every book as the authors baby, even if it isn't the best book in town, it's still somebody's baby.
Joy
3 - Beverly McClure
Thank you, Lea, for letting us know what to expect in a review from the Muse Book Reviews.
Thank you, Mayra, for an interesting interview. I'm learning so much about how to review and how reviewers feel about our books.
Beverly
4 - A. F. Stewart
A fascinating interview. The Muse Book Reviews sounds like a great site.
5 - Lea Schizas
Way late and I apologize but have had internet problems for almost the entire month of June.
Mayra, I had a great time answering your questions and actually they re-connected me with why I started the Muse Book Reviews.
I'd also like to thank your readers for leaving their comments and look forward in the near future reviewing their books.
Lea Schizas
6 - Donna McDine
Mayra and Lea...wonderful interview. And I'm proud to say that I'm associated with Muse Book Reviews. Keep up the great work ladies!
Warm regards,
Donna