Review Group discussion

Welcome!

So...do I contact the author(s) via message here, or on the thread itself? lol

If you're going for the one for one thread, contact the author of the book you'd like to review via personal message for a copy of their book to review.

if you want to join a review round, find a suitable 'now forming' round and add your details to the thread.

As a newbie, I'll start out with the one for one thread (found two books). Thanks again!
Happy reading!

Dear mods -

What are the requirements for making a book eligible for only the 18+ rounds? I think it is author judgment, but I wanted to get a feel where the mods feel the lines are.

I know where the "extremes" go, but I'm unsure about the middle ground. As someone who sits between historical fiction and historical romance, sex happens.

Any book is eligible for the 18+ rounds. The criteria for those rounds is that the author (with their reviewer hat on) does not mind reviewer material which contains adult/violent themes.

The rounds were instigated as many people with more violent or raunchy tales were getting penalised in 'general rounds' merely for their genre.

Are you able to restrict the format you'll provide?

In the How it Works section, the guidelines mention that reviewers must be able to provide and accept at least PDFs. I'm happy to provide a digital copy of my book on Amazon or iTunes. However, I'm not comfortable giving out a non-DRM protected copy of my book. Is that condition possible or am I required to provide a PDF if the reviewer prefers?

I have just discovered there are two references to my one novel. Would somebody please join these into one? This may have arisen because I published it on Amazon as both a paperback and ebook; Amazon evidently gives a book two separate pages in this case, with links between them. But it really is just one book. ;->

Here are the duplicate links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

I'm sure you have an option to combine additions on your books page.
If you can't do it yourself, you'll need the help of a goodreads librarian.
They have their own group.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Pop along, they are super helpful.

Thanks, Emma. Sorry for my confusion, mixing up moderators and librarians!

Hi Emma, Is there possible to have review rounds for children's books (13 and under)? Thanks.

I have a middle grade novel that would qualify. Hawk McCoy: The Penthiads.

Mary T Kincaid

Hi Coral, the individual mods decide what groups they wish to set up. Usually children's books end up in general or novella rounds.

Thanks Emma. I would like to argue on behalf of children's book authors there is a need to have a specific group for children's books (picture books, chapter books, Middle-Grade and non-fiction children's books). Children's book can be very much different from Novella or any books for adults (not just in terms of the word account) and it makes sense to have one of its own.

The problem with having very specific groups lies is sorting out any subsequent groups as we have a strict nonreciprocal policy. You can't review someone who has reviewed you.
Finding 10 people who fit that criteria in one group, who write in a specific genre gets tricky. The wider the genre selection, the easier it is to fill groups.

Thanks Emma, I agree and I understand the difficulty. It is difficult. I appreciate your response.

I have a general question. Just the last two days, I have four offers to review my book. One was a private message on Goodreads and the person does not have a public profile. The second came to my email address, so I don’t know if it is from Goodreads and this one has no real identifying information. Third and fourth came to my email address from individuals but are presented as services with no info on whether they are paid services. My general reaction is to ignore these as I don’t know if they have good intentions or are legitimate. Do you think my instincts correct on this?

100%, these don't sound legitimate. You need to be able to identify and verify anyone you deal with.

The only paid services I'd ever consider using are ones that administer a group of volunteers - the people who will actually be doing the reviews.
For your fee, the administer finds people interested in your book, sends it to them, and checks if the reviews have been posted on your behalf in the agreed time. The reviewers do NOT get paid. There is no contact between you and the reviewers and there is no guarantee of a positive review.

Thank you, Emma! Will definitely ignore these requests.

Hi Mods, I've been checking often for a "Now Forming" post (in "Reading Rounds," correct?), and have yet to see one. Is it because they fill up so fast? Is there any way for authors to put their book in a "pipeline" for the next available "Now Forming 18+" round? - Thanks, Matt

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this but here goes. I have two versions of my book showing up on Goodreads. Each has a different rating and reviews. Is there any way to merge these?

Hi Matt! (I'm not a mod, but I saw no one had answered yet.) Usually the rounds form every few months because it takes them 12 weeks to complete. I have notifications on for the group so as soon as I see a new thread has formed, I just jump in and add my name. For "Out of this World" rounds, I've found they fill up fast-ish, within a few days, but the 18+ groups can often take longer. The one I was in took a month or so to fill up completely and and the next one (I wasn't fast enough because I was in another round at the time) took about a week. So I think if you have notifications on for the group, either through your GR page or email, you should be okay.

Willow, that's a question for GR librarians. They can fix problems with your book.

Thanks, Kat. I’ll look into that...

I have a quick question about book length.

I have written two stories. Both are sci-fi, so the "Out of this World" reading round is what I'm keeping an eye on to hop into.

One of my stories is novel length (albeit barely at 50K words) but the other is quite short at about 8K words. Are shorites like this submittable?

Awesome, I won't worry about it, then. Thank you for answering!

Hi,

I joined a review group for romance books in Jun. There were four authors in it, but I can't find it anymore. Is it gone? What happened to it?

Maya Berger

Hi Mods!
I just joined your group.
I'm game for reviewing 4 books and I'd also like to submit mu novel for reviews. Where do you stand on Advance Reading Copies? I couldn't find a thread about that.
Kind regards,
Chris

Kat wrote: "Ooo... I'm not a mod, but this group...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Just needs one more person to form a complete round. You can read the details for p..."
Thanks, Kat. I think so. I'll give it a try :)

Christian wrote: "Hi Mods!
I just joined your group.
I'm game for reviewing 4 books and I'd also like to submit mu novel for reviews. Where do you stand on Advance Reading Copies? I couldn't find a thread about tha..."

A book needs to be available for sale on Amazon when you sign up for a round so reviewers can post thier reviews as they read.

I signed up for this group and am interested in being in it, but I'm not sure my book qualifies because it has violence in it (no sex).

My books are not YA but I write them so they could be put on the YA shelf. That means the violence is no more graphic than, say, what is in THE HUNGER GAMES. But there is violence. How can the rest of you write drama with no violence?

Anyway, I need to know that my book is welcome even though there is occasional violence in it (although violence is not the point. It is actually humorous and touching).

Ned wrote: "I signed up for this group and am interested in being in it, but I'm not sure my book qualifies because it has violence in it (no sex).

My books are not YA but I write them so they could be put on..."

Many of the books in the group contain violence. Just choose an open appropriate round for your book. In this world, out of this world, general, (depending on the subject matter).

Hi, I've enrolled in the Group 239 Out of This World. I want to change my e-mail address. I will do that with Goodreads in general. Will that be enough to change my address for this group? My old address will expire sometime after the new year begins.

Ned Huston

I think it changes for all goodreads correspondence, but if you wish people to email you books files, you'll have to contact them separately.

To join a group do you have to offer a pdf or are you permitted to gift your book to the recipient through amazon?

Kat wrote: "Anne wrote: "To join a group do you have to offer a pdf or are you permitted to gift your book to the recipient through amazon?"

Hi Anne! The rules do state that you be able to provide and receive..."

Thanks for getting back to me! Since I don't have a pdf to give out (I'd only be able to gift through Amazon) does that mean I can't sign up?

It's easy enough to produce a pdf through any word processing software?

Hello! I joined fairly recently in preparation for my book being published this summer, and the marketing plans revolving around that.

I would like to let moderators know that today alone I received three separate, totally unprompted messages requesting free copies of my book to review. Two of them were to my professional email and one of them was through Goodreads, asking me to email instead of message back. They are all generic, offering no credentials, saying nothing of where they read my request for reviews (I haven't posted any, just joining groups preemptively).

However, I have reason to believe these people came from this group, or one other, as these are the only places I can think that someone may have made this inappropriately forward assumption and took the also inappropriate initiative to make contact.

Despite me not actually having a book available yet, which I say on my profile. This was apparently not read through, as well.

Kat wrote: "Hi David!

Those people are likely not other authors. Usually they're scammers hoping you'll send them your files. There are several existing threads already on this topic.

https://www.goodreads...."

Thanks, I appreciate it! My SO suggested this in passing, but I didn't think it was likely due to not... actually... having a book available. Even if it's not, it's good to have confirmation this is a possibility.

Hi all - I'm in Australia but I can also review in the US. However, I can not review in the UK, nor can I purchase something in the UK right now because of the COVID situation (no shipping and barred from buying ebooks outside my country). Granted, Australia is a minor market, but would the group accept a US/AU/Goodreads posting?
(All of the old tips and tricks to post world-wide above do not work for me)

Simply put, yes.
As Amazon has a rule that you have to spend $50 per 'zon' to be able to review there, the group accepts reviews on any 'zon' as fulfilling that requirement.
Posting to Goodreads is required.
Its also useful to post to Bookbub.

I would really like to see a tightening up of the reading group genres. It seems they have become much too loose. I question how a historical fiction and a murder mystery qualify as ‘Out of this world’. You are basically forcing people to read books they have no desire to read.

Why can’t the genres be separate? We should have Science fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, 18+, and General as distinct groups. I think everyone would be much happier and the resulting reviews would reflect that. I don’t buy fantasy on Amazon when I prefer to read science fiction. There is already enough dreck floating around that to force someone to read dreck that is outside their preferred genre is torture.

I'm not a mod, but I have been in a few rounds and I think the looseness comes from less representation of other genres. Sci-Fi and Fantasy are paired together in most places, including streaming websites like Netflix, plus bookstores and book sections in larger retail stores. Horror and Mystery can have a lot of crossover appeal, and if they were limited to their own lanes, these poor authors would be waiting around forever for their groups to fill up.

Were you being specific when you mentioned historical fiction showing up in Out of This World? If so, was there a supernatural element?

Again, not a mod, but if I can offer a suggestion, hold back before joining a group to see who else is joining. I dropped out of a group that was still forming because I was going to get paired up with some pretty graphic erotica, and while I wish that was kept in a separate group, I get why it's not -- in the end we're all just indie authors looking for people to read our work.

Hi Ed. I think most people are able to try something out of their comfort zone every once in a while. If you strongly feel you can't do this (or wait for a round with books that appeal as Ben is saying), I might suggest the one-for-one list. You can pick any book that suits, without being assigned reading at all.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

1) The more specific a round is, the fewer books qualify. I remember the last time a romance round was offered up. I leaped at the chance to enter my book and have it read by other romance writers--plus I wanted to read other romances. Unfortunately, after two months of waiting, the round still hadn't even gotten to, I believe half the needed members, and had to be scrapped.

2) It's already tricky to do the sudoku to fit people into each round so no one is reviewing someone who reviewed them even with very broad categories. With very specific categories (which would get more clash-y with every round) it would grow close to impossible.

Ed, you've been with us for a long time so this is probably familiar to you.

Until I took over as head mod, there was No round separation at all. None. we had review rounds and everything went into those rounds.
It made it easier to set up the rounds, but many people were getting negative reviews because of their genre and/or heat/violence level.

So we split the rounds into 3.
General/clean/18+

We tried a one off 'genre' rounds for our 5th anniversary. it was so popular we kept with it but its a hideous job to make sure there are no reciprocal reviews when we have regular members in the same review rounds over and over again.
The narrower the genre of a round, the fewer members there are wanting to participate and the harder it is to fit people in.

Whatever we do, people will want to read only their specific genre.
if we set up scifi only, would that be had scifi or soft scifi?

With fantasy epic sici with swords and sorcery or urban fantasy with sexy witched and werewolves?

We'd have one round fill, then we'd never have another fill unless each author had dozens of books. And what happens if the author that 'fits' with you, doesn't like your work?

Okay, then it would be helpful if at least the books belonged in one of those three catagories.
Most should fall fall into General.
Erotica and violence in 18+, and
Sci-fi & Fantasy make up the that group.

As it is I'm seeing the same book in two and possibly three genres. And on top of that, the same book submitted again and again in different groups.

No wonder you have a problem finding people who haven't already reviewed some of these. I guess this review process is a side hobby for some authors.

the 18+ can include anything, its just that authors signing up for that group must be willing to read and review fairly books that have 18+ (sexual or violence/horror) situations.

A book should not be put in both the 'in this world' and 'out of this world' categories, they are mutually exclusive. One contains situations that have or 'could' happen, the other contains impossible/otherwordly themes.
If you spot a book in a round that shouldn't be there, message the person setting up the round.

Rules are that you have to finish all your reviews in one round before signing up to another.

I hope that helps.

Im new to this group and was wondering as an author how do I sign up.

Kind Regards

Emma

E.M. wrote: "Im new to this group and was wondering as an author how do I sign up. Kind Regards Emma"

Welcome Emma! New reading rounds kick off approximately once a month. Look for a round that says "now forming" in the title. You can check out some of the rounds that are currently up and running to get a feel for things.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

There's also the one-for-one list.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hi Mods!

I've been following this group for a while in preparation to someday participate, lol. It's a pretty brilliant concept.

What's the reasoning behind not allowing pre-order books to participate, if they're available for sale/review on Amazon? Wouldn't it be helpful for indie authors to have some reviews coming right out of the gates, or am I missing something?

Thanks!

Kevin wrote: "Hi Mods!

I've been following this group for a while in preparation to someday participate, lol. It's a pretty brilliant concept.

What's the reasoning behind not allowing pre-order books to partic..."

Hi Kevin, and welcome to the group! We should have new reading rounds opening soon. In the meantime, feel free to pop by the one-for-one list and choose something that suits your fancy, read it, post your reviews and then your book will get added to the list in its place. No waiting required!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

To answer your question about pre-orders, we run into several issues.

Some books that are available for sale in paperback will allow you to post reviews to the paperback version while the e-book is still in pre-order. But otherwise, reviews can't be posted until the book actually goes on sale. Some of our readers read very quickly and they want to get their reviews posted and their obligation completed so that they are free to join another round.

While it's not required, some prefer to purchase the books they are to read, or read them through KU.