Guidelines: Obtaining a Review
I get so many requests for reviews (and there are so many items I choose to review out of my own desire to do so) that there’s just no way I can take all of the items people would like me to. Here are some guidelines to help you decide whether or not to ask, and then to tell you how to get in touch.
At this point I get enough items for review that I limit myself to things I have an active interest in. This means books on topics that interest me, items in certain categories, and so on.
Item types I usually say yes to:
- Writing and creativity books.
- Cookbooks (although I’m trying to avoid sweets and such right now, so my selection is more limited than before).
- Cookware, kitchenware, kitchen appliances and gadgets.
- “Wellness” books on certain areas of self-help, qigong, yoga, and so on (take a look at our current reviews for an idea).
- Some pieces of software, particularly those that support writers (at the moment I can only take software that works on Mac OS X).
Also, my husband reviews some software and programming-related books.
Item types I prefer not to take:
- Fiction. At this point I mostly read fiction by a handful of favorite authors, and I’ve kind of lost my tolerance for bad fiction. Also it’s much harder to know I’m getting a book that I at least have a decent chance of enjoying.
- Roleplaying games. I know, I used to take these. We just don’t have that much time to roleplay any more, however, and I’m not going to use up those precious few hours learning new systems when I could instead be roleplaying. The occasional (VERY occasional) exception is a tool or item that I believe I can work easily into our current gaming.
- Nearly any kind of book that you don’t currently see represented on the site. Don’t see any historical novels, memoirs, or biographies? Then I’m not likely to suddenly make an exception for you.
If you want me to review your item and it fits within the above guidelines, please email me–and be patient. It often takes me a little time to respond.
