Kirkus Reviews Magazine - Online Book Reviews - Book Reviews Magazine

ABOUT KIRKUSREVIEWS.COM

What content does Kirkusreviews.com offer?
Kirkus Reviews publishes more than 400 pre-publication book reviews each month, including mainstream fiction, nonfiction, children's and young-adult books. Kirkus content is written by specialists selected for their knowledge and expertise in their particular fields. Kirkus is a review service for bookstores, libraries, TV producers, movie studios, newspapers, and anyone else who wants to be informed about new books before they go on sale.

Since publication began in 1933, Kirkus has brought to the attention of the reading public countless classics by then unknown books, including Gone with the Wind, The Caine Mutiny, The English Patient, Angela's Ashes, and thousands more. Booksellers, libraries, online retailers, and library-service companies rely on our reviews to help determine which books to sell, stock or include in their databases.

With Kirkusreviews.com you'll have access to everything in the current print issue, plus access to our archive database, which includes more than 300,000 titles, dating back to 1933.

What do the stars accompanying some book reviews mean?
A star is assigned to books of remarkable merit, determined by the editors of Kirkus.

Can I post book reviews from Kirkus on my own site, or reprint them elsewhere?
All material on this site is copyrighted by Nielsen Business Media. Further reproduction without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. You may license the Kirkus book-review database for use in your products. For more information please contact Andrew Min at andrew.min@nielsen.com. For individual reviews, click on the "REPRINTS" button in the upper right-hand corner of the review page.

How do I get my book reviewed by Kirkus?
Please click here for submission guidelines.

ABOUT KIRKUSDISCOVERIES.COM

Why are reviews for Kirkus Discoveries paid, whereas reviews for Kirkus Reviews are not?
From a print-production and economic standpoint, it is impossible for Kirkus Reviews to review titles that fall outside the realm of traditional, mainstream trade titles from traditional, mainstream and other established publishers. That's where Kirkus Discoveries comes in. No matter what type of book you'd like reviewed, Discoveries can accommodate you, with the chance to have it included in the monthly Discoveries newsletter, which is distributed to key book-buying and filmmaking professionals and representatives.

Am I guaranteed a review after I submit my book and payment?
Yes.

Am I guaranteed a positive review?
No. Kirkus Discoveries is purely a "caveat emptor" service offering honest evaluations of books, whether positive, negative or anywhere in between.

Will my review be posted on Kirkusdiscoveries.com?
Yes, only if the author or publisher requests that it be posted.

Is my payment processed prior to the review running?
Yes. We must verify payment before reviewing the book.

Who reviews the books?
As with Kirkus Reviews, nonfiction books are reviewed by experienced book-reviewers who specialize in certain fields; novels and short-story collections are reviewed by well-read, experienced fiction reviewers; and children's books are reviewed by librarians and others who are well-versed in children's literature across the spectrum. Kirkus will continue to enforce its longstanding requirement that reviewers demonstrate a solid frame of reference relative to the types of books they cover.

What is the turnaround time for a review?
Expect a turnaround time of 7-9 weeks, unless you order the expedited service, which runs 3-4 weeks.

How many copies of my book should I submit?
Please send 2 copies of all submissions.

In what format should I submit my book?
We ask that you submit your book in hard copy, whether hardbound, softbound, bound manuscript, or loose, rubber-banded pages.

Can I reprint the review, either partially or in whole, for my own marketing initiatives and other uses?
Yes. When reprinting your review partially or in its entirety, you must credit the source in the following format: Kirkus Discoveries

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Online Exclusive

"We welcome reader feedback"
November 15, 2009 - Lately in our reader-feedback inbox we've had a few pleas to split our Children's section into subsections based on audience age. I understand these readers' motivations: There are only so many minutes in a day, and to spend some of them reading reviews of books you don't work with can feel burdensome...But I have to say that simply putting together the Best Children's Books (in the Nov. 15 issue) and Best Young Adult Books (in the Dec. 1 issue) supplements this year was agony for me. While it's easy enough, I suppose, to declare Jerry Pinkney's glorious "The Lion and the Mouse" a children's book and Nick Burd's edgy-in-the-extreme "The Vast Fields of Ordinary" a YA book, drawing the line got pretty arbitrary