LoveReading’s Reader Review Panel helps us to deliver a more accurate service to our users, allowing people to have their say on a book before it is released, and help those that visit LoveReading choose what book they want to read next.

We love sharing a wide range of fabulous books with our readers and with around 1,000 people signed up to our panel, and only ever a limited number of review copies available to share with you all, it is vital that we work to distribute opportunities as fairly as possible. Keep reading to find out more about our Reader Review Panel, and the answers to some FAQs.

How are invites sent out?

We aim to send out at least one email a month which will invite our panel members to put themselves forward to review a selection of titles. However, depending on demand, and the number of titles that we have available, this could vary. Once we have received your responses, and have allocated names to the different books we have on offer we will send you a follow-up email, telling you whether you have been successful. If you missed out this time, don’t lose heart and keep your eyes peeled for other opportunities in the future. We focus on making sure that everyone gets to read what they ask for, and expressed preferences when responding to our invite are great. It is also brilliant to have reviewers that are happy to read anything, so if more than one book tickles you fancy, let us know!

A prompt response to the invite also allows us to act quicker, allocate the copies we have available and get them sent out to you. Often, LoveReading promotes books in the weeks and months leading up to their publication and because of this, you may also receive Uncorrected Proofs. These proofs are not for quotation or sale, they are 99.5% of the story awaiting the final proofing and editing to take place before they hit the shelves. In the case of Uncorrected proofs, you may stumble across a slight error, but rest assured publishers have teams of proofreaders already ironing out these creases ready for the publication day, so sit back, relax and enjoy the story.

A great way of advertising a book is to show those searching for a new book what other readers have thought about it. There are always reader reviewed titles in the LoveReading Top 10 and this is because the response you have really does make a difference. It is also great to get reviews submitted as early as possible so that we can pass them back to the publisher for their own advertisement.

It is great to see one of LoveReading Review panel members used on the cover of a book, or in the publisher’s marketing campaign (All uses of you reviews well be credited accordingly).

How can I guarantee that I get to review the book I choose?

As mentioned earlier, we have around 1,000 people signed up to review pre-publication titles for the LoveReading site. Unfortunately because of this, we can’t ‘guarantee’ that you will be able to receive every book that you request. We try our hardest to be fair when it comes to selection reviewers from our panel and try to give books to those who have been waiting for the longest, or randomly selected if this isn’t the case. We also have a small number of trusted ambassadors, who are known for being prompt and consistent in review quality. There a number of areas that can be worked on in order to increase your chances of selection. These include

  • Responding to our initial invite promptly.
  • Make sure that the details we have on our system for you are up to date. This will avoid any delays or problems in receiving you invite or books.
  • Let us know if, for whatever reason you are unable to submit a review. We will them make sure that it isn’t marked as outstanding on our system and affect any future invites.
  • Submitting detailed and good quality reviews through our submission form. More on this later.
  • Submitting your reviews as early as you can.

What should my review look like?

On our blog there is the LoveReading Reader Review Entry page: https://blog.lovereading.co.uk/make-the-most-of-lovereadings-unique-features/helping-you-choose-your-next-book/reader-review-entry/#.WnsOw6hl_cc This submission form is a handy way of gathering all of your reviews, so we can get them uploaded quickly. The form is quick and easy to use. Just fill in the boxes, type up your reviews and press send. We also like to return the favour, so if you have a blog or public social media page, pop it into the box at the bottom and we will attach a link to your review. On the site, there are two spaces for your review. This is because we ask for a full review which is longer and more detailed. This review is shown on the site in PDF form and passed back to the publishers. We ask that this review is around 200 words, with a maximum of 1,500 characters. The Short Review is also required as a succinct summary of your overall opinion of the book. This, also credited to you, will feature on the main book page on the LoveReading site. The short reviews act as a quick snippet for those looking at our site. For this short review, we ask that you submit no more than 200 characters, which is around 30 words. We upload these reviews manually and may tweak them slightly. This is to make sure that the best quality reviews are featured on the site and to make sure that there are no spoilers. We do try not to edit them, to allow your true voice to shine through.

Do you have any tips for writing a review?

We love to hear you express your opinions on the books we feature. If you are wanting a couple of tips to make your review shine then look for:

  • Passion- whether you feel positively or negatively towards the book, let us know how this book made you feel. Explain why you felt this way to offer more detail.
  • If perhaps you didn’t quite enjoy this book as much as you thought, we would still like your honest feedback. Why not let us know who you think would enjoy the book?
  • Don’t worry, we don’t want an essay! Try to give your review as though you were chatting to a friend.
  • Try not to give away the story. We will make sure that any spoilers are removed so that other readers can discover the story for themselves.

There are a few more tips here that one of our Expert reviewers came across and could also be useful. It is also great if panel members could feature their reviews or snippets in their blog, vlog or through social media. We really hope all our panel members will get involved in these social media activities and credit/link to LoveReading/Lovereading4kids so word of mouth can be spread on the titles you've read and loved.  Do follow/like us too - we have absolutely thriving Facebook/Twitter communities so if you've not joined us there yet, please do. Also please share your reviews on sites like Amazon and GoodReads (it’s great for both the book and author). Please just remember to credit LoveReading/Lovereading4kids for your review copy. We hope that this will offer you more of an insight into the reader review process. We are very grateful for the members of our review panel across LoveReading and LoveReading4Kids. You provide a valuable contribution to the website. A great book becomes part of our life, part of who we are and your reviews help people to choose those books.

Best Wishes.