Now that you have your books or e-Galleys and have read them it is time to write and submit your reviews.

The best single resource for how to write your reviews comes from BookSneeze.com, a book review site for Thomas Nelson. I highly recommend that you refer to this page when writing your reviews.

A few things that we require for book reviews at BookGateway:

• Reviews should be no shorter than 250 words. This is only two normal to large paragraphs so this really shouldn’t be too much to ask. There is no limit to how long it can be, but most readers won’t read more than 400 words.
• There should be two parts of every review: 1) How you would describe the book to someone and 2) Why you liked or disliked it. You should never give away the ending or any spoilers. Names and places should be spelled as they are in the book (sometimes spellcheck may try to change them. Be aware.)
• Your review needs to be honest. If the book was terrible then tell us it was and why. If it was great do the same. Never feel obligated to give positive reviews simply because the book was given to you for free.  
• Likewise, you must never be paid for your reviews. Some unseemly sites and publicists may promise to pay for positive reviews. This is unethical and promotes books that should not be promoted – two things BookGateway.com will not stand for.
• You are welcome to review any book, including books you buy. Audiobooks are also allowed, however we encourage you to review the unabridged versions. Also, you will need to add a section in your review about the reader and what you thought of their performance.
• Very rarely, and on a case by case basis, we will allow reviews of videos that book publishers may send you. A main consideration on whether or not to allow the review is whether or not the video is written by, about or features an author or book.
• If you received your book as a free review copy/ ARC then you must disclose this at the end of your review. Something like, “This book was provided by the publisher review copy.”
• Include a hi-res image of the book cover with no white edges that is at least 300 pixels tall. Many times the publisher will provide media for the books they send to you and using thsoe images is preferable.

Prior to sending in your first review you will need to send in a brief biography that will go at the end of every review of yours. Please see some of these pages for different ideas on what to write: The Golden Reviewer; Ronnie Meek; Robin Gwaro.  If you have a personal blog, a Facebook or Twitter page you can include them in your biography with links.

After the first sentance or two you should add in a Book Detail section between paragraphs. The first 70 characters or so will automatically be your teaser for the book review if it is selected to be featured. Here is the format:

Book Title (bold)
Subtitle if applicable (italic)
Author (italic)
Publisher (italic)
Publish month and year (italic)

Finally, once you complete your review and it is published at BookGateway.com you should share the review link at Facebook, Twitter, your blog and via email to your friends and family. The higher we grow our readership the more likely we will be able to request our choice of books from any publisher and the more likely we will be to make a difference with our revenue. Remember that 100% of all profit goes to charity – not to Scott Asher or any other reviewers here – so this is a cause worth promoting.

If you have any questions please email Scott Asher. Thanks for Joining the Cause!