Review Policy

Thank you for your interest in pitching a book for review consideration at Sophisticated Dorkiness. Below you’ll find a relatively detailed outline of what types and formats of books I accept, how I promote my reviews, and my contact information. I encourage you to check out my About Me page, and my Review Archive for a taste of who I am and what I enjoy.

Pitches: I love being pitched books for review, but I only respond to pitch e-mails for books I want to accept. I do not review every book I accept. Each book is accepted for review consideration. I try to only accept books I’m that fit with my reading tastes because I don’t think it’s fair to an author or myself to agree to review a book that isn’t my genre or style. And I really don’t like writing negative reviews if it’s just because it was a book I wasn’t inclined to like from the beginning.

Book Genres: I am primarily a nonfiction book blogger, so please keep that in mind when sending me pitches.

  • Genres I usually enjoy are literary nonfiction (on almost any topic), essays, memoirs, “straight” nonfiction (media studies, cultural studies, some science, feminism, politics, language, and journalism, mostly), and travel narratives.
  • Genres I don’t like include chick lit, romance, young children’s books, thrillers/horror, mystery, science fiction, self-help, or erotica. I can almost certainly guarantee I will not want to read any book in these areas. I also, for the most part, DO NOT accept self-published books for review.

Book Formats: I accept ARCs for review, but I am also happy to wait for finished copies of a book. I also own a Nook, so will accept a limited number of egalleys if they work in that format. I do not have a Kindle, and will not accept books only published for that ereader. However, I’m pretty slow about going through my ebook library. I also enjoy audiobooks, although I only listen to a small number. I’m also definitely not stuck on new books, so would be happy to consider backlist titles if they’re available.

I write honest reviews, so if you send me a book I’m going to write what I think. However, I take pride in trying to understand what an author was trying to accomplish and sharing that with my readers, even if it didn’t work for me. Not every book I dislike is bad, and I try to be honest about what I didn’t enjoy so my readers can judge the book themselves.

Blog Stats/Recognition: I can provide more specific blog stats if necessary, but in general I get about 7,500 unique visitors a month and have about 450 followers via Feedburner. In May 2010 I was a panelist at the first Book Blogger Convention talking about writing and building content. I was also voted the Best Nonfiction book blog for Book Blogger Appreciation Week in 2010 and 2011. I am a regular contributor to Book Riot, and I have also been featured on BlogHer and contributed a piece on book blogging basics for librarians to Libraries Unlimited.

And in Return? I would love links to my review from author of publicists websites, and am open to having quotes used in publicity materials – just please let me know. Please also attribute all quotations to Kim Ukura and include a link to the review.

Contact Information:

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