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. Declining seems like a way to clutter the Inbox. 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.

I do not review every book I accept. Each book is accepted for review consideration.

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.

Book Formats: I am happy to wait for finished copies of a book, but will also accept ARCs. I also own a Nook, so will accept egalleys if they work in that format. However, I’m pretty slow about going through my ebook library. I also enjoy audiobooks on CD. I’m also definitely not stuck on new books, so would be happy to review backlisted titles if they’re available.

Blog Tours and Review Timing: I occasionally participate in blog tours – about once or twice a month – so feel free to pitch that. Otherwise, I review books as I can. I try to review new books close to publication date, but it depends on my own reading schedule.

Review Format: Each of my reviews includes a picture of the book, a short plot summary, my opinion on the book, and link a website related to the book (IndieBound, an author’s website, etc.). I also try to link to other reviews and sites of interest about the author or topic if I think it’s applicable. I also try to include a representative quote from the book if it’s related to comments in my review.

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.

Other Promotion: I always Tweet my reviews, and am working to be better about posting them on GoodReads.

Blog Stats/Recognition: I can provide more specific blog stats if necessary, but in general I get about 7,500 visitors a month and have about 300 followers via Feedburner. I have a Google Page Rank of 4. In 2009 I was shortlisted for Best Nonfiction Review Blog during Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and in 2010 I won that category. In 2010 I was also a panelist at the inaugural Book Blogger Convention talking about writing and building content.

Compensation: I currently receive no compensation for my reviews, and I am not a part of any affiliate programs.

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 URL to the review.

Contact Information:

• e-mail: sophisticated.dorkiness [at] gmail.com
• twitter: @kimthedork
• GoodReads