Literature Approved celebrated its 10-year anniversary in June of this year! It’s somewhat hard for me to believe that this little blogging site, which started as a hobby for my teenage self to brag about my favorite books, has become a sought-after reviewing hub for readers and authors alike!
Literature Approved has been featured in many magazines, online articles, author resource books, and even nominated for awards over the past 10 years; all attributing to its vast growth. I’m truly humbled by the love you’ve shown me and my team over the years!
No doubt, this is where you expect me to announce some drastically awful news, such as a dragon has destroyed the servers and we will never write reviews again; alas, such is not the case. We will continue to review books for quite some time, unless something crazy happens (I’m afraid you’re stuck with me). However, we do need to make some changes to the reviewing process due to the size of the site. Our current reviewing policies are meant for a much smaller site, and while they served their purpose for many years, our current way of doing things just doesn’t work anymore.
Below is a list of the things that will change, and how it affects authors who plan to submit requests to us, as well as those who are already on our waiting list:
- No more rejection emails. One thing that I feel always set us apart from other book blogs was that we responded to every author who sent us a request. I’m sad to let this go, because I know what it’s like to wonder if anyone checks the email that you just submitted your book to, but we’ve grown to a size where this leisure is no longer manageable. Over the summer of this year, we received, on average, 100+ review requests a week. While we will continue to look at each and every request that comes in, we are STILL processing requests from July (yup, it’s October) and in order to stay up to date, we can no longer send emails to everyone. So, beginning with this post; you will only receive an email if one of our reviewers accepts your request (this will be retroactive, so it applies to those on our waiting list as well). Please, please, please do not send us duplicated requests. This slows down the process for everyone.
- You no longer have to select a preferred Reviewer. While we will still include a box for you to request a reviewer on the form (if you wish), this is no longer a required action. This worked for a time, but as our waiting list grew, many of our reviewers felt overwhelmed by specific requests, so we’re doing away with this structure. When you request a review from Literature Approved, you are requesting any of our reviewers to provide you with a review and if you mention a preferred reviewer, that reviewer will receive “first dibs” on accepting your title; however, it does not guarantee that they will review your book. Waiting List Authors: Your selected reviewer will continue to have “first dibs” on your title, but the same principle applies.
- Generative-AI content is not permitted. At Literature Approved, we support artists and want to remain a trusted source for reviews of books created by humans. We’ve added a checkbox asking authors to disclose if generative-AI was used at any point during the book’s creation. Please understand that while AI can be difficult to define (for example; autocorrect, Siri on your phone, and grammar checkers are all technically AI) it is the AI apps that spit out the results for you that we do not allow. Until there is more clarity about the topic or compensation agreements are reached for authors and artists whose work is being used to “train” these AI softwares without permission, we’ve chosen to simply not allow books on the site that use generative-AI for illustrations, cover art, passages of the book, audiobooks, etc. Creators are beautiful humans and we want to see books that are fully written and/or illustrated by humans, not computers. That being said, we are fully aware of how touchy this topic is and how generative-AI is quickly becoming a staple in most workplaces and even encouraged in many big publication houses to write blurbs, emails, queries, pitches, etc. We understand that there are two vastly different opinions on this topic and because of this, we will not allow “witch hunts” for AI- generated content due to the damage it causes to artists and authors accused of using AI, but truly aren’t. As mentioned previously, until more clarity is reached on the topic (if ever), we will not be accepting books that knowingly use generative-AI. If we learn that a book we previously reviewed used generative-AI, an AI disclaimer will be added to the review, however, we are not going to witch-hunt and comb through all the reviews in our database.
- We are considering launching other publicity opportunities for authors. While I don’t have a launch date, yet, I recognize that we have to pass on working with many authors due to a lack of availability to read your books. I’m hoping to launch some new programs that allow us to share interviews, spotlights, and other opportunities for us to support you even if we don’t have time to provide you with a review. This is still very much in the works, but if we all cross our fingers and toes, it might happen in 2025!
- Our Waiting List is still extensive… So many of you have pitched WONDERFUL books. We truly wish that we could all quit our jobs and just read your books and write reviews full time, but unfortunately, that’s not how our economy works. As of today, we’re operating on about an 8-month lead time, meaning we’re accepting requests from 8 months ago. If you haven’t heard from us, don’t give up hope, we don’t delete emails. You might hear from us in a few months about an interview or other opportunities if we’re unable to read your book. We fully plan to reach out to authors who’ve contacted us in the past if we move forward with launching other programs. Also, if you have another book coming out, don’t be afraid to pitch the new book! Just because we didn’t accept your books in the past doesn’t mean that one of your future books won’t catch our eye! Just keep in mind, that we operate FULLY on a first-come-first-serve basis so we process the oldest requests first and the waiting list is about 8 months out.
As always, it’s an honor to be entrusted with your books and we absolutely love posting reviews. You may continue to see small changes in the future as we evolve to better handle Literature Approved’s growth. Thank you so much for supporting us for 10 years and we hope to be around for many more years to promote authors and their books!
