Everyone loves a librarian, except when that librarian is also a reviewer for Kirkus. In addition to writing reviews on my personal blog, I've worked as a professional reviewer for seven years. One moment, publishers quote reviews I've written in their ads. The next, an author calls me a bitter, failed writer because I dared to give his book an unfavorable review. Reviewing for professional journals is both a joy and a challenge for many librarians. Those of us who review do it because we enjoy sharing our opinions and writing about books (and the free review copies don't hurt, either). What's frustrating, however, is the lack of understanding that often comes from readers, authors, and even our fellow librarians when they don't understand why we wrote what we did. This week, I've interviewed Vicky Smith, children's book editor at Kirkus Reviews, and Linda Benson, book review editor at Voice of Youth Advocates, about the process of reviewing for professional journals and how books are chosen for review.
Who are your reviewers? How are reviewers chosen for journals?Linda Benson: Our reviewers are volunteers from across the nation and Canada. I've touched on the application and selection process above, but most are librarians, educators, or library and teacher educators. Some are booksellers or have been in that field. We require a sample review with the application to test a potential reviewer's ability to adhere to our guidelines and create a coherent review. If the sample is accepted, a provisional book is assigned, further guidelines expressed, and then if that review is also cogent, we're on our way. We do expect at least three years working with teens in some way to ensure familiarity with reading habits and taste.
Vicky Smith: Kirkus's reviewers are mostly librarians. Because Kirkus's primary market is librarians, it makes sense for our writers to have that understanding of the audience in mind as they approach a book. Will it make for a great storytime read-aloud? A fruitful discussion-starter? Also, because librarians tend to have a much broader familiarity with the world of books already available, they can comment knowledgeably about a new book's relationship to what's gone before. Is it just like every other dead pet book in the children's room or does it do something different? Will it provide something new for those teens who are avid for vampire books or is it the same old stuff? Does it replace THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS INSIDE A BEEHIVE--or is it so duplicative that librarians would be better served simply by buying a fresh copy of the old standby?
I really can't speak for how reviewers are chosen elsewhere, but I look for the following qualities, in no particular order:
1. Broad familiarity with children's and/or YA literature and the ways kids and teens use books.
2. The ability to turn in clean copy on deadline.
3. Special expertise in certain areas--science writing, LGBTQ, multicultural and ethnic understanding, emergent literacy, art and so on--is a huge plus.
4. A fresh and flowing literary style. Kirkus aims for each review to be a 175-word literary gem in itself as well as an authoritative comment on the book in question. Whether we always achieve this is open to debate, but it is our goal.
Do you have any advice for getting your small press/independently published book reviewed in a journal?LB: First, writers should make certain that their work has been professionally edited. If a work has been rejected by a mainstream publisher, there are reasons. Too often, in the rush to publication, an aspiring author considers his or her work a finished product. It is not complete until it has seen at least one more set of eyes—and not mom or dad or sister Kate. This person should have professional copyediting skills that can identify and express when a work does not flow, when dialogue is forced, or when characterization does not ring true. Beyond the issue of grammar and punctuation, a professional copyedit should identify issues of plot, telling not showing, and possible didactic point of view, among others. Check cover art. Does it look like an elementary school student and his box of crayons have been at work? Teens are proven to be drawn to attractive covers. Good editors work with their authors to create the best possible work.
VS: First, make sure you understand each journal's submissions requirements. Kirkus, for instance, is a prepublication journal, so we need ARCs in hand at least three months ahead of publication, and because I work from home but the administrative details are taken care of in the New York office, we need ARCs in both places, if you're submitting children's or YA books.
Also, Kirkus doesn't review self-published material. Sometimes it's very hard to tell the difference between self-published books and books from small presses. Making sure your presentation is as professional-looking as possible helps--copyedit your press releases as carefully as you do your books.
Keep in mind that any journal editor is juggling deadlines and many physical books and won't always be able to respond to emails. Once again, knowing whom you're submitting to makes a world of difference. Although we do some interviews in our supplements, Kirkus does not do any interviews, Q&As, feature pieces or the like in our magazine, so if you offer me the opportunity to interview your author, don't be surprised if I don't take you up on it--it's just not my focus.
Why do some books seem to get reviewed in all the major journals, while others might get only one or two journal reviews, or none at all?LB: For VOYA, selection of titles for review is based on space available, relevance of theme or topic, popularity or promise of popularity of author, good cover (I remain a teen at heart), and quite frankly, whether or not we actually receive the book. We match books to reviewers' preference and ability. There is a lengthy and detailed selection process in which potential reviewers indicate interest and preferences. Sometimes there is just not a good match of available reviewers and books under consideration. And let's face it, with 4,000 or more books arriving on our shelves yearly, some will fall by the wayside.
VS: Again, know your journals. In the children's and YA worlds, not all journals review all books. Booklist and Horn Book, for instance, are selective, and rarely publish negative reviews (although the Horn Book Guide reviews everything). If you've submitted a book to Booklist or Horn Book and it's not reviewed, you can assume that their respective editorial boards looked it over and decided it was not a book they'd recommend.
Kirkus does its best to review just about everything, with some caveats. We rarely review paperback originals, unless they're from a small press that doesn't do anything but. Also, although I understand the truism that there's no such thing as bad publicity, I operate on the general principle that a small, independent press doesn't need a crushing Kirkus review. If I receive a submission from a small press and I don't think it's got a good chance at a positive review, I probably won't assign it, unless it fills some kind of niche. I feel it's important to weigh in with negative reviews on books with a lot of publicity backing them up--if they deserve it, of course—because book selectors need to have a full spectrum of reviews to consider in their purchasing decisions.
Are you more or less likely to send out a book for review if you know that other journals will be reviewing it as well?VS: I don't think that much about the other journals when I assign—the more opinions there are out there, the better-informed selectors will be. That being said, I hate like poison when someone else beats Kirkus to the first review.
Posted by: Carlie Webber