How do I submit my own book for consideration for reviewing?
Drop me an email at anum.shaharyar@gmail.com with the subject ‘Blog: My Book for Review (by [Your Name])’. Add 3-5 sentences about yourself, 3-5 sentences about the book you have written (this could be, for example, your blurb), and 3-5 links where your story/book is available for others to read online. Ideally, it should be available on Goodreads at the very least.
Don’t forget to attach an epub/pdf copy of your book. I’m welcome to
being contacted by authors, agents, or publishers.
But there are two things to keep in mind. First, just because you’ve sent a book for review doesn’t mean it’ll get reviewed anytime soon, or at all. I don’t bind myself to only reading Pakistani literature, because that would get boring, and I don’t want to bore myself. So if I do review it, I’ll drop you a message letting you know your book will be reviewed soon.
Second, please
expect a very honest review. Only send in your book if you’re very okay with
harsh criticism, which might happen or it might not.
I’ve already shared
my book with you for reviewing but you haven’t put anything up yet. How soon will
you be reviewing my story?
Just drop me another email, reminding me when we initially
talked (so I can check my earlier emails) and attaching a copy of your book so
I can prioritize it. I might decide not to review it at all, in which case I'll let you know.
How regularly will
the blog be updated?
I want to aim for every Monday and/or Thursday, but life sometimes gets in the way and it might not happen exactly like that. A day or two here or there doesn’t matter, because this is not a job, but something that’s meant to be fun and as a way to build community.
Is this blog promoted
on social media?
I’m a lazy social media user and will only sometimes randomly tweet about a review, so the short answer is, no.
Why doesn’t the blog
include reviews of books written in other languages spoken in Pakistan?
Primarily, because English literature is what I read the
most, and since I was the one writing the reviews, it made sense to start with
books written in that language. And since I don’t read and thus have no
critical understanding of books written in other languages, I’m a bit wary of
covering them because I don’t know how the reviewer is treating the books
they’re reviewing.
That being said, other people are more than welcome to start their own blogs of reviews about books from other languages, and if they’re serious and consistent in updating their content I am more than happy to promote it from my end.