REVISED, January 2024

As an author, I understand and sympathize with the need for reviews, and I like nothing better than to praise deserving historical novels. “Deserving” means that the story, characters, and writing style are worthy, proof of which comes from the pages themselves, not blurbs, awards, or sales records. Decades spent in publishing have convinced me that if a worthy book happens to sell, it’s a coincidence, unless the author is already famous. If your book is adult historical fiction, traditionally published in print version, and meets my criteria described below, I’ll consider it, whether or not I (or readers at large) have heard of you. Small-press authors, take note.

Now for the bad news: in a given year, I review only fifty books or so. To find them, I cull the library catalog and publishers’ descriptions, of which I read between six hundred and one thousand annually, thanks to my work for Historical Novels Review, where I used to be an editor. I can’t tell you how many books I begin, realize they’re not for me, and return to the library.

There’s only one thing worse than struggling to read a book: having to review it. Negative reviews take hours to write, disappoint the author, and bore my regular readers, who know my taste by now. Nobody wins.

So if you want me to help you, please put me in a position to do so. Offer me only what I ask for, as I define it below, and I promise to answer you, even if it’s no. But if you ignore my guidelines, don’t expect me to read your pitch.

To repeat, I consider traditionally published adult historical novels, in print version only. The entire narrative must take place at least fifty years ago. Stories told in retrospect, interpolating past and present, have no chance with me. I also avoid sagas and what the industry calls romances, though a psychologically astute love story works, especially as a subplot. Whatever the premise, the approach must be character-driven, and though I occasionally dabble in magical realism, I avoid full-fledged fantasy and won’t touch paranormal.

As I said, I pay no attention to blurbs, sales records, or awards. But if your book is from the Big 5, a favorable review in Publishers Weekly closes the deal. (I don’t expect this of traditional small presses, because they don’t have the promotional leverage that, say, S&S does.) PW doesn’t review everything and is by no means infallible. But it’s the only prepub reviewer I trust, and praise there vets your book, in my eyes. I came to this understanding the hard way.

Finally, treat your pitch like a query to an agent or editor, succinct, direct, without puff. I’ve had authors say, “Click on this link to find out about my book.” Since they’re asking me to commit my time and effort without investing their own, you can imagine how I feel about that.

Good luck in your search, and I hope we can connect.