Books | Ebooks | Graphic Novels | Audio | Video | E-Reviews
| Collection Development & RA Columnists
Books are selected for their potential interest to a broad spectrum of libraries. Only a few areas of publishing fall outside LJ‘s scope: textbooks, children’s books, very technical or specialized works (particularly those directed at a professional audience), and books in languages other than English. We do, however, consider bilingual editions. Books previously published abroad are eligible if they are being released here for the first time and have a U.S. distributor.
We prefer to receive materials three to four months in advance of publication date since our primary goal is prepublication review (although our collection development and readers’ advisory forums allow for rich postpublication coverage‚ submission info below). We will accept bound galleys, bound page proofs, or bound manuscripts (only one copy is necessary). Those publishers (small houses) that cannot supply advance bound galleys may submit finished books, but these should be sent as early as possible with the words “In lieu of galleys” and the publication date affixed to the cover. We generally avoid reviewing books later than date of publication, though we do make exceptions for reference and heavily illustrated works‚ if F & Gs are not available, send the finished book as early as possible.
Address materials to:
Book Review Editor
Library Journal
123 William St., Suite 802
New York, NY 10038
Include the following information: Author, title; name, address, and telephone number of publisher; date of publication; price; number of pages; and ISBN and LC numbers if available. Please indicate whether any illustrations, an index, or bibliography will be included; also include a brief description of the book, its intended audience, and information on the author’s background.
Library Journal Book Review is not able to confirm the receipt of galleys. However, when it comes to lead titles (and lead titles only, please), you are welcome to contact via email the Book Review editor most likely to handle your book. In your message, make sure to indicate the title, author, publisher, and publication date.
The best way to determine if your book has been assigned for review is via our free LJ Review Alert email blast, which lists titles that are going to be reviewed in a given issue roughly six weeks before that issue publishes. LJ Review Alert also highlights recent Xpress Reviews and online collection development and readers’ advisory coverage (as showcased in our free, award-winning LJ Reviews e-newsletter).
If you have not seen your book listed in LJ Review Alert and cannot find it on our web site at the time of its publication, it was not chosen for review.
Books that fall into the following categories may still be reviewed up to three months after their publication date:
- Reference
- Coffee-table books that are heavily illustrated
- Art books
- Graphic Novels
- Crafts and DIY
- Library Science
- Poetry
Please follow up review galleys with a copy of the bound book. Neither books nor galleys can be returned.
Effective May 2011, Library Journal will consider for review original (i.e., previously unpublished) novel-length romance ebooks. We will eventually widen our scope to include novel-length e-originals in other popular genre fiction, as well as novellas and original nonfiction works. Simultaneous print/ebook romance titles are not eligible, though we will accept romance e-originals that will subsequently spin off print editions.
LJ will primarily use NetGalley to give our editors and select reviewers access to e-galleys of romance e-originals. If you do not work with NetGalley, you are welcome to contact us about setting up an alternative system. Please continue to submit physical galleys for all other subject areas per our regular guidelines.
While we recognize that ebooks call for tighter production schedules, we aim to review them as far in advance of publication as possible so that our subscribers can efficiently purchase access to titles and integrate them into their collections. Lead time will inevitably shrink, but we’d like to preserve it to ensure that libraries can provide the highest level of customer service.
Following the guidelines below does not guarantee a review, but doing so will increase the likelihood of prepublication exposure in LJ‘s print and online forums (e.g., Prepub Alert, e-newsletters, and Xpress Reviews). Although most U.S. public libraries buy access to ebooks through OverDrive, LJ will consider works not available in that channel based on popular appeal and regional and national collection development needs.
E-originals selected for review will run online as Xpress Reviews and, in most cases, in the print Romance column, which publishes six times a year (February 15, April 15, June 15, August 15, October 15, and December 15).
To track the status of your e-original submissions, you must sign up for our free Review Alert, which lists which titles are being covered in a given print issue 30 days before that issue publishes. The Review Alert also includes books recently evaluated in Xpress Reviews and highlighted in our free LJ Reviews e-newsletter.
Please respect the privacy and objectivity of our reviewers; to communicate important changes to manuscripts or bibliographic data, contact LJ directly at egalleys@mediasourceinc.com.
If you have any questions about these guidelines, please email LJ Book Review Editor at ljinfo@mediasourceinc.com.
Guidelines for E-Originals:
- E-galleys should ideally be uploaded to NetGalley at least two months prior to publication date; our editors and their reviewers assigned particular galleys require a minimum of 60 days of access to e-galleys to account for production schedules, delays, and life emergencies.
- Publishers must alert LJ that the e-galley is available via email to this address: egalleys@mediasourceinc.com.
- That email must contain an open NetGalley widget to grant LJ auto-approved access to that title. The widget should not be associated with a particular email address, since multiple LJ editors/reviewers will need access. (For help with the widget, contact support@netgalley.com.)
- That email should also contain the following title information:
- Title, subtitle, author, publisher/imprint, publication date, page count, ISBN(s), price(s), e-formats, vendors, and if there are illustrations, photographs, an index, a glossary, a bibliography, or any special features that enrich the reading experience. If the book is part of a series, indicate the series name along with the volume/book number.
- Concise, accurate catalog copy about a title’s plot, scope, author, and marketing plan. Questions we often ask ourselves while assigning that you should answer in advance: Is the book in question a debut? Will it have library-targeted marketing and include reading group guides? Have any of the author’s previous titles hit a best-sellers list or won awards? Is this a midlist author you’re hoping to break out?
- Emphasis for seasonal lead titles. When making our review decisions, we take into account how much push a publisher is giving a book, so talk to us. What are your hopes for a title? How does it build up an author’s oeuvre or expand the genre?
- As stated above, prepublication reviews are our goal, but we will consider works published within the last three months that hold special significance for library collections.
- Take the time to talk to librarians at trade shows and on social media because they buy boatloads of books and grow readers.
Graphic novels (GN) (including manga and other illustrated narrative titles) are reviewed in the Graphic Novels column in the print LJ six times/year. Additionally, GN reviews appear weekly in our web-only, freely-accessible Xpress Reviews section. For review consideration, advance copies are appreciated, but not necessary; we prefer to review from the finished copy when available (unless the galley is very high-quality). We do not review comics, only hardback or paperback compilations. Please send titles for review consideration as close to the publishing date as possible. Bibliographic information and promotional materials should be included in your package.
Please submit materials to:
Annalisa Pesek
Library Journal
123 William St., Suite 802
New York, NY 10038
646-347-0769
apesek@mediasourceinc.com
Please submit CDs for review as soon as they are available‚ whenever possible, at least two months prior to their release. Promotional material must accompany each audiobook, noting publication date, number of discs, number of hours, whether abridged/unabridged, narrator, category, ISBN, and price. Please also specify whether an MP3-CD and/or digital downloadable edition is available.
Submit materials to:
Stephanie Klose, Media Editor
Library Journal
123 William St., Suite 802
New York, NY 10038
SKlose@mediasourceinc.com
DVDs are eligible for review in LJ if they are designed for an adult audience (public and academic) and were produced no earlier than 2010. Complete editions of appropriate releases should be sent along with information on the program’s running time, distribution (name, address, phone, URL), all price information (MSR, rental, shipping/handling, public performance, etc.), ISBN or UPC, and closed-captioning if available.
Please submit materials to:
Bette-Lee Fox
Video Reviews
Library Journal
123 William St., Suite 802
New York, NY 10038
646-380-0717
blfox@mediasourceinc.com
For review consideration of online databases, please provide further information about your product to Henrietta Thornton-Verma at hthornton@mediasourceinc.com.
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT & READERS’ ADVISORY COLUMNISTS
Library Journal Book Review works regularly with librarian columnists like Neal Wyatt (RA Crossroads; The Reader’s Shelf), Douglas Lord (Books for Dudes), Martha Cornog (Graphic Novels), Angelina Benedetti (35 Going on 13), Rollie Welch (The Word on Street Lit), Julianne J. Smith (Parenting), and Therese Purcell Nielsen (Memoir Short Takes) to produce book and media coverage that puts desirable content in sharper context.
In the columns and topical roundups that fall under our Collection Development and Readers’ Advisory channels, the point isn’t so much alerting patrons and consumers about a print book or audiobook’s imminent publication date as it is describing where it fits in a wider genre and what qualities make the piece of content attractive at a particular moment in our culture. This approach not only helps librarians build robust collections, but it also helps grow readers.
Although many of the aforementioned columnists evaluate books before publication in galley or manuscript form, you are welcome to submit backlist and recently published works that you think would hold particular interest for the columnists based on your reading of their columns. Submit to the attention of a columnist at LJ‘s address per the phrasing below:
Library Journal
attn: [columnist’s first and last name]
123 William St., Suite 802
New York, NY 10038
See also:
LJ Reviews Social Club