Thursday, August 30, 2012

Euro Crime Review Policy - Updated

Here is an update to the review policy at Euro Crime. The main change is to how we receive and request review books (see background info*).

Euro Crime is dedicated to the promotion of British and European crime writers, be it terms of bibliographies and upcoming releases or the weekly review selection.

I do receive emails about books that fall outside the remit of Euro Crime from time to time so I thought I'd try and lay out what is and isn't likely to be reviewed.

Qualifies

1) If the author is British/European (irrespective or where the book is set) eg Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Matt Hilton.

2) If the setting is British/European (irrespective of where the author was born) eg Elizabeth George, Donna Leon

3) If the book is translated (irrespective of whether it's European or not - this category is of particular interest to me as I'm currently one of the judges for the CWA International Dagger.) eg Deon Meyer.

Unabridged talking books and e-books in the above categories can be considered on a case by case basis as not all reviewers have or want the relevant technology.

Doesn't Qualify

1) If both the author and setting is not British/European and is not a translation eg. Daniel Depp, Tess Gerritson

2) True-Crime.

Wiggle Room

Books from the smaller book markets eg Australia, Africa will be considered on a case by case basis. eg Peter Temple, Michael Stanley. Please email me before sending the book: karen at eurocrime dot co dot uk.
---------------------
Background Info

I would prefer to direct review copies from publishers straight to the review team. However where books come to me first I send out an email, roughly weekly, listing books received and then send on the books requested to the reviewers. This is a bit costly and time-consuming and delays the books getting to the hands of the reviewer, however perhaps with the rise in popularity of e-readers, the availability of e-galleys will increase.

*For the past year I have not been sending out review copies to the review team. I wrote to the publishers and asked them not to send me any books with the exception of translated titles as that gives me a head start in my International Dagger reading. What I do now is this: as publishers' catalogues become available for publications due Jan-June and July-Dec I go through them, list the relevant titles and send this list to the review team. The review team then choose which titles they'd like to review, I allocate them equitably and email the publisher with a list of books and addresses. This approach is working quite well with some publishers and not so well with others which is why some publishers are getting their books reviewed and others are not.

The bottom line is: please do not send me unsolicited books (with the exception of translated titles) as these will not get reviewed however if you drop me an email, it is very likely I can find a reviewer who will be pleased to review it.

Euro Crime tries to review as many books as possible, nine new reviews are uploaded most weekends. Please note that the reviewers are crime fiction enthusiasts offering their honest opinions and that a review cannot be guaranteed. No payment is received for reviews.

I never sell arcs or review copies, any spare finished copies are added to my library's collection or given to charity shops.

6 comments:

Maxine Clarke said...

Well done, Karen, good policies all round. Pity that some publishers don't get their books reviewed as they don't seem able to send copies out to your reviewers. Others seem very good at this, as you write.

Sarah said...

I think it is a good idea to clarify everything Karen and I think I'm going to add something to my blog when I have completed my move to London and things are less hectic.

Karen (Euro Crime) said...

I added the no payment received bit after the latest debacle. In fact it's quite the reverse, I was paying out loads for P & P before and I've just renewed my eurocrime domain for two years for £140.

Anonymous said...

Hi Karen,

Do you consider Turkey part of Europe for the purposes of this blog?

If you do, I have a particular interest in Turkish crime fiction and would love to know your criteria for reviewers.

Thanks.

Ehud

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

These are great policies. I have one book, Deadly Vintage, already published, set in Braga, Portugal; Book Two, Deadly Verse, also set in Braga, Portugal, will be released this August. How would I submit either book to you? By PDF? (To avoid customs hassles.) And also, would you be interested in a trailer for the second book? My publisher just sent it to me last week.

Karen (Euro Crime) said...

Hi Elizabeth. I have added your two Portugal-set books to my database - do they feature the same character? I'm not taking on any review books at the minute but I'm happy to post a trailer. You can contact me - karen at eurocrime dot co dot uk - best wishes.