To read and review books, you must first be subscribed as a Reader member and complete a Reviewer Profile. Reader membership is free and we encourage all members to add a Reader subscription upon joining Kindred Readers. To add a Reader subscription, simply click on the SUBSCRIPTIONS tab on your Dashboard.

The Reviewer Profile form requests basic information about the types of books you enjoy reading and your interests (e.g., cooking, motorcycle touring, photography). We use that profile, as well as other information (e.g., your past reviewing history, the books in your To Be Read pile, any reported conflicts of interest, etc.) to match you with books you may enjoy reading.

You indicate whether you're available to review on your Member Dashboard. If your availability status is toggled to "available," we consider you part of the reviewer pool and available to respond to review invitations. You can toggle your status to "unavailable" at any time.

We use a token system as site currency. If you don't want to read a book that you've been invited to review, you can use tokens to decline the invitation. (There are other ways to earn and use tokens; click here to learn more about Kindred Readers' tokens system.)

The review process in a nutshell

(click here to see this in a diagram)

When an author requests a review of their book, we compare the book profile information against the preferences and histories of all available reviewers to identify the best match. Once we've found the best reviewer for the book, we'll contact the reviewer to invite them to review.

As a community, we need to be able to count on each other to act responsibly. A reviewer who fails to respond to an invitation or who does not submit a review as agreed costs the author several weeks of lost time. We need you to remain in good communication with us about your ability (or inability) to review in a timely fashion.

When you are invited to review a book, we send you an email and post notices to your Dashboard. You should accept or decline the invitation within 72 hours of being notified. You may either accept or decline the invitation from your Dashboard.

If you accept: For a regular review, the reviewer has 28 days from the invitation date to read the book and submit the review. Rush reviews should be submitted within 14 days of invitation. We send several reminder notices during the review period. If at any time you determine that you cannot complete the review on time, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inform us of the difficulty.

If you decline the invitation: Tokens will be deducted from your account and the review will be assigned to another Reader.

If you do not respond to the invitation, the option to accept or decline will be removed after 72 hours and tokens will be deducted from your account for Failure to Respond to a Review Invitation.

Please see our Review Guidelines for additional information.

Submitting a review

Your Reviewer Dashboard shows your review assignment and due date. Click on the Submit my Review link to enter your review.

Standard reviews that are submitted on time and in accordance with our Review Guidelines earn the full number of tokens awarded for a regular review. Late reviews submitted on days 29-31 earn fewer tokens. After day 31, the option to submit a review no longer exists. We record a Failure to Review, your account is debited tokens and another reviewer is invited to review the book on a rush basis. 

Rush reviews that are submitted on time and in accordance with our Review Guidelines earn double the amount of tokens of a regular review. Late rush reviews submitted on days 15-17 earn fewer, but still more than a regular review. After day 17, the option to submit a review no longer exists. We record a Failure to Review, your token account is debited, and another reviewer is invited to review the book on a rush basis. 

Upon submission of your review, Kindred Readers staff will perform a quick compliance check to ensure the review meets our Review Guidelines. If we have concerns, we'll follow up with you to discuss it. Otherwise we publish the review and invite you to cross-post the review to vendor websites.

Any member who fails to review twice is removed from the reviewer pool until we've resolved the difficulty.

If you determine at any time that you're unable to review, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. immediately. We understand that unforeseen circumstances occur, and you won't be penalized for events beyond your control — we just need to know how to plan.

 For additional information, please consult our Review Guidelines.

Cross-posting reviews

We strongly encourage reviewers to cross-post the review to up book vendor websites (e.g., Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo) for additional tokens. If the overall score is less than 3 stars, the reviewer may This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request that the tokens be granted without cross-posting. 

For additional information, please consult our Review Guidelines.

Here's a diagram that shows the basic process for a regular review.

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