We are chatting today with Melissa and Joy from Joyfully Reviewed.These women are hooked on romances and have devoted their lives to spreading the word about the books that many of us write for the masses of readers.
If you're an author wanting to know how book reviews happen or a reader curious to know what goes on behind the scenes of a review site, today's the day. Melissa and Joy will be in and out to ask any questions you may have.
~ For those who don’t know, what is Joyfully Reviewed about? How are you different from other review sites?
Joyfully Reviewed is a review site that is all about the reader. We try to do our reviews as honestly as possible because we genuinely love romance books and as readers ourselves, know what it's like to find that great book that you read over and over again or to read something that disappoints you and go "I wish I'd never picked that up". So we try to inform our readers of what we'd liked to know if we were looking for a book to read. I think that's also the difference with JR, we are all about the fun in reading romance!
~ How did JR come to be?
I'm going to be honest here. Joy and I both reviewed for other sites, they no longer exist now, however we weren't happy and I said, "Joy let's make a review site" and she said "What should we call it?" to which I replied "I KNOW! JOYFULLY REVIEWED" Because Joy is the original author stalker and is out on all of the loops, I mean who doesn't know JOY!!
~ What is the process for getting a book reviewed? Or submitting one for a possible review? Do they come to you from publishers or from authors?
Many publishers do automatically send us their books. However if an author wants a review and they're not sure if their publisher sent us a request, they are welcome to go to the Joyfully Reviewed website and click on the link to Request a Review :)
~ How does an author know if their book has been chosen for a review or when the review is posted?
Whenever we do a review and it's posted to the site, Joy sends out emails notifying the publisher and the author
~ How many reviewers do you have? On average, how many reviews does your site post a month?
At last count we had 30 reviewers. Last month we had over 300 reviews posted.
Joyfully Reviewed has a great reputation among readers and authors alike, and like Melissa said, pretty much everyone knows who Joy is. I've never found a mean review at Joyfully Reviewed, but it's obvious to me the reviewers work to be fair and honest in every review. As an writer going through the submission process right now, I can say their honesty is a valuable commodity.
Authors are always invited to advertise their coming books on Joyfully Reviewed. Just email Melissa at melissa@joyfullyreviewed.com for more details.
I've already thought of some more questions from reading your answers. I can't wait to see what comes from today. :)
Ready? Set? Fire when ready with your questions!
Naughty Nikki
If you're an author wanting to know how book reviews happen or a reader curious to know what goes on behind the scenes of a review site, today's the day. Melissa and Joy will be in and out to ask any questions you may have.
~ For those who don’t know, what is Joyfully Reviewed about? How are you different from other review sites?
Joyfully Reviewed is a review site that is all about the reader. We try to do our reviews as honestly as possible because we genuinely love romance books and as readers ourselves, know what it's like to find that great book that you read over and over again or to read something that disappoints you and go "I wish I'd never picked that up". So we try to inform our readers of what we'd liked to know if we were looking for a book to read. I think that's also the difference with JR, we are all about the fun in reading romance!
~ How did JR come to be?
I'm going to be honest here. Joy and I both reviewed for other sites, they no longer exist now, however we weren't happy and I said, "Joy let's make a review site" and she said "What should we call it?" to which I replied "I KNOW! JOYFULLY REVIEWED" Because Joy is the original author stalker and is out on all of the loops, I mean who doesn't know JOY!!
~ What is the process for getting a book reviewed? Or submitting one for a possible review? Do they come to you from publishers or from authors?
Many publishers do automatically send us their books. However if an author wants a review and they're not sure if their publisher sent us a request, they are welcome to go to the Joyfully Reviewed website and click on the link to Request a Review :)
~ How does an author know if their book has been chosen for a review or when the review is posted?
Whenever we do a review and it's posted to the site, Joy sends out emails notifying the publisher and the author
~ How many reviewers do you have? On average, how many reviews does your site post a month?
At last count we had 30 reviewers. Last month we had over 300 reviews posted.
Joyfully Reviewed has a great reputation among readers and authors alike, and like Melissa said, pretty much everyone knows who Joy is. I've never found a mean review at Joyfully Reviewed, but it's obvious to me the reviewers work to be fair and honest in every review. As an writer going through the submission process right now, I can say their honesty is a valuable commodity.
Authors are always invited to advertise their coming books on Joyfully Reviewed. Just email Melissa at melissa@joyfullyreviewed.com for more details.
I've already thought of some more questions from reading your answers. I can't wait to see what comes from today. :)
Ready? Set? Fire when ready with your questions!
Naughty Nikki
Comments (90)
A few other questions...What can I same I'm more scatterbrained than people think. :)
If an author is thinking of sending a review request, should they send them all to the same person? Or do different people take care of scheduling different types of books (ie print verses ebooks)?
Is there anything that you don't review at Joyfully Reviewed?
I'm guessing with 300 reviews posted a month that an author can't be guaranteed their book will be reviewed. Are books selected for review by your reviewers or assigned?
Hi there guys! I liked the questoin about is there anything you guys DON'T review and the question I wanted to ask as well is if you have a book that is just BAD ...... do you let the author know before you post it or do you send it on to another reviewer just in case it was the way the first reviewer looked at it. I don't know if that makes any sense or not. I mean to say if it's not a readers cup of tea do you send it on to another reviewer to review?
Actually when Joyfully Reviewed started out, Joy and I made the decision that romance is all we would review. There has to be a happyily ever or if it's a series, a happily ever after coming down the lane.
Actually the links on the JR page send the review requests to either Joy or I. I handle the print end of JR, Brava, Pocket, Penguin etc..
And Joy handles the reviews for all the epublishers.
We wish we could review all the books that we have requests for but every month we just seem to get more and more requests. We offer the book blurbs to our reviewers and they make the decision on what they want to review. It seems to us that a reviewer who wants to read a certain book is going to be better than a reviewer who has a book chosen for them. Although, Joy has been known to occasionally, "Bunny Bomb" reviwers with books that need to be reviewed but haven't been chosen yet.
Hi lastnerve!
That's actually a good question and I'm glad you asked. We hate to give negative reviews. That's one of the reasons that we let the reviewers choose what they want to review. We usually don't send books off to a different reviewer unless the reviewer comes to us and feels as though they can't review book fairly. It maybe that the book deals with something that is sensetive to that reviewer or something that is in their dislikes or pet peeves. In those cases, we do pass it to another reviewer. However, if the reviewer just didn't like the book then we ask them to please explain why in the review and what they did like about the book. We try to be fair but the review does get posted to the site even if it's not a postive review. We feel as though we owe that to our readers and our reviewers.
And we won't review anything that is not romance. But we review all the different romance genres.
Great interview! I've had the pleasure of meeting Joy at conferences and she's really a fun gal!
Although, I had trouble submitting my book for review...sniff sniff
Great insight into your site! YAY, JOYFULLY REVIEWS!
300 Reviews... Wow that's great! You guys have a wonderful site. As as self proclaimed bookjunkie I could lose myself for hours there. Great job guys!
That's the goal, Munk. :)
Great blog, Nikki and Melissa.
I love that you guys only review romance...if it doesn't have a HEA, I usually don't want to read it because it's falling in another category. I really like that you guys let your reviewers pick what they like so you don't have people who aren't familiar with or don't like a subgenre reviewing it. Those are the kind of reviews I'm looking at~from readers who read and like what I like, and what their take is on a book.
Melissa
Mimmi862@aol.com
I love Joyfully reviewed...and everybody knows Joy is a hoot!!
One of the main things Joy and I were firm about when we started the site was that we wanted to enjoy it. We love romance and we enjoy talking about the books we read and we only have reviewers who feel the same way. Which is why I think Joyfully gets so many requests.
Melissa,
That's it exactly. If you have a reviwer who doesn't like, say, paranormal romance but you send them a book to review that is in the genre, it's not fair to expect them to produce a fair review. Or if a reviewer has an author who is just not to their taste, of course your not going to send that author's book to them to review. We want our reviwers to ENJOY reading the books because once it become WORK the fun is gone and we never want reading romance to become work for us or for our reviewers!
Just popping in to wave hi! Love the reviews you give my books. Many, many thanks for all the time that goes into doing a review.
Best wishes for continued success.
Karen Kelley
Thanks Karen! I'm sure I'll be stalking you later LOL :)
You definatly want happy reviewers as we are "unpaid" professionals. (Professional what I am not sure)
Tanya (the lurking reviewer)
Jax!!! You email me immedaitely you lovely woman! Gasping in horror at your having a hard time submitting your book : O
Joy - you're my new BFF! **pushes Nikki aside**
LOL -- A while ago just before the book came out, I sent emails but I believe the email service hated me and kept bouncing back so I ended up forgetting about it. :)
I do ask our reviewers to try a book out of their "normal" genre sometimes because you never know what is going to "float your boat", so to speak. I love that our reviewers are willing to try to read other genres, even if they are leary. Some of those books have gone onto to become JOYFULLY RECOMMENDED READS! It just goes to prove that you never know when a book will "get you", even if it may not be the genre you love.
So Joy! I hear you have goodies! What kind of goodies? Tell!
I've never been to your site, but I think I'm going to have to stop by on occasion now. I really do enjoy review sites and have found quite a few new to me authors from them.
My question: How often do you review debut authors?
Jax, that was probably when I was having my "Go Daddy Hates Me" period. They finally got it fixed but let me tell you LOL!!!
I have the information now :)
In rare cases, we have had authors/publishers contact us regarding what they thought was an unfair review. Joyfully Reviewed's policy is not to remove review because of a complaint BUT Melissa and I will have another reviewer read the same book. If we get the same response from that reviewer, Melissa or I will read the book ourselves to see if the reviewer was fair. If the second reviewer has a different opinion, we will post the second review as well. If we agree with the original reviewer, we notify the author/publisher with our findings. This not only makes it fair to the author, but it also lets the author/publisher know that Joyfully Reviewed is fair.
Karin,
Melissa and I scour the net/yahoo groups/publisher sites for new authors. Our chat group just had a Theme Day, whereby we asked new authors to come chat with us, talk to our readers, post excepts. It was a busy day! Joyfully Reviewed is an equal opportunity review site. Our reviewers eat books for breakfast/lunch/dinner and even snacks (lol). I love to come across new authors because I love romance books and you never know who will rock your socks with a great story.
Joy's right, in fact if I buy a book that wasn't offered at Joyfully, I usually always offer it to the reviwers or sometimes I do the review myself. We've picked up a lot of new authors that way. I can't tell you how many times that I've picked up an author I've never read before, say in the grocery store line, and then offered it our reviwers, only to have them love the story. It really rocks when that happens!
I have to run and pick up my children from school. I'll be back in about 30 :)
Jay said "I do ask our reviewers to try a book out of their "normal" genre sometimes because you never know what is going to "float your boat", so to speak. I love that our reviewers are willing to try to read other genres, even if they are leary. Some of those books have gone onto to become JOYFULLY RECOMMENDED READS! It just goes to prove that you never know when a book will "get you", even if it may not be the genre you love."
God I hat it when she does that too. It is like your parents telling you something is "good for you and you will like it" and then you do. Sigh...
Tanya (lurking on blog instead of working)
BOOKS BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS GALORE TO BE WON!
Nikki,
Melissa and I are romance book junkies, not only do we give away books from our own stash, but authors love giving us books for our contests. The following are up for grab today.
Prints:
Lora Leigh - Tanner's Scheme
Keri Arthur - Destiny Kills (arc)
Jaci Burton - The Darkest Touch (arc)
Kimberly Killon - Her One Desire
(4 autographed copies)
Miranda Neville - Never Resist Temptation (arc)
Lara Adrian - Veil Of Midnight (arc)
Mary Balogh - First Comes Marriage
Kelley Armstrong - Made To Be Broken
Kathleen Kennedy - Enchanting The Beast(arc)
Melissa Schroeder - Lessons in Seduction (signed)
Melissa Schroeder - The Accidental Countess (signed)
E-Books
Madison Hayes - pdf (any title from her backlist)
Shelly Laurenston - pdf (any title from her backlist)
Morgan Ashbury - pdf (any title from her backlist)
I just wanted to come by and say hi to Nikki, Joy & Melissa. I have found so many new authors at Joyfully Reviewed.
I have one question are your reviewers paid or do the volunteer?
How can a person become a review at JR :)
Joyfully Reviewed continues to exist because we have a great staff. They work really hard, love romance novels and although real life gets in the way sometimes, their love of reading, editing, web updating, MySpace/Facebook, being part of a team is first and foremost for them. Running Joyfully Reviewed and keeping those reviews coming is hard work, it is our love of the romance genre that makes Joyfully Reviewed keep going.
Hello Greta!
The job of reviewer is unpaid. You have access to hundreds and hundres of books (e-books and print) to read and review, that is the caveat for our reviewers : )
You can apply to be a reviewer via JoyfullyReviewed.com. Go to our staff page, fill out the form and you will be on your way.
WOW! That's some list Joy! Let's see, what should we make people do to win? (thinking...thinking...thinking...) Shush in the peanut gallery it does NOT hurt. :)
I've got it!
Go to JoyfullyReviewed.com and read a review by a new to you author. Come back and tell us which one you read. Come on, this will be fun, and you might find someone that will ROCK YOU!!!
NOTE TO AUTHORS!
Nothing is more frustrating when sending out notifications to advise authors of reviews posted (which I do every month for all of those reviews), to have to search the ends of the earth (ha) for a contact e-mail address.
I suggest that all authors have some way for their readers to contact them. Whether it be via a contact form/e-mail link on your website or on your publishers author contact page.
If I come across an author that either a reviewer has requested a book and/or I would like to invite to a chat,etc., it does help to have some way to contact that author directly.
LOL, Nikki, I had to make a special area for my Joyfully Reviewed books! That listing is just a fraction of the books are looking for homes.
Love the contest idea! Thank you
Hi Joy and Melissa!
You guys are wonderful. Thanks for all the great reviews you do and the hard work you and your staff give to the readers and authors out there!
Mel
Hi Ladies. I am a fan of the Joyfully Reviewed site. The reviews are informative and I get introduced to new to me authors through the reviews.
Joy, I would be so afraid to see your book stash. It's a good thing books aren't illegal because you would so be imprisoned for intent to distribute. :)
Great interview. I love the joyfully reviewed site, becuase it's easy to search and sometimes when I'm on the fence about buying a book I'll read the review and have a better idea if I really must have the book :)
Crystal,
What new authors have you found?
Hey Rhon,
Good to hear! How did you find Joyfully Reviewed?
I read a review for Betrayed by Jamie Leigh Hansen. I love emotionally tortured hero's so this sounds like my kind of book!
Okay, now that I know you are constantly looking for new authors at JR, another question popped into my head. Do you have any idea what percentage of the reviews you do are for new/debut authors versus established authors?
Nikki,
I don't know if people know this but Joyfully Reviewed has posted over 2,700 reviews on AMAZON! Tanya (who is Joyfully Reviewed's amazon listing staff member). Tanya goes through our reviews, looks on amazon to see if the book has been listed. She sends that listing to Melissa. Melissa and her ass't, post those reviews. We are a machine.
Melissa and I want our reviews to help as many readers as possible in picking books, especially with the Sony Reader and Kindle making it so much easier to buy books.
Okay, I went over and took a look at Joyfully Reviewed to read some reviews. The first one I read was for The Long Way Home by Z.A. Maxfield. I really like suspenseful stories and that one sounds like it would be great in that way, according to the review.
Hi everyone! I'm back!
Love all of the info about how you guys go about reviewing books. I read a review for The Naked Gentleman by Sally Mackenzie.
Karin,
Joyfully Reviewed receives review requests from publihers/authors in the form of blurbs about the book(s).
The book and it's info gets posted. If a story sounds good, it is reviewed. I can honestly say that our reviewers will read anyone. Established authors, debut authors, everyone gets a chance at being reviewed at Joyfully Reviewed.
I dont have actual figures, but I am sure if you went through our reviews, you would find many authors that are new to you.
Having just discovered the JR site...I know I will be making use of it now! I went over and took a look....started scrolling through some pages and look there was Librarian by Day by Paige Tyler. WELL *CLICK*. I love the premise..see it sounds kinda familiar :D LOL Me being a library worker (close enough to a librarian! lol)and being somewhat shy like....lol
THANKS another book for my TBB list!
Natasha,
That is why we are here! Love hearing all of these comments
Okay, I'll confess... I've never visited Joyfully Reviewed before today, when my curiousity was peaked. So I just went over and checked it out and I'm addicted! This is so not good for my TBB/TBR piles.
I've been on the site for five minutes and I already am interested in a new book/author.
Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper.
If I get nothing done today, its because I'm updating the list of books to buy.
*sigh*
Oh Munk. BETRAYED was a beautiful book. I loved Dreux.
Mia - Welcome to my life...
Sigh... You should see Melissa's book pile or Joy's. The thing with Joy's is that some of hers is electronic. Melissa I think has another whole house for books.....
Explaination of "Bunny Bombs".
I come across books/authors that I think deserve a review. We post so many books that it is hard for the reviewers to keep up, so I will send books to the reviewers that they haven't chosen. I do this every other month, this guarantees that all books get a chance to be reviewed.
Reviewers have special Bunny Bomb Baskets for when Joy is on a roll. Those poor things can explode on those days. = )
Actually, my husband bought me a shed for our anniversary this year. Then he built me shelves on the walls. LOL He said my books were a fire hazard in the house LOLOLOLOL
Ha! Melissa, my husband keeps threatening to buy a shed too!
Joyfully Reviewed - E-Books
I love handling the e-book part of Joyfully Reviewed. I think there are so many talented writers out there and I see so many with e-publishers. I love the immediacy of being able to get/buy/read a book right away and having more books being published by my favs.
So what does one have to do to be a reviewer? What are the qualifications? I often thought with all the books I read I should share some of my enthusiasm with friends and other readers. I’ve always thought that our library should have a reader recommended list for each genre.
I think it worked out well for us in spliting up what we each handle. eBook for Joy and Print books for me. As much as I love ebooks, and I do LOVE THEM, there's just something about having a paper book in your hand late at night in bed or during that favorite bathtub reading time LOL!
Great interview. Many of us on the loops know Joy and we all love Joyfully Reviewed!
That's so nice of you to say NJ! Thank you :)
Cheryl, Joy's assistant butting in
If folks are interested in reviewing or any other position, they can submit a query here:
Staff Wanted
No experience is required. Reviewers do have to be able to explain what they did or didn't like about a book. If you've got opinions & are willing to share them, we'd love to hear from you.
It seems we always need more reviewers...and editors...and interviewers...and.....
=D
-Cheryl
Gail,
Actually there is a link on our site with information on how to apply to be a reviewer. A lot of our reviewers had never reviewed before. Cheryl, her email address on that page, handles all our new reviewers and has all the information on what to do to apply. :) And we're always looking for reviewers!
LOL! Thanks Cheryl! :)
Thank you Cheryl and Melissa, I'll definately check that out:-)
Mia, I'm so glad we could help feed the addiction. :)
And now I must run out to go be a responsible parent and attend a parent meeting.
>>>Hey Rhon,Good to hear! How did you find Joyfully Reviewed?<<<
Ms. Joy that would be through you and all those lists (yahoo groups) you are on :) It's a great site and you are such a joy.
Just stopping by to say hello to two of my favorite people. Melissa and Joy are such huge supporters of romance - I love 'em to death.
You ladies...and your reviewers of course, offer a great service!
I've bought quite a few books based on your reviews and have never been disappointed.
FYI: Joyfully Reviewed can be found on
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/joyfullyreviewed
and Facebook!http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1369476869&ref=name
Lauren! lainey! Thanks for dropping over. One of the great things about reviewing is that you get to meet so many authors when you go to conventions and booksignings, they already know who you are when you say your name!!!
Having met Lauren - who still continues to speak to me even after I attacked her at Lori Foster's Reader event last year (lol)
WOW! This has been a hoppin' place today! I hope everyone had a good time and maybe learned something about reviews that you didn't know before.
Thank you to everyone who chatted, who visited JoyfullyReviewed.com, and for everyone who just came to lurk!
Up for grabs...
Prints:
~Lora Leigh - Tanner's Scheme
~Keri Arthur - Destiny Kills (arc)
~Jaci Burton - The Darkest Touch (arc)
~Kimberly Killon - Her One Desire
(4 autographed copies)
~Miranda Neville - Never Resist Temptation (arc)
~Lara Adrian - Veil Of Midnight (arc)
~Mary Balogh - First Comes Marriage
~Kelley Armstrong - Made To Be Broken
~Kathleen Kennedy - Enchanting The Beast(arc)
~Melissa Schroeder - Lessons in Seduction (signed)
~Melissa Schroeder - The Accidental Countess (signed)
E-Books
~Madison Hayes - pdf (any title from her backlist)
~Shelly Laurenston - pdf (any title from her backlist)
~Morgan Ashbury - pdf (any title from her backlist)
As for the winners....
Munk
Karin
Brandy W
Natasha
Mia Rose
We're going to do this like they do it on the JR loop when they announce ARCs for the reviewers. Shout out QUICK with the book of your choice. First come first seve!!
Lainey! That's an awesome compliment!!
Thank you :)
Thanks Lauren, I'll be stalking you later too!
OOH! Thanks!!
~Keri Arthur - Destiny Kills (arc)
This sounds great.
AND a new author for me!
Joyfully Reviewed holds contests, author chats, theme days and much, much more at our Chat Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chatting_with_Joyfully_Reviewed/
I've found it so cool to see the people talking about Joy and Melissa today. I knew I loved them and what they do, but it's been awesome seeing a hint of what their impact has been.
I have to go for the evening but I wanted to say thank you for having Joy and I as guests.
How wonderful that we've had new people check out Joyfully and I love hearing from those who have found books to read based on our reviews.
Joyfully Reviewed truly is a labor of love for Joy and I and hearing such nice things really makes our day.
Hope everyone has a great night and good luck with the prizes!
awesomeness!
Not only did I discover a new website to frequent, but I won a book too! I won't stop grinning for the rest of the day for sure, lol.
If it's still available I'd love to try out Lara Adrian's Veil Of Midnight!
Who knows... it might be the start of a new series addiction for me...(just what I need)
:D
Joyfully Reviewed looking for Chat Mods and is desperately in need of editors. Should you see yourself being a part of our JR Staff, drop us a line and let us know.
loved the interview ladies. Great prizes and congrats to the winners.
Great interview!
Thank you. That is very helpful and I hope to have abook reviewed by you soon ;o)
Holy Cow! I step away and there's over 80 comments...
Lots of great info here and I can see that your site really impact readers. Bravo! That's fantastic. Afterall, you're giving us new authors some much appreciated coverage. :)
Great interview!! I can't think of a question that hasn't been asked yet. Sorry!
I do want to say that I've read A LOT of books because of the reviews from Joyfully Reviewed!! I have come to trust the ladies opinions and the truthfulness of the reviews.
THANKS Joyfully Reviewed!!
I've had so much fun poking around at Joyfully Reviewed today. It's definitely somewhere I'll have to visit often.
Thanks so much! It was a tough decision, but I'm going to choose Lora Leigh's Tanner's Scheme.
I want Melissa Schroeders Lessons in Seduction! Woo Hoo!!!!
I just had a bit of a brain fart....i am not sure how to contact y'all....or will that be posted later? :D
Thanks again for the blog/interview/fun/stuff :D
Woo Hoo.....I get to pick a book and I'm going for a new to me author if its available still Miranda Neville - Never Resist Temptation (arc)
Thank y'all
We need more people like you to spread the word about romances! As a genre, it suffers much discrimination.
Wait did I need to contact Joy. Hmmmm...I guess I'll just check back later.
Hi Joy! Great meeting you at Lori's!
And Natasha, I just came across your post about Librarian By Day and wanted to say hope you enjoy reading it!
*hugs*
Paige
@ Paige: I have it! Just need to read it now!! :D