So you wrote a book, & now you need reviews 😁

I can help you connect with more readers, find your people, & get more subscribers to your own Substack

I want to expand my monthly 3-book battles to include those of you who recently published a book or are about to publish one!

You have labored over your work for so long, and I want to help you reach more potential fans of your work. Also, I support all writers regardless of how you published.

It’s simple:

• Send me images of your book cover, the first page, a middle page, and the final page (I will use these images on my blog like as in previous posts…).

• You get a minimum of one promotion via the voting round where all my subscribers will see your book and hear about it in my newsletter.

• PLUS you get chance for a full review if my subscribers vote for your book! Your review will be published here on my Substack blog and emailed to my subscribers, PLUS I can do a condensed version of the review to post on my GoodReads.

• And it doesn’t cost you anything.

• Please just link to my blog post on your social media accounts (and/or here on Substack Notes).

If you’re new here and haven’t seen my book battles before, they look like this:

This month’s battle of escapist fantasy & historical/regency 📚

A battle with a tie-breaker round!

My most popular book reviews so far include:

1. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (400+ views and counting!)

2. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

3. The Binding by Bridget Collins

The only book genres I don’t review are:

• Erotica (I’ve read it occasionally, but not reviewing it on Substack, sorry)

• Extreme horror (you know, like IT by Stephen King or something that could be filmed in the style of the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” – some horror genres I love though…browse my book blog reviews to see which ones I’m talking about 😊)

• High-brow literary fiction (If readers compare it to Hemingway, and/or the book has no real “plot” so that you get to the end of the story without seeing any real big changes, then that’s a no for me. More on what I mean about Literary fiction on this blog post here.)

Here’s how you can submit your book:

Gather your materials:

• For the initial voting round, you don’t have to send me the full digital copy of your book. All I need are a clear image in .jpg format of the cover art, the first page, a middle page, and the final page. If your book wins the vote, then I’ll message you and request the full copy.

• Next, please subscribe to my newsletter if you haven’t already (the basic plan is free & gives you previews of everything plus all free book reviews). Then tell me which email address you subscribed from so that I can verify it in your submission.

• Please also send proof of work for your novel. This is important to verify that you didn’t create it over the weekend with an AI program or tool; you didn’t steal the work from someone else; and you have spent significant time and energy to develop a great book. This book review program is only open to those who have worked on their book for at least 1 year.

  • Proof of work can include any one of the following:

    • A screenshot (or better, a short video clip filmed from your phone) that zooms in on the creation date of your book’s first draft on your computer. This can be found in Scrivener > Project > Writing History
      …or if you use Google docs, it’s under “version history”
      …or zoom in on any file screen in the writing program you use that shows the original version creation date.

    • A link to a post you made on a public social media account about your book when you were working on it a year ago or older. (The post has to be more detailed than, “I’m writing a book & it’s so hard 😭” because that could obviously apply to any book. The post should mention or display key details that could only apply to THIS book you are submitting.

Then send them to me through this direct messaging portal:

And if for any reason that mode of communication doesn’t work for you, then you can email your submission to me at jwellenhallnovelist@substack.com

Upcoming posts on this blog…

For now, my blogging schedule includes a total of 3 posts per month:

• The first week is normally the voting round post on which book to read & review.

• This week is my big announcement post 😁 and then next month, either the 2nd or third week will be a Novelist Uncensored post (behind the scenes of building a novel). I’m currently in a structural revisions phase.

• The final week is when I post my in-depth book review of the winner from the voting round.

I’m still working on the final episode of Season 2 in my Comedy Sci-Fi series that’s now set for the last weekend of this month (unless several levels of stress in my life miraculously disappear before then to give me more time to write😉).

🆕 > I am developing a series of posts on self-care for writers – a hugely important topic these days, so keep an eye out for that too starting next month. Those posts will be in my Novelist Uncensored section.

BTW, Substack is even more accessible in the app now, which is totally free, and it will even read posts aloud to you when you use the app on your phone. It’s like a million audiobooks & mags in your pocket 😉