Q: Who wrote this?
A: The person writing any given review or article will be attributed in the byline and a helpful bio for non-staff writers will appear on the bottom of the post as well.
Q: Do I have to be Jewish to enjoy this site?
A: Nope. Not all. In fact, part of the impetus to set up the site was to help readers who are not Jewish appreciate Jewish literature. We welcome all readers!
Q: Do I have to be Jewish to send in a submission?
A: Yes. The purpose of the site is to let Jewish publishing professionals share their perspectives on Jewish books. These books can be enjoyed by a wide audience but the focus of this particular blog is to view them through a Jewish lens. To show what it means for a writer/reader to see themselves reflected on the page. In each review you should hopefully go on a journey of Jewish learning and experience with the reviewer. It would be impossible to write this without being Jewish.
By the same token this means the book must have some form of Jewish content. That means some of our staff’s own books are not eligible to be reviewed. We’re cool with it.
Q: Define Jewish. I’m XYZ but I do ZYX am I Jewish enough? Can I contribute?
A: Nobody can or should be defining your religious observance for you. This website is open to contributions from Jews of all backgrounds. We ask that readers remember this and not question someones Jewishness. The same goes for the rep found in the books reviewed. It is fine to state what that rep is, but only in a way that is non judgmental.
Q: I am unpublished/unagented. Can I contribute?
A: Yep! We do not care where you are in your publishing process or even whether you WANT to publish your words. What matters is that you are someone who enjoys writing and relates to the world with the written word.
Q: I am a librarian/editor/agent. Can I contribute?
A: Yes! However we ask that you not write a review of a book that you wrote, agented or edited. For obvious conflict of interest reasons. Please do feel free to nominate those books for review by someone else though.
Q: Can I send an arc/book for review?
A: You are welcome to send an arc/book but we cannot guarantee to review it. This is a book recommendation site, not a traditional review site. We don’t focus on negativity and therefore don’t post about books we did not enjoy. Plus, we get a little back logged sometimes. If timing is super critical for whatever reason, please let us know that. We’ll do our best to accommodate.
Please use our google form here to nominate a book: CLICK FOR FORM
You can nominate any book with Jewish content regardless of when it was/is due to be published. You are very welcome to nominate you own book! In addition, it is fine to nominate a book for which review copies are not available. Libraries are a thing and we belong to some very good ones. Plus, maybe one day we’ll have a purchasing budget (lolsob)!
Q: Must a review be all positive?
A: No. This is a recommendation site rather than a typical review site so we don’t publish excessively negative reviews, but a review should include the honest experience the reviewer had while reading it. We won’t tolerate hate speech of any form in a review but it is fine to point out things you did not enjoy.
Q: Can I review my own book?
A: No, but you are welcome to pitch a related piece that includes information about your book. You are also welcome to submit your book for review by someone else. See the nominate a book form.
Q: Can I review a book that has already been reviewed?
A: In an effort to post reviews for as many books as possible We’re going to limit to one review per book for now. Feel free to leave a comment on the already existing review!
You might also consider writing a book round up, in which many books sharing a similar theme/trope/idea are gathered together by an intrepid reader who expounds upon this theme. Those posts are extremely popular and almost always include books already reviewed.
Q: How do I submit a pitch?
A: Check out the submissions page!
Q: What do I do if I feel the website has featured something harmful?
A: Please email BookishlyJewish @ gmail.com or use the Contact page. We prefer you come directly to us rather than using social media so we can have a chance to rectify the situation and make amends. We’re a tiny volunteer team, with active day jobs and family obligations, and thus not able to keep up with everything at lightening speed so we appreciate your help and patience. Things may escape us but we are more than happy to have issues corrected.
Q: Help someone reviewed my book and the buy link/author name etc. etc. has a mistake
A: Thank you so much for checking out the page and reading your review. We’re sorry something got messed up. Email BookishlyJewish @ gmail.com for corrections. Also feel free to send better quality/hi res photos of your cover art (with an attribution to the artist). We’re doing our best but not every publisher makes this easily available and a lot of authors don’t put hi res photos on their websites.
Side bar – authors please put hi res cover art downloads on your website so people can promote you easily!
Still have questions? Email us at BookishlyJewish @ gmail.com