My main goal when I started writing this blog, and on social media, was always to get books into the hands of readers and making good book ...

Review Policy

Wednesday, May 08, 2019 BookBairn 0 Comments

My main goal when I started writing this blog, and on social media, was always to get books into the hands of readers and making good book matches connecting readers and stories. I have therefore always shared books that we truly love and adore. Over the years I have been sent hundreds of free books for review which I was thrilled about, but in the last year or so it has started to feel less like a hobby and more like an unpaid job and therefore I am working through a transition time at the moment where I am phasing out accepting free copies of books in exchange for review. 

What this means:

I am getting in touch with publishers to discuss this change in procedure and opening conversations about receiving payment (rather than simply a free book) in exchange for my time, experience and sharing with this wonderful community of book lovers that have joined me over the years. Publishers are welcome to request my rates card and thus far the majority have been understanding and supportive.


How will this affect my reviews?

Well, first and foremost: you will still only ever see books that the bairns and I enjoy. That has and always will be the case.

Reviews which I am being paid for will be marked as AD.

You will continue to see some books I have been sent for free on my social media channels which will be marked as AD -PR Product as I still have a teetering review pile.

You are likely to see more library copies and copies of books that I have bought myself in my reviews. This means that my feed will return to a more steady balance of sharing books that we genuinely love and not simply the best of books we have been sent recently.

It should be a small and subtle change for readers but is a massive shift for me in both my mindset (i.e. valuing my time and experience and knowing my worth) and in the relationships I have with publishers.

Thank you for your ongoing support and engagement with reviews and mostly, above all, thank you for being as passionate about books as me and sharing that love with your young readers. As I said at the start, this was always what I wanted. 

Review Policy

We are always happy (delighted, in fact) to hear from publishers, authors and illustrators about books and review opportunities.


Books which are sent by publishers, authors and illustrators free for review purposes will be labelled clearly on our social media as "AD PR Product". Books that have been reviewed for a fee will be labelled as AD . On the blog, each post will be labelled with an appropriate disclaimer as to where the books came from.


What we like
We are interested in all sort of books but BookBairn particularly likes books aimed at children who are learning to read. She loves picture books with a slightly longer story, engaging characters and illustrations that bring to life the story. She also loves non-fiction books about the world around us and animals, especially if they have an interactive element like lift-the-flaps or pull tabs and twist wheels. We are beginning to look for early chapter books to explore together too. The Wee Page Turner loves touch and feel books, lift-the-flaps or other sorts of interactive books. He is particularly fond of books which rhyme and also enjoys exploring books where the illustrations elude to a slightly different version of events than the text. 


This Review Policy was last updated 26 September 2021. Feel free to contact me using the information on our contact us page here or email bookbairn [at] gmail.com 

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