STACKED welcomes your input and accepts material for review. We are honest and critical in our reviews, but acknowledge the five laws of Ranganathan. We believe that nearly all materials have an audience, and it is our goal to help identify that audience. Periodically we will post reviews for books that did not work for us, but we strive to identify strengths and readers who would find the book a perfect fit.
Our blog receives good traffic, with an average of between 70,000 and 90,000 hits per month, as of September 2015.
We are selective in accepting pitches. The best way to approach us is to be familiar with our review policy and contact us with some knowledge of why your book would be a good fit with our reading interests and preferences. We respond to those pitches in which we’re interested in only. Please do not follow up with us on review requests.
We cannot make guarantees for reviews or other blog features, but we make our best effort to read and review what we receive. Our collective email address is stacked.books [at] gmail [dot] com and you can find our individual contact information below.
Genres of Interest
We accept most genres, though we have preferences as outlined below. We do not accept self-published titles unless it is by an author with a proven track record, and we do not accept e-books unless we request it specifically (via Netgalley or Edelweiss). Pitches including unrequested e-books will not be opened, and pitches for e-only books will generally not be considered. Our decision in this has to do with not just time but audience.
Genres of most interest include:
– Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade: realistic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, coming-of-age, mystery/thriller, historical fiction, and romance are favorites.
– Adult and Young Adult Non-Fiction: contemporary issues, social issues, psychology, cook books, history books that tell about lesser-known events or that put a new twist on well-known events, memoirs or biographies.
Kelly’s Preferences
I prefer contemporary YA, but I also love adult non-fiction, genre-bending books (especially magical realism), and psychological thrillers of the YA or adult variety. I’m also partial to horror.
Favorite authors include CK Kelly Martin, Blake Nelson, Nova Ren Suma, Courtney Summers, Siobhan Vivian, Melissa Walker, and Blythe Woolston. You can get an idea of favorite specific titles across all genres on my GoodReads page.
Kimberly’s Preferences
My favorite genres include science fiction and fantasy (including dystopias/post-apocalyptic stories), mysteries/thrillers (especially heist stories), historical fiction, and some contemporary fiction. These hold across both YA and adult fiction. I’m also an audio book listener in any of these genres. Please feel free to pitch me your full-color, plot-driven graphic novels, too.
Examples of favorite recent reads include Ilsa Bick’s Ashes, S. A. Bodeen’s The Raft, Vera Brosgol’s Anya’s Ghost, Ally Carter’s Heist Society series, Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Kim Harrington’s Clarity, Pete Hautman’s Obsidian Blade, A. S. King’s Everybody Sees the Ants, Y. S. Lee’s Mary Quinn mysteries, Michaela MacColl’s Prisoners in the Palace, Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series, Meg Rosoff’s There Is No Dog, Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Amy Kathleen Ryan’s Glow, Laura Wiess’ novels, Gene Yang’s work, and Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.
Genres Generally Not Accepted
Please do not pitch us paranormal/paranormal romance, morality tales, religious/inspirational fiction, or self-published titles unless you have a proven track record of traditional publication.
Formats Accepted
We accept print books, including graphic novels in any of our preferred genres. We also accept audio books. As noted above, we do NOT accept e-only books, and any ebooks we receive will be deleted.
Cross-posting
We link our reviews not only to the blog, but also to our respective Goodreads accounts (Kelly, Kimberly), to Twitter (Kelly, Kimberly), and to other sites as time permits.
Giveaways and Other Features
While our goal is to promote reading, we are selective in accepting books for blog tours unless it fits well within our genre interests. We are, however, receptive to author interviews, guest posts, and other similar opportunities. We will not participate in a tour, interview or giveaway if we are not offered the opportunity to review material beforehand.
Giveaway Policy
All giveaways are one entry per person, unless otherwise specified. Parameters of any giveaway are listed, and sources are disclosed. Only entries received via designated entry forms will be accepted, in respect for the privacy of our readers. All giveaways are open only to those 13 and older. Winners are notified via email.
Privacy Statement
We respect the privacy of all publishers and of those who enter contests we may hold. Therefore, no publisher’s contact information will be shared with others and no personal information of readers who enter our contests will be shared.
More, no information about readers is shared. All information about contest entrants is deleted upon completion of the contest.
Disclosures
Per FTC guidelines, we disclose where we have received our review items. While we believe our reviews speak for themselves, we disclose any personal relationships we may have out of respect to our readers.
We are happy to have you stop by!