Litarena FAQ-style Info
How can I get involved?
If you've written a book and would like it reviewed, then first you must donate a book review to one of the portals on the litarena website. We have a list of famous books, which are freely available on the Internet, which we are keen to obtain reviews of. The Litarena website would be obliged if you would review George Orwell's Animal Farm, or 1984. We would also like a review of any (pair of) Sherlock Holmes stories that are freely available for download from here. Please take care to ensure that your book review is thorough, detailed and between four hundred and eight hundred words long.
From the following list We are interested in works by the following authors:
Wilkie Collins, (particularly welcome would be a review of The Moonstone.)
Edgar Allan Poe, (particularly welcome would be a review of The Murders in the Rue Morgue)
GK Chesterton, (Father Brown stories to be reviewed in groups of three or four.)
Robert Louis Stevenson - Kidnapped
Edgar Wallace (Novels to be reviewed in pairs.)
When can I submit my own book?
The best time to submit your own book is once you have written and edited the book review which you are going to submit to the Litarena website. The reason for this is that we store the information about which books have been submitted for review, and which books have already been reviewed, in the same place. And, as stated, new writers don't become eligible to have their own books reviewed until after they have submitted a book review of an already famous and freely available book, and had their book reviews accepted. For obvious reasons we will not accept book reviews which are error-prone or unoriginal.
What format should my book be in?
Although we accept ebooks and traditional books, in the latter case we strongly recommend that you follow a design methodology when it comes to creating your book. Litarena has a simple but effective design methodology called "Group Publishing." Its definition is below.
Can I submit a work which is still in progress?
In short, yes. Although it's probably not advisable to do so! We define a work which is still in progress as one which contains spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, has no book cover, or has a cover which is poorly designed, and so on. We will review a work in progress, but we will point out the errors in the book. And this is probably not what you want us to do. Once our review is complete we will then publish the book review on the Litarena website and once published that's the way our reviews remain. We do not amend or revise them.
How do I get feedback if my work is not yet ready for a review?
We recommend the Lulu forum at http://www.lulu.com as an excellent place for writers to discuss their work while it's still being created. There you will receive free advice on grammar, punctuation, spelling, book design, cover design and so on.
What is Group Publishing?
New phrase, 'Group publish,' (Invented by Patrick Mackeown 20th February 2008) Group publish, verb. To coordinate or to take part in the production of a book, where the tasks of writing, editing, typesetting, laying out, graphically designing, covering, summarising, proof-reading, detailed reading, reviewing and copyrighting the product are all carried out by separate specialists.
Explanation:
Group publishing is distinguished from previously known forms of book production, such as mainstream, independent and self publishing in so far as the separate specialists are unlikely to belong to a single organisation. Although necessarily practised in their respective fields, in relation to this particular endeavour, they may be volunteers. The end product, the book, however, is necessarily indistinguishable from that of a mainstream or independently published book insofar as all of its composite parts have been produced by, and all of its tasks have been performed by, trained specialists in each of their respective fields.
Can I take part in Litarena's activities if I've written non-fiction?
Yes, all authors are very welcome to join Litarena's online literary festival and forum.
http://www.litarena.com/books/festival_issue1.php
http://www.litarena.com/discussion/
I want feedback on my manuscript. How do I get some?
You need to choose between feedback and a Litarena book review. We don't give the same author both.
If you would rather have feedback than a formal book review then please visit our critiquing circle
here:
Alternatively, if you would rather have a formal book review, we will write and publish a review of
your work. But we do not discuss the book reviewing process and nor do we amend, update or revise or
book reviews. An exception to this rule would be if an author submitted a second edition. In that
case he would receive two book reviews, one for each edition. However, both reviews would be published
on the website and he would need to have submitted two book reviews of his own.
What genres can I submit for review?
Litarena.com is designed to review only group published* (* see definition above) unpublished and lulu-published or independently-published novels. Please do not submit: plays, film scripts, biographies, memoirs and non-fiction. Please do not submit offensive material of any description.
What if my book has been published by a publisher?
Books published by mainstream publishers, no matter how small those publishers might be, are not eligible to be reviewd by litarena.com. The purpose of the website is solely and specifically to classify, polished and edited/(self-edited), completed, group-published, independently-published and unpublished, novel-length fiction.
