Professionally Reviewed. Expanding Discovery.
Publishing your book is a major accomplishment. Helping readers discover it is the next chapter. Open Shelf Reviews gives your book the professional editorial attention it deserves. Every review is written by an experienced reviewer who provides an honest, independent editorial evaluation. The result is more than a review, it's a credible editorial asset you can use to strengthen your marketing, reach new readers, and expand your book's visibility.
Why Professional Reviews Matter
Professional reviews help books get discovered. They provide independent editorial credibility that librarians, educators, booksellers, reviewers, media, and readers trust when evaluating new titles.
Whether you're preparing for publication, launching a new release, or building long-term visibility, a professional review becomes an asset you can share across your website, social media, sales materials, metadata, retailer pages, and promotional campaigns.
Open Shelf Reviews exists to make that opportunity accessible to authors and publishers who have historically had fewer avenues to obtain professional editorial reviews.
Three Steps to a Professional Review
Choose Your Review Tier
Select the category that best fits your book: Picture Book, Young Readers, Novellas, Poetry, and shorter Nonfiction, or Standard Fiction and Nonfiction.
See full pricing, word counts, and delivery times (including expedited reviews if you're in a time crunch) on our Pricing page.
Submit Your Book
Complete your purchase and upload your finished digital galley through our secure submission platform and publishing partner, Dapple. You will receive a confirmation message with upload instructions immediately after checkout. Have your author photo (optional) ready, a cover image, a two-line bio, and a 40-word lede; that lede will appear in searches and elsewhere.
Be sure to complete the field with a longer author profile in the submission form; this will also help spread the news about your book.
Receive Your Review
Up to 6 weeks (4 weeks, expedited) a professional reviewer from our editorial board will evaluate your book and deliver a completed review. Dapple tracks this process closely, and your author dashboard will show the progress of your title through the system.
Once you receive a link to your review, you can keep the evaluation private and use it for revision, marketing, or internal planning. If we don't hear otherwise, we'll publish it on Open Shelf Reviews, where it becomes part of a growing catalog discoverable by librarians, educators, booksellers, and readers.