Below is a detailed review of how the Compulsion Reads book evaluation and endorsement process works. If you haven’t already, we suggest you first read about the endorsement to understand our book endorsement philosophy.
We accept completed manuscripts in all genres of fiction except for poetry, children's picture books and screenplays. We also accept creative nonfiction. Manuscripts may be published, self-published, or not yet published. If a book is not yet published, we strongly suggest submitting the latest, most complete version of the manuscript. (See our Submission Guidelines)
We charge a fee for our book evaluation service. The price is based on the length of your manuscript and starts at $19.99. (See our Pricing Guide) Please note that paying for a book evaluation does not guarantee that you’ll earn a Compulsion Reads Endorsement. Your manuscript will earn the endorsement if it meets the Compulsion Reads endorsement quality standards.
Once you successfully submit your work, you will receive an email confirmation from Compulsion Reads. Your novel is now officially on its journey across the choppy seas of evaluation.
We know that it can be hard to let go of your baby.
Fear not. Once submitted, your novel will make its way into the care of one of our trained Compulsion Reads book evaluators. All of our evaluators are incredibly passionate about reading and have a deep sense of respect for authors.
The entire book evaluation process can take up to five weeks to complete and consists of two stages. Initially, the book evaluator will read the first five chapters of the manuscript or the first 100 pages, whichever comes first. They will then apply the Compulsion Reads endorsement criteria to this portion of the manuscript.
Every book submitted for our review will at least go through this first stage. If the manuscript passes the initial evaluation, the book evaluator will then proceed to read the entire novel. At the end of the novel, the evaluator will again apply the Compulsion Reads endorsement standards to the manuscript.
If the full manuscript meets all of the endorsement standards, the evaluator will recommend the endorsement. If any of the standards are missing or lacking, the book evaluator will recommend against endorsement.
We recognize that everyone, even our trained book evaluators, is subjective to some degree, which is why we’ve also implemented a quality control component within our book evaluation process. After the evaluator has recommended for or against the endorsement of a novel, a quality control (QC) expert will review a random portion of the manuscript to double check the evaluator’s accuracy. If the QC expert disagrees with the evaluator’s recommendation, the manuscript will go through another review process with an alternative book evaluator.
If the book evaluator recommends endorsement after reading your complete novel and the QC expert agrees, your novel will officially receive a Compulsion Reads Endorsement. Hooray!
We will send you a congratulatory email that includes directions to access your new endorsement assets and the book review from your novel’s evaluator.
As an endorsed author, you will be allowed (encouraged, actually) to place a Compulsion Reads Endorsement Seal on the cover of your novel. You will also gain access to a badge that you can place on your website and various social networking platforms, as well as marketing templates to announce the good news to friends and family.
But wait, there’s more! If your novel is already published, it will be placed in the Compulsion Reads Endorsed Books Library, where readers who visit our site looking for the best indie books can now find you. If your book really knocks our evaluator’s socks off, it may even land on our homepage as a Irresistible Collection.
Now that your novel has the Compulsion Reads Endorsement Seal on its cover, is featured on our site, receives all the love of the continuous marketing efforts we provide our endorsed authors, and has been tirelessly promoted by yourself (right, right?), we hope that you’ll see increased sales of your novel and a growing, dedicated readership.
If your novel does not pass our endorsement process, either during the initial review or full review, you will receive an email notification. It makes for an unhappy day. We know. We feel it too.
We don’t think it’s fair to leave you in the dark as to why your novel didn’t pass. (We’re not total meanies). So, we will include your reviewer’s evaluation sheet with the email, so you can see exactly which area or areas we found lacking. Additionally, your book evaluator will also include a short note of explanation and constructive feedback.
It’s easy to get angry or frustrated or to just give up in the face of setbacks, but if you don’t earn our book endorsement we strongly urge you not to see this as a rejection. Instead, see it as an indicator that your novel simply might not be ready for the marketplace just yet. Review the evaluation sheet and consider the evaluator’s notes. We truly want to help you get the Compulsion Reads Endorsement.
Living and growing is all about overcoming adversity. When life knocks you down, get back up, brush off your laptop, edit the hell out of your manuscript, and resubmit.
We allow all authors who did not pass our book evaluation process to edit and resubmit their manuscript two additional times. To resubmit, authors will be required to pay the full submission price. There is one exception to this rule.
We thought it seemed kind of unfair to make authors pay the full submission price if their novels didn’t pass the initial evaluation stage. To this end, if your novel does not pass the initial book evaluation, you will be allowed to edit and resubmit your manuscript for review within 60 days free of charge.
Before you submit, please take some time to edit your manuscript, paying particular attention to the area or areas of weakness that the evaluator pointed out. Edit good and deep. Embrace editing. Become the edit.
