Why should I submit reviews?

The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf is your opportunity to help other gourmets, gourmands, gastronomes, eaters, cooks and booklovers, while also finding information about books that you’re interested in. Anyone can submit a review for consideration, but they do have to put in a little time to provide information that would help others. All going well, most reviews will be published.

You don’t have to be an expert, but you do have to think about what readers need to know about books that you want to review. There are some tips at the bottom of this page.

If you are a writer or blogger wanting to increase their public profile, participating on The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf means people read your words and may want to see what you write elsewhere (e.g., on your own site, if you have one).

What can I review?

You can review new or old items. Classics, important books for a period, great reads, over-rated rubbish… it’s all worth knowing about. The only books to avoid are mass-produced, authorless “17 fat free ideas for a microwave Christmas” kind of titles. If in doubt, just contact us first.

Although we mostly refer to “books” on the site, you could also review audiovisual material (including movies) related to food, drink, eating, cooking or related social issues.

You can add a review of something that has already been reviewed on The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf, as long as your perspective is quite different. Otherwise just add a comment under the existing review.

How does it work?

There are two main types of review on The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf:

1. a “full” detailed review — providing a good description of the book, interesting points, flaws and more; 800-1400 words
2. a “short” review — providing a summary review of up to about 400 words

You can submit a review without registering by just filling out the appropriate review form. However, registered reviewers who submit quality reviews, will have preferential access to any freebies or review copies we might receive.

You can submit a review that you’ve previously published on your own website, as long as you (1) tell us beforehand and (2) you own the copyright for it.

The next step is to read the Review Guidelines page.