Lead Reviewer Notes:
Information:
Author Members – If you submitted a query about submitting your book for a review, we will get to your book as soon as resources are available. Until you receive an email from the Lead Reviewer instructing you as to where to send a copy of your book, have patience! Emails requesting information as to the status of your request or review will not garner you any useful information.
On our website, I have posted a list of books either waiting to be assigned to a reviewer or assigned but not yet completed. (Book Review Waiting List.) Please check that list before contacting me for status. As a note, there is no way for me to provide you with time frames once the reviewer has received your book. Some reviewers read and review quickly, others take months. They are all volunteers with jobs, families, and other responsibilities. They are doing the best they can.
If you wish to submit a book for review you need to go to the menu on the right side of the website and click on "Book Review." When the dropdown opens click on "Submit Book for Review." Fill the form out completely, leave no blanks.
Review Issues:
MWSA has a code of ethics that reviewers and authors must observe. (MWSA Reviewer Code of Ethics.) Notice item number eight: "If an author contacts a reviewer or judge directly during the review process, a reviewer must report the incident to the Lead Reviewer. Authors who contact reviewers or judges about their books (by message, phone, Text, Twitter, Facebook, email or any other method of communication) during the review process will be disqualified from any award."
Contact between authors and Reviewers or Judges is restricted to a discussion of the written review only and after it is published to the website. Comments posted to either or scores are not to ever be mentioned directly or indirectly. Ethics are important and each Reviewer/Judge by volunteering agrees to follow them, if in doubt about something contact the Lead Reviewer or Joyce. Do not place your membership in jeopardy.
Authors – When contacted to send a book to a reviewer, make sure it arrives within a 10-day window. You are to send ONLY the book -- no notes or other information, which would disqualify you from the awards process. Authors and reviewers can discuss books after reviews are posted to the MWSA website. Do not ask to see your scores as they are considered confidential and not a topic for discussion. If you have questions, address them to the Lead Reveiwer.
Reviewers – if you are not reviewing a book, contact me for selections. A number of you have indicated a need for time off for various reasons, but as we are far behind in reviews we need all the help we can get. Reviewers who have had a book in hand for more than 60 days, please spend a touch more time reading to help speed things up and reduce the backlog.
Reviewers, you are required to inform the Lead Reviewer when you receive an assigned book or if an expected book doesn't show up. You should never allow more than 10 days to elapse before contacting the me in this regard. Books will be sent to MWSA at the reviewer's address. This applies to judges as well.
You may not discuss a book with anyone other than the Lead Reviewer or the MWSA President during the review period. Your assessment of a fellow member's work must be your responsibility alone, using the criteria defined by MWSA. We are building a Reviewer's Handbook which is available on this site. (Reviewer's Handbook.) You can check it for questions about criteria, how to post a review to the site, how to score a book, and other details. If you have a question not yet covered in the handbook, contact the Lead Reviewer or MWSA President for clarification. After a review has been posted on the MWSA site, you may talk about the book in public or privately with the author. However, discussion of scores with anyone at any time is, of course, not permitted.
As for the backlog, we passed last year’s total submissions in early December and still have six months to go. So, if you are among those presently reviewing a book, try to speed things up a bit. We need more reviewers, the more the better. So get off your feet, sit down at your computer and send me an email volunteering to be an active part of MWSA.
Scholarship Raffle, Prizes
Raffle tickets are still available at $25.00 each which goes toward the William McDonald Scholarship Fund. If you are not familiar with our found, you can read about him on this site. (Bill McDonald) Contact me through my profile on this site if you have any questions. The drawing will be July 15. The winner can choose between iPad or Xoom tablets.
Volunteers
You earn "Buckaroos" by volunteering for various activities within the organization. These include paying your dues and conference fees. You get them submitting articles and photos for Dispatches. If you win a medal or People's Choice Award or William E. Meyer Prize, you win a designated amount. You earn them for reviewing a book, serving as a judge, committee chairperson, speaker or panelist and more. Once Terry Gould, our membership director, gets everything loaded, you will see a growing total of Buckaroos in your profile. See a detailed explanation of our Volunteer Award System in "About Us" on this site.
The Poetry Corner is in need of stock, the cupboard is bare. Dust off those old poems or write a new one and send to me for future publication in Dispatches.
While you are at it send Mike Mullins pieces for the anthology for this year and send Joyce ones that speak to the subjects for WEM this year, be sure to enter what month you are submitting for.
How do you use dem Buckaroos?
This is MWSA’s very own monetary system. You can use your buckaroos as a medium of exchange among yourselves if you wish. However, most people use their buckaroos during an MWSA event, commonly referred to as "The Buckaroo Auction" during our annual conferences. When you register at the check-in desk at the hotel, you will be given an envelope with the number of buckaroos you have accrued in your account throughout the year. You can use them to bid on your favorite items in the auction or work deals with your fellow attendees.
Every auction is different and each has surprises, laughs and good-natured battles over items. The auction at this year’s conference in Dayton will be right after Open Mic on Friday evening -- and should prove to be the best one yet. It works this way. Throughout the year, we encourage members, partners, sponsors, and businesses to donate items for the auction. In the past, we have had things like kindles, nooks, televisions, software, jewelry, tickets to events, cash cards, etc. We are open to anything that would interest authors. When you donate an item (if you are a member), you provide us with it's value in US dollars. That value in buckaroos is credited to your account. When the item is auctioned off for buckaroos, if it sells for the same or less than your stated value, you keep your buckaroos. If it sells for more, we credit that extra amount to your account for the next year.
So please start donating your auction item and volunteer time to further enhance your organization. If you do not know what you can do, ask Joyce in an email. Let her know if you have any specific talents and how much time you may have to help out.
Here's a video of our 2009 Buckaroo Auction. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGzzfkDgosg
