Receive Peer Reviews

Trying a new genre? Working out the kinks of a new plot? Testing reactions to a few cover ideas? Posting your early draft on Book Country is a fantastic way to see what's working in your manuscript so far.

Getting feedback on your manuscript is exciting. It can also be intimidating to share your work in its early stages. Eventually, though, the feedback that you've received on and off the site will help improve your work in meaningful ways and get you to the next step in your writing process: a new draft.

Because Book Country is a community of writers supporting each other, each writer must write one peer review to receive a peer review. While you can upload your manuscript and save it, you will not be able to post it for peer review until you have reviewed another member's work.

Already reviewed a manuscript written by another Book Country member? To begin receiving peer reviews on your work, just upload your manuscript and wait.

Still not sure how to receive peer reviews? These FAQs will walk you through the process:

Which feedback criteria are required to submit my manuscript for peer review?

Feedback Criteria are useful tools you can use to ask for help in specific areas of your work. The Overall Feedback is the only criteria required in order for you to post your manuscript for review, and we've selected it automatically for you.

You also have the option to select as many of the following feedback sections as you want:

• Point of View
• Voice
• Character Development
• Plot
• Dialogue
• Pacing
• Setting
• Continuity

Book Country is a community designed to help you create the best book possible, so we encourage you to select the appropriate feedback criteria that you need help with while workshopping your book.
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How do I suggest an additional feedback criteria category be added?

Send us an email at support@bookcountry.com to make suggestions.
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How are reviews posted on my book?

Book Country members are the only people who can read and review your book. View our Write Peer Reviews FAQs for more information.
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How can others provide feedback on my cover?

Ask for cover feedback in the Author Notes section. While we don't have a specific review section for your cover at this time, as you're loading your manuscript, make a note of your desire for others to critique your cover in the Author Notes section. You can also share your cover via social media in order to get feedback from a wider audience.
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How do I change my cover image during peer review?

From your Dashboard. Log in to your account and navigate to your Dashboard. Select the manuscript containing the cover you wish to change and click Edit. From here, click on the cover tab and you can start a new design. See our Upload My Manuscript FAQs for more information on how to create a cover.
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How do I submit a new version of my manuscript for peer review?

It's easy. If you're logged in, you can edit your manuscript directly on the Book Country site through our online manuscript editor. Once you're satisfied with the changes, post the updated manuscript in order to make it available for review.

You can also make your edits offline and simply re-upload your continuous document by clicking on Edit from your dashboard. This will also save over your older versions, so make sure to keep a copy of your versions on your own computer. Your reviews associated with the previous version will still be shown and attributed to that version on your book details page.

Please note, make sure that if you use our online editor to edit, you save a copy of your draft for your own records before you begin making edits. Your new draft will save over the previous version.
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What information can I change on a new version?

Everything except the title and subtitle. You can directly edit your book elements as well as your book details (about the book, genre, about the author, chapter names and order, audience level, keywords, author's note, and feedback criteria) at any time on the Book Country site by clicking the Edit link from your dashboard. You cannot edit your title or subtitle.
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Do I need to complete a peer review each time I change or update my manuscript?

No. You may post as many versions as needed of the same manuscript without completing additional peer reviews, but for each new title posted, you will need to complete a peer review (one review per one title posted).
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How can I see reviews on past drafts of my manuscript?

Navigate to the drop down selection on the Peer Review page in order to see past reviews on different versions of your manuscript.

Please note: you will not be able to see past versions of your manuscripts.
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How are overall ratings calculated?

Your overall ratings are based mostly on your category ratings; essentially, the more categories for which reviewers enter feedback and ratings—character, grammar, etc.—the less each section weighs.
Book Country uses nib ratings to help writers understand how much work is needed on their book and how ready the manuscript is for publication.

When you write a review, you will be asked to give nib ratings for overall feedback, as well as for each of the feedback criteria a writer has chosen. Each of those ratings is then averaged using a unique weighting system to calculate the average rating of your review. Each feedback criteria category is weighted at 10% with the remainder counted as overall feedback. For example, if you enter feedback on plot, pacing, and character development, each of those categories would be worth 10% (totaling 30%) and the overall feedback would be rated at 70%.

Bear in mind that a low rating doesn't mean a book is bad, but it does mean a book needs work. Think of the nib ratings on a scale of rough draft to final draft. Everything on Book Country is a "Work In Progress" and every book, even ones by bestselling authors, has room for improvement. That's why we're sharing our work in the first place!
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How can I access my manuscripts already posted for peer review?

After you login, navigate to your Dashboard. There you will see two sections: Books in Peer Review with your manuscript titles listed that are available for peer review and eBook Publishing Projects with your published books listed.

You may also search for your own book through keywords of your book details.
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How can I take my manuscript down from peer review?

Delete it. After you login navigate to your Dashboard. You will see your manuscripts available for Peer Review. If you no longer wish for your manuscript to be available for review, click the Delete button located next to the title you wish to remove.

Please use the delete button with caution, as you will not be able to recover the work, reviews or comments. If you delete a manuscript from peer review, you won't be able to publish that work on Book Country unless you upload it again later.
One of the benefits of peer review is that you're also building the first audience for your book. We encourage you to keep at least a few chapters of the book on Book Country to help new fans discover your work.
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How do I publish my manuscript in peer review?

It's easy. Login to your account and navigate to your Dashboard. Click on Edit, and you'll see a Publish Now button. Once you click that, your manuscript will be removed from Peer Review.

Please be careful; once you confirm your intent to move to publishing, there is no way to revert back to peer review.

Once you move your manuscript from Peer Review to the publishing online editor, the editor will find and highlight any formatting errors that need to be fixed. Refer to our Upload my Manuscript FAQs and follow our Guides and Best Practices in order to quickly navigate through creating your best eBook.
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