I just joined the YABC Community. What do I do now?
Hey, thanks for joining! We're so happy you're here! There are many ways to start interacting with the YABC Community. Post a review of a recent book you read, add a book to our database that isn't there, join (or start!) a book club or discussion group, upload an avatar, send some friend requests, enter our giveaways, browse book listings, check out some community videos. Whatever you choose to do on YABC, we hope you have fun and spread the word about all the awesome new books you discover here. 
 

What are the guidelines for posting reviews?
First of all, YABC does not allow flaming or trolling. We cannot stress this enough. Your reviews should be helpful to the book community. You can certainly post a negative review if you didn't like a book, but you must explain why you didn't like it in a helpful and courteous manner. We all know how easy it is to rant and rave online, but YABC is not the place for that. When you write a review on YABC, it's helpful to pretend you will be reading the review in front of your entire school. Be eloquent. Be informative. Give your opinion in a manner that is considerate of your audience. I know the Internet can seem nameless and faceless, but believe me, the Internet is an audience. Authors will read your reviews. Publishers will read your reviews. Teachers, parents, librarians, and other kids will read your reviews. Use your voice to help others like you find the books they truly enjoy. Don't use it to complain or rant or throw daggers at someone. Private book club meetings or face-to-face conversations with friends are a great place to express boiling frustration about a book. YABC, however, is a fun and positive environment for readers looking for their next favorite book. Let's keep it that way.

Other than that, please do not use profanity or post meaningless gobbledygook. Your review will just be deleted. 

Do not flag a review unless it has inappropriate content. Our staff must personally assess each flagged review, and flagging for the fun of it just wastes time for everyone involved. 

Negative or harrassing comments on reviews will not be tolerated. Your membership may be revoked and your comments deleted. Again, it's just a waste of time. 
 

I'm an author. Would you like to review my book?
(Last updated August 2012) If your book is published through a trade publisher, feel free to send a galley to YABooksCentral.com 9864 E. Grand River, Ste 110 #230, Brighton, MI 48116 for consideration. Please be aware that we receive hundreds of books every year. We make every effort to review books in a timely manner, but some *may* be reviewed quite a bit down the line or not at all. Review copies received that are not reviewed are either donated or given away.

Additionally, please understand that YA Books Central does not require editors to review titles they don't like. They can, but they don't have to. Some editors may, depending upon how the particular book affected them. If you send a book and it receives a negative review, please understand that things like that happen, and the opinions of that editor may not necessarily be the opinions of other YABC staffers.
 

Until then, we encourage you to add your Indie book to our database, then point your readers to our site so they can post their reviews on your book listing page. We also encourage self-published and independent authors to create a community profile so they can interact with our readers. See: How can I promote a book or author on your site? below for more information.

1. Add a book/author

I noticed inappropriate content on the site. What can I do?
If you notice something inappropriate in a review (such as profanity or gobbledygook or personally identifiable information like a phone number or email address), you can report that review by clicking on the exclamation icon at the bottom right of the review. The review link will then be sent to us so we can take appropriate action (either editing or deleting the review). If a reader has inappropriate content on their community profile, or they are using their community profile to harass another user, you can click the "Report this user" icon at the top of their profile page.


Can you post a chapter of my book in your Excerpts section?
The excerpts section is currently unavailable. We hope to have it up and running in the near future. 


Hey, I submitted a bio/excerpt/interview and I don't see it yet. Where is it?
Bios, excerpts, and interviews have been temporarily removed from the site while we work on an improved submission system. We hope to get them back up in the near future.


I have a paper to write. Can you write it for me?
You're certainly welcome to search the site for the info you need, but the whole purpose of going to school is learning things yourself. Having someone write something for you or hand it to you on a silver platter kind of defeats the purpose. Not to mention we've got lots more fun things to do, like read new books.


Where can I find out what's new on the site?
The best place to go is the home page of YABC or KBC. All the latest editor reviews will be showcased there, as well as any important announcements we may make. You can also check out the YA Books Central Blog, and follow the blog to stay informed. There you'll find a listing of all the latest stuff posted to the site, announcements, interviews, giveaway news, and things like that.


Hey! I submitted a review and it wasn't posted! What gives?
Well, it might be because your review didn't qualify for posting. A review, to be posted (and also to count towards earning a free book), MUST contain some merit. Just saying "I love it" or "I hate it" isn't enough, and repeating the exact same thing for more than one book definitely doesn't count. Reviews must also be over 250 characters long and less than 8000 characters (though most people never come close to the limit). Check out How to Write a Book Review for some hints on what a good review contains. You don't have to have all of the elements by any means, but it will give you an idea what we're looking for.


How long will it take for you to review my book?
That's hard to say. It varies for every editor we have on staff. Sometimes we'll get to it pretty quick, other times it may be quite a while. We don't have a set time frame because a lot of factors affect when a book is reviewed: a) how many books are already in our review queue, b) whether we're already working with an author and/or publisher to coordinate a review with a book's launch, c) our personal interest in the book (hey, we're human), d) the potential interest level of the site readers, e) whether we've recently reviewed another of your books or even books from the same publisher or a book with the same general plot.


Does YA Books Central publish negative reviews?
The answer to this is both yes and no. It really depends upon the reviewer (and I'm talking here about staff reviews, not reader reviews...reader reviews definitely run the gamut). Some staff reviewers choose not to review a book if they didn't like it. All that we ask of our staff reviewers is that they be honest in their opinions. Does that mean that sometimes a book that an author or publisher has sent for review gets a negative review? Yes, it does. But the opinions of that reviewer may not necessarily be the opinions of other YABC staffers, and may not be the opinions of the readers. That's why we allow reader reviews on all the books in our database -- we want a full range of opinions, not just one from one reviewer.


Can you publish my book?
Nope. YABC is not a publisher.


Where do the books you give away come from?
For monthly sponsored giveaways, a publisher or publicity company donates those copies. For our reader review giveaways, we choose from our Prize Shelf: a collection of books we've received for review. 

Do you ever not review a book sent to you?
Yes. At this point, YABC receives so many books for review that there is no way to review them all, even with all of the (awesome!) volunteer staff reviewers who work on the site. At times, books will also not be reviewed because the reviewer didn't like it, or because it is the 5th book in a series (for example) and none of our staff reviewers have read the previous books. Books that are not reviewed eventually wind up on the Prize Shelf or are donated to a worthy cause.


I'm interested in advertising on your site. What do I need to do?
Great! Please fill out this form for advertising info. We'll send you an Ad Kit right away.


I'm a publisher/author/publicist and I'd like to sponsor a giveaway on the site. What do I do?
Just drop us a note at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with all the details and we'll see what we can do. Contests/giveaways are planned months in advance and slots fill up quickly, so please don't wait! 

*Note* Due to too many unfulfilled commitments (where YABC was left holding the bag), we are no longer accepting giveaways from Indie or self-published authors. No exceptions. We feel horrible that a few irresponsible individuals had to ruin it for everyone else, but we are a volunteer-run organization and simply do not have the budget to cover these extra expenses.


I love the site! How can I help make it successful?
Thanks for asking! This site is a labor of love run by passionate volunteers. There are a number of ways you can help out:

• Most importantly: Get the word out! Tell your friends, your neighbors, your enemies! The more people that visit, the better. If you have a website, please add a link to the site. You can also add an awesome YABC badge to your site! Pick out your favorite one here: YABC Badges
   
• Enter the giveaways!
   
• Participate! Enter the contests and giveaways. Submit reader reviews! Chat with others in the YABC community! Leave a comment on a review! Start a discussion! Start a fan group! Read other people's reviews! Check out our blog!
   
• Advertise on the site! (We will, however, only accept ads that are family friendly and on-topic.)

Hey, I won a prize. Do I have to pay for shipping?
Nope. Free really does mean free on YABC!


I'm an author/editor/publicist/illustrator. Would you like to interview me?
We are not looking for interview opportunities at this time.


I've written a book. Can you help me get it published?
No, I can't. But we did put together a page of hints and tips to help you get started.
 

What is the "Indies" section?
The Indies section is a new section that highlights the latest small press and self-published books added to YABC. Readers are always asking us for great Indie suggestions to download on their ereaders, so we developed this section to make it easier for them to locate awesome, affordable Indie books with one click.
 

I'm an Indie author. How do I list my book in the Indie section?
All small press or self-published books must be added to YABC through our Indie section. If you are the publisher/publicist/author, simply go to the "Add a Book" link in the top menu bar, then select YA Indie or Kids Indie when adding your book to our database. There is a $3.99 fee for each Indie book added to our site. Payments are handled via PayPal. Once paid, your listing will appear in our database ASAP. You can't beat that price for instant, targeted advertising.
 

What qualifies as an "Independent publisher?"
Contrary to popular belief, "indie" does not solely mean "self-published." Independent publishers include small presses, small university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors. Some of these publishers pay royalties and distribute their books to major online bookstores.
 

What qualifies as a "Trade publisher?"
Trade publishers are publishers who pay advances to their authors, receive submissions through literary agents, and distribute their physical books to all major brick-and-mortar bookstores (including stores like Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, etc.). Trade publishers include Penguin, Scholastic, Harper, Simon and Schuster, Tor, MacMillan, Candlewick, Egmont, Lee and Low, Peachtree, OwlKids, Random House, etc.
 

Why do Indie authors have to pay for a listing, but trade publishers don't?
Trade publishers are the main supporters of YABC. Their books and immense marketing efforts across the globe drive hundreds of thousands of targeted readers to YABC each month. Without them, YABC would cease to exist. Without them, no one would see our Indie section. So, in a way, trade marketing helps independent authors, too!
 

Isn't this just a negative bias toward Indie authors/publishers?
Absolutely not. Half of our volunteer staff are Indie authors, both small press published and self-published! We LOVE being Indie authors, that's why we dedicated an entire section to these books on YABC. We bought the domain indiebookscentral.com, which we hope to drive even more traffic to in the coming months. We also hope to add volunteer reviewers to our team who solely review Indie books, so they get even more exposure on YABC. There is no negative bias here. In fact, we hope to be a major part of stopping the negative bias toward Indie pub online. Our Indie section is one step toward bridging that gap.

Isn't YABC a big Internet company? Why charge struggling small presses and authors $3.99 for a book listing?
YABC is far from a big Internet company, but we're flattered you think so! We definitely try to run YABC as professionally as we can, but the truth is, YABC is run by a handful of dedicated volunteers who do not get paid for their services. All of YABC's income goes toward keeping the website running smoothly (we get a TON of traffic, so hosting service is very pricey), as well as social media marketing efforts to keep children excited about books. We feel $3.99 is a small price to pay for such targeted exposure, and most Indie publishers and authors agree! Not only does $3.99 get a lifetime of advertising for a book on our website, but the proceeds help YABC stay afloat. Our community of teens, teachers, parents, librarians, and authors appreciate it!