Submit to relevant trade-review outlets
Submit or verify submission to Booklist
Confirm that your publisher has submitted the book to Booklist, the American Library Association's review magazine, at least 15 weeks before publication under its current rules.
Authors often hire help with this: publicity or marketing.
Why it matters
Booklist reaches the librarians who make purchasing decisions for thousands of public and school library systems, and a review there is one of the strongest library-facing signals a book can receive. Because the lead time runs to nearly four months and the submission must come from the publisher, an author who doesn't verify early usually can't fix a missed window.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher and Author. Publisher submits; author verifies
- When
- At least 15 weeks before publication, then verify the current rule on the guidelines page (Submit to relevant trade-review outlets: six to three months before publication, against each outlet's own deadline)Checked September 13, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Booklist is published by the American Library Association (ALA) and is read by public and school librarians deciding what to buy and what to recommend. Its reviews are editorial consideration: the editors choose what to review from what publishers send, and they review only a portion of it. Booklist has long stated that it reviews only books it recommends for library purchase, so a review that appears is itself a signal to libraries.
The publisher submits. Booklist's guidelines are written for publishers, and its stated lead time has been at least 15 weeks before publication, which you should verify on the current guidelines page because categories and rules change. For a traditionally published author, the task is to confirm with your publicist that the book went out and when. For a hybrid author, ask the press whether Booklist is part of its submission list; some presses cover it, some do not.
Self-published authors face a narrower door. Booklist's guidelines have historically focused on publisher submissions, and any self-published program it runs changes over time. Read the current page before sending anything, and if the route is closed, redirect the effort to outlets with a clear independent track: Midwest Book Review, Foreword Reviews, and BookLife.
Whichever path you are on, log the submission date and the outcome, and know that no response is a common outcome.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a library-facing book was automatically sent to Booklist; ask.
- Relying on a lead time from an old blog post instead of the current guidelines page.
- Sending finished copies at launch and hoping. Booklist works prepublication.
- Treating silence as a rejection worth chasing; Booklist does not notify on most declines.
What done looks like
- Confirmation from the publisher or publicist that a copy went to Booklist, with the date.
- The submission made at least 15 weeks before publication, or whatever the current guidelines require.
- The submission logged in your records with route, submitter, and outcome.
- For self-published titles, a documented decision based on the current guidelines rather than an assumption either way.
Evidence. Done means someone says the work happened. Verified means you checked the confirmation, link, or public record yourself.
Ask your publisher
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Sources and last checked
- Official source
- Official source (opens in a new tab)
- Last checked
- September 13, 2026
- How confident we are
- Verified
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 13, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.