Editorial consideration
Publishers Weekly
Booksellers, librarians, agents, and publishing professionals
In short
Publishers Weekly reviews books before publication for booksellers, librarians, agents, and rights buyers, and its reviews are syndicated into trade databases. Publishers and publicists submit three to four months ahead, but coverage is selective. Ask who submitted your book and when. Self-published and subsidized books use the BookLife route.
Submission does not guarantee coverage. The outlet decides whether and what it publishes.
Publishers Weekly (PW) is the trade magazine of the American book business. Its short, unsigned prepublication reviews are read by booksellers, librarians, agents, and rights buyers who need to know what is coming before it arrives.
Traditional publishers and freelance publicists submit every title through PW's GalleyTracker system with a digital galley, and send two bound physical galleys when they exist. Adult titles must arrive three months, and preferably four, before the first day of the publication month. Children's titles need at least four months. Poetry is digital only, and unbound folded-and-gathered sheets are accepted only for heavily illustrated books.
Since March 24, 2025, PW charges $25 for every book submitted for review consideration; publishers with a site-license subscription are exempt. The fee buys a place in the queue, not a review. PW's editors decide what gets covered, and most submissions do not.
Why it may matter
A PW review lands in front of the people who stock stores and libraries, and it is syndicated into the databases that wholesalers and retailers use. A starred review is one of the few prepublication signals that can move a title up a buyer's list. None of that is guaranteed by submitting; PW covers a fraction of what it receives.
Do not confuse this with
There are three different things with Publishers Weekly's name near them, and they are easy to confuse.
- Publishers Weekly editorial review (this record): a publisher submits through GalleyTracker, pays the $25 consideration fee, and PW decides whether to review. Not guaranteed.
- BookLife submission to Publishers Weekly: the same editorial consideration, but the route for self-published and subsidized authors. Same $25 fee, same lack of a guarantee.
- BookLife Reviews: a paid review service run by PW's BookLife division (its price is on the BookLife Reviews record). Payment guarantees a review is written, and the author controls whether it is published. It is not a PW editorial review, and it should never be described as one.
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 13, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.
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