You’re right, it is a bit time consuming. Since last fall we’ve closed the mailbox to new authors/publishers. We continue to get books from existing donors and we’ve gotten about 400 so far this year. That is still a LOT of material to read.

Our model is not first-in-first-out, but I am very conscious of wanting to have every book read in a timely fashion so that we can let an author/publisher know whether or not we’re going to publish a review.

We have had some truly wonderful, well-received books that are from smaller, nontraditional presses. As you say, though, the publisher who sets up shop to print/promote just its own work is more often “miss” than “hit.” There is so much more to the process than writing and illustration. All audiences want quality work, but for our audience – kids who are already struggling with reading – lots of typos, poor sentence structure, redundant/run-on text, and weak grammar – can be devastating. We can’t use those books at all. The make or break point often pivots on editing. Independent editors – not spouses, friends, or Aunt Pearl – are so critical to moving from hobby to industry professional.

Ecky Thump publishers intrigued me because I remember “ecky thump” from TV show The Goodies. It seems to be a publisher with one book. This seems to be happening more and more, because technology is making it easier to set up a company to publish a book.So far, my experience with books that fall outside the traditional publishers has not been great, so I look forward to your feedback.