Midwest Book Review

Midwest Book Review, established in 1976, produces nine book review publications per month.

Midwest Book Review was established in 1976. The editor in chief of the organization is James A. Cox. The review puts out nine publications on a monthly basis, with a focus on community and academic library organizations, booksellers, and the general reading public. The organization maintains a website at www. midwestbookreview. com. Publications produced by the organization include: The Bookwatch, California Bookwatch, The Children's Bookwatch, Internet Bookwatch, Library Bookwatch, MBR Bookwatch, The Midwest Bookwatch, The Reviewer's Bookwatch, Small Press Bookwatch, and The Wisconsin Bookwatch. The Children's Bookwatch is a newsletter made as a resource for librarians. Some reviews from Reviewer's Bookwatch are provided in greater depth at the organization's website. Midwest Book Review is made up of volunteers, The organization is located in Oregon, Wisconsin. It has a motivation of increasing literacy, public utilization of libraries, and fostering small press, to which it gives priority. Of the 1,500 books submitted to Midwest Book Review for consideration per month, the organization chooses to review approximately 450 of them. A visitor to the website Amazon. com emailed Cox in 2006 and asked about the organization's practice of giving all reviews posted to the site a five star recommendation. Cox replied explaining that he disagreed with the star rating system in general, and noted, "If a book isn't good enough to pass our initial screening then it doesn't get reviewed in the first place." Cox explained, "for a book to make it all the way through the Midwest Book Review process. it merited the highest recommendation available under the Amazon rating system. Inferior books, flawed books, substandard books are assumed to have been weeded out and never made it to the 'finish line' of publication in one of our book review magazines." "When 1st Books, iUniverse and other POD titles cross my desk, I make sure to look at them, not out of regard for these publishers – but out of regard for the authors," said Cox. In 2008, Midwest Book Review had gained reviewers as a result of cutbacks in print media publications.

Every review produced by Midwest Book Review is indexed to the review index maintained by Gale Research. Book Review Index indexes reviews for the Midwest Book Review publications Bookwatch and Children's Bookwatch. Online Computer Library Center described the website of the Midwest Book Review as "a resource to locate book reviews, resources and advice for writers and publishers". Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook published by the American Library Association recommends Midwest Book Review as a resource for information for writers. In Book Design and Production, author Pete Masterson listed the organization as a resource. Mayra Calvani of Blogcritics noted that the organization is "popular among small publishers, self published authors, and academic presses".