Questions

Everything in one place, so the rest of the library can stay simple.

Becoming a member

How do I become a member?

Bring a book, give it a verdict, and leave your email. That's it — you're a member of the Reading Room. No password, no account to set up, no fee.

What does membership actually get me?

Your verdict read on air by name. An invitation to come on The Verdict live and read it yourself. The newsletter. And you never fill in the form again — we'll know you next time.

Does it cost anything?

No. Membership is free and always will be. The moment a reader has to pay to be heard, the verdicts stop being honest.

Is there anything beyond membership?

Yes, and you don't apply for it. Members who keep showing up become featured readers — recurring critics who get books before anyone else and are invited back.

Why do you need my email?

So we know a verdict is yours, so you only get one per book, and so we can invite you on air. It's never shown publicly.

Can I leave?

Any time, from any email we send. Your verdicts stay on the books unless you ask us to take them down.

Lynn's Library — the podcast

What is it?

A conversation with a book at the centre of it. Wednesdays, 6PM ET — video on YouTube, audio everywhere you listen to podcasts.

How is it different from The Verdict?

The Verdict is a shared room — several readers, a few minutes each, judging books, live and free. Lynn's Library is your own episode, your name on it, the whole conversation.

What can I say in the Reading Room?

Say what you actually thought. You can call a book boring, badly written, overrated or a waste of money. Nobody is ever held for disliking a book — that is the entire point of Bask or Burn.

Four things get a comment held:

  • Slurs, or attacking someone for who they are
  • Threats, or telling someone to harm themselves
  • Selling things, or collecting people’s contact details
  • Posting the same thing over and over

Go after the book, not the person. “This book didn’t work for me and here’s why” is always welcome. “The author is an idiot” is not — and it says less anyway.

Held comments don’t appear to others. You’ll still see your own.

Are there books you won’t take?

Almost everything is welcome. Published or not yet out, big publisher or printed at home, first book or tenth. A hard book, a strange book, a book most people hated — that’s the point.

There are only four things we can never take:

  • Anything sexual involving children, in any form
  • Anything that attacks people for who they are
  • Anything telling people how to hurt themselves or someone else
  • Stolen writing — work copied from another author, or someone else’s book put forward as your own

Bringing a book someone else wrote is not only fine, it’s half the point — just don’t claim you wrote it.

Beyond those four, we may still say no — if a book needs checking we can’t do, or it simply isn’t right for the show. If we say no, we tell you why.

Full wording in our publishing terms.

Do I need to have written a book?

No. Bring the book that says what you're trying to say — it can be someone else's. A founder, a teacher, a nurse, a pastor. The book gives the conversation its spine.

What do you actually talk about?

Whatever you came to say — your business, your book, something personal, an idea you've been carrying. The book is how the conversation gets at it, not a limit on the subject. What we don't do is read your CV back to you.

Is there a question everyone gets asked?

One. At the end: what chapter of your life are you in right now, and what would you call it?

How are guests chosen?

Editorially. You're accepted on your story, before any option is put in front of you.

Can I pay to be on the show?

No. If accepted, optional promotional features would be made available to you — that's promotion, not access. Nothing you can buy changes whether you're on, and paid placements are disclosed on air.

Do I choose how I'm introduced?

Yes — your name, how you're described, and the title of your conversation. We'll tell you honestly if we think a title doesn't fit, but it's yours to pick.

Will readers Bask or Burn my book?

If it's your own book on the shelf, yes. If you're presenting someone else's book, it isn't put to a verdict — it isn't your work to be judged on.

Where is it recorded?

Remotely or in studio, and it runs about an hour.

Do I have to send my book?

Yes, if you wrote it — and a watermarked review copy is fine, a version marked so it can't be resold. The reason is simple: if we invite you onto the show, we're not chasing you for a book at the last minute. It's held privately, never published, never shared, never sold.

Where do readers buy my book?

From your Amazon listing, and that costs you nothing — your cover on the shelf becomes the buy link.

What if I have no Amazon listing?

Then we can point readers at your own page instead — a paid listing held for 12 months. Same if you have Amazon but want your own link as well.

Is that the only thing on the shelf that costs anything?

Yes. Bringing a book, giving a verdict and coming on The Verdict are all free. The paid listing only applies if you want readers sent somewhere other than Amazon.

What actually gets published?

Nothing of your book. Readers use Amazon's own sample. Your manuscript is only ever read by Lynn.

I'm bringing a book that isn't mine. Do you need the text?

No — just the Amazon link. Never send us someone else's manuscript.

Promotional features

What are they?

Optional ways to extend the reach of a conversation once you've been accepted — placement on the shelf, a spotlight across the Reading Room and newsletter, the episode itself in audio or video, and promotion built on top of it.

What do they cost?

Prices are sent after acceptance, never before. Nothing is required and none of it is a condition of appearing.

What are you actually selling?

Distribution, not an audience. Your book and your conversation are placed — book clubs, our social channels, the newsletter, the Reading Room — and you get a report afterwards showing where it went and when.

Do you sell on follower count?

No. We tell you where things are posted and roughly how many people each of those places reaches. We don't add it up and call it a number.

What does being “named” mean?

Recommendations are unnamed by default — the book is simply on the shelf. Putting your name to a recommendation, so readers see who brought it, is a choice, and it's one of the things a feature buys.

Where do the buy buttons point?

To the book's own Amazon page, through our link — that commission is part of how the free reader show stays free. If you'd rather readers landed on your own link, that's one of the promotional features, and it then applies everywhere your book appears.

Does paying change my Basks and Burns?

Never. Paying buys prominence and duration. It doesn't buy a reader's opinion, and we don't hide the tally.

Readers and the shelf

Do I have to have read the whole book?

Read enough to have a real opinion. Most books have a free sample on Amazon — first chapter, no cost — and that's often enough to say something honest. If you finished it, say so, and say more.

How do I read some of a book before deciding?

Use the Read a sample link on any book — it opens Amazon's own sample, usually the first chapter, free. We don't host extracts; the publisher's sample is better and it's the author's to give.

Can I be anonymous?

Yes. Your verdict still counts toward the book. But to be heard on The Verdict we need your name privately — you can still appear as “Sarah, a reader from Atlanta.”

Can I be negative?

Please be. A shelf where everything is Basked is a shelf nobody believes.

When does my book appear?

Your verdict shows in the Reading Room straight away. New books join the shelf on the 1st of each month.

Can I change my verdict?

One verdict per reader per book. Write to us if you've genuinely changed your mind — it happens, and it's interesting.

I brought a book that isn't mine. Will the author know?

Only if you leave their email, and only as an invitation — never as a complaint. A reader bringing someone's book in is the best introduction we can make.

The Verdict

What is it?

A live show, Sundays 7PM ET. Leave a verdict on a book, and if it's chosen you're invited on to say it to the author yourself. They answer you live. Nobody sees the verdicts in advance.

How do I get on?

Give a verdict and tick yes, I'd come on. That puts you in the room we choose from — reader reaction is what surfaces a verdict, and Lynn decides which ones make the show. It isn't automatic, and there's no number to hit.

So is it a vote?

No. Reaction tells us which books people are actually arguing about; the selection is editorial, the same way the podcast is. A book with fewer verdicts and a sharper argument will beat a book with more.

Audio or video?

Either. Some people want to be heard and not seen — that's fine, and it's free either way.

Where do I watch?

Right here. The live button appears across the site when we're on.

I'm not an author. Can I still be seen here?

Yes — share your thoughts with the Reading Room. A piece of your own at the top of the room: your name, your photograph, around 300 words on what you actually think, and a link to your business or a book. Authors bring books; readers bring thoughts. Held for 12 months.

When do I find out what things cost?

After you submit. Nothing is priced at you while you're deciding whether to take part — you send the book, we come back with what's available and what it costs, and you decide then.

Sponsorship

Can I sponsor the show?

Yes. Write to bookings@thelynnshow.com and tell us what you have in mind — we'll send you what's available.

Is there a rate card?

Not a public one. Tell us what you're trying to reach and we'll come back with the options that fit, and what they cost.

What does a sponsor actually get?

Distribution — book clubs, our social channels, the newsletter and the Reading Room — with every mention read personally by Lynn. You get a report afterwards showing where it ran and when.

The library in Ghana

What is it?

There are two Lynn's Libraries. One is a podcast; the other has a roof. We're building a Learning Centre in Ghana — here's the project.

Is a donation tax-deductible?

No. It's a personal fundraiser collected through GoFundMe and passed to Lynn Care Foundation, a registered Ghanaian NGO. It isn't processed by The Lynn Show.

Does donating get me anything on the podcast?

No — and that's deliberate. It doesn't place a book, change a verdict, or get anyone on air.

Anything else — bookings@thelynnshow.com