Review policy
Last updated: 8 August 2026
Draft — needs legal review
This document describes how Rotten Publishers is actually built and operated, but it has not been reviewed by a lawyer. Have a solicitor or attorney with defamation and platform-liability experience review it before launch.
This page explains what we publish, what we don’t, and how the numbers on a publisher’s page are calculated. It is written to be specific enough that you can predict our decisions rather than guess at them.
Who can review
Anyone with a first-hand dealing with the publisher. When you post, you pick which one applies, and it is displayed on the review:
- Submitted a manuscript
- Was offered a contract
- Declined their offer
- Published with them
- Worked there
- Freelanced for them
We show this because a rejection slip and a completed publishing cycle are not the same evidence, and readers deserve to see which one they’re reading.
One review per publisher
You get one review per publisher. You can edit it as your experience develops. Creating extra accounts to post more is a breach of the terms.
How ratings work
Category ratings are optional on purpose
You are only asked to rate the categories your relationship actually exposed you to. If you only submitted a manuscript, you are asked about communication and nothing else — you have no basis to rate royalty transparency, and a guess would become part of that publisher’s public score.
Each category average is calculated only across the reviews that supplied it. A skipped category never counts as a zero.
The headline verdict
The percentage on a publisher’s page is the share of reviewers who said they would recommend them to another author.
- 70% or above — Recommended
- 35% to 69% — Mixed
- Below 35% — Not recommended
No verdict is shown until a publisher has at least three reviews. One bad experience should not be able to brand a press, and the threshold for “not recommended” requires a clear majority rather than a bare one.
Directory ranking
Best- and worst-reviewed lists are not ordered by raw average. A single glowing review would otherwise outrank a house with two hundred reviews averaging 4.6. We apply statistical shrinkage: every publisher is weighted toward the site-wide mean until it has enough reviews to have earned its position.
Moderation
Every review is read by a person before it goes live, usually within 48 hours. You are emailed when it publishes, or if it is rejected, along with the reason.
What gets published
Specific accounts of what happened. Timelines, what was promised versus delivered, contract terms you were offered, figures you are comfortable sharing. Criticism is welcome and does not need to be gentle.
What gets rejected
- Reviews of publishers you never dealt with, or accounts of someone else’s experience.
- Undisclosed conflicts of interest — competitors, current staff, or anyone paid to post.
- Allegations of criminal conduct stated as established fact. You can say what happened to you and what you believe; we will not publish “this company commits fraud” as a bare assertion.
- Private information about identifiable individuals.
- Harassment, abuse, or attacks on a person rather than the business.
- Content that is essentially advertising.
A rejection is usually not a finding that you are lying. Most often a single sentence is stated in a way we are not prepared to publish, and a rewrite is accepted.
The “Verified” badge
A moderator has seen documentation supporting the relationship you claimed — a contract, a royalty statement, correspondence. It means we have evidence you dealt with them. It is not an endorsement of your conclusions.
Anonymity
You can publish without your name attached. Your identity remains visible to moderators, and could be disclosed under a valid court order. The privacy policy explains this properly — please read it before relying on anonymity.
Editing and history
You can edit your review at any time. Every previous version is retained. If a publisher has publicly responded, the record needs to show what they were responding to.
Publisher responses
Verified publisher representatives can reply publicly to any review. They cannot edit, hide, reorder, or remove reviews, and no payment changes that. If a publisher believes a review is false or unlawful, that goes through the dispute process.
Reporting a review
Anyone can report a review. Reports go to a moderation queue and every decision is recorded permanently, whether we uphold it or dismiss it.