Join Us

Want to Join NookGaming?

NookGaming is looking for writers, editors, and other staff. We’re always looking to expand and welcome applications or people getting in touch to chat about joining us, whether in posted roles or in other ways that you feel you may be able to contribute.

Most want to join as reviewers, but there are plenty of other things that need to be done. You’re also welcome to apply for multiple roles within the team.

We do have a strict application process that assesses the quality of work and we would expect a strong familiarity with any areas that you would want to write about. That said, whether you have written for several websites in the past or even if you have no more experience than writing a few reviews on Steam, you are welcome to apply.

Do you Enjoy Writing Game or Visual Novel Reviews?

Most of NookGaming’s published work consists of game (including visual novel) reviews.

You can either submit the occasional review or submit frequently as long as you can complete reviews in an agreed time frame. We usually ask that you complete it within two weeks of receiving a game, but there is some flexibility around longer games. We don’t want rushed reviews; we’re all about quality over quantity here. We do require that you play any game you review in depth, rather than only playing partially and writing something within a few days to be published for the game release.

Ideally, reviewers will be open to reviewing most types of games even if they specialise in certain areas. We cover the indies and the niche games, as well as the bigger titles.

Want to apply? Please continue down to the Reviewer Application Information section.

How about Manga or Light Novel reviews?

While we’re still breaking into this area and building connections, we’d be happy for any help in covering manga and light novels. Our ethos around these is the same as for games – high-quality reviews with a good level of detail.

Want to apply? Please continue down to the Reviewer Application Information section.

Are You Interested in Feature Writing?

Enjoy telling people about the most influential bishoujo games in history? The top ten otome visual novels? Your opinions on the latest seasonal anime? Interviews with developers? We’re open to running features if writers have topics they would like to present to our audience. Writers are welcome to apply to join purely as feature writers, but would need to get in contact first to discuss.

How About the News?

Do you have a passion for sharing the news? We currently do a weekly news summary and the occasional separate news post. If you want to look at writing news for us and letting the world know factual and sourced information about some of our specialist areas, then please get in touch. We’d be happy to grow in this area.

Editor Positions

Want to make sure everyone else’s work is on task? If you have a high level of English, an eye for detail, and the ability to analyze work to find weaknesses and work with others to improve it or rewrite it as needed, then editing may be for you. Get in touch to discuss.

Anything Else I Can Do?

If you have any ideas, feel free to get in touch! Despite it being a popular inquiry, we’re not looking to move into video reviews at this time. Video and image editing skills are a bonus asset for social media posts though.

Non-Reviewer Application Information

Please get in touch directly to discuss this. If you wish to apply as a reviewer and do additional tasks, please still apply as a reviewer and indicate whether you are happy to continue if a reviewer position isn’t granted.

Reviewer Application Information

What we would like to see from applicants is an example review of 750+ words in a style similar to recent reviews on the website. It will only be used on the website if you join the team and if fully original. Keep in mind though that many of our reviews are longer than those most websites publish, as our style involves going into depth and looking at specific features of the game. An average is 1,500 words. While we’re happy to look at previous reviews you have posted elsewhere as supplements, your review submitted should not be one of these. We strongly advise that you get in touch before writing a review and let us know your plans.

Reviews should be structured, with decent spelling and grammar. Grammarly for Windows will not fix everything and is not always correct, but it is highly recommended to use this free software to help you catch mistakes in addition to proofreading before submission. Questions about structure, etc are welcome. One of the most important things to do here is to aim for a more detailed and analytical style.

While some may feel these requirements are high, we have had many applicants in the past who have caused issues. Some examples include submitting plagiarised work, linking to poor quality writing which had been heavily edited by someone else before publication, non-submission of reviews, sudden drops in quality after being accepted, and so on. We’ve also received some great work, but that just didn’t fit our style. We’ve sometimes referred these people to our colleagues from other similar websites. If accepted, there is a short probation period.

Review Copies

Access to games/review keys can be provided for reviewers, but we will want to see some examples of your work prior to this and we deal with this in a phased manner. We often cover visual novels, JRPGs, and other niche games, so ideally you will be interested in at least one of these categories. With that said, submitting reviews for any genre is welcome and if you have a specialism elsewhere, we’d love to discuss expanding. The list of publishers we have contacts for review keys is always growing and will continue to do so as we grow too.

In terms of manga and light novels, when these reviews are available, we can typically provide access to either a downloadable file from the publisher or access to a shared account. These titles may only be available for a limited time.

On rare occasions, samples of accessories to review may be available. These are often limited based on country and would require that you have the ability to take high quality photographs of the items.

Reimbursement and Other Benefits

Unfortunately, there is no payment for any positions which is the case with most small to medium websites. We generate a small amount of revenue to pay for hosting costs and other related costs, but this all goes back into the website. If this ever changes due to growth enough for an excess, the subject can be revisited but it is not something to expect. 

If requested, we can verify a writer’s content with other parties. For example, if applying for a job that requires content writing where examples are needed. We have successfully acted as references for employment/education previously.

Culture

We have a number of different writers with different beliefs. We generally abide by the general rule of ‘Be Excellent to Each Other’. While joking with each other and occasionally poking fun is okay, we have previously fired someone for disparaging other writers’ work, transphobia, sexism, and causing problems while representing us, among other things.

Writers have different levels of participation. Some consistently pick up reviews and are heavily involved in our Discord, while others may pick up a review once every month or two and just check in weekly.

Conditions

As multiple people may contribute reviews or other articles of writing to NookGaming, it should be noted that each writer grants NookGaming permission to use the written work in perpetuity and agrees not to post the same text or a modified version of it elsewhere. The posted writing will be kept under the name or agreed pseudonym of the writer, even if they leave the website. This protects the content of the website but allows writers to be acknowledged. Review scores may be posted on OpenCritic or elsewhere if applicable.

Apply Now

If this sounds like it would be something you are interested in, contact us at [email protected], DM on Twitter, or DM Nook on our Discord if you’d like to discuss it first, ask for further details, or if your application is not standard. 

If you’ve read all of the above and are happy to apply, then feel free to go through the Reviewer Application Form and submit it when ready if applying as a reviewer, or contact us via one of the above methods for other positions. 

A review will need to be written before submission if applying to be a game/manga/light novel reviewer. We strongly suggest that you get in contact prior to writing this with any questions.

Please be aware that the team primarily communicates via Discord, so successful applicants to the review team will be required to join our Discord server.

If you’d like to see more articles from us, please remember to follow us on Twitter🐦 and consider turning notifications on. Or type in your E-mail address and click the button for free email updates. You can also come chat with us on Discord.
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