Please help! :)

[Brandi Heather]

I'm new to the blogging community -- you can find my blog at brandiheathersreviews.blogspot.com -- and I am looking for some help.  I am trying to find out what the best way is to get into reviewing ARC's.  If you have any information, please let me know!

Happy Reading,

Brandi

[Stephanie Sanders]

Hey Brandi,
I have found the best way is to contact authors and publishing co. It really helps if you have a good following, what I did at first was request interviews with authors and also add in that I would love to do an ARC review of their up coming book. There is also quite a few ARC tour blogs that you can sign up for. If you need anything else, email me. I would be glad to help. I know when I was just starting my blog, I sure could have used a helping hand!
-Steph
[e-mail]

[Kristina Barnes]

Hi Brandi! Welcome to the book blogging community! :)

To be honest, not many get ARCs that quickly after starting up a book blog. I haven't even gotten my first ARC yet (well, from a publisher or author)! Like Steph said, it helps if you've been an established blogger for a certain period of time - most publishers would like to see a blog that updates at least twice a week with a decent amount of followers and unique page visits a day. They also look for bloggers who've been blogging for around 3-6 months. But you never know - some send out ARCs to newer bloggers. Also, remember that if you do contact authors/publishers before 3-6 months, be polite and professional when talking to them.

ARC Tours are handy for new bloggers, but most are similar to publishers: you have to be established for a certain amount of time before you can join tours. It's only a precaution, so that people won't steal the ARCs they get sent.

Also, network! I can't stress that enough. I've gotten a couple of authors coming to me (they were mostly indie or self-published) asking me to review their books, so it helps getting your blog name out there.

And lastly, giveaways! A lot of book bloggers like to pass ARCs along to their followers after they've received the title from a publisher (with their permission), so you'll see a lot of giveaways for ARCs.

Hope that helped a bit. :)
Kristina

[ManOfLaBook.com]

Did you sign up with LibraryThing & Goodreads?
They give away ARC's as contests.
Do you post reviews on Amazon hoping to get into their Vine program?
Do you participate in blog tours (you have to have the blog running for several months before they will consider you)?

To reiterate with Stephanie & Christina said, I believe, you have to establish yourself first before stuff starts showing up on your door step.
Being an active member of the bookish community and getting your name out there can't hurt.