So how do you get Books for Review?

[Jillian Raymundo]

First of all, I'm going to go on ahead and say this in advance; I am not just blogging for me to get free books from publishers.With or without free copies, I would still keep blogging and have actually been doing so for a while now. But I am very curious as to how some book bloggers get really awesome books for review! Do you contact publishers? Authors? And do you have any tips and advice on how to do this professionally?
If you have a personal experience with this, please do share with us if you'd like. Thank you so much everyone! :)

Random Ramblings

[Mark Whiteway]

Hi Jillian

If you are interested, I am making my first book which was only published last month available for review. I don't know if it's "awesome". I would like to think so!

Here is a link to my website. http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewwork.asp?AuthorID=115824&id...

Check it out. If you are interested, let me know.

Mark Whiteway

[Paul Justice]

Sodom: Five ancient cities is spiritual and historical fiction which you are welcome to review if you wish, everyone's opinion is important. You will find it on my blog, email me if you would like a copy. http://biblicalfiction-books.blogspot.com
Cheers
Paul

[Candace Robinson]

I get emails all the time from authors and promoters asking if I'll review books. Most aren't books I'm interested in, but there's a few I accept. NetGalley is one place where you can get some great ones, but they are generally ebooks. I ordered a Kobo because I can't stand reading on my computer and there are loads of great galleys. You just sign up and then request what books you want and they have to approve them. Very easy though.

[Damaris Cardinali]

hahaha okay maybe it was covered lol... I just posted about NetGalley. Isn't great??? lol I have a Kindle so it made it easier.

[Wm Mellen]

Hi Jillian,

You are welcome to review my new novelette. It's a psychological thriller that runs 11,000 words -- about a 45-60 minute read. It's very reminiscent of the old Twilight Zone TV shows. It's not at all Steven King-like. There is no blood or gore; only good suspense and a thought-provoking twist.

You can read some or most of it online for free, and if you are interested, I'll be happy to email you the full story as an eBook or even send you a print version. Of course, if you are willing to support my associated Kickstarter project, that would be great, too. Here's the links:

http://www.EntertainTheBrain.com

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/william-mellen/martins-ghost

Thanks!

William

[The Literary Lioness]

I had only had my blog up for about a month with very few followers and visitors when an author contacted me to review her book! I was surprised. I didn't start the blog even thinking about free books, but it got me very excited.

Fortunately, I really liked the book. I was really nervous that I wouldn't.

The Literary Lioness

[Mark Whiteway]

I would be pleased if you would consider reviewing my first book. Details are in the link below:-

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewwork.asp?AuthorID=115824&id...

If you think you might be interested, then please email me at [e-mail]

Mark Whiteway

[Damaris Cardinali]

Okay way to many post to go through but I am going to assume this one was not covered. Just recently a friend of mine told me about a website called NetGalley.

Publishing companies join NetGalley and post ARC of authors that are published by them. They have a whole list of publishing companies and it's free and all you need to do when you sign up and basically sound like a BOOK GEEK and add every single website you are apart of in your profile including your blog. They do not turn you down if your blog does not meet their standards. And NetGalley lets you know that you are NOT obligated to leave a review or finish a book just because you requested it. Now it's all EBOOK format though, but they give a program to download onto your computer to read them, or if you have some type of Ereader such as a Kindle or Sony Ereader you can add it to your Ereader. I love this site! I have gotten so many ARCS already. You can browse through recent or through publishing company.

Also, another way to get ARCs is follow blogs that constantly do contest and have author interviews and so on. I just recently started my blog not so long ago and I am having my first author Meagan Hatfield (whos book I got from NetGalley called Shadow of The vampire) do a give away of her book. She will sign it and give it to one lucky winner. The book is not out until July 1st. She will also be doing a live chat on our blog.
'
If anyone knows about any other ways please feel free to share hehe

Damaris
http://goodchoicereading.blogspot.com

[Rex Lee Reynolds]

I would suggest making a request from the authors. I've noticed a number of authors willing to provide a book for a review, especially in e-Book format. I have four books out and would be happy to any or all of them reviewed in e-Book format.

[Lauren Monsey-Nagel]

I made a post that might be helpful. http://ureadmorebooks.blogspot.com/2010/05/places-to-get-books.html

[Lonnie E. Holder]

As others have noted, the best way to get books to review (dozens of them!) is to review books. I started reviewing on Amazon in 2004, I think. Maybe. I kept writing review after review after review. Then came the magical day when someone contacted me and asked me if I would like to review their book. I was into hundreds of reviews by then.

It was kind of like a snowball. I would get an offer of a free book (or movie), and then months would go by. Slowly the offers went from 2-3 per year to 1-2 per month, then to 1-2 per week. After six years (or however many it has been) of reviewing on Amazon, I get so many offers now (I really do not know how many I get, but it is a lot; maybe 1-3 per day on average) that I have a hard time even responding to everyone, much less actually reading and reviewing that many items.

I personally think you are much better off writing lots of reviews and letting your reviews speak for themselves. Many times the people who e-mail book requests to me (though I have a few bold authors who got my snail mail address and just mailed me copies of their book) tell me that they liked my Amazon reviews and hoped I would review their books similarly (just wait until you get a poorly written or plotted book; it can be a bummer to write a review that is negatively critical of an author's baby; but, my first responsibility as a reviewer is to readers, not authors).

There you have it. As Robert A. Heinlein once said, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" (TANSTAAFL). As with many other things, to readily get review copies, you have to pay your dues, so to speak. Start writing and start posting. Write them and they will come.

[Lauren Monsey-Nagel]

Very true Lonnie! Well said.