I wanted to give my readers a little behind-the-scenes glimpse of how a seasoned blogger receives free books. For a long time, Amazon’s Vine program was my primary source of ARCs. Over the course of 11 years of being a Vine member, I received 301 complimentary books. Additionally, I’ve always loved browsing GoodReads giveaways, which have yielded 34 wins in over a decade. I acquired a ton of books during two BEA trips, and I participate in an occasional tour, too.
Nowadays, I occasionally peruse Edelweiss for upcoming titles. Then I’ll either email the general publicity box at a publisher to request a book or I’ll email a contact I’ve made at a particular publishing house to see if they’ll send me a book. Sometimes I’ll get responses, other times the book shows up in the mail, a majority of the time, it’s futile. I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I’ve fostered contacts in the industry and I utilize them when I can.
Let’s next look at an example of the books I read in the last few months and where they were sourced from.
Example the first, October’s book stack, from top to bottom.
- Solicited from publisher
- Bought signed copy
- GoodReads giveaway win
- Solicited from publisher
- TLC Tour (all three Nat Geo’s)
Example the second, September reads, from left to right:
- TLC Tour
- Bought signed copy
- Bought signed copy
- Solicited from publisher
- TBR personal collection
- TBR personal collection
- Solicited from publisher
Example the third, August reads, from top to bottom:
- TBR personal collection (top 3)
- Solicited by publisher*
- Solicited by publisher*
- TBR personal collection
*It does happen, I get emails from publishers saying HEY JULZ, I know you like this type of books, so we really think you should read and review this title. It’s a glorious thing,
Example the last, July reads, from top to bottom:
- Solicited from publisher
- Solicited from publisher
- TBR personal collection
- TBR personal collection
- Solicited by publisher
- Publisher sent me a copy unprompted*
- Preorder of favorite author
- Preorder of favorite author
*This happens rarely, but when it does it’s either a super YAY moment or a disappointment. In this case, I had read and reviewed several Jin books, so I was thrilled to get this book even though I ended up not loving it. Sometimes I get a book I have absolutely no interest in.
The moral of the story is this: if you don’t ask for a book, you have zero chance of receiving a copy. So once a month or so, I’ll sit down and browse catalogues and send a bunch of emails. My emails usually look something like this…
Dear so-and-so. I am requesting an advanced copy of [author]’s forthcoming book [title]. (If I’ve already reviewed previous works by said author, I’ll include that information here.) Reviews will be posted to my blog, Amazon, and GoodReads, with additional publicity on Instagram. Please send a copy to [insert Julz’s address]. Thanks in advance! [Signature, blog address, handle].
If I get a direct response from a contact at that publisher, I jot their email address down in a journal I’ve designated for that purpose. If that particular publicist isn’t managing that specific author, they might be nice enough to forward my request to the pertinent publicist. It’s really a shot in the dark, but it’s better to ASK and get surprise book mail, than be passive! I have developed great relationships with Pegasus and Public Affairs which are good for nonfiction, as well as Mira and Atria. I don’t have ginormous follower-ship, but I’m established and write consistently thoughtful reviews published across multiple platforms (my Amazon profile garners the most recognition).
It’s brilliant, really, how lucky I’ve been to be on this track of freebie acquisition. So I thought I’d share that knowledge with y’all. Email the publishers. Join tours. Enter giveaways. It’s all in good fun and you might be rewarded by doing so!
JulzReads 