Free Books

[michellemoran]

Mu publishing house - Crown Publishers - is offering a new program where bloggers can receive free books! The site is:

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/readitforward/

I just found out about it last night, and if I wasn't one of their authors, I'd sign myself up!

[amyb]

I've signed up and already received a free book! What a wonderful program!

[Divia]

Eekkk! I'm all giddy. I signed up and it would be super cool to get advanced copies. BTW, I plugged you saying you were my fav. author :)

Amby what did you get?

[boswellbaxter]

Cool! (Nothing like "Free Books" to get a click!)

[michellemoran]

HA! Thanks Divia ;]

I'm thinking that if this program works, they'll keep adding more and more books to the list. I hope this isn't something they try and then stop in a few months. It would be nice to have a place where reviewers can go to get free historical fiction.

I'm especially eager to read Tethered! Although it's not his fic, it looks like it will be a really good book.

[Tanzanite]

Michelle,

Do you know which book of yours they are giving away? The picture they show is of The Heretic Queen, but when I clicked on the email link, it has Nefertiti in the subject line.

[Margaret]

I signed up, too. Thanks for letting us know about this program, Michelle. I expressed special interest in your novels and in the reissue of Rosalind Laker's The Golden Tulip - her novels have been hard to get, at least in the U.S.

[Susan]

I'm especially eager to read Tethered! Although it's not his fic, it looks like it will be a really good book.

That's the book I ordered. I already have your book on pre-order at Amazon and I can't wait!

[Melisende]

How can any sane person knock back free books - thanks for the link Michelle!

[JaneConsumer]

I think it's great that they're offering the program. But it'd be nice to receive an auto-response when you sign up. I've signed up twice over the past 2 weeks, but I haven't heard anything. So I have no idea if my registration is active.

[michellemoran]

Hi Tanzanite,

I believe they're giving away hardcover copies of The Heretic Queen. But honestly, for all reviewers on this forum, if you email an author's publicist the house will almost always send a book your way. I can't think of a single instance where a reviewer/blogger has emailed my publicist and they haven't received a book for review unless the galleys ran out (in which case, they would be put on the finished book list to receive a hardcover copy). Of course, this doesn't just apply to Crown, but to all houses.

The thing is, most people don't want to be bothered going around emailing publicists. But Kimber An, who runs a blog called Star Captain's Daughter, is a publicist-emailer-extraordinaire. I've lost count of the number of galleys she's received this way: fantasies, sci-fis, historical fictions, YA books...

And JaneConsumer: I've emailed Crown about including an auto-respond message.

[Divia]

Wow. I didnt know this at all! I so need to start working on this. I mean..how sweet is that. :eek:

[michellemoran]

Hee hee. All it takes is an email. It especially helps when a reviewer mentions posting their reviews (good or bad) all across the web (assuming it's true!).

And if you really want to cut down on the time from your book request to your book arrival, mention being (but only if you are!) one of the top Amazon reviewers and that you intend to review the book on Amazon or another site (not a blog) that's dedicated to reviews. This helps because a publicist is only authorized to send books to reviewers whose write-ups appear in magazines/newspapers/online sites dedicated to reviews. If you're a blogger, then the publicist has to send your request to the marketing department (don't ask) and get the okay from them. Reviewers and bloggers are categorized differently, and each department gets their own number of books to hand out.

[Divia]

I'm not a top reviewer on Amazon. I'm just a vine member now. Still, thats good information to have, cause I'm sure a lot of people here are top reviewers.

[Virgulina]

Do you know if this is international or just available to the US?

Ana

[michellemoran]

Actually Divia, I'm sure a Vine Member would work just as well.

And Ana, I believe this is international. It certainly doesn't hurt to try. I know if my British editor (since she doubles as a publicist) gets emails requesting books she'll send them out. Of course, this is all for now. If people (who aren't reviewers) start abusing the system it all may change.

But... something else publicists are sometimes willing to do is send free books to contest winners if you email them beforehand and ask if they're willing to participate.

Edited to say: Ana, if you were asking about the ReadItForward program, I honestly don't know. I will email and find out.

[nona]

so how exactly does it work?

[diamondlil]

Actually Divia, I'm sure a Vine Member would work just as well.

And Ana, I believe this is international. It certainly doesn't hurt to try. I know if my British editor (since she doubles as a publicist) gets emails requesting books she'll send them out. Of course, this is all for now. If people (who aren't reviewers) start abusing the system it all may change.

But... something else publicists are sometimes willing to do is send free books to contest winners if you email them beforehand and ask if they're willing to participate.

Interesting that this might be international. I just assumed that it would be US only.

[Divia]

I thought it was US only, but that would be cool if it wasnt.

I'll have to use the vine thing..maybe it will get me books.

BTW still no email in my mailbox. I guess it takes aw hile.

[michellemoran]

Nona, I believe you email them at readitforward@randomhouse.com. Include your mailing address and the book you'd like and they will send out the book to the first (insert number here) reviewers who query.

I asked Shawn Nicholls, who is in charge of online marketing at Crown, if he could rework the site so that people get automated email responses saying that their request has gone through. It would also be nice to have a firm yes or no, so people know if a book is coming.

Either way, it's worth a shot! I've recommended these improvements to the site. Whether they're made or not will likely depend on how committed Crown is to this idea or whether this was some "higher-ups" pet project which got passed down to others who are less enthused. Which, let's face it, happens in business all the time. Then things get forgotten about and disappear... Hopefully, this won't be one of them!

[michellemoran]

Definitely try emailing publicists, Divia. I'd be very surprised if they turn you down!

[Divia]

And here I had power and didnt even know I had it! :)

[eclecticreader10]

Awhile back I sent Random House an eamil about an ARC of Eve: A Novel of the First Woman (which I'm dying to read) and I received an answer that they didn't do that. How do you find out who the publicist is?