How To Get Free Books

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

I love books--whether they are brand new, forthcoming or older books. I’ve been in publishing for decades but I’ve not written in these articles about the details of how to get free books and what to do with them when you receive them.

Authors and publishers need reviews yet you don’t have to buy those books to get them. I write reviews about books that I’ve purchased or checked out from my local library. If you love a print copy of the book in this article, I’m going to give you the details about how to get these books. This process is a basic because I’ve been in publishing for decades, I assumed others know this basic. I’m going to correct this assumption with this article. Through the years, I’ve written over 1,000 Amazon reviews and over 800 reviews on Goodreads. Also I’ve written many print magazine book reviews. 

My title for this article includes an exaggerated word (Free). The books are not really free whether they come from the author, a publicist or a publisher because they have been sent to you with a spoken or unspoken commitment. Because you requested this book, you are promising to write an honest book review about it.

You Ask For The Book

Within the world of book promotion, a print copy of the book from the author or publisher is one of the least expensive promotion tools--especially compared to other promotions like paid ads, print materials and other promotions. The easiest way to get a copy of the book is to ask the author or the publisher. Some people read electronic books on NetGalley. I have rarely used this system. I spend hours looking at my computer and phone. I do not like to read ebooks and prefer to receive a print copy. I can mark key passages and quotes in the print book. Your preference may be different.

As a writer, you want to be known as someone who does what they say they will do--i.e. write a review because many people who receive the book don’t post their reviews. If you do write then post your review, you will be the exception and easily stand out to the author and the publisher. 

Join Launch Teams

Another way to read new books before they release is to join a launch team. You will help other authors in this process and learn some of the behind the scenes details about book promotion. There is one caveat with launch teams. In recent years since the pandemic, publishers do not print as many advance reading copies nor sent out print copies to launch teams. You will likely get an ebook version or access to NetGalley and have to read the electronic version. I like and appreciate launch teams and do participate in a few of these efforts.

The Importance of The Release Date

I encourage you to be aware of the release date for a book you are going to review. Books launch on a Tuesday whether online or brick and mortar bookstores. You can write your review on Goodreads but not before the release date on Amazon or another online website (unless you are a part of a special group within those websites). 

In general, the closer you can write and post your review to this release date, the more positive attention you will get from the author and the publisher. These early reviews are important and appreciated. I’ve read that 90% of people who purchase a product online have read a review before they buy it. This fact is one of the critical reasons you want to encourage and gather reviews for your book as well as others. I have a free teleseminar about book reviews. Follow this link to have access. 

When You Get The Book

I have written the details about how to write a book review. I encourage you to develop your own pattern and style for these reviews. If you haven’t written reviews, then use a template to get going on your review.     

    

After You Read The Book

In general, I write my reviews in a Word file. Then I cut and paste this review on Goodreads as well as Amazon. At times I review it a third time on BarnesAndNoble.com but not every time. As I’ve written in these articles, I use MockUp Shots where I have a lifetime access with my reviews to create a unique image and add that image to my review. Also I use the image on social media when I promote my review (and the book). Finally I show the author or the publisher or the publicist, my published review on Goodreads and Amazon or anywhere else. I send the permanent link along with a sample of my promotion of my review. This final process shows this professional that I have completed what I promised and builds integrity and trust that I will do it in the future.

Just so you know, no one pays me to write these reviews and I do it on my free time. I receive many more books to read than there are hours in the day (even if I was doing it fulltime). In some cases, I don’t get the book read or reviewed. In general I have a good track record in this area. You can develop the same sort of reputation, if you do it consistently. 

What process do you use to get books for reviews? Am I missing something from the process? Let me know in the comments. 

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Are You Searching for a Magic Bullet?

As I talk with writers at many different levels and places in the publishing world, it seems like many of them are looking for a magic bullet.  They are searching for the one place to publish their book and propel them to the bestseller list. These writers have created a book proposal or a book manuscript and believe with the right publisher or the right literary agent or the right publicist, they will sell many copies of their book and succeed in their quest to accomplish their dreams.

I don't want to burst anyone's optimism and dreams in their quest, but from my experience and years in publishing, it is not finding a magic bullet or single path. There are many paths and options to achieve success in the publishing world. If there was a single path or formula, then every book would become a bestseller—and succeed—and we know that is not the case.

Many details have to come together in the publishing world for a book to sell and succeed. Last week one of my authors at Morgan James told us they and their book were going to be promoted on a national television show this coming week. I was excited for them to hear this news—but also a bit skeptical about the actual results. 

Yes people will be able to buy the book online—yet 76% of our book sales are in other places such as brick and mortar bookstores. A bookseller has to order and carry your book inside their store for it to be there. This sales process takes time and is very fluid. If the author doesn't promote and tell people about their book (a continual process) then the bookseller assumes no one will come in their store asking about the book. As a result the bookseller returns the book to the publisher and it is no longer available for the customer to buy it.

Let's return to this author who is going to be on a national television program. She has not been in communication with her publisher (Morgan James) about her promotion efforts. This information has not been passed on to our sales team who promote the author to the bookseller and get the book sold into the bookstores. In fact, the opposite has been happening with this author. We've not heard about their efforts (even if they were happening) so no information has been passed to the sales team and I suspect many of the books that were sold into the stores several years ago, have now been returned. 

Because of the short window of notification from the author, there is little opportunity to resell the book into the various bookstores. It means this book is not positioned for such a national appearance. I did not name this author and hope their television appearance is a huge boost for this book (despite my skepticism).

A single appearance is like looking for a magic bullet—hard to imagine it being successful. Studies about sales have proven that someone has to hear about your book or product at least seven or eight times before they purchase the book. The television appearance is just one of the exposures. As an author, you have to use many different means to expose your audience to your book.

Here's a different author and situation. Last week Amberly Lago launched her book, True Grit and Grace. I acquired Amberly's book for Morgan James Publishing and encouraged her to work with an editor (which she did to produce a well-written book). Also Amberly is working with a publicist who has set up some great events for her. Amberly also has an email list and is using this list to stir excitement and promote her events and her book. About a month ago, I learned that Amberly was scheduled to appear on the Today Show. Megyn Kelly was going to interview her. Notice the timeframe (a month) which gives us time to sell the book into the bookstores so it is physically in the stores (as well as available online).

I encourage you to watch this less than ten-minute video clip. It was two segments on the show and you can't get much better to have Megyn Kelly tell her audience to “buy the book.” Notice the book cover and title of the book was shown several times during the interview.  On the day the book launched the book was #127 on Amazon (where the numbers change every hour and the lower the number the better in a place with millions of books).

It takes multiple exposures, broad distribution and on-going and varied promotion to sell books. The team (publisher, author, distributor, publicist) have to work together—not in isolation. I hope these stories and details give you some ideas for your own book. As the author, you have the greatest passion but good communication and teamwork is also an essential element.

Are you still looking for that magic bullet or on-going, steady sales? Tell me in the comments below.
 
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Like A Kid In a Candy Store

For the last couple of days, I attended the Mountain Plains Bookseller Association Fall Discovery Show in Denver. The various regional associations divide the United States and the Mountain Plains area is one of the smallest in the country. I went to this event many years ago and it was fun to return to it again. I was like a kid in a candy store.

While not as massive as Book Expo event, this trade show brings many booksellers from the western states together to see old friends and learn about new products. The exhibit hall was mostly books but also included related products. Publishers were giving away Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) of books which will be in 2015. I enjoyed walking around and meeting new people and learning about forthcoming books from different publishers. 

One of the interesting non-book products was Rolli Stamps from Funny Bone Muse. Check out this little video:



At another exhibitor, I learned about Woker, which is a word card game. I'm not much of a game player but with coaching from Lisa Teore, the creator of the game, I managed to play one hand of Woker—which to me is similar to Scrabble yet with cards. Booksellers throughout the country carry Woker in their stores. Lisa mentioned that the local Tattered Cover carries this game.

I'm always interested to learn what publishers are doing to promote and capture attention for their forthcoming books. At the Penguin Random House booth, I picked up an Advanced Reading Copy of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. This book will not release in the stores until January 2015. The ARC came wrapped in a cover sleeve with a window which said, “You'll never look out the window the same way again.” It captured my attention and I carried it home to try out this novel.

Friday night, I attended the Author Banquet, which featured four authors from well-known publishers. The room only held 150 booksellers and others from the show so this particular ticket was a “hot” item. Every chair had the four books from each of these authors—and each of these books were signed. Two of these books were nonfiction and two were fiction. After the meal, each author spoke for a few minutes giving background about their book and hopefully intriguing the publishing professionals in the room to buy and hand-sell their books in the days ahead.

Each of the four speakers were entertaining and interesting in their presentations. One of the four writers had not done his research about what booksellers think about Amazon. This author opened his presentation with a joke about Amazon which fell completely flat in the room with booksellers looking at each other wondering if they should groan or politely chuckle. 

Whatever you think about Amazon, they have forever changed the business of selling books. The Author Banquet was filled with booksellers from the west and many of them have strong negative feelings about Amazon. To even mention Amazon during a presentation revealed how little this author understood booksellers.

I gained a tremendous amount of new friends and learning from a couple of days at this trade show. If you get the opportunity to attend such an event, I encourage you to seize it.

Encouragement For Independent Bookstores

It's no secret that independent bookstores are fighting for their survival. As a writer who cares about books and bookstores for many different reasons, I was fascinated to see this story about The Poisoned Pen, an independent bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. It appeared in our local newspaper The Arizona Republic.

Unfortunately most of the news I've been reading in recent years has been about the downsizing or closing of independent bookstores--which used to be a thriving part of the publishing world and a place publishers and writers could depend to push their books out out to the public. The people who work in independent bookstores love books, read books and constantly recommend books to their customers. In the business, we call this "hand selling" a product. If you read this article, you will see that it’s still happening but much less than in the past. I found the article encouraging and celebrate this booksellers commitment to books.