Authors - Have you ever given away a book in exchange for a review?

I'm not author but I think it would be interesting to receive a book to write a review on it. I used to write reviews when I was on the school paper and we received CDs to review, so I would assume you should send it to someone that has a following already.

Err.. readership? ^^;; Sorry, can't think of the proper term.

I think it's worth giving away some copies of your book if you can get credible reviews out of it. I would try to get the book to someone who regularly writes book reviews and writes them well.

While you may very well want to give them to friends and family as gifts, I would not give them to people you know and expect a review that can help you sell your book. Friends and family, while they may have valid opinions about the book and may even be able to write an honest review without offending you (if they genuinely like the book) are not credible reviewers because they know you and may be afraid to offend you. If your friends and famiy do review your book, they should disclose their relationship to you in the review and you should disclose it when using the review, lest the relationship be found out later and damage your reputation with someone like an agent or publisher. It wouldn't be ethical to get reviews from people who know you, and then fail to disclose that relationship.

I have given away many books, but never in exchange for a review. Wouldn't that bias the reviewer?

By the way, I say the above even though I recently wrote a my father's novel, which I can honestly say I did enjoy. I did disclose our family relationship when I wrote the review.

Sandy, professional book reviewers get professional courtesy or preview copies for free all the time. I'm thinking it doesn't bias them because a) they get these as a matter of course and b) if they are really writing reviews for a living, they probably get so many of them that they might not have time to read them all, since often these are sent to them just in the hope that they will write a review. I think a self-published author who doesn't want to spend too much sending out review copies should try to get some assurance that a potential reviewer is interested and will at least seriously consider writing a review before sending copies out, however.

There are review sites you can submit your book to (check out Blogcritics Magazine this month for a series of interviews with reviewers) or simply post an article here asking politely for a review in exchange for a free book. There are many authors here who happily review books.

I am not an author but I have rec'd books free books to read. The ones I have read were great. I wrote a review and I have passed on to everyone how great these books were.
Seems like a good idea to me.

You will have to give some copies away, perhaps to libraries and reviewers.

I've given away the paperbook to reviewers that said they'd review it and haven't. So far I've found the best luck giving the ebook away to friends and or colleagues also on this same path.

I work in the media and it is not uncommon for us to receive "review copies" of new books in the mail. Some get reviewed and some don't, but it's probably worth it. Do a lot of signings and readings, too, and let the newspapers know about each one well in advance. If you self-published, you need to be your own PR machine!

When I published an online 'zine, I received books in exchange for writing reviews. In one case I received an ebook -- which may be the route I would go if I were to do it as the author. If your work is published on Lulu -- and probably other places, you can probably get the PDF for free and email it to reviewers and editors. Stick to people who are in a similar place in their writing/publishing and you'll likely get a better response.

Yes, I've given books away for reviews. Sadly, many people agree to review a book and don't bother. Now I'll give the ebook version away for review, but not the paperback.

Everyone gives away books for review, including all the big publishing companies. Even if you write nasty reviews they will still give you the books for free, because all PR is good PR. Reviewers get so many books thrown out them, they're not going to be bribed to write a good review by the thought of yet another book for free.

I've given away a few of mine and it's always been reviewed. However, if you are self-published and someone doesn't review your book after receiving a free copy I personally would not recommend hunting them down. The reason for this is that if I get a book from an author starting out and upon reading decide that it is absolute crap, I probably will refrain from writing a really damning review on the grounds that that would be just too nasty. Whereas I feel free to unashamedly bash someone who has a big publishing contract.

That being said, if you send me your book I will read it and (possibly) write a review.

However, send a bound paper copy, i.e. an actual book. No way will I read an entire book on my computer screen (or print it on my own costs) and I'm betting most reviewers feel the same.