When I first started writing for publication, I wanted to write op-eds and book reviews. Just a few short years ago, it was difficult to get a review copy from a publisher. They wanted only real reviewers, and you had to send a request on company letterhead (from a magazine or newspaper), the name of the publication where you were sending the review (if not the one on the letterhead), and clips of previous reviews.
One day I took a chance, as I often do. I wrote letters to a few publishing houses and said I was a freelance writer with a few op-ed clips requesting a review copy of so-and-so book, and that I planned to send the review to so-and-so publication, which probably wouldn’t publish it anyway. I never expected to receive a book. Despite my pessimism, at least three publishers added me to their reviewers mailing list, and I was getting books every week! Ironically, I asked to be removed from the lists so I could request one book at a time (read my favorite review).
It’s so much easier now to get free books to review. In fact, publishers send unsolicited review copies to bloggers all the time.
That was a long-winded prologue to the real subject of this post. Recently, a local publication picked up a Mind and Media book review. If you already review books or would like to, think about becoming a Mind and Media reviewer. Promotion guru Stacy Harp is gaining quite a reputation in the Christian market, and I predict her company is headed for bigger and better things.
