There has been a lot of opinions and judgements passed about what people think of getting free books for reviewing and from whom . Here’s the question : What do bloggers feel about getting ‘free’ review copies ?
The first thing that comes to mind is all those book blogger programs we’ve all signed up for . Let me be clear from the start and tell you I love free books .
But then …nothing is quite free.
I’m sick of the word ‘free’ when people use it with ‘review copies ‘ . Review copies are not free . They’re sorta the payment for a honest , well-written review which is a marketing service . But they’re also not quite a ‘payment ‘ . That is why I have a problem with review copies from programs .
I know I know , I’m being a lot cynical . But we’re the actual people working here for ‘free’ . I hate going through all those rules the programs have up and having to go through the requirements twice each time to see if I qualify .
And then there’s the problem of having to review all books you receive .
Example : Goodreads FirstReads
I have discussed again and again about how Goodreads isn’t very random . Everyone who is online a lot and write a lot of reviews win ! Want proof of that ? Here I am , someone who’s had a lot of luck with GR .
The thing is , we’re bloggers . We request books so we can review them . Why would we even request books if we don’t want to review it ?
For my part , I do feel obliged to review all books I receive but I’m not a super woman and I do get into book slumps . I hate feeling pushed to review a book in any given time period .
Do you feel obligated to review the books you receive ? Do you not feel obliged to review books ?
Books and Readers 
Haha that was true about Goodreads, but it feels good. It’s kind of author /publishers appreciate our work. So, I don’t feel bad if I receive book free.
I definitely feel like I should review a book in given timeline. Mostly it’s 2 months duration at some platform it is 3 and I accept book only if I can read it within timeline. But it do feel like pressure.
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A 2 or 3 months will be cool but a lot of the places offer 2 weeks as a max . That sucks
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Ohh I never touch those that’s impossible for me 😕
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I’m not on any book reviewing platforms for that very reason. I don’t have time to be on a deadline. However, I am on the review team for one author and that’s good enough for me and I make time to read and review her books.
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I wish someone told me of the time limits . Before blogging , I read so fast that I was over confident about my capacities and adding myself to a lot of review platforms . But I haven’t really used any of them and I don’t think I’ll be doing so anytime soon . It’s real awesome that you are on the author’s review team instead . I’ve signed up for some authors that I love but…again , time consumption problems
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I do feel obligated to review the book and I definitely feel pressure to review it in a timely fashion. When I first started receiving free books, I loved it, but now I feel a bit like this is all becoming too much work. I had a few cases where I really really disliked the book, but felt obligated to read until the end and then write these really long posts and it could of took the fun out of getting free books. I have spent more time on some books than the book costs, so it’s not exactly free. I’m trying hard now to be very selective about what I read since the “pay” of a free book is pretty low, especially considering I have access to 3 libraries. But it’s always a challenge. Who doesn’t love free books!
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Also, when you say Goodreads FirstReads, are you talking about their giveaway page or something else? I have only won 1 free Kindle giveaway and I post lots of reviews on Goodreads.
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I mean the giveaway page . And Goodreads seems to have a weird criteria for letting people win . If you have won a kindle giveaway , you’re probably on the right path . Just keep being active on the site and your luck will kick in 🙂
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When I started blogging , receiving free books and talking to authors felt awesome but as time passed , I’m not so excited now . And I know that about hating a book and still having to go through it 😔 . I mean , we’re not super humans who could read something that we want to throw at a wall , right ?
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Thank you for the clarification. I got the sense that it wasn’t a random drawing of winners, which is whatever. You are very right about us not being super humans. One of the first books I got from Netgalley I wanted to throw at the wall so many times. I should have not finished it, but I felt obligated. Now I would just not finish it. I probably have it a super long rating because I had to suffer through it and might have been more generous if I hadn’t.
I’m still in the super excited phase. I just had my first offer for an interview. But I’m sure at some point I’ll really feel like this had become too much work and I won’t care enough about free books to keep requesting review copies. I certainly don’t care if I read the latest book. I’ve never been trendy 🙂
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That’s too bad ! I don’t use the Netgalley though and have no idea how it works . I’m already near blind with all the e-books and now I no longer bother with any program that requires me to read them
The excitement has already started to fade away for me . These days , it feels like a burden to even pick any book , which is awful . But a rare autographed copy here and there is still a perk lol 🙂
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I’ll very likely back off on using Netgalley. It’s an easy entry point, but it isn’t without issues. I’m not a huge fan of e-books, but I don’t mind them from time to time. I dislike that with Netgalley, the cover doesn’t import into the reader. Plus, partly from your blog and partly through random searching, I’ve found other ways of getting ARCs I prefer.
I’m sorry the excitement has started to fade away from you. Reading should always be a joy. I hope it stops feeling like a burden at some point. An autographed copy is pretty awesome, especially for a favorite book!
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Very interesting discussion, Harini! I do enjoy receiving free books, but the issue becomes when I don’t enjoy them or like them. I feel bad that I requested them or agreed to review them in the first place. And you’re so right about the book slump – so many times there are obligations to read them in a timely manner, and when you don’t reach it…oh ugh. But it’s still so much fun and it’s such a cool way to promote author’s work and find out what books you for sure have to get a physical copy of. 🙂
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That too ! When you buy a book and don’t like it , it feels so good to rant about why people shouldn’t pick that book but when it’s a review copy…well the authors /publishers spend a lot on sending the book to you and I feel guilty about ranting . Yes , free books are fun 💖💖
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I’m still fairly new to the book blogging community so at this point, I’ll accept as many book requests as I get! I discovered NetGalley when I started book blogging and, although I prefer reading books in their print form, knowing that I get to read a book that has not yet been published and knowing that my thoughts and words about it somewhat matter, is a reward in and of itself.
Likewise, I often go into reading slumps so many of the times, many of my ARCs tend to go unread.
Great post btw! I look forward to reading more from you in the future… Happy Reading! 🙂
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Thanks ^_^ . And I know that the initial stages of blogging are real fun . I mean , we get to converse with all those wonderful people and read before a book is out there ! I hope that excitement stays after the blog grows old , too 🙂 . Print books are bae 💖 If you’re from the US or Canada , you should really try out other programs that offer print books 🙂
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