One of the perks of being a known and frequent book reviewer is that I occasionally get e-mails that tell me what books are available to be reviewed. Today I got a book from one of the publishers who I have reviewed for in the past, and it included a couple of books on the Hobbit that I really want to read. As it happens, Tyndale Publishers (see the link on the right side of my blog!) only allows readers to have one book out at a time, and so they would not allow me to request any of the Hobbit titles for review. In looking at my account, I realize that last year I had requested to read a book about an Asian missionary who apparently had a difficult time arriving home safe and sound (sound familiar?), but I had never received either the book (because I was outside of North America) nor received a link for a .pdf copy of the book to read and review that way.

In order to make my account with them current I changed my address to reflect my current living arrangements and asked the customer service for the publisher what options I had regarding the book that had been requested last summer (and that I had quite simply forgotten about) and I was told I had two options–either write a “dummy” review and clearing it off, or having the book sent to my current address for me to provide an actual review for. Always preferring free books and not wanting to “write” a blank review for what would probably be a great book, I chose the second option, in the hope that I would be able to read and review the book quickly enough to be able to request the Hobbit book that I wanted to review in the first place. We shall see.

I am often amused at how different publishers and journals deal with book requests. So far I have reviewed books for three different publishers/journals. Each of them has unique qualities as far as how they review. Tyndale, the publisher I spoke with today, sends out a monthly (or so) list of books open to review, and people who are a part of their program are supposed to have a link on their profiles (like I do). In addition, when we post the review on our blogs, we are supposed to post the link (along with a picture, which should be on the blog entry as well) on the Tyndale blog site, the blog entry is supposed to be approved, and then once it is we are free to request another book to review. I hope to review a lot more books from them, but as soon as I started reviewing books for them I went off to Thailand, and that made it more difficult.

I have also reviewed books for a couple of historical journals, the De Re Militari Society (Medieval Military Historical Society) as well as the Naval Historical Society. For both of these historical societies I request books available by e-mail (the Naval Historical Society tends to be far more communicative), and they send them to me for me to review and send them an e-mail with the attached review for them to post on their own website. I have not posted any of these reviews that I have written (3 for the Naval Historical Society and 1 for the De Re Militari so far) on my blog, and I’m not sure if it would be okay for me to do so once the wording has been approved, but I might set up a post where I attach links so that readers of my blog can see those book reviews directly from my blog.

It is a pleasure for me to be able to read mostly excellent works for free simply for the price of a free book review that can be used to promote the book. As an author myself, I understand the value of skillful and detailed praise for a work that allows the work of others to be appreciated by those who would appreciate it. And increasing my library for no cost in a way that gets my own name out and about as a scholarly reader and reviewer of books is something I appreciate as well for my own reasons. It’s a win-win sort of relationship–free books and increased reputation for me, and free publicity and increased sales for the authors.

And it is for that reason that I am content to receive a book, even fifteen months or so after I originally requested it. Books are books, and I love reading worthwhile books. It is better that those books arrive a little bit later than expected than for them never to arrive at all, I figure. Hopefully the book will arrive soon and receive its honored place in my library. One can never read too many good books, after all. And any time I can add to my library responsibly is an opportunity I am going to take. So here’s go too good books, and the people who send me them for free.