Marie of The Boston Bibliophile just posted a follow-up to her Bloggers and Commercialism post where she lists the sources of her last 20 reviewed books. She did this to analyze the possible effect not accepting review copies might have on her blog. I found it very interesting for another reason too - it's what Julia Keller calls the "extra story" (how a book found its way to your hands) in her article in the Chicago Tribune yesterday.
So, to both follow in Marie's "full-disclosure" footsteps and to provide you with some "extra stories", here is how I got the last 20 books I reviewed on Presenting Lenore.
Last Last Chance by Fiona Maazel - Won from LibraryThing's ER program
Ash by Malinda Lo - Provided for free during my Hachette tour
Feathered by Laura Kasischke - Bought after seeing it at a Story Siren giveaway
Life Sentences by Laura Lippman - Requested from Shelf Awareness
Dull Boy by Sarah Cross - Provided by publisher by request (first seen on 2009 Debs blog)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson - Bought after seeing reviews on various blogs last year
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - Flew all the way to NYC from Germany to attend BEA. Stood in line at 5:30 am to get a ticket to signing. Stood in signing line to get book signed.
The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson - Provided by publisher by request (first seen in catalog)
The Heights by Brian James - Provided by publisher by request (first seen in catalog)
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev - Won in contest sponsored by author
Milestones by Samira Armin Hodges - Provided by publisher after I accepted author query
Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart - Offered by author after I featured it in a WoW post
Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog - Picked up at Frankfurt Book Fair 2008
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before by David Yoo - Provided by publisher by request (first seen in catalog)
Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab - Won in author sponsored contest
Geektastic by various authors - Picked up at BEA
Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard - Provided by publisher by request, though author and I e-mailed about title first
The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris - Provided by author as part of a TLC book tour
Darling Jim by Christian Moerk - Won from LibraryThing's ER program
The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos - Borrowed from library for book club
I would say this is a pretty typical breakdown, except that normally I'd have more books offered to me via query than books I requested personally. If I stopped accepting "freebies", I probably wouldn't feel the pressure to read as much as therefore I'd be more likely to post one review per week as opposed to three or four as I do now. The types of books I reviewed wouldn't change, since I only request or accept books I'd actually spend money on or check out from the library.
Where did your last 20 reviewed books come from? Do you buy most of your books? Get them from the library? Or if you review mostly free copies, how would your blog change if you stopped accepting them?
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