Early ReviewersOffering Books

The LibraryThing Early Reviewers program ("ER") helps publishers and authors generate buzz and reviews for new and forthcoming books. You provide the books, and we match you with readers eager to review them. We also promote your books to the close to 100,000 members of Early Reviewers, the more than 1 million recipients of LibraryThing's monthly newsletter, and through our social-media channels.

How Does It Work?

1. You enter the books you would like to offer through the Early Reviewers program on LibraryThing’s Giveaway Entry page.
2. We announce the titles, in monthly batches, and LibraryThing members sign up for the books they're interested in.
3. We use an intelligent algorithm to find the members most likely to enjoy and create buzz for your titles. These aren't random giveaways.
4. Depending upon the delivery method you select, we either send a list of the winning members and their contact information to you, and you send out the books; or a download link to a third party site (provided by you during the giveaway creation process) is sent to your winners on the LibraryThing site.
5. Early Reviewers read the books, and then post reviews to LibraryThing. They are encouraged to also cross-post to their blog and other reviewing sites.

What Do You Get Out of It?

You get access to a community of enthusiastic readers—readers who will create early buzz about your books and give you insight into how they will be received by the wider public.

The Early Reviewers monthly batch—and your title—is promoted in a variety of ways on both the LibraryThing site and various social media platforms.

• Close to 100,000 participating ER members receive a site notification and email each month, whenever a new batch goes live. This notification includes the complete list of titles available that month, as well as links to find the giveaways on our site.
• Our monthly newsletter, State of the Thing, going out to more than one million LibraryThing members, always contains a section featuring that month’s ER batch.
• A news item promoting the monthly ER batch goes up on the LibraryThing homepage, where it is visible to all members when they first log on or navigate to the site.
• A discussion is launched for each monthly batch in our ER discussion group.
• Announcements are made on both Facebook and Twitter each time a new ER batch goes live, and reminders are given regarding entry deadlines, as they approach.

The publisher and author are granted perpetual non-exclusive permission to use the reviews provided by ER members.

What Does It Cost?

Early Reviewers is completely free.

What Kinds of Books Can I Offer?

ER books should be new or forthcoming titles. They must be in the publication process, as we do not offer beta readers or editing services. Books published more than six months prior to the month in which they are to be offered are not eligible for Early Reviewers.

We do not accept AI-authored titles in the Early Reviewers program.

We are happy to list paper copies, ebooks, and audiobooks. If you are offering an ebook or a digital audiobook, you will be asked to specify:

• The digital format in which it is to be provided (e.g., Kindle, MOBI, EPUB, PDF, Audible, MP3).
• The delivery method (e.g., download link, email attachment).

If you are offering a download link, you will be asked to select the Download Site from a dropdown menu, and to provide the url itself in the Download Link field. These will be sent automatically to your winners through onsite LibraryThing message, at the conclusion of the giveaway. You will be given the opportunity to create an Optional Download Link Message to be included with the link, when creating your giveaway.

When offering ebooks, please be aware that you cannot give away books that are freely available to the public elsewhere. This means, for example, that you cannot offer ebooks to which you also provide free access on your website.

Please also be aware that the format offered in your giveaway—paper, ebook, audiobook—cannot be changed after the giveaway has gone live. Substitutions after the fact, such as sending ebooks rather than paper books, are against ER policy.

How Many Books Do I Have to Provide?

We ask for at least 5 copies of each title offered and welcome up to 30. We encourage both diversity and quantity.

How Many Times Can I Offer a Book?

A book may be offered in two monthly giveaway batches, whether consecutive or nonconsecutive. It can also be offered more than once within the same batch, provided that it is offered in different formats—e.g., paper, ebook, audiobook.

What Is the Deadline to Submit Titles Each Month?

Our monthly Early Reviewers batch runs from the first business day of the month to the 25th (or the next business day). Titles for each batch of Early Reviewers must be submitted no later than three days before the batch launches.

How Far in Advance of the Release Date Should I Offer My Forthcoming Titles?

This is your decision to make. Offer them whenever they are available and you want the buzz to start. Reviews can be posted at any point subsequent to the book's distribution, so be sure you are ready for them to begin appearing online. When making this decision, please be aware that winners have 90 days from the end of the giveaway to post their reviews.

Where Will the Books Be Available?

This is also your decision to make. You will choose the countries in which your book will be offered, when adding it on the giveaway entry page.

When Are Winners Selected?

The Early Reviewers batch closes on the 25th of the month (or the next business day), at 6pm eastern. Your winners will be selected shortly thereafter, and you will be sent an email directing you to your ER winners page.

How Are Winners Selected?

We use an algorithm to calculate winners, which is based on a number of factors, including:

• The contents and organization of the reviewer's LibraryThing account.
• How many books the reviewer has received from ER in the past, and whether they've reviewed them.
• Factors that suggest a member is likely to review a book, and talk about it widely, on LibraryThing and elsewhere.

Who Sends the Books?

This depends upon the delivery method you select, when creating your giveaway. If you offer either paper copies or digital copies to be sent via email, we will send you a list of the winning members and their contact information, and you will send out the books. If you offer digital copies to be distributed via download link from a third party site (provided by you during the giveaway creation process), we will send the link to your winners through onsite LibraryThing message.

Please be aware, if providing download links, that they must be viable for one week following the selection of winners, usually done on the 26th of the month.

Are There Deadlines for Sending the Books?

Yes. If the giveaway is for a paper book, once the batch has closed you have eight weeks to get it to your winners. If the giveaway is for an ebook or digital audiobook, you have one week.

Are There Limits on Communicating With My Winners?

Yes. Your winners’ contact information is provided to you for the purpose of distributing the books offered through your giveaway, and cannot be used for any other reason. You may not contact your winners, other than for the purpose of sending the book.

In cases where a digital book has been offered in multiple formats, you may reach out to your winners first, in order to determine which format they prefer. You may not automatically enroll your winners in any newsletter or other program.

When and Where Will My Reviews Appear?

Early Reviewer policy requires winners to post their reviews no later than 90 days following the end of a giveaway. The review must be posted on the book’s LibraryThing page. While many of our winners do also post their reviews on other bookish sites, this is not required of them.

What If My Reviews Don't Appear?

If winners fail to post their reviews within the stipulated time period, their reviewing scores will start to suffer, which may adversely affect their chances of winning future giveaways. We send out reminder messages to all Early Reviewer participants, keeping them updated on their score, and on any missing reviews.

Reminder messages from publishers and authors are not permitted.

Any Other Questions?

Contact AbigailAdams26 at abigailadamslibrarything.com.