Advance Copies for Book Reviews

Have you considered just using Lulu? You could print off a few copies yourself for cheap that way.

Create Space will send you as many proof copies as you need. They will not publish until you hit the Publish button.

I have used create space and they get the book to you fast and it even though I have no print books, just e books, I like have a print copy to edit, easier for me to physically see it. So I like them a lot.

A lot of publishers these days do ARCs as ebooks rather than print copies so you could take your text and format it as an ebook and e-mail it to them easily enough. Costs less money that way.

First, precious few mainstream publications will review self-published books. Second, I've wasted more money than I can count giving away free print copies to people who promise a review in return, only to get nothing in return. People, even family and friends, are notorious for failing to follow through with a review.

There is a growing body of semi-expert and expert book reviewers out there who review books for free because they enjoy it. Most are book bloggers. While they are selective about what they'll read/review, they write up very polished and honest book reviews. I've targeted those who accept books in Kindle format, which are quite a few now. I may follow up with those who require a print copy later, depending on how well I do with the first tranche. Right now, I'm keeping my overhead as low as I can.

To the OP,

I hate reading a review and then finding out it was a paid review. I feel cheated.

I will also assume you understand that sending ARCs to reviewers to get a write up does not gaurantee a positive review. You have to be ready for the bad...