Great Book Communities Online

Love to read? Love to put your thoughts about those books into reviews?

I've wanted to do this post for awhile, but like so often happens in life, I got distracted and kept putting it off.

But let's face it: it's 2020 and there are some AMAZING resources for book lovers out there!

So I'd love to share some great communities for readers if you'd like to get your hands on certain books before they hit the market.

It's also a small way to thank these generous organizations for providing me with the perfect reading experience over the past several months. Until halfway through 2019, I didn't even know what an ARC was (it's an Advance Reader Copy, by the way, an early version of a book given to reviewers before it hits bookstores). For someone who fancies herself a major reader and a writer, this is kind of embarrassing to admit. But there you go.

But anyways. How did I get my hands on these ARCS? Do you want some too? Try the following places!

1. GoodReads

One of the biggest book communities out there. They host TONS of book giveaways. I finally won my first in April 2019, Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim, and I've been hooked ever since. The only downside is that so many people participate here, winning a book is almost like winning the lottery. But after a drought that lasted for months, Gill Hornby's beautiful Miss Austen just arrived!

2. BookishFirst

This site probably my favorite. Every week a raffle is hosted with a selection of books (so far I've seen 1-3 choices) that you have the opportunity to win. You preview an excerpt and write a "first impression" to be entered into each raffle. The best part? For every impression and review you write, you get points. When you reach 2000 points, you can claim a book for free!

There is also an awesome forum here where you can trade ARCs, talk books, and more!

3. NetGalley

This organization also runs BookishFirst. It's one of the best places to get ARCs--but they're all in ebook format. Your job here is simple: request a book, read it, review it.

I love NetGalley because the site is so user friendly (I tried Edelweiss briefly, but hated the navigation) and there are so publishers willing to share their books with someone like me, who doesn't have a huge blog following. Teachers, librarians, and booksellers can also review.

One helpful thing about NetGalley is that they included the request policy for each publisher so you know if it's a place you stand a chance with. For example, one such house requires you to have at least 10,000 blog subscribers, so I know to stay away. Keep in mind, this is for bloggers--a teacher might not be held to that standard and could probably be easily approved.

4. LibraryThing

Like BookishFirst, LibraryThing hosts giveaways. Each month a selection of books is up for grabs. I'm in love with this one because they have--and I've won--many titles from Candlewick, one of my favorite publishers of Middle Grade.

There are also tons of boards here to connect with fellow readers.

5. A little bit of randomness:

Books have also found their path to my home in random ways: I won a Malamander prize pack after entering a Twitter contest (and then won its sequel, Gargantis, from LibraryThing), and Saint X arrived after I joined Celadon's First Readers program. And check with each publisher you're interested in--they often host giveaways, both for ebooks and physical copies. An easy way to stay on top of this is by subscribing to Shelf Awareness.

So as you can see, there are several ways to get your hands on books FOR FREE (well, of course there's always your good old standby, the public library. I could wax poetic on mine for hours, but that's for another post). All you need to do is be willing to write a review about what you've read. And for me, that's a small price to pay for publishers who are generous enough to share some brilliant words with me.

As I said, these are my favorites. There are countless others out there, but you've spent enough time with me already :)