Favorite Things - ARCs:How to get Advanced Reader Copies

I'm guest blogging today over at http://loricorsentino.com/blog/. She's a sexy sassy Romance author who's debut story recently came out in the anthology Finding Ms. Wright from 5 Prince Publishing.
They are offering it for free for Amazon Prime. Don't have Prime? (or already use up your one book this month?) You do get three paranormal romance stories for only $2.99. Not bad.


But as always you and I and billions and billions (did you hear that in your head in a Carl Sagan voice like me?) of readers are on the search for FREE e-books. Check out Lori's Blog and where I give you a bunch of great resources for getting them.

As promised here on my very own little blog I'm letting you in on the super secret sneaky way to get ARCs (Advanced Reader Copy) of the most talked about books of the year (and books you had no idea about) before they hit the stores.

Authors and publishers are looking for reviews for their books before they send 'em out to the stores. The way they get those pretty quotes to put on the jacket is by sending out special ARCs to other authors and reviewers. Used to be that you had to be in the know (meaning in the book publishing industry already) to get and ARC, but with the advent the blogosphere that world has opened up to anyone who likes books, has access to the internet and has blabby fingers. Yep, I'm talking about book blogging.

So, my super secret sneaky resource for getting ARCs?

All right, so it's not that secret. Lots of peoplehave known about NetGalley.com for years. But hey, three months ago before I started book blogging I didn't know about it.

Here's some info straight from their website.
What is NetGalley, and how does it work?
NetGalley is a service for people who read and recommend books. Publishers upload their galleys, plus any marketing and promotional information; then invite contacts to view their title on NetGalley. Readers can also find new titles through NetGalley's Public Catalog, and request to review those titles from the publisher.
Who can use NetGalley?
Any professional reader: book reviewers, journalists, librarians, professors, booksellers, bloggers, etc. Anyone who reads and recommend books can use NetGalley for free. You can register here.

I'd almost start a book blog just to get the ARCs (also known as galleys). Oh, good, I already have.

I'm sure there are other places to get your hands on a book before it comes out. Like knowing the author personally or being one of Miranda Priestly's twins. Hey, if you know of some other great sources, leave a comment so we can all share in the glory.