Booksprout – Free books !

Yesterday, I was finishing reading my fourth novel via Booksprout, and thought I would talk about it here, for the ones who don’t know about it. If you’re an avid reader on a budget, Booksprout might be an amazing deal for you, and a great way to support your favorite authors (especially indie authors) !

So, what is Booksprout ?

Booksprout is a platform where authors can submit a copy of their book, and get reviews. On the side of the reader/reviewer, you can get books (or ARC copies) for free, in exchange for a review on Amazon and GoodReads.

There are two ways to find a book on Booksprout : either you browse their website (link here), or you get the link from the author directly. (I only read ARC copies from indie authors via Booksprout, so I have no idea if publishing houses also use Booksprout or not.) To get the link from the author, if it’s an indie author, they will share it via their social media and/or via their newsletter, so keep an eye out !

When you ask for a copy of the book, you engage yourself to provide your review (one on Booksprout, one on Amazon and one on GoodReads) within the deadline provided. By respect for the author, please don’t take a copy if you’re not sure that you can read and review the book in time. It is supposed to be a win-win situation, so please don’t waste it.

There are various options on how to receive your copy, I always choose the one where they send you an email with the PDF and epub documents (there’s another e-reader format too but I can’t remember right now because I never use it). If I remember well they can also send it directly to your Kindle account or something like that.

So far, I’ve had the chance to read ARC copies from indie authors that I love, and it’s delightful to be able to read a book before it’s released, and to actually help the author promoting their work by reviewing their book in advance or as soon as it’s published (Amazon won’t let you post a review as long as the book is not published, so be careful not to forget about it !). I’m happy that I’ve tried it, and I’m happy that authors I love use it, too !

What about you ? Have you ever used Booksprout ? How was it ?

I hope you all have a lovely day, and see you next week.

Marie.