Successful Cold Requests, Volume 2

I thought the previous thread was starting to get a bit long...

I emailed someone at Hatchette yesterday afternoon about getting a review copy of The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters and it showed up this morning with the UPS guy!

Hachette, God bless them.

Holy Cow! That was fast!

I love Hachette. One of my favorites :)

I emailed them about Malcolm Gladwell's new book maybe Monday, I wonder if I will be successful. I've never emailed them before.

I signed up with Hachette almost two months ago but all I ever get from them are ads for their new books every week-after their release. I'm in Canada and used to being ignored by most publishers but I notice that Hachette sends books to Canada in their giveaways. I requested Testimony on August 22, through their program for bloggers. Should I just wait longer? I want to request another but should I if they haven't responded in any way to my last request?Any thoughts?

I have no idea about any of their programs, I'm not signed up for any of them. I just found the email address for the imprint publishing The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters and emailed directly.

Do you have an email contact? Try that person again, just say you're following up on it.

Has anyone had any luck cold-requesting from any of the Penguin group imprints?

They say in their FAQ that they don't send ARCs to individual readers, but does having a book blog make me a member of the "media"?

Whether they think it does or not, I think it does, and I think you should say you are and include your blog.

9 - I've cold requested for Penguin and gotten great response from them as a blogger.

I've also received successful cold requests from Penguin.

Hachette is well known as being extremely blogger friendly. I am in Canada and they have been very kind to me.

Random House and WW Norton have also been very accomodating when it comes to ARC requests--at least in my personal experience.

Katshu - I agree with you about Random House. I mentioned to a publicist that I had been wanting to review more YA books and yesterday, I got a surprise package with 5 wonderful new books to read (and review of course).

I got to say that almost all of the publishing houses have been so gracious about sending out books - the only one I don't think i have dealt with is Pingouin so I cannot comment on them.

15- Wow a surprise package of YA books! That's so exciting! What did you get?

Let's see: I got:

Bog Child, Blackbox, The Diamond of Darkhold, Hell Week, Cybele's Secret, the Cycler and Debs.

So you can see why I am excited.

I still can't quite believe how generous both authors and publishing houses are!

How cool!

I reviewed Black Box recently on my blog. And I also got Cycler.

17- That IS so exciting!!! I love the cover of Hell Week!

17-18 I recently mooched a ARC of Cycler!!

I'm so excited, today I came home and found that R.L. Lafevers "Theodosia and The Staff of Osiris" and William F. Wheeler's "Alive in Africa" had been delivered. I knew "Alive in Africa was being sent but I am totally psyched that Theodosia was sent. They had not responded to my email.

I posted a message on the old Successful Cold Requests thread but didnt get a response so I thought i would try it over here.

Someone had said that they emailed the publicist to get a copy of Michael Cox's Glass of Time and I was wondering you could tell me what the email address was.

Meaning of Night has been one of the best books I have read this year and I would love to get a copy of his second book as well!

I sent an email to the author of hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet and just got a message back saying that he would see about getting me an arc! keep your fingers crossed for me

The e-mail address for The Glass of Time's publicist can be found on Michael Cox's website (www.glassoftime.com, I believe, or something similar). I can't remember the publicist's name or e-mail address off the top of my head.

I'm also hosting a giveaway of the book on my blog:

http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogspot.com/2008/09/another-giveaway.html

I did a cold request for Dewey last Thursday and it came today. I'm very excited!

I have a question about cold requests. I assume y'all are posting reviews somewhere prior to making any cold requests. How many reviews have y'all posted prior to making a request?

sgtbigg when I started to do cold request I had a few reviews on my blog and chapters and then I started to cold request.

I actually didn't have any reviews yet when I started cold requesting. At the moment, I only have 3. Will have another one in a day or two, then another by the end of the week. I had just started the blog a couple days before I started doing this, really so I could do this! Hasn't seemed to hinder my success at the cold requests, though.

I had quite a few and I had been reviewing on Amazon for years...some publicist insisted on knowing how many reviews i had done and wanted to see some - others did not ask. I think it depends on who you are asking.

What is more important, IMO, is that once you get the book, you promptly review it and make sure to send a link to the publicist.

A few of the publicists that I now know on a more friendly basis have told me that they are happy to send to me any cold request I want because they know that I am "reliable" (their word - not mine). So, its about building a good reputation AND a good relationship with the publishers.

Thanks. I've only posted two short reviews so far so I think I'll wait until I have a couple of longer ones. It's not like I have a shortage of books to read.

I reviewed on my blog for about six months before making my first cold request; and like #28, I've been reviewing on Amazon for years (though I don't review there much more; people have gotten to be too vitriolic). And, like 28 has said, always send the publicist a link to the review once it's up.

Kasthu... ain't that the truth. Amazon has become so nasty that it's no longer fun to review there.

I got Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani which was a cold request.

I tried my first cold request 10/1 and I haven't received a response or a book :( I guess I'll keep trying.

>33 24girl:

I wouldn't completely give up hope for that. Sometimes you won't see a response at all and the book will still show up (even after a few weeks or longer). Just keep trying, and you never know - that book may just show up unexpectedly.

#33--keep trying! I've had a few be unsuccessful in that I never heard anything, but I figure it's their loss, lol. ;) (Am I getting arrogant?)

>33 24girl: - Don't give up! I got a book yesterday that I did a cold request for on August 21. It was a nice surprise.

#33 Don't give up. Some of the authors you do cold requests reply and get the books out right away and some not so fast. I did i cold request in Aug for a book and the author just got back to me this morning about the book and that he is sending it out.

In that case it was because he was waiting for a shipment of books.

So don't give up.

Thanks all! Hopefully it will come. It was a cozy that looks really good. I'm still on the lookout for more to cold request but haven't found anything else yet.

Also I don't know if you queried the author or publisher but you can always try the publisher too.

hey

I just did my first cold request -- and I was successful! Its for an architecture book, so I went to the publisher's website and they had an online form to fill our in the press section for getting information and review copies. I filled it out and put my blog where it asked for the publication name. In the text box, I put that I review for my blog and Librarything. This morning, I had an email saying that they would have the book sent to me! I'm curious where it will come from, since the publisher is in Switzerland.

41>
I do quite a bit of cold requesting, and I've noticed that sometimes the books come via Amazon.com. That may happen in your case, especially since the publisher is in Switzerland.

I just got Scheisshaus Luck by Pierre Berg, which I cold requested from the publisher.

I got a copy of Dewey: The SmallTown Library Cat Who Touched the World today. It was a cold request and as soon as I'm done with Monique and the Mango Rains it's up next.

I've heard good things about Scheisshaus Luck. It's one I'm considering adding to the TBR heap. Let me know what you think, LonelyFilly.

Will do....I'll be reviewing it on my blog once I'm done. I'll post here when I do that.

Whoo hoo. My 2nd cold request resulted in my first book. I received Dewey yesterday.

I cold requested: The FInancial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge after seeing it on Author Buzz - never heard anything - until today when it showed up in my mail.

Thank you to the authors and the publisher for sending it along. It looks great.

I got an email from Annie Vanderbilt saying Penguin was sending me a copy of The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti. It was a good thing she included my email in it, because I didn't remember requesting it.

I've had to put a moratorium on cold-requesting because I have waaaaaaaaaaay too many books waiting to be reviewed, and of course it's driving me nuts because there's so many books I want to read!

Today I went to Book Group Expo and after listening to so many authors talk about their books, it's getting sooooooooo hard to resist!

#50--it seems so many bloggers are there! Did you meet anyone?

Seriously we all need to make plans like now for BEA 2009...it would be so cool to have a massive book blogger meet-up.

I'm overwhelmed with review copies as well. I want to read everything I have, so the old, I don't request what I dont think I'll like advice won't work!

I got both Dewey: The Library Cat and Soldier's Heart through cold requests after reading about them on Early Reviewers. In both cases I received an email notifying me the book was shipped; I've been impressed by the responsiveness of publicists.

In October I got a lot of responses to cold requests, but not so much any more. It might be, however, that I'm requesting ARCs where there aren't any left...

I just received 6 books by Philippa Gregory, from a cold request. :-)

The extra copy I've received of 'The Other Queen' is going to be a giveaway on my blog, Book Reviews By Bobbie.

Cold requesting is really rewarding! :-)

-Bobbie

Wow, Bobbie, that's amazing! Good for you!

54 - What did you request? I'm curious how you got so many!

Philippa Gregory's publicist is great, though; very helpful when I was setting up my Monarchy Mania contest.

Wow, that should keep you busy for awhile. :)

I have to say - the authors and publicists are so kind. I have done quite a few cold requests and I would say that I am 95% successful with the other 5% not answering at all.

I also love the fact that authors ask me if they can pass along my email address to their author friends who are looking to have books reviewed. I LOVE IT!!!

I have had some success. I requested a book through Orca (The Lit Report - a current Early Reviewer selection) and was told I had to go through Library Thing. Aside from hoping to get it as ER, any other ideas?

>59 ScrapEtta:,

I know that a lot of people like to mention that they saw the book on LTER, but I don't because I've been wary of just that response. "Go through LT" if the batch isn't closed or the publisher wondering "Well, why DIDN'T she get chosen? Must not be a good match." Hopefully someone else has a good suggestion, because I'm not sure there's anything to do rather than hope (and maybe try again with them if you aren't selected, but I'm not sure that sounds very promising).

#60: I've had the opposite experience. If the batch has closed and a reviewer didn't snag anything, I just write to the publicist/ publicity department and ask for a copy. Just because you happened to not receive a copy doesn't mean that you weren't a good match--it was just that there were other people who the algoritm may have thought were better matches.

If the batch isn't closed yet, I've still had great success with cold requests for books. It all depends on what's available when, I guess.

>61 Kasthu:,
Oh, I haven't actually HAD a bad experience with it, and I know that most of the time people have good experiences with it, it just always gives me pause. Plus, usually just saying that I have heard good buzz about the book works for me (both before and after batches have closed).

I really have had good response otherwise. The Orca book was the first time that I was told I had to go through LT. Maybe I'll just wait and go to the library and check it out when they receive it. It's not the same as owning it, but it will do.

I got Burn Out from a cold request today. I've got to stop doing cold requests - maybe that will be my New Year's resolution.

#64--I haven't requested anything in ages for that reason. I have way too many books to read, it wouldn't feel right.

I couldn't resist.. Requested, and nabbed Forgotten Tales of Rhode Island after I saw it on the ER list.. I live in the state, and my curiosity got the better of me.
Also requested and received A Rose By Any Name from Algonquin.. The folks over there are very quick to respond, and polite! It looked so nice, and I figured my grandmother would enjoy it as well when I'm done, since she used to enjoy gardening.
Thought I saw the peak of Mount TBR.. must've been an illusion. Lol.

>66 songbirdz:
You "inspired" me and I made my first cold request for FORGOTTEN TALES FROM RHODE ISLAND. (I live here, too!) I was so emboldened by my success that I requested THE KING'S DAUGHTER from Sandra Worth and she's sending it! This is too exciting!!

Will someone explain "cold requesting" to this newbie?

Cold requests are when you contact a publisher directly and ask for a reveiw copy. This is different from programs like Shelf Awareness or the Early reviewer program where publishers are asking for reviews.

I cold requested Kyle Mills upcoming release directly to him - he answered within a day and forwarded my request to his wonderful publisher who FedEx the book the next day - total time between request and receipt = 3 days!!! (and I live in Canada) I am sooo grateful.

I sent a cold request to Tim Maleeny for a copy of his book GREASING THE PINATA. He answered right away and I received a signed copy of the book two days later by FedEx. It's unbelievable how nice and generous some authors can be!

Yippee! I cold requested Handle With Care last week and today received a finished hardcover. I can't wait to dive into this one.