Wow, I haven’t had a chance to do one of these in ages! (And if I don’t type fast, I still won’t get it in on Tuesday.) From Wendi’s Book Corner, here’s this week’s Tuesday Thinger question:

Today’s question: How do you get your books for reviewing? Do you track them somehow (excel, database, etc), or just put them in a tbr (To Be Read for anyone that doesn’t know) pile?

I get my books from everywhere! I request them through Shelf Awareness, I get books from the library, as gifts or by swapping with friends, I’ve even gotten unsolicited review copies.

LibraryThing was my first supplier – I’ve gotten some great books through their Early Reviewer program. I started posting on some of the message boards at LibraryThing and that prompted me to start the blog. Boy, all these years I thought I had to buy books – turns out, you just have to ask for them! As long as you promise to talk about them, publishers and authors are willing to share.

I have made a couple of cold requests to authors. I received one terrific book that way, some poite responses, and only one or two requests were ignored altogether.

I have a couple of shelves of one bookcase devoted to review books. I try to balance them with books I’ve selected for myself, outside of reviewing, so I suppose I don’t always review them by their release date, but I don’t really worry about that. Nothing wrong with spreading the publicity out, I think. Or at least, that’s what I hope.