I have been an avid user, and fan, of Bookish First for what feels like years now. I first signed up in 2016 and have been hooked ever since.
What is Bookish?
(What I’m talking about it is the US site, but Bookish has other country sites).
Bookish First is a website that is open to consumers which encourages the reading of advance read copies in exchange for reviews, reading snippets, and leaving reviews on retail sites. It’s all to encourage real readers to share their thoughts months before the book is published and leave their reviews on sites. And it’s amazing.
All you have to do is read the snippet, early excerpt, and then you leave a review. At this point you can enter the raffle for the book, or choose not to, either way you get 100 points. When you get to 2,000 points you can guarantee a book – congratulations! To receive points, you keep reading more excerpts and then you review the books you receive! And you leave your reviews on retail sites (bonus points for doing it on release day!)
Sounds simple enough, but there are some tips to help you get more points!
Tips for More Points
- Leave your reviews on release day (for the retail websites) to gather bonus points – 300 instead of 100! Bookish customer support is amazing and when Amazon hasn’t allowed me to add my review right away, I just email Bookish.
- Look and read excerpts for books even if you aren’t sure if you want it. Your honest opinion is valuable. I’m not saying do them all, but if you’re on the fence about a book, give it a read – and you’ll earn 100 points!
- Write excellent and thoughtful reviews. Your review can be chosen, so make sure you’re on top of your reviews and that you write wonderful ones – if you do, you get extra points!
- And my sneakiest. Go through the past books and enter in your reviews for those points! I have books I didn’t win on Bookish, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add your own review or links to Goodreads and Amazon. Go and add those in to receive even more points!
The biggest tip is just to keep using the site. I adore it and I can guarantee that bigger and better things are coming its way! A site is only as strong as its users. Feel free to leave extra questions or comments below!
I’m going to send my review to Amazon of Wicked Fox, which I immediately claimed with my points, tomorrow. I’m also reading The Virtue of Sin right now, which I claimed from Bookish. Good tip about emailing them as Amazon has often not approved my review same day (amazing that other books seem to be almost instant when they aren’t on publication day).
Yep! I’ve found Amazon can be pretty slow!
I only know of Elderweiss and NetGalley for ARCs. Thanks for the tips on Bookish. Maybe I’ll check it out once my TBR list gets a little shorter.
Yes! one of my absolute favorites!