Where Do Your Review Materials Come From?

I bet it seems like I just get an endless supply of free books, huh? Don’t worry – that is VERY much not the case. I’ve just had a backlog of Net Galley stuff to work through. please know that I’m going to make a point of going through some of the stuff that I’ve bought here soon. Because I spend a ridiculous amount of money on books, and then they sit there gathering dust while I work on e-ARCs anyway. It’s just that I need some supplementing, because keeping myself in material for review (and also just because I need to hoard physical media) is fucking expensive! So if you’ve found yourself wondering “Where do your review materials come from,” I’ve got you!

I am posting this not to show off all the crap I have (although I worked awfully hard to amass it), but more to let you know that if you’ve ever considered making a book- or movie-related blog but worried that you couldn’t afford to make it work, don’t discount it. You can use whatever you have in conjunction with free services. You don’t actually need to have connections or “ins” anywhere.

I also own about 12 years worth of e-books. So, again, a whole lot of them.

Where do your books come from?

So most of my books come from my personal collection. Others come from Net Galley (which anyone can sign up for, and you’ll probably get picked for plenty of stuff). I use the library (also OverDrive, which allows me to rent ebooks), and occasionally publishers or authors I have connected with will offer me review copies. And I also love shopping library sales or used books at stores like Powell’s. Used books are your friend.

I have also found social media (especially Twitter) to be invaluable when it comes to finding new authors/new books/special editions. It seems like I find so much there that I may have otherwise never have known about.

Where do your movies/tv shows come from?

As far as movies go, I don’t get anything from movie houses – no screener copies, no gratis anything. Maybe someday – I can dream. Have you seen those promo boxes they send reviewers?! OMG. I want. What I watch is taken from the vast combined collections of myself and my partner or from Hulu, Netflix, or Shudder (which we subscribe to), or from the many free streaming platforms out there.

Note: each of those black boxes is full of movies in plastic sleeves. We have both spent many years amassing our sizeable personal collections.

Free streaming services that I particularly like:

• Kanopy (you do need a library card for this one)
• TUBI (they have a LOT of weird stuff)
• Pulp

Also, I love movie/book hunting at the dollar store – you’d be surprised at all the stuff we’ve found there. And $4 and $5 bins are YOUR FRIEND!

Anyway, I hope that this either
A) helps you feel like you can start a book/movie blog without knowing anybody in any of those businesses
or
B) makes you feel better about the amount of media you have piled up