Read it first
A limited number of advance copies go out before release. What I ask in return is one honest review, posted in release week, wherever you normally post them.
What this is
An advance reader copy is the finished book, sent free and early, in digital form. Publishers have done this for reviewers and booksellers for a hundred years. For a first novel with no publisher behind it, readers like you are the entire mechanism.
What I am asking
One honest review, in the first week the book is on sale, on whichever platform you already use — Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, your own blog. That first week is when reviews decide whether a book is visible to anybody who has not already heard of it.
What I am not asking
Not a good review. An honest one. If the book does not work for you, say so — that is more useful to the next reader than a favour is to me, and a page of five-star reviews with nothing else on it fools nobody.
The fine print
- The copy is free. There is nothing to buy, now or later.
- Copies are limited and go out roughly four weeks before release.
- Reviewing platforms require you to disclose that you received a free copy. Most have a checkbox for it.
- Your email goes on the advance readers list, which is separate from the general mailing list. You can leave either at any time.
The Only Road In is a crime novel set in a fictional East Texas lake community. It deals with a suspicious death, land and money, and the distance between neighbours. No graphic violence on the page.