The votes are in from my recent poll regarding books and blogs. Out of 30 votes, 9 read blogs more than books, 9 read books more than blogs, and 5 were a toss up. 6 people claimed to read more because of blogging, and I think I’d find myself in that category too.

I could do another poll to see what we think are more valuable and of lasting impact, books or blogs. I don’t think I’ll do that poll though. Most would agree books are more valuable, yet blogging has value and has a place — it offers something books don’t.

Still, books are important, and as a blogger I want to be reading more books than blogs. I want to push myself to grow more through reading more substantive, edited material.

So why not use my blog to get books? Free books at that. I am a sucker for anything free, but this makes sense really. I can read books and review them on my blog. I already do that.

What I’ve found recently is that if you want to read books and review them on your blog, you are a candidate for getting free books directly from publishers.

The only catch is you must agree to review the book. This will cause a buzz to surround the book and earn the publishers free publicity.

In this post and the next, I will share some secrets on how to get free books for blogging. I’ve just started using this technique and I’m up to around a dozen books to review. Some of them are kids books, so I think I can handle it. In truth I hadn’t thought I’d get so many “yes” responses. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

For starters, two publishers make it very easy to get free books. They are courting bloggers and have blog for book programs.

1) Reformation Trust, which was founded by R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries, will provide up to 2 pdf books for your review. Once you are finished with your review, notify them and they’ll send you a free copy of the actual book. I recommend browsing through their selection and finding one you are truly interested in since pdf books are not the easiest way to read, and you want to make this worth your time. For my part, I got Joel Beeke’s new book Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism. I’m close to 100 pages in to it and I’m very excited about the book.

2) Thomas Nelson. They recently created a Book Review Bloggers club, where certain select books are made available to you and you can request more once you finish the books they’ve sent. You have to select the genres which interest you and there are not an unlimited supply of books available. In fact some of the choices they offer aren’t that great, but when i signed up, I was able to get a copy of the The Chronological Study Bible (NKJV) to review. (They actually sent me two copies, so when I get close to posting my review, I’ll be giving the second copy away with their blessing.) I would at least sign up to be included and then keep checking to see when a book is available that interests you. Or be brave and pick a book you don’t know much about, and explore new territory.

In a follow up post I’ll give pointers for how to get books from other publishers. But for now, let me encourage you to check out Shaun Tabbat’s blog, where he reviews books almost weekly, which he gets from publishers. Seeing how others review books, and promote them, can give you ideas for how to do the same yourself.

One last word. I don’t want to turn my blog into a book blog. I don’t think you have to do this in order to take advantage of free books. I try to choose books which fit in to my blog’s overall theme. I’ve gotten a book on worldliness by C.J. Mahaney, and one on redemptive historical interpretation by Dennis Johnson. These are themes that I already cover in my blog, so reviews of these books will fit right in.

Okay, enough for now. Happy reading, I mean, blogging…. 😉