I will be contacting publishers over the next couple of weeks to congratulate you on your nomination and to discuss the possibility of obtaining review copies for the panelists. In these tough economic times, we understand that publishers are cutting back, and we are committed to doing what we can to help save you money on review copies while still getting the nominated books into the hands of panelists who need them. Towards that end, panelists are scouring their libraries and using Inter-Library Loan to obtain copies of nominated books whenever possible. Already, 45% of the nominated books have been read by at least one panelist.
Review copies are helpful, however, whenever they can be provided. Some nominated books are not widely available in libraries. Others might be so popular that panelists will have to put their name on a reserve list, which might mean that the book isn't available when the panelist needs it for evaluation and/or discussion. However, we'd be glad to discuss with you the options if providing review copies for all the panelists is a financial burden. We are already asking panelists to let us know what books they have copies of, so that we don't request unnecessary review copies. Beyond that, if you can only provide a limited number of review copies, or if you'd like to send electronic review copies instead of (or in addition to) physical ones, or if you have any other suggestions, please let me know and we'll talk about it.
Finally, I'm currently in the process of researching contact information for the publisher of every nominated book. If you are associated with a nominated publisher, and can put me in touch with the correct contact at your company, please email me at sruth (at) wandsandworlds.com. Please feel free to email me with any other questions or concerns.
Thanks, congratulations, and good luck!
Sheila Ruth, Publisher Liaison
@sheilaruth on Twitter