Fate of your books

There is nothing more emotional than the topic of the fate of your books if they are not chosen for review or as finalists in our awards program. Understandably so--authors/publishers put so much time, energy and money into their titles. As the recipients of 1,000+ books a month we are limited to certain book/galley management options.

We make an assumption that publishers would prefer not to have us throw their books away and, is in fact, an expense ForeWord could never afford given the sheer numbers we receive. Our current policy mirrors what is traditionally done with surplus books by other legitimate review entities. Publishers/authors do have the option to send a postage paid envelope for return of galleys/award submissions. However, thought should be given to the message they are sending to potential reviewers by doing so. Market savvy and/or mature companies see this for what it is--a publicity/marketing expense.

The benefits of a potential review or award winner seem to outweigh any downside of the following current policy.

We gift the books to our reviewers/book award judges for their time and talents. We are asked for donations many times throughout the year of which we try to oblige as often as possible in the way of books. Our local public school system and community libraries have precious little money in the way of bonus budgets for their patrons-a significant number of books are donated to these entities with gratitude. ForeWord Magazine is particularly devoted to Zonta International. This organization works to improve the status of women worldwide. A percentage of the revenues generated from the sale of review copies is donated, beyond the copies of books we give to the Women's Resource Centers in our area. What remains is made available for sale.

The reviews, the book of the year awards program, international rights representation, planned publishing conferences are ways for us to continue in our mission of discovery-that is, alerting a captive readership of booksellers and librarians, agents and producers, peer publishers about great books coming from independent presses in a professional format regarded with respect. We continue work toward making the publishing community
and world of readers a richer place.

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