how many review copies

I contacted ten (10) reviewers and asked if they would do a "preview" of the game. Some I had to pay (Videos) others because they charged for their services (Preview from Club Fantasci) ... and got some "reviews" in the process, opinions or what the reviewer thought about the game (last thoughts, etc.)

After ten (10), I contacted about five (5) more when I did not receive a follow-up of my e-mail to them.

Do as many reviewers as you can... It can't hurt to have another person expressing what they think about your game -- unless it is negative feedback.

The good news is that the more "previews"/"reviews" you have, the better you can pick and choose who to focus on the KS page.

And I think that OLG (My Publisher) contacted about four (4) other reviewers including Tom Vasal who was kind enough to give a mention of our game on his list of KS "previews". That was unsolicited so we appreciate the thumbs up.

Go for the FREE ones and maybe a couple Videos too... And see who responds and when you can get the "preview" done by.

E-mail a bunch, stay positive and go with positives responses ... then you'll know HOW many exact copies you need to send.

Hope that helps... Cheers!

Just as a follow-up; you'll want to write customized e-mails to the reviewers you pick. Include some preliminary artwork or some sample illustrations or a card template, etc. Anything just to SHOW what it is you are wanting to be reviewed.

Like I said, I wrote a custom e-mail to each reviewer and included different artwork ... just so that the reviewers don't think that I'm shopping the same art over and over.

And you could go with a custom/pre-fab e-mail too. That's kind of what I did: first paragraph intro was something custom and then pre-fab when it came to talking about the game (type of game, number of players, time to play, etc.) Be sure to also include some artwork too...

Some reviewers I made an instant connection, some I connected with -- but they did not follow-thru ... so I contacted more reviewers to TRY to end up with a good solid 8 reviews. My Publisher also reached out to others too and chose the ones they liked for the KS.

Good luck(?!) with your reviewer search!

Note: I wrote this up not because I don't think you know how to connect with reviewers ... it's just people sometimes have questions and so I figured I'd just say what we did and how it worked.

I will say this: there are a couple reviewers that I connected with AT FIRST... But they never took the time to write a review -- even IF I had sent them a prototype of the game.

I'm not going to bitch about them... But just be wary that sometimes the review works out -- and sometimes it doesn't (they lose interest). It's like that dealing with people. Some care, others don't, some are busy or not sufficiently interested... That's why I say "Stay Positive" and go with "Positive Reviews".

I know it can be a bit disheartening to spend $100 to mail a $50 prototype to another country... and get nothing out of the experience... Some e-mails and we received your prototype and then "nothing"...

Sh!t happens... LOL