Say for instance that I wanted to start up a small publication. Also say that I wanted to do book reviews in said publication. Would I be able to draw up a letter or something and send it to publishers or authors for advance copies of books for review? Would they turn down someone like myself since I would only be posting reviews that a very small amount of people would read.
Would this also work with software? Consumer products?
I worked for about a year for a publication that did some book and product reviews. Part of my job was to send out letters requesting books and sample products for review, and I was astonished at how much free stuff various folks sent us.
That said, the magazine had been published for about five or six years and had a pretty decent circulation, and when I mailed out those letters, I also sent the most recent issue and some circulation information.
I suspect you won’t get much free stuff unless the folks you’re trying to get it from think they’ll get enough exposure from your reviews to make it worth their while. It might be better to build up a reputation as a reviewer before you start requesting free samples.
You can always try. Publishers send out scads of free books (If I had known how many, I would have become an author much sooner).
Whether you get them or not is up to the publisher. They may decide you’re worth sending things to, or they may think you’re too small to be worth the effort. However, it won’t hurt to ask.