(Updated: August 21, 2024) This post has been updated to reflect a rule change by the FTC.
Social media is great for experiencing the same conversation over and over. Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) are a regular topic amongst bookish folks. The conversations range from ARC distribution best practices to bad behavior by authors and/or readers.
How ARCs are handled is very much dependent on individual authors and publishers so consider this information the bare bones foundation.
WTF is an ARC?
ARCs (pronounced like the thing Noah built) are one of the few topics from my obsolete Masters in Publishing program that remains relevant almost 20 years later.
ARCs are an advanced copy of a book that hasn’t been published yet. It’s common for ARCs to have typos and small formatting errors because they’re often sent before a final round of editing (formally called uncorrected proofs). They may also have a placeholder cover.
Back when my degree was still moderately useful, ARCs were sent to professional literary critics, media outlets, magazines, etc so the book could be reviewed in time for its release. Printing and mailing physical copies of a book is expensive so there’s a certain degree of intention when choosing who is going to receive a copy.
How they’re used now
The same concept applies, but digital publishing has made it much easier for regular readers to receive an ARC. No need to be a fancy pants literary critic. But if that’s your dream, I support you.
How ARC readers are picked is author/publisher specific, so while I can tell you that ebooks have opened the door, I can’t tell you how readers are chosen.
Why distribute ARCs at all?
Unfortunately, everything on the planet has been Yelpified and product reviews are weighed heavily by The Algorithm(™) for visibility. Books with more reviews are more likely to be pushed to the front or get a higher ranking.
Indie authors who aren’t backed by a publishing company rely on reviews to get their books in front of reader eyeballs. Those early reviews can give an indie book a nice bump and put it on one of those automatically generated recommended reading lists.
FTC and TOS confusion
Update: Since this post was published, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has updated its rules as they relate to consumer reviews.
Part of the new rule states:
The final rule prohibits businesses from providing compensation or other incentives conditioned on the writing of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment, either positive or negative. It clarifies that the conditional nature of the offer of compensation or incentive may be expressly or implicitly conveyed.
Read the entire release here: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials
I’m not an attorney so I won’t even attempt to dive into how this will impact authors and ARC distribution. But I’ve adjusted the section below to reflect the rule change.
Personally, I think much of the confusion surrounding ARCs stemmed from previously conflicting federal laws and seller terms of service.
Under its guidance for social media influencers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it was totally cool to send someone a free product (in this case, a book) in exchange for a review, as long as the recipient discloses that agreement. There’s usually some kind of binding contract between the author and the reader for something like this.
“Awesome Author sent me this book for free in exchange for a review.”
But, for good reason, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing Terms of Service (TOS) doesn’t allow for these types of product review arrangements. To avoid getting flagged by Amazon, authors send ARCs with the hope that a reader will review it, but the reader isn’t obligated to.
On August 14 the FTC approved a new rule that makes it illegal to offer compensation in exchange for a review. It’s still too soon to tell how/if this will impact authors and ARC distribution, but it does seem to put the FTC and Amazon on the same page.
Will there be ARCs for Roots in Ink?
Ehh…maybe.
I didn’t do them for my novellas Let it Rain or Radio Romance because I was focusing on just getting my books from GoogleDocs to my readers’ Kindles. Advertising ARC signups, vetting the responses, and distributing the ebooks with enough time for them to be reviewed is work that I didn’t have the time or bandwidth for.
That said, for Roots in Ink (coming Spring 2025) I’m leaning toward distributing a small number (50 or so) and only to interested mailing list subscribers. I think this will give me a feel for the process and work out any issues before scaling up.
ARC Best Practices
Do reach out to your favorite authors if you want to be on their ARC team. ARC signups are usually on their websites, social media, and newsletters.
Don’t sign up to be an ARC reader just to get a free book with zero intention of reading it. These are marketing materials that cost money and time to produce and manage.
Do give yourself grace if life got in the way and you couldn’t get to the book before it published. Get to it whenever you can and try to support the author in ways that are a better fit for where you’re at.
Do ask the author if they want to be made aware of any typos or formatting errors.
Do leave an honest review, but
Don’t tag the author in bad reviews. It takes away the author’s choice to read the review if/when they’re ready. Everyone deserves the chance to mentally prepare before being told they suck at their job by a stranger.
Don’t upload the ARC to a pirating site. That’s just ragingly fucked up and I can’t believe I even have to say it.
Happy reading!
If/when I make ARCs available, my mailing list subscribers will be the first ones to know. Interested?
