Bloggers and ARCs
I'm seeing a lot of commentary in the blogosphere about book blogs and ARCs, the pros and cons, and the etiquette. It's become prominent enough that I figure I should probably weigh in about now. I don't often talk about the behind-the-scenes parts of OCD, vampires, and rants, so you can all consider this long and rambling post a rare peek at how Shannon, Sarah, and I organize ourselves as well as my personal opinion on bloggers and ARCs.
For those who don't know the lingo, ARC is an acronym for Advanced Review Copy (or Advanced Reader Copy; both are used, but they mean the same thing). This is a bound copy of the book put together before the official release date. There are only a few ARCs made for any given book, they're usually printed with lower production values than the final copy, and the text isn't necessarily the final copy. Adjustments are made between the time the ARC is printed and the final book is released. If you've ever seen an ARC, they're easy to recognize, since they either have "Not for Sale: Advance Uncorrected Proof" written across the front, or might not have cover art at all. The ARCs are then sent out to reviewers, or offered as prizes in contest in an effort to create buzz about the book and make people intrigued enough to go out and buy the thing.
In recent years, book bloggers have become an important enough faction to make the list of people to receive ARCs. Not all the time, of course, and not for every book, but I think pretty much any book blogger who's been at it for more than a couple of months is familiar with ARCs. As a general rule, the blogosphere is pretty good about generating buzz for worthy books and showcasing some gems that might get overlooked on the bookshelves otherwise.
A couple of weeks ago, Presenting Lenore wrote a post about authors requesting reviews for their book. As a general statement, book bloggers are busy people. We love to read and discuss books, or we wouldn't be at this (we're certainly not in it for the fame and fortune), but realistically, there are only so many books we can read. Lenore talks a little about this, and how she selects the books she'll accept for review based on the e-mail sent to her by the author.
In the discussion that followed, several authors chimed in talking about their negative experiences with sending ARCs to book bloggers. We're not talking about nasty reviews, which while unpleasant, kind of goes with the territory. Reviewer X posts a little about this, more specifically bloggers who frequently request ARCs but never review them, who are more interested in figuring out how to get more free books sent to them than actually reading and blogging about them. A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy expands on this, also talking about bloggers who feel entitled to whatever ARCs they want, who will pester authors with repeated e-mails or who get nasty if the author declines or fails to reply.
One of the issues for everyone involved is that for a number of very good reasons, publishers are putting out fewer ARCs. They're becoming harder to get ahold of, and being sent out much closer to the release date. With the mail system the way it is (especially for those of us who don't live in the US, and have to wait for the books to cross the border), sometimes the books don't arrive until a few days before the release date, or even some time after. I once received an ARC six weeks after the last e-mail contact, long enough that I'd assumed the author had decided against sending the book and had forgotten about it.
Ok, time for me to get verbose. A few random thoughts: I love book blogging, but dude, it's a lot of work, and very time consuming. There is, of course, more to it than just the book reviews, but since we're talking about bloggers and ARCs, I'm gonna stick to that topic.
Most of the e-mail and correspondence goes through me, because unlike Shannon and Sarah, I have no life. Which yes, means if you e-mailed us and it took three days to get a response, sorry, that's totally my bad. I kind of suck like that sometimes.
I hear from authors requesting reviews for their books probably about once a week. Yes, that's a rough estimate; sometimes I'll get two or three in one week, some weeks none at all. And while we're doing the full disclosure, it's not always the authors e-mailing me; just as often it's the publicist or even occasionally the publisher, in the case of smaller presses. No, you're right, one a week doesn't sound like a huge undertaking, especially with Shannon and Sarah to help me with the book glommage. But while the books offered to us are often nifty, they don't usually keep us on top of all the new and upcoming releases. So all three of us buy our own books, and once a month, I take a look at the soon-to-be released books we're excitedly anticipating, and get with the e-mailing.
Yes, I e-mail authors and ask for ARCs. This seems to be a sticking point for some people, who think bloggers requesting "free stuff" is audacious at best. If I can find the e-mail address for the publisher or publicist, I'll go through that route instead, but a surprising number of times the author's contact information is by far the most accessible. If, as an author, I e-mail you, feel free to write me back with the contact information for your publicist or pass my e-mail in that direction. For the record, I'm picky about which ones I'm asking for, both in respect for my own time restraints and because there's no point in asking for an author to spend the time and postage mailing me a book I'm only "meh" about to begin with. If I'm requesting an ARC, it means at least one of the three of us is excited and intrigued about the book. For us, it's not so much about the free stuff as it is being able to get the review up at a decent time to create a little buzz about the book.
At this point it should be noted that yes, I get behind sometimes, but if you've sent me a book, it will be reviewed here at some point. I have a list, sorted by release date, genre, and when the book was sent to me. We're not in the habit of collecting ARCs for the free stuff or for status, and it boggles my mind to think the number of ARCs you've received could be considered a bragging point. I don't know any book bloggers who think this way (granted, I don't follow a huge number of them), although I fully believe it happens.
As noted by Dear Author, one easy solution to the cost of sending out ARCs is to send them as e-books. Yes, you still have the cost of formatting them, but you don't have to print and there's no postage. I wind up having several books sent to me in e-book format each month, but at this point it's still a minority. To give you an idea, each month I take all the e-books, being the only one with an e-book reader at this point in time. The rest of the ARCs are divvied up among the three of us according to interest and time constraints.
Do we need ARCs to keep going? No, absolutely not. We spent several months just reviewing books we bought for ourselves or took from the library. It wasn't until we were more established that ARCs began to be offered to us. Do I think we're entitled to ARCs? Again, I'm going with no. Being sent an ARC is a privilege, and you only have to see how excited I get when I find a book-sized package in the mail to discover I am absolutely not taking it for granted. Authors don't make a lot, and postage is expensive. With the added limitation of how few ARCs they're given, I appreciate the shiny gift.
All that being said, it's definitely a perk to what we're doing here, because did I mention keeping up a book blog is a lot of work? I don't work for a newspaper, I'm not sponsored by anyone, and I don't make revenue from ads. This is a hobby, pure and simple, and any expenses come out of my own pocket (contest prizes, postage, etc). I can spend up to four hours writing one review, deliberating over what I want to say, what rating I think the book has earned, and agonizing over how to address parts of the book without giving away spoilers.
Also, a thought for publishers/authors/anyone sending out ARCs: if you receive a request for one of your books, and it's from a blogger or other source you're not familiar with, check them out before popping the book in the mail. If the request e-mail is at all professional, they'll include a link to their site, so you're just a click away from seeing what their site is like, how often they put up reviews, how frequently they post, and the quality in general. Should they be the sort of blog that posts infrequently, hasn't put up a review in a freakishly long time but manages to talk about having soooooo many ARCs, well, perhaps you might want to skip over the part where you mail them a book. If they haven't included a link, you can either use the search engine of your choice, or you can choose to ignore person you've never heard of. Or see above note about e-book versions of ARCs, which are free to mail out.
For those who don't know the lingo, ARC is an acronym for Advanced Review Copy (or Advanced Reader Copy; both are used, but they mean the same thing). This is a bound copy of the book put together before the official release date. There are only a few ARCs made for any given book, they're usually printed with lower production values than the final copy, and the text isn't necessarily the final copy. Adjustments are made between the time the ARC is printed and the final book is released. If you've ever seen an ARC, they're easy to recognize, since they either have "Not for Sale: Advance Uncorrected Proof" written across the front, or might not have cover art at all. The ARCs are then sent out to reviewers, or offered as prizes in contest in an effort to create buzz about the book and make people intrigued enough to go out and buy the thing.
In recent years, book bloggers have become an important enough faction to make the list of people to receive ARCs. Not all the time, of course, and not for every book, but I think pretty much any book blogger who's been at it for more than a couple of months is familiar with ARCs. As a general rule, the blogosphere is pretty good about generating buzz for worthy books and showcasing some gems that might get overlooked on the bookshelves otherwise.
A couple of weeks ago, Presenting Lenore wrote a post about authors requesting reviews for their book. As a general statement, book bloggers are busy people. We love to read and discuss books, or we wouldn't be at this (we're certainly not in it for the fame and fortune), but realistically, there are only so many books we can read. Lenore talks a little about this, and how she selects the books she'll accept for review based on the e-mail sent to her by the author.
In the discussion that followed, several authors chimed in talking about their negative experiences with sending ARCs to book bloggers. We're not talking about nasty reviews, which while unpleasant, kind of goes with the territory. Reviewer X posts a little about this, more specifically bloggers who frequently request ARCs but never review them, who are more interested in figuring out how to get more free books sent to them than actually reading and blogging about them. A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy expands on this, also talking about bloggers who feel entitled to whatever ARCs they want, who will pester authors with repeated e-mails or who get nasty if the author declines or fails to reply.
One of the issues for everyone involved is that for a number of very good reasons, publishers are putting out fewer ARCs. They're becoming harder to get ahold of, and being sent out much closer to the release date. With the mail system the way it is (especially for those of us who don't live in the US, and have to wait for the books to cross the border), sometimes the books don't arrive until a few days before the release date, or even some time after. I once received an ARC six weeks after the last e-mail contact, long enough that I'd assumed the author had decided against sending the book and had forgotten about it.
Ok, time for me to get verbose. A few random thoughts: I love book blogging, but dude, it's a lot of work, and very time consuming. There is, of course, more to it than just the book reviews, but since we're talking about bloggers and ARCs, I'm gonna stick to that topic.
Most of the e-mail and correspondence goes through me, because unlike Shannon and Sarah, I have no life. Which yes, means if you e-mailed us and it took three days to get a response, sorry, that's totally my bad. I kind of suck like that sometimes.
I hear from authors requesting reviews for their books probably about once a week. Yes, that's a rough estimate; sometimes I'll get two or three in one week, some weeks none at all. And while we're doing the full disclosure, it's not always the authors e-mailing me; just as often it's the publicist or even occasionally the publisher, in the case of smaller presses. No, you're right, one a week doesn't sound like a huge undertaking, especially with Shannon and Sarah to help me with the book glommage. But while the books offered to us are often nifty, they don't usually keep us on top of all the new and upcoming releases. So all three of us buy our own books, and once a month, I take a look at the soon-to-be released books we're excitedly anticipating, and get with the e-mailing.
Yes, I e-mail authors and ask for ARCs. This seems to be a sticking point for some people, who think bloggers requesting "free stuff" is audacious at best. If I can find the e-mail address for the publisher or publicist, I'll go through that route instead, but a surprising number of times the author's contact information is by far the most accessible. If, as an author, I e-mail you, feel free to write me back with the contact information for your publicist or pass my e-mail in that direction. For the record, I'm picky about which ones I'm asking for, both in respect for my own time restraints and because there's no point in asking for an author to spend the time and postage mailing me a book I'm only "meh" about to begin with. If I'm requesting an ARC, it means at least one of the three of us is excited and intrigued about the book. For us, it's not so much about the free stuff as it is being able to get the review up at a decent time to create a little buzz about the book.
At this point it should be noted that yes, I get behind sometimes, but if you've sent me a book, it will be reviewed here at some point. I have a list, sorted by release date, genre, and when the book was sent to me. We're not in the habit of collecting ARCs for the free stuff or for status, and it boggles my mind to think the number of ARCs you've received could be considered a bragging point. I don't know any book bloggers who think this way (granted, I don't follow a huge number of them), although I fully believe it happens.
As noted by Dear Author, one easy solution to the cost of sending out ARCs is to send them as e-books. Yes, you still have the cost of formatting them, but you don't have to print and there's no postage. I wind up having several books sent to me in e-book format each month, but at this point it's still a minority. To give you an idea, each month I take all the e-books, being the only one with an e-book reader at this point in time. The rest of the ARCs are divvied up among the three of us according to interest and time constraints.
Do we need ARCs to keep going? No, absolutely not. We spent several months just reviewing books we bought for ourselves or took from the library. It wasn't until we were more established that ARCs began to be offered to us. Do I think we're entitled to ARCs? Again, I'm going with no. Being sent an ARC is a privilege, and you only have to see how excited I get when I find a book-sized package in the mail to discover I am absolutely not taking it for granted. Authors don't make a lot, and postage is expensive. With the added limitation of how few ARCs they're given, I appreciate the shiny gift.
All that being said, it's definitely a perk to what we're doing here, because did I mention keeping up a book blog is a lot of work? I don't work for a newspaper, I'm not sponsored by anyone, and I don't make revenue from ads. This is a hobby, pure and simple, and any expenses come out of my own pocket (contest prizes, postage, etc). I can spend up to four hours writing one review, deliberating over what I want to say, what rating I think the book has earned, and agonizing over how to address parts of the book without giving away spoilers.
Also, a thought for publishers/authors/anyone sending out ARCs: if you receive a request for one of your books, and it's from a blogger or other source you're not familiar with, check them out before popping the book in the mail. If the request e-mail is at all professional, they'll include a link to their site, so you're just a click away from seeing what their site is like, how often they put up reviews, how frequently they post, and the quality in general. Should they be the sort of blog that posts infrequently, hasn't put up a review in a freakishly long time but manages to talk about having soooooo many ARCs, well, perhaps you might want to skip over the part where you mail them a book. If they haven't included a link, you can either use the search engine of your choice, or you can choose to ignore person you've never heard of. Or see above note about e-book versions of ARCs, which are free to mail out.