If you’re on Twitter you’ve probably seen the recent (also recurring) drama all about ARCs and how a small selection of bloggers, booktubers and bookstagramers are making the system harder for the rest of us. I don’t want to go into too much detail on the current drama, as I’ve seen many sub-tweets that are 3+ times removed from the situation and things can sometimes get murky as to what was actually said. The main gist is some authors are annoyed that their ARCs are being sold by reviewers or being hoarded and never read or reviewed. The way things were worded, meant that it’s now a very us vs them situation where these authors have suggested that bloggers aren’t worth anything to the marketing campaign and don’t deserve ARCs over booksellers or librarians.
First things first though, what is an ARC? As I know some new bloggers and non-book bloggers aren’t sure. ARC stands for ‘advanced readers copy’ and are promotional versions of books that are used for marketing campaigns to get reviews and coverage of the books before and around release. There’s usually minimal changes between an ARC and a retail copy of a book except maybe spelling mistakes depending on how early the ARCs are printed and sent out. ARCs are like promo copies of video games sent to gaming blogs and tester products that are sent out to beauty bloggers and so aren’t unique to the publishing industry.
Whilst I could go into a whole post about who is right and who is wrong in this situation, there’s really no point in dragging it out. We need to remember that both sides of this have real people who have feelings, and I think this should be less of a dispute and more of a discussion as to how we can solve the issue of ARCs being misused. So here’s some ideas I could think of that could be used instead.
As ARCs are often limited in print numbers, each copy could be printed with a unique number which can be matched with who is sent each copy. Or if not printed, books can be stamped or embossed. Of course, this does lead to longer admin when it comes to sending out copies (and trust me… I get it, I’ve had the ‘send out loads of PR packages’ job) but in the long-term it will help attribute which reviewer is leading to books being sold. Publishers can then blacklist these reviewers. There may be issues for those reviewers who share books to other bloggers who don’t receive ARCs, but I would hope that people who are kind enough to share ARCs know who they’re sharing with, and trust them enough not to sell them. Could we also just ask bloggers to drop an email once they’ve passed on an ARC to say whether it’s to friend, family or another blogger – but then is that too much to ask? I guess it could be a give or take situation where a the PR person would need to have a discussion first.
Another possibility is making ARCs less valuable to those who are buying them. Most people purchasing (I think) are adding to a collection and want their shelves to look pretty and aesthetically pleasing. The publishing industry could take a leaf out of Playstation’s book and make all their ARCs look plain. This way the people who want them, are people who genuinely want to read what is inside those pages. These are the people you want to read the book as they have an interest, and that interest will usually translate to enjoying the book as they know it’s something that they’re likely to enjoy.
A wild idea could be a ‘pass it on’ system implemented by publishers themselves. Now, this isn’t a particularly cost effective solution, and I highly doubt it would ever be implemented. But stay with me. Once you’re finished reading an ARC, if you’re not interested in keeping it, but you know of another blogger who may enjoy it, you could send it back to the publisher with the suggested bloggers name and URL. The publisher could then get in touch and send the ARC along with maybe a list in the front of the book to see who’s previously read it, but they’ll also have a record of where the ARCs are going. Plus, it would be a cute way to improve community morale as we suggest one another for ARCs and help each other be noticed by publishers. However, it probably wouldn’t be beneficial for a marketing plan as it’s costly to post multiple times and it wouldn’t be likely to work internationally if the publishers are sending the copies. It would work well with the first point I had for tracking purposes though.
Another point I have is that I don’t see many publishers getting involved in the community as much as I see it in other industries. Some people from the PR teams do and have used their voice to talk about topics on social media, but there’s a percentage that don’t, and I think this could be improved. If publishers are keeping their eyes on social media, they’ll be able to see more clearly which of the bloggers are immediately selling or trading ARCs. Then they can blacklist them across their imprints by communicating. Most PR’s will keep a list of bloggers they do send to, so adding an extra tab on the spreadsheet would be beneficial. Of course, it is easier said than done, but a lot of the time it’s the same people getting away with causing the same problem.
I would like to disclaim that I don’t work in publishing and I have limited knowledge of what happens in publisher’s PR teams. So, some of these ideas may have been tried, tested and inevitably scrapped because of multiple reasons, such as low staff and lack of time, or just not being effective. However instead of arguing with authors, we should take the time to feedback on processes such as ARC distribution to the people who are in control of that process.
Do you have any other suggestions which could help the process, without negatively impacting the authors marketing campaign or bloggers being able to work with publishers?
View Comments (26)
While I don't have any suggestions, I thought you worded the situation extremely well. There are times I feel like avid readers would like an ARC just for the sake of having an ARC thus ripping away a chance for a blogger to get an early review in. I see both sides of the story.
Thank you! I was trying to explain it without going too deep into a 'side' in order to have the discussion be more neutral! (Hope it came across that way!) - and yes I agree, some people just want the ARC because it's an ARC and not because they're excited to read it 😞
Awesome post! I had the same idea as you with marking the arc in some way and keep a record that makes it clear that ARC #238334 was sent to Blogger X from blog XYZ. It may be time consuming, but at the end of the day it's a way to make sure they give out the arcs to bloggers that are trustworthy. I also saw someone on Twitter mention that they need to make sure the right arc goes to the right blogger. The review I might give to a diverse ownvoices book may not be as thorough and it most definitely wouldn't come from a deeper understanding of that subject if it didn't represent me, as a diverse ownvoices blogger's that is represented by that book would. So making sure the right blogger gets the book is also important. And the last suggestion I have is...obvious. These are not blogger-only stories, these are books that will get published, that will be on the market to buy in one, two, three or however many months, but readers will get it. So the fact that there even is a market for sold arcs is completely beyond my comprehension. I think it also would be a good idea to send an email to the publisher contact when you email them your review and say "so listen, I have this blogger friend, would it be okay if I send them my copy, since maybe they can't get it directly from you because x reasons" and wait for a response.
Thank you for reading! I think better tracking of ARCs is probably one of the better ideas, although I think most publishers don't quite have the amount of people needed for all these smaller time consuming tasks which is the problem! And agree on the diverse bloggers point - but again, I think it comes down to there's not enough time in the day for the PR agents and they end up sending to the same X people that they send all their ARCs too? It's for sure an issue though and one of my group chats literally started talking about it about 10 minutes ago! I think at this stage it may just be down to the publishers needing to 'put their foot down' in a way? 🤔
It's just so sad that people sell their ARCs... But your ideas are amazing, Becky!😊
Xoxo
Shirley | https://shirleycuypers.blogspot.com
Thank you Shirley! Glad you liked the post 😊 x
This is such a well down post about the current (and recurring) issue of a few bad apples tarnishing the reputation of bloggers as a whole, thank you.
"Another point I have is that I don’t see many publishers getting involved in the community as much as I see it in other industries. "
This is something I REALLY would like to see improved. Publishers for the most part don't boost positive reviews from early reviewers, which honestly is a missed marketing opportunity for them. I know it takes time as a person that manages social media strategy, but if you are going to invest in ARCs and blog tours as part of WOM marketing it makes the most sense to boost the fruits of those labors to increase the reach for the blogger and the publisher. Honestly this is something an intern could easily do and would LOVE to do.
Thank you for reading (And sharing!) and glad you liked the post!
Definitely think publishers need to get together a 'community' team or something in their PR plans! It could honestly work so well to try and boost morale as the third party between us and authors. As I work in and study marketing this is such an obvious move especially compared to the marketing efforts in other industries, and it doesn't even need to be expensive!
Oh wow, this is such a good post! I followed the drama with half a mind, but I quickly lost track of who was saying what. I love the idea of tracking arcs, especially since lots of people get e-ARCs nowadays and it should be pretty easy to see who got those (I don't think people would sell those, but who knows).
What I really hated about the discussion was that there was a moment where I saw a couple of authors that only wanted to give out ARCs if they got a positive review. Which is just so unfair!
I just hope that this gets resolved quickly, and without any negative fallout towards the blogging community. We already get hardly recognized for everything we do. I would like that to change, acknowledge the bloggers for once! Understand why they're probably so much more likely to boost your books than librarians :( Even booksellers (I know, I worked in a bookstore for 4.5 years, we rarely got ARCs and even then, there was hardly any displays or w/e)
Ahh I only saw about half-ish the tweets that were initially posted I think! I was a bit curious about it but started to lose interest when it started to get confusing! Tracking ARCs should be important, and super easy using Netgalley I think as surely their system would show you who it's sent to? 🤔 But I'm not fully sure!
Authors who only want a positive review don't quite understand what PR and marketing is... If their publishers use ARCs as a 'bribe' for good reviews or pay for good reviews they may get into complications such as false or misleading adverting! and honestly, I didn't see those tweets but it just shows why authors *need* publishers to do their marketing for them! And why they need publicists when they write tweets like that 😂
Yeah I assume it will pass quickly like most drama! I feel like this happens too often, and authors and bloggers need to create a more... understanding? relationship where we both acknowledge each others perspectives and can discuss issues like ARCs to try and get issues solved with publishers too!
This is a really great article, and I love how it raises awareness about ARCs! One of the options listed is what I do: I ALWAYS areas ARCs, no matter if I’m not a fan of it or not. If I don’t like it, I pass it onto another blogger who may want to read it! That would be a great system, if people were interested in doing that.
Glad you liked the post! I think sharing ARCs would be a great system too!
hm all really interesting ideas, and I really appreciate that you were able to stay relatively objective on such a touchy and personal subject! I've seen a handful of tweets complaining about authors/publishers/bloggers running giveaways stamping the books at the start of the story (eg, the first page of chapter one), but if it was the inside or outside of the cover it probably wouldn't be as big of an issue? I think?
I really love the idea of passing on ARCs so that as many people as possible can get the opportunity to read and review them, and having PR people get more involved - that would reduce frustration on both sides (sending out tons ARCs that go unreviewed, some bloggers getting piles of unsolicited ARCs while others can't get any ARCs, etc).
and I think addressing the disconnect between bloggers and authors/publishers is definitely important too! not to get into this twitter discourse either, but it's definitely at the root of a lot of problems. change is hard, but it can definitely save work and miscommunication and anger on both sides. just my 2¢.
Glad you liked it - and happy I came across as objective as I was trying to! I think it would be okay if it was on the inside cover? It also doesn't need to be huge, just clear enough that it's there and you can tell it's a number so it would work as a signifier of something 🤔 But I did see that tweet about a blogger stamping next to Chapter 1 on a page that was meant to be read... I don't think it needs to be that obnoxiously obvious!
I agree, I think passing on ARCs would be a great way to get even *more* coverage from ARCs and it would mean more people in the community can join in, and hopefully those who actually enjoy the books will get them. Plus, the disconnect can be frustrating! I feel like both sides sometimes need to take a step away and try to understand one another's perspective and sit down and discuss and learn instead of the miscommunication that often happens!
yeah, the inside cover would make sense! just something identifiable. and I absolutely agree, bridging the gaps within the bookish community would make such a huge difference 💕
This is a very well-worded post, Becky. Thank you for presenting this situation with class and not going off! I wasn’t aware of this situation because I stay off Twitter as much as possible. Unfortunately, I see much more negative coming from that source of social media than any other and simply don’t need it’s influence in my life. Perhaps it leaves me in the dark, but there is some beauty that comes with naivety.
In regards to the suggestions you shared, I think they are all wonderful! I too, don’t know if they have been tried before or not. It’s certainly worth a shot to implement something if they haven’t! Thanks for this post.
Glad I came across well - I was aiming to be as objective as possible against the situation! Thanks for reading Sheila 😃
I quite like these ideas. I know I personally love getting ARCs. The one I’ve received in the post (I usually get eBook versions) gave me such a high.
I had a friend that wanted to read it but I did mention I wasn’t sure how appropriate it would be until it was released. So knowing how careful I am not to share those precious ARCs I receive I can’t believe there are those out there who don’t respect the author enough to at least send it back to the publisher to redistribute if they didn’t like it and/or don’t want to keep it.
Thank you for discussing this because I don’t want this amazing experience taken away from me when I’ve just started! (Ok maybe I started 9 months ago but it doesn’t feel long enough yet!)
I know the feeling! Every so often I'll get a physical ARC and feel soo grateful!
Glad you liked the post and hope you get to continue on with this experience with us for a long time! 😃
I know that this is a recurring problem in the book blogging world but I think there could be a (somewhat) easy solution. With the exception of bookstagramers and those who do book photography, a physical copy of a book is not needed. Physical ARCs could be reserved for librarians and booksellers while book bloggers would mostly get e-ARCs. I know that this might shock the community, especially when so many people like to collect physical copies, but it would be cost-effective, international-friendly, and lower the risk of reselling books.
However, I am speaking from the perspective of a blogger who uses Netgalley much more than I receive physical copies. I do not have a Bookstagram account. However, eARCs have allowed me to be a part of a a marketing campaign and still contribute to the sale of books.
Thanks for the thought-provoking discussion! I know that this is a tough topic right now, especially hard to tackle without stepping on any toes.
I love Netgalley too! And get most of my own ARCs from there or Edelweiss so agree that we should use digital ones more 😉
Although as an additional comment - some bloggers don't have access to a kindle, and the phone app can sometimes be too small for those with impairments! That's why I know some bloggers only accept physical books. But I do agree that those who can use eARCs should use them when possible 😊