Summer Says: All Things About ARCs (Well Sort Of)

All About ARCs

As you guys have probably noticed, the only books I’ve been reading and reviewing lately have been ARCs. It’s kind of due to how I went a little request crazy a couple of months ago, so yup, now I’m frantically trying to read all these books for their release dates, but I’ll get onto that later.

Also, it’s been so embarrassingly long since my first Summer Says post. From what I remember, I never made any promises about how often this blog series would appear since I tend to be flaky with original stuff like this, but I want to thank you all for the patience and I’m so thankful for the encouragement towards this feature!

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about ARCs. In no way am I a pro about this subject, but I thought I’d share what I did know and my experiences with requesting ARCs since some people have expressed inquiries about this topic. And I recently had a few conversations with some other fellow bloggers, and I felt inspired to talk about this. Plus, obtaining ARCs and review copies was something I was curious about as a newbie blogger and even before I started blogging. Technically, I’m still a baby blogger compared to the strong voices, older and more professional, and popular blogs out there in the blogosphere, but I still think this post would be of some help!

To simplify this whole process let’s go with the kindergarten basics and use the Five Ws system-WHAT, WHO, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY-and a bonus, HOW.

Also, all text in this color are some things I’ve learned on my own and are my personal tips.

And here is a full list of the review copies I’ve been offered, have requested, or have received in the past. This list doesn’t even include the titles that I’ve requested myself but have been denied. If I included that it would be twice as long. I promise you I’ve been rejected many times. But you know what? That’s okay! All this (and blogging) is a learning experience. The key is to not worry about rejections and just move on. Don’t be discouraged!


1

ARCs is an abbreviation for Advanced Reader Copies and this term can be used interchangebly with several other ones that have floated around including Advanced Galleys, Proofs, Advanced Review Copies, Digital Reader Copies, Advanced Digital Copies, etc. Manuscripts are sometimes clustered together with these, but those are more exclusive and usually for the close friends and family of an author. Or even often for people that are paid to professionally review critically.  But for the sake of clarity reasons and length, I’ll be referring to all these copies as ARCs throughout this post. They’re all basically copies of books that are physically printed or digitally produced before the actual books are released into the market and for the general public to buy in stores.

Also these ARCs are printed out months in advance before their publication dates, so there often times are typos. The text is subject to change. From other ARC 101 resources I’ve read, there’s even been character name changes and different arrangements of sentences and events.

An important thing to remember is that publishers print a limited amount of these ARCs and they’re expensive to produce, actually even more expensive then the final copies that you’ll find in stores, since they print so few of them. These ARCs are used for publicity purposes for reviewers to increase hype and help encourage readers to buy these books when they’re released for sale to the general public.

2

ARCs are often sent out to outlets that are able to reach large audiences and/or have a stable, reliable following. Many times these outlets are libraries and bookstores, but sometimes book reviewers as well!

BUT not all reviewers receive ARCs! Publishers will be picky on who they give their ARCs out since there are a limited supply. They usually want:

  • people that have a platform in which they can actually review the ARC and generate publicity (it doesn’t just have to be a blog where you have to write; you can be a booktuber, bookstagramer, or even be a big tweeter, but I’ve noticed a lot of these booktubers and bookstagramers to still have a blog anyway)
  • people with a big following (meaning lots of followers through the blog and other social media) so that the “word gets out” and buzz can be generated
  • people that show consistency and reliability (someone who reviews books consistently, doesn’t have too many memes, awards, and tags on their blog, and doesn’t take too many long months of hiatuses; publishers want to make sure the book they send you will be read and reviewed)

3

Like I said earlier, you don’t have to be a blogger, you can be a booktuber or even a bookstagramer, but since I’m a regular, old fashioned blogger this next “advice” is tailored for bloggers.

Honestly, the earlier-but not too early-you request a book the better. For example, if the publication date is December, I would send an email request in September since ARCs for that title will probably be out around October-November. It’s also not a bad idea to do it earlier than September though. If it’s too early, it’s likely they’ll just reply and let you know ARCs aren’t in but they’ll add you to their mailing list for the ARC when it’s time to mail them out.

However, before you request it’s recommended you’ve met these “standards” (honestly, the “standards” are different for each blogger):

8

(my first approved physical ARC was Maximum Ride Forever, so I’m taking all my stats from that request email)

  • Blogging for at least 4-6 months (I had only blogged for 3 months)
    • Publishers want to make sure you’re a reliable blogger that will actually read and review the ARC you requested.
  • 500+ blog followers (I had 146 followers)
    • They like a bigger following so you can reach a larger audience that way more buzz can be generated.
  • Consistent posting and few long periods of blogging hiatuses (when I was requesting I had about 12 posts per month published)
    • Again, it’s about reliability.
  • Blog is not filled with memes (I had only Top Ten Tuesday and Exploring My Bookshelves)
    • A few reasons behind this one: Sometimes blogs with a lot of memes and award/tag posts don’t post that many reviews, so a lot of those blogs’ audience and followers prefer memes to reviews so the reviews aren’t as popularly read on that site. Also, if you’ve taken a look at the rules to Blog Tours, a lot of the blog tour creators require the blog hosts to ensure their blog post of that book to be up for at least 24 hours before they post something else, that way that book review post doesn’t get pulled to the bottom of their blog’s readers’ feeds. Same thing with this, if there’s a lot of weekly memes, it’s likely some may clash with the day you decide to post your review. And the review post may not get read since it’s at the bottom of your followers’ feeds.. And most publishers want to make sure your readers will see that review.
  • Strong interaction between blogger and followers (I pledged Bloggers Commenting Back, meaning if a blogger comments on my post I will make sure to check out their blog and comment on one of their posts; it really can be a never-ending cycle this system…)
    • This one is pretty self explanatory. The more you interact, the more traffic and more comment activity on your blog. Plus, it’s good to generate discussion on your blog.

9

  • Blogging for as few as a couple of weeks or 1 month (I had been blogging for 2 months)
  • 100+ blog followers (I had around 70 followers)

Again, these are NOT set rules or numbers. You could have 50 followers and have blogged for 3 months and get an ARC, it just wouldn’t be as likely as someone with 500 followers and have blogged for a year, you know? These are just generalized recommendations. Also, all of this just depends! Like how big of a publishing company you’re reaching out to, how many ARCs available for that title, how coveted that author’s books are, etc. Also, there’s a bit of luck in all of this. Sometimes you may not get approved for an electronic copy but will find a physical copy of the same title in the mail. (I actually got denied an electronic copy of Juniors but later was mailed a physical one.)

And keep in mind, publishers will often not reply to emails! But don’t be discouraged!

4

8

OPTION 1

Often times, bloggers just email their request to publishers, in which I have compiled a list of contacts. These are not my personal contacts that I use. They’re just general ones that I’ve lined up with their corresponding imprints.

And what I mean by personal contacts is that when you start to hear answers from publishers and correspond with the same publicists often, you may be added to a publisher’s mailing list. This means you will get an email every couple of months that keeps you up to date with the new titles from that publisher. You can request any of those titles and usually be sent a copy. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s likely for you to be sent those ARCs you’ve requested from that list if available. And usually, these publishers already have your contact information including your address on file. However, sometimes they’ll just send you an invitation to a Netgalley widget, in which you can just get an electornic/digital copies via Netgalley. But free books are free, so I definitely wouldn’t complain! How to get added? The publisher will usually tell you if you’ve been added if they see you’re a reliable reviewer (and have been honestly reviewing the books they’ve sent you in the past; it’s kind of the like being auto-approved from a publisher on Netgalley) and seem to really enjoy the titles from that publisher. (So far, I’ve been added to a few, St. Martin’s Press being one of them (no surprise since I tend to enjoy and review a lot of their releases).)

As for imprints… I’m not very good at explaining what “imprints” are but I like to think they’re like smaller companies for a bigger company. For example, “St. Martin’s Griffin” will be an imprint under “Macmillan.” (If anyone knows a better way to explain this, let me know!)

Also, I’ll be adding some of the popular imprints under each publisher. However, you can just find these under “______ + imprints” as well.

If the publisher you’re looking for isn’t on here, it’s really easy to find their publicity contact information! Just go onto the publisher’s website and look for “contact us” and then “publicity contacts” (or anything that says “publicity” since that’s the department you want to contact for ARCs) and that should be the correct page! 

Now a big question I had: How do you know which is the correct imprint? Usually what I did was go to Goodreads and checked to see who the publisher was and most times the specific imprint is listed.  Then I went to that publisher’s or even just to that imprint’s catalog if they had one to confirm the information (making sure that it was the right imprint from that publisher and checking the release date or even ISBN # was correct). To find the catalog, which is the list of books a publishing company or imprint has released and plan to release, just type up the publishing company’s or imprint’s name and “catalog” on google. After you’ve confirmed the title you want to request is from that imprint, you can find it’s appropriate contact from the list I compiled above. Also, most times, if it’s a young adult title, it’s going to be an imprint for “young readers” or “children’s.” (For example, for Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, on Goodreads it’ll list Thomas Dunne Books, the imprint, instead of Macmillan, the publisher. You want to check the Thomas Dunne Books or Macmillan catalog to confirm that Thomas Dunne is the correct imprint. Then you’d want to verify the release date and ISBN so you can include them in your email request. After you confirm all that, find the appropriate contact information for Thomas Dunne and you should be good to go.)

And if you send it to the wrong imprint, don’t fret! They won’t block your email or anything like that. You just may not get approved of that ARC request because it’s lost in email-land. But often times they do end up managing to redirect to the correct imprint and appropriate publicist handling that title. And you may still get your ARC.

And one tip I learned on my own: Usually the author’s “Contact” page on their website will have some information on their personal publicist that actually handles that title. You can email that publicist directly. If you contact directly to that publicist’s email instead of a general one found on the publisher’s site, it will increase your chances and quicken the time you hear a response or are granted the request. It’s also good to build your own list of personal contacts.

OPTION 2

Blogging for Books:

This is an option in which you have to have a blog and you must post your review before you’re able to request and receive another book in the mail. However, you do not have to wait for the publisher to approve your request, they just send you a print/physical copy. But you can’t request more than one ARC at a time. Like I just said, you have to post your review and link to your review before you’re able to request another title. It’s all about consistency and reliability with this option. Personally, I love it!

OTHER OPTIONS*

*that you should consider, but I’m not as familiar with

  • Giveaways
    • Goodreads Giveaways
      • These giveaways are purely base on chance and luck. (I still haven’t won a book through this yet… and I’ve entered like 50 different giveaways in the past couple of years.)
    • NOVL Giveaway (via monthly email subscription and NOVLbox
      • This is a first come first serve type of thing. Usually in NOVL’s monthly subscription email they’ll host a giveaway in which a certain amount of people that send in their request will receive and ARC. (I recently won an ARC of Wolf by Wolf through this.)
    • Blog Tours
      • I have been a blog host twice for St. Martin’s Press (Dream Things True and The Weight of Feathers). Usually to become a tour host, most have to contact and apply on the site you want to be a part of. In my case, I was just invited. I know with most blog tours, the free book is usually electronic. With Dream Things True, I got an electronic copy. For The Weight of Feathers, I got both a electronic and  print/physical copy. It all depends on what conditions that tour is running on.

9

OPTION 1

Netgalley is a great option since it’s really easy to use. You make an account, fill out your information, and include your blog’s statistics in the “Bio” section. Then you’re able to request multiple titles at once! However, you aren’t always approved depending on your blog stats and how high your Netgalley ratio is (the ratio of books you’ve received and reviewed to books you received and haven’t reviewed; it shows your consistency and reliability).

Something I’ve noticed: If you’re interested in print/physical copies, consider keeping the eye icon on the right of your “Contact Info” not crossed out. This makes your contact information visible. But make sure you’re only doing that if you’re comfortable with idea!  I’ve had publishers send me ARCs I was not approved for on Netgalley but got in the mail when I didn’t even send them an email requesting a physical copy. The only way I can think of them knowing my address was through this program and by doing this (unmarking the eye and making my address visible).

Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 10.27.39 PM

Also, this is how I fill out my “Bio” section. Remember, you can never give too little information or statistics! Add everything that is related to your blog and you think will help you get approved!

Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 10.35.42 PMOTHER OPTIONS*

*that you should consider, but I’m not as familiar with

  • Edelweiss
    • I don’t know anything about this program, but I’ve heard great things. I believe it’s similar to Netgalley.
  • Penguin First to Read
    • It’s kind of like a point system. If you log on a lot, enter the drawings, and read some excerpts, you can accumulate points. And once you accumulate a lot you can guarantee an ARC. However, it takes a while before you can get that many points. Plus, the giveaways in which you enter are purely based on luck and chance. (I haven’t gotten an ARC through this yet.)

5

Netgalley, Blogging for Books, and other programs are pretty easy to learn when it comes to sending requests. All you do is click the request button and follow each sites’ instructions. For this section of this post, I’m talking about email requests of print/physical copies.

Make sure to include:

  • Your first and last name
  • Blog name and a link to your blog (It’s cool if you use a hyperlink, but I would advise using a direct link as well so that if the link doesn’t open they can always copy and past the direct one)
  • The title you are requesting, the author, its release date, and ISBN # (if you can provide it)
  • Blog and social platform (their links and statistics)
  • (This is optional) Sometimes I even include how I found this title or why I’m interested; sometimes even a few links to other high rated reviews I’ve done that I think are similar to that book (like if it’s a contemporary other books in the same genre or are from that publishing company) 
  • (This is optional) I know some bloggers include their review policy and rating guide. I linked you guys to mine on Xingsings, but I usually don’t include these in my email requests.
  • Your physical address (DO NOT forget this)
  • Sign off nicely with a good footer

My email request for my most recently received ARC, The Anatomical Shape of a Heart:
(to enlarge click on the email, it’s split into two parts)

Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 11.25.26 PMScreen Shot 2015-10-06 at 11.25.38 PM

6

There are no such things as dumb questions, so I thought I’d address the “WHY” of this process. Of course, if you’re reading this post, you’re interest in obtaining ARCs, want to learn more about ARCs, or are just supportive of Xingsings (if it’s the latter, thank you!), so there’s no reason as to why I have to explain why you should or shouldn’t request ARCs.

Instead, this is a question I’m posing for those of you that are uncertain if you’re ready or don’t think you’re confident enough to contact a publisher. Honestly, in my opinion, just go for it!

Worst cast scenario, you DO NOT hear back from he publisher and/or you DO NOT get an ARC in the mail, but DO NOT worry! That has happened to every single one of us bloggers at some point of our journey. So DO NOT give up, if you’re interested in receiving ARCs. Just try again when you’ve had a better following or having blogged for a bit longer! Or simply just try for another title.

Also, ARCs are just free books. Sure, it’s great if you get one. And there’s definitely a thrill when you open your package or get that approved email. But if you don’t? It’s okay! You can always just buy a copy (that way you’re supporting the book/publishing industry) or borrow it from the library. I mean for some ARCs that I really love, I still end up buying a physical, finished copy upon release anyway. For one, to support the author and publishing industry, and two, like I mentioned earlier, the final copy may be a little different from the ARC. Finding these discrepancies are fun! Plus, we all know I have a book buying problem. 😉

7

There obviously is no correct answer to this since everyone has a unique blogging style and voice. I can’t tell you how to review… but I can give you guys some tips that I’ve learned after thoroughly researching this topic. And even a few big DON’Ts I’ve heard a lot of bloggers warned against before.

  • Read the book and write a “good” review. This does not mean you have to love the book or even have to give it an above 3 stars rating. Be critical, honest, and true to yourself as a reader. Being a “good” reviewer means you do not bash the author and say “her writing sucked, and I absolutely hated this book” if you disliked the book. You can say, “I didn’t find the writing to be that special. I wasn’t a fan of this book because ______.” You can find more about book bashing on Poulami’s discussion post at Daydreaming Books. And something I was really curious about was if quoting from ARCs were allowed: there’s no solid rule to this. I’ve noticed that some ARCs do have statements that say they don’t want the reviewer to quote from the ARC since the text is subject to change. However, from this post by Nozegraze, Ashley has collected some answers from a few publishers. Some are okay with it as long as the quotes are spoiler free and you have checked with the final copy. But then again, these are advanced reader copies meaning you may post your reviews earlier than release date. In that case, I would leave a disclaimer saying “all quotes are from the ARC edition and text is subject to change.” However, it’s up to you if you want to include quotes or not. For copies that say do not include quotes, I wouldn’t include them if I’m publishing the post before publication date. 
  • Try to publish your review sometime around the release date. Not too early, most publishers prefer one or two weeks prior to release date at the earliest. However, it’s okay to give a nonspoilery review a couple of months before the book is released if you’ve already read it that early on, often time bloggers opt to do this on goodreads instead of their blogs though. And it’s okay to publish a review after the book is released, but keep in mind ARCs are marketing tools to increase the hype prior to publication date, therefore the earlier (but not too early) or closer to release, the better! I usually do it on the day of release.
  • Send a link of your review to the publicist handling that title. Most print/physical ARCs come with a “for immediate release” note that tells you information about the book, who has blurbed it, professional reviews, and a synopsis. It also has the name and contact information of the publicist handling that title. You can can contact that publicist if you have any questions while reading the book. That will also be the person you should contact once you’ve posted your review. Send your thanks and a link to that post! With Netgalley and Blogging for Books, I know you can just submit your review by just copying and pasting your review and including a link via your account.
  • Also remember, you got an ARC for free, you cannot sell an ARC. However, you can pass along or give the ARC away! I tend to keep mine even if I didn’t enjoy the story as much.

10

Also, here are a few more additional resources, in no particular order, that I personally have used in the past for requesting and obtaining ARCs:

And I highly recommend: The Book Publicity Blog
It’s the best and most comprehensive guide to all things about book blogging and the publishing industry.

And, you’re never at a disadvantage to research these things. I actually looked at about 20 different blogs before I actually requested my first ARC because it seemed like such a daunting and intimidating process as a new blogger. It really isn’t though, but it’s good to know what to do and what not to do!


I know this wasn’t a great discussion post and was more like a guide, but I hope it helped someone out there!

However there is so much potential conversation and discussion material that can stem off the topic of ARCs like:

  • “I’m Green Eyed and Full of ARC Envy”
  • “ARCs Consume My Life Because of My Unwise Requesting Spree” OTL
  • “Being a Blog That Accepts ARCs… Does That Make Me Less of a ‘I Blog For Myself and For Fun’ Blogger?”

I may revisit one of these topics one day, who knows!

Two discussion questions I’m curious about:

  1. Do you get ARC envy? (Because I know I certainly do for those highly coveted authors!)
  2. Do you ever go request crazy, have a requesting spree, and regret it later? (I’m guilty of this, especially on Netgalley!)

And feel free to contact me at my email address if you have any additional questions you don’t want to ask in the comments. My email is sumlynnguyen@aol.com


Until next time! waves

IMG_3500

Months ago, Unspoken was the very first ARC I requested from a publisher.

Blog @xingsings | Instagram @readxings | Twitter @xingsings

Advertisements

63 thoughts on “Summer Says: All Things About ARCs (Well Sort Of)

  1. drizzleandhurricanebooks says:

    Thank you so much for this! I’m not that new, but I admit that I never requested ARCs directly from publishers, especially physical ones, because I know there’s a slight chance my request will be accepted, since I’m living overseas. All of this is really helpful if I want to try my luck one time, though 🙂
    I have to say, I get ARC envy sometimes, because well, all the great books, and some people get to read them before everyone else…I want to be a part of this, too, sometimes, but I understand that some people are luckier and well, waiting is good too sometimes! 😀
    I don’t really go crazy with requests, I often watch the new books on Netgalley, but I’m always scared not to keep up with my reading, and I’m so scared not to be able to read everything by deadline, so I try to control myself, haha! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      I really love how you’re always so positive, Marie! I agree, sometimes waiting until the release date for a book is pretty exciting! Like there something to look forward to. 😀

      Ahh, I totally understand what you mean! Though I’m thankful for the review copies I’ve gotten so far, the release dates give me anxiety. Also, we’ve talked about this before (I think) but I’m a big mood reader so sometimes I dislike having to read a certain book just because of the deadline! It’s great that you found a balance with requesting from the beginning!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Analee @ Book Snacks says:

    Thanks so much for taking the time to make this post!! You answered so many of my questions. ❤ I usually tend to not request ARCs for fear of being rejected and not knowing what to do or say—I think now I might give it a shot! However, I do have another question; is it okay if I used the publicity contacts you listed even though I live in Canada? Or are these emails only for people living in America? I’m sorry to bother you again with ARC questions after this awesome post, haha.

    And to answer your questions, yes to both! As much as I try, ARC envy doesn’t always go away, especially if it’s over a book from a coveted author of mine. 😀 And I do tend to go a bit crazy with the request button on Netgalley sometimes as well… oops!

    Thank you again for this post!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Thank you for encouraging me to share this, Analee! ❤ I was compiling information I learned along the way and had it in my drafts for a while. As you know, I was hesitant about publishing it, but I’m glad this was able to help you and a few others! As for your question, I just tried looking it up; Canadians have separate contacts unfortunately. :/ However you can find a certain publisher’s publicity contacts by just typing up the publisher’s name and Canada. It should lead you to their website for Canadians, and click on “Contact Us” then “Media” or “Publicity.” You should be able to find all their emails there! Thank you so much for pointing that out! I’ll have to edit this post to clarify these are contacts for U.S. residents, thanks! And you’re really not bothering me at all. If you have any more questions, just let me know. I’d love to help! 🙂

      Like

  3. Carolyn says:

    Omggggg thank you so much for this Summer! I’ve actually requested a few books from publishers but still have not gotten an ARC yet.. ): It’s always frustrating when they don’t reply because then I’m left hanging..But I think your email template is really going to help me! I never knew what to write in the emails besides my blog link and stats. Right now, I really want an ARC for Passenger by Alexandra Bracken but I probably won’t get it since my blog is so small right now. And the other problem with me is that I will only want ARCs that I really want to read so when Netgalley sends me random, free books that I don’t request, I don’t read them and my ratio of review books and unreviewed ones are not proportional..if that makes sense.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      You’re so welcome, Carolyn! I’m so glad the email template gave you some ideas! It took me a while before I got a good format that I was completely satisfied with. I already mentioned this in the post, but make sure to always include your physical mailing address. I’ve heard that publishers are super peeved when someone requests a book but doesn’t include a place to send it to. 😉 And yes! Their silence is maddening, but I guess it can’t be helped since there’s so many of us! 😛 Aww, it’s okay! If the titles you’ve been requesting are popular like Passenger, it could just mean that there’s so many other people requesting too. Don’t feel too discouraged! And speaking of Passenger, I saw it on Netgalley the other day… but it’s not for request. ): Maybe when it becomes available you can request it digitally! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      • Carolyn says:

        I really hope so! I think the other part of the problem is that there are so many bloggers requesting books and I’m not even that established and I don’t have that many followers so it’s gonna be hard for me to get a copy but that can’t be helped for now I guess..

        Liked by 1 person

        • Summer @ Xingsings says:

          And it’s so much more competitive here in the states compared to other countries. The international bloggers have limited books they can request but there are less them so access is a little more lenient. Aww, don’t stress too much about it! Hopefully more people will find your blog in good time, Carolyn! 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

          • Carolyn says:

            Hopefully! International bloggers probably have it way harder than us either way because they don’t know if their country has a publishing company that will print that book and even if it does, it might be a few months later than us release date

            Liked by 1 person

  4. Lois says:

    Thank you so much for this post. I’ve been curious about the ARC system for a while because I’m fairly new to blogging and not been entirely sure on how to work my way around this topic.
    I don’t usually stress about ARC’s because I’ve usually already got a big to be read pile from all the books I’ve bought. However, I am susceptible to ARC envy when it’s a book that I’ve been eagerly anticipating. At the moment I really want an ARC for Passenger by Alexandra Bracken and A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab (when they come out).

    I don’t really go request crazy and I think that’s part due to the fact that I am a mood reader and so I never know what I’m in the mood to read and I don’t want to force myself to read a book and not enjoy it as much as I would have. Plus luck has never been on my side so I’m quite familiar with the waiting game now haha.

    Again this is a great post and very helpful to anyone wondering about the ARC system.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Thank you, Lois!

      That is a great point! Lately I’ve been requesting and getting unsolicited review copies. Though I’m thankful for them, they really have kept me from reading books that I really want to read (like new releases and purchases of mine). Also, the release dates give me some anxiety to read the book in time for the “deadline.” So it’s wonderful you’ve found a balance and don’t request too much! I haven’t read any of Alexandra Bracken’s books yet, but I know many are anticipating Passenger. I may try requesting A Gathering of Shadows, but it’s likely I’ll be denied since I know a lot of Schwab fans will be requesting as well.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Maria says:

    This is a great post! Very detailed with a lot of excellent resources. I wanted to add that one way to get ARCs is to just hit up a local independent bookstore. Independent bookstores usually get a box of ARCs every month from IndieBound. The bookstore I worked at had more ARCs than we could ever possibly read, so we often gave them out to customers who asked or used them as prizes. Each bookstore works differently, but it never hurts to ask.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Zoe says:

    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. This is such helpful and informative information, and I wish I could have known all this when I started out blogging. Such great tips. Thank you for taking the time to share all this information Summer and, as always, fantastic post! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Thank you, Zoe! ❤ When I first started blogging I had so many questions and didn’t even know where to start, so I really wanted to make this post when I was ready and knew more. I still have so much more to learn though, but it really means a lot that a veteran blogger like you think this would be helpful for new bloggers! 🙂

      Like

  7. SERIESous Book Reviews says:

    Super helpful Summer!

    I’m in the same boat as you–I’ve got a lot of ARCs/requests to finish this month. Part of that is thanks to a request spree on NetGalley this summer (I had been doing SO well until August with only requesting one or two books a month) some are requests I’ve been asked to read (and I struggle to say no!). I’m going to go on a hiatus next month so I can read some books I’ve actually purchased.

    I do get ARC envy occasionally; especially for sequels I really, really want to read. I’m super jealous of anyone who got to read Ice Like Fire or The Rose Society before their release today. (Though I did luck out with my hold at the library and got them as soon as they were uploaded to my library’s eCatalogue).

    Good luck reading!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Jenna @ Reading with Jenna says:

    This is such an informative post! I would’ve wanted all this info in one post when I first started out. This must have taken you forever to put together!

    Luckily the ARC requesting isn’t as competitive in Australia. We can get them pretty easily even if we don’t have a large number of followers. I think 300+ is a good number to have for us and most of my NetGalley requests are accepted. But saying that… we also don’t have a lot of ARCs. Most of them are either finished copies or ARCs from the US…unless it’s an independent publisher. I was a bit intimidated at first to request, but then I figured that nothing bad can come from trying. Like you said, the worst thing that can happen is that they don’t reply or they say no. And they usually say no in a reaaaallly nice way.

    Surprisingly, I don’t get that much ARC envy (probably because usually ARCs for books I want to read aren’t available in Australia so there’s no point in being jealous haha). Plus I find that a lot of ARCs that I do receive, I don’t end up enjoying that much. I prefer to read up on other people’s reviews first. But at the same time, if it’s a book that I’m highly anticipating, I do get jealous. I missed out on Ice Like Fire ARCs and I was sooooo jealous of everyone who got one!

    I don’t go on requesting sprees anymore. My first time on NetGalley, I requested 5 books (which apparently isn’t even that many compared to other people) and was approved for them all. Suddenly it was a rush to read everything before release date and it was SO exhausting. So now I make sure to only request one or two at a time. But with physical copies, I find myself requesting from different publishers all on the same afternoon (because I end up in a emailing and requesting mood). So I end up receiving a million ARCs all in the same week. I just never learn…..

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Hurrah! This post got a Jenna bomb! 😀

      Is it crazy that I had this post in my drafts for months even when I was still a baby blogger? Lol. It did take me a long time collectively, but I guess I was compiling information I wanted to include over time, so it wasn’t too bad.

      Wow, I had no idea how different it is for you guys in Australia! That’s very interesting. I guess it does give some Australian bloggers some relief, right? I mean the books over there are ridiculously expensive!! But I guess the general Australian public that don’t blog still wouldn’t be able to get a chance to get free books every once in a while…

      Haha, everyone seemed to be envious of the Ice Like Fire ARCs. I guess I can say I was lucky enough to not feel that way since I haven’t read Snow Like Ashes yet. 😛

      Ahh, I totally understand! I think when I made a Netgalley I requested about five books too. I still do that but only every couple of months. But it always seems like it takes forever for publishers to decide to accept/deny readers access, and when they do they all accept at once, haha. AND YES, those requesting moods are quite scary. It kind of reminds me of sleepwalking (not that I really know how that feels since I haven’t experienced that before, or at least I don’t think I have), where you do something but kind of forget that you did it later on. There’s been times where I’ve gotten packages and ask myself where this came from (turns out I requested it; since I don’t have P.O. box none of the review copies I receive are unsolicited).

      Liked by 1 person

      • Jenna @ Reading with Jenna says:

        Yeah it definitely takes the pressure off that it’s much easier in Aus. And it’s also much easier to win giveaways because there aren’t as many people competing for them. But yeah, books are still expensive for the general public, which is sad. I also really like that a lot of review copies we get are finished copies! It’s super exciting when you get the final copy in the mail for free haha.

        Hehe yes, there have been so many times when I get packages but have forgotten that I requested. I try to request really early, and because most of the time publishers don’t reply, I tend to just forget about it. 3 months later, the book arrives and I’m like “where did you come from?!” But I also find that when I request books really early, I’m no longer interested in them when I do receive them. So lately, I’m just trying not to request at all. And Jeann from Happy Indulgence gets a lot of unsolicited copies, so I’m trying to lighten her load by reviewing some of them on the blog.

        Liked by 1 person

        • Summer @ Xingsings says:

          That’s such a good point! I feel the same way about getting books I’m no longer in the mood or interested to read in. Honestly, I’ve been less request happy, which is a good thing for that reason. I think I’m going to try to be way more selective when I request now.

          Liked by 1 person

  9. Nerdybirdy @ Daydreaming Books says:

    AWSOOOOME FREAKING GREAT POST SUMMER! 😀 This post was super long but super helpful specially for the bloggers who are starting out totally new. I wish this post was there when I was starting out and I didn’t even knew what ARCs were. 😛 And really, ARCs can be sooo tempting, I’ve a heap of books to finish that I got. And yup I so agree with you, without meeting those specific “conditions” ARCs can be achieved as well, only you have to be constant. Because I read those rules somewhere that you have to have these many followers, blog stats to get ARCs I was a lot hesitant at first, but then I did request one and I have never stopped since! 😛

    Anyways, I do have a few questions and I’ll email those to you. Loved this post! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      THANKS SO MUCH, POULAMI! ❤ The only problem after I posted this is that I realized so many international bloggers aren’t able to have the same opportunities with requesting physical ARCs or ARCs in general like U.S. bloggers, which is kind of sad. So it sort of makes all of this information useless for those individuals. :/

      However, yes! I know a lot of resources emphasize on a big following but I thought reliability and consistency to be a pretty major factor some publishers weigh in as well. I’m glad you agree.

      And awesome! Look forward to our email correspondence in the future! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. ravenblake99 says:

    Fantastic Post Summer! It was really a great detailed info because they are very helpful to all the bloggers who has no idea on how to request ARC’s. I haven’t requested a physical ARC yet because I’m not ready for them. For now, I’m happy with Netgalley and if for some reason, there’s a book that I can’t wait to read then maybe I would go for it. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Thank you, Raven! I had a few friends that used to blog and were paranoid about having publishing companies know where they lived so physical ARCs never appealed to them. Some of my other friends also used their e-readers more so they liked Netgalley and digital galleys. Definitely do what you’re more comfortable with! 😀

      Like

  11. Thuong Le says:

    This is a great and well-written post, Summer 🙂 you’ve included lots of informative points and I liked you included examples of how to request arcs! I received my first arc about last month, which I was surprised by. I was like, me? I’m not that special in book blogging 😄 The publicist emailed me. It’s actually taken me a while to review it, so perhaps I have not the best person to review arcs lol.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Thank you, Thuong! 🙂 AND WHAT?! OF COURSE, YOU’RE SPECIAL! I feel the same way about my first ARC though. It was a surreal moment since I used to read/watch other readers that got them. Haha, no worries. I like to post my review on the release date but sometimes real life doesn’t allow for that to happen. 😛

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Briana says:

    This is really informative! I only request ARCs through Netgalley and only occasionally. I’m very much a mood reader and don’t like feeling obligated to read certain things at certain times. (Uh, besides for school, where that is basically my job as an English major….) I also dread having to, even indirectly, tell a publisher I don’t like the book so I try to request only things I’m pretty sure I’ll like.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Those are some really great points, Briana! I have to admit that though I’m thankful for what I receive, receiving these ARCs has taken away my time to read other books that I want to read (like new releases and purchases I’ve made for that month). For those avid readers that read a lot (and fast!) it may be okay but since I’m only able to read 5 books total a month I’m pretty much only reading ARCs for a while-especiallly if I went request crazy months before. However, on the bright side, I have to say I’m a good judge with the books I’ve requested so far! 🙂

      Like

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Good question! This may not be a very helpful answer, but it really depends on the publisher. For the most part, I’ve noticed that publishers have implied that they’re looking for a blog with a bigger following. However, a blog that has a lot of followers but the kind of followers that don’t really seem to read the blog’s content and interact (as in there’s not a lot of comment activity) it’s not too great either. So sometimes a blog that has been established longer with less followers but has more activity (meaning more blog posts published, interaction/discussion in the comments, etc.) could be in that blogger’s favor! Hope I didn’t make you more confused! And if you want to see what each publisher’s preference is you can click this link, look up the publisher, and click on the “view approval preference” button under that publisher. This is used for Netgalley, which is a program for digital review copies, but it wouldn’t hurt to see what each publisher preferred. These preferences may be pretty similar for physical ARCs too. Hope that helped! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Building The Confidence says:

    This is so detailed and you give sooo many sources. All I can say is thank you a million times. I currently only use blogging for books, but I didn’t know so many of these programs existed and I will be using them in the future. Ahh, I can’t even gush enough about how good this post is. I signed up for a few of the programs you listed and have my fingers crossed. Also I just wanted to let you know that I tagged you in the <a href=”https://buildingtheconfidence.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/the-liebster-award-2/“>The Liebster Award I don’t know if you do posts like this but if you do it let me know! 🙂

    ❤ Building The Confidence

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      You’re welcome, Cielo! I’ve only requested two Blogging for Books review copies, and both times were great experiences for me. Awesome, I’m really happy to hear you were able to learn of some new programs! Good luck!

      And thank you so much for the nomination! ❤ I’ve actually already done a Liebster Award post twice, so I probably won’t be doing it again. However, I’ll definitely check out your post and the questions for your nominees tomorrow when I do some blog hopping!

      Liked by 1 person

  14. MyTinyObsessions says:

    amazing post Summer, this is one of those that’ll save to back to whenever I’m in doubt.

    I’ve only ever received eARCs (and the first one I got I was jumping up and down), being an international blogger is really tough to ask for physical copies =/

    i definitely went overboard in my beginning in netgalley and requested way more books than I should… I’m still trying to get to them all 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      Thank you so much, Cristina!

      After posting this, I realized how difficult requesting ARCs-especially physical ones-would be for international bloggers. :/ Good thing Netgalley still offers you guys some titles though. 🙂 And haha, we’ve definitely all been there! Netgalley just makes things so easy and tempting with that convenient “request” button! 😉

      Like

  15. The Reading Haven says:

    Thank you so much for posting this! I literally just started my book blog yesterday, and have relatively no idea what I am doing. lol. Once I get my book blog off the ground and gain more followers, I will definitely refer to this to help me acquire my first ARC. Thanks again!! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Suganiya Rassiah says:

    Oh thank you soooo much Summer for this amazing post. I have actually been thinking of getting my hands on an ARC but didnt know how to do it. I mean, I live in this corner of earth that nobody has heard about, and most of the books I want to read are not available. So, I usually order online. But getting my hands on an ARC would be supercool I think. And as much as I love reading ebooks, I prefer the printed copy. Thank u so so much for being helpful 🙂 🙂 🙂
    PS. Do you thing they would send printed copies to my side of the earth: Sri Lanka????

    Liked by 1 person

    • Summer @ Xingsings says:

      I know it’s much more difficult for the international countries (other than the US, Canada, UK, and Australia) to obtain ARCs but if you can find some publicity contacts of publishers specifically for Sri Lanka, I’m sure you can! However, I do know electronic copies are more common for international residents just because international shipping is ridiculous! :/ And thanks, Suganiya! Good luck with your future requesting! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

Blogging takes hours, commenting takes minutes. Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts. ^.^

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s
https://xingsings.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/summer-says-all-things-about-arcs-well-sort-of/
xingsings.wordpress.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-22
295558
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:I72V5PCEKKWJMLEVFET4O5WE2UMT6QBT
<urn:uuid:a1b6dd2e-0b61-4d64-b6f6-efd14fd77042>
2017-05-25T08:50:17Z
192.0.78.12
text/html
sha1:JDVNDSPWF25POKRRQPBXT5REYVC2PVJC
<urn:uuid:9d1707b8-ef26-4b6b-88bc-a9f50af68045>
https://xingsings.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/summer-says-all-things-about-arcs-well-sort-of/
length
response
<urn:uuid:0484e7b0-fbe2-4bd8-ac6d-5d526d9ec6d9>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-185-224-210.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-22
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for May 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf