This is the latest rally cry in publishing. One of my authors just found out today that her publisher is not going to be doing ARCs for her book. But it’s not just for her title but for all the mass market titles at this house.
Gone. They’ve decided that it’s too costly to continue with the current economic conditions.
For those of you who don’t know, ARC stands for Advanced Reading Copy. This is the main tool in terms of getting reviews and influential blog posts about the upcoming release. Savvy authors can use those ARCs in a variety of ways such as making them available for special promos or having them handy at events or conferences where booksellers attend. And this is just the tip of the ice berg of uses for the ARC.
Read the rest.
Having published a couple of books, I can tell you that people notice when a publisher is unwilling to spend money on a title. It means no reviews, no publisher-set-up book events...which means no one talks about the book, few stores order it, and your work fades into the mists unless you happen to be a genius at self promotion.
2 comments:
It's last Thursday's post; the direct link is:
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2010/02/save-money-save-trees-no-arcs.html
As an alternate to PAPER ARCs, many publishers are using Netgalleys, PDFs distributed via their site:
http://www.netgalley.com/
Although it's a bummer not to have a physical ARC, which many reviewers prefer, it may not mean the death of ALL pre-pub reviews/publicity.
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