My advice for submitting ARCs

Recently, I’ve been blessed to receive several ARCs from a few different publishing companies. I don’t know how I got on their list for advanced readers, but I’m not mad at it. I’ve gotten to read some fantastic books before they even come out. What reader doesn’t want that?

However, I have a confession. I’ve received requests for ARCs for years. Some of them I’ve accepted. But a lot of them I’ve either politely declined or simply ignored outright. That might seem cold of me, especially since I am myself an author and know how hard it is to pitch my book to people.

Pitching ARCs is a great way to get buzz going about your book before the release. It can get people talking, recommending and reviewing your book before it’s even available. It’s a super powerful marketing tool. One that I’ve never been able to get my shit together enough to actually use.

I’m working on it.

So today, I thought I’d share a little bit about why I’ll accept an ARC, why I’ll reject one, and why one can irritate me enough that I don’t even respond.

Start with a great story

The first book offered to me by Saga Press was Year of the Mer. And the way it was described in the email just hooked me. (Yes, pun intended) A dark retelling of Little Mermaid that’s all about political backstabbing and magic? Yes, please sign me up.

The email I got for this book was basically a query letter. It started out strong with the pitch, gave examples of similar books in the genre, and only after all that did we get into the accolades of the author. By the end of it, I couldn’t ask for the book fast enough.

When you’re sending out offers for ARCs, you should be writing a query letter. You should be putting your best foot forward and basically selling your book to the potential advanced reader.

Offer multiple versions if you can

Now, I know this is where a lot of us indie authors might struggle. But one big reason why I’ve been so thrilled to work with these recent publishers is that they offered to send me physical books.

I find physical books easier to read. And I’m trying to spend less time staring at screens. But that doesn’t mean that all advanced readers are going to want that. Some will want an e-version. And among those, some will want epub, some will want mobi, some will want pdf. It all depends on what sort of device they read on and their preferences.

Yes, I understand that this is going to be inaccessible for some indie authors like myself. It can be a hard ask. Getting copies of your book is expensive, even before we take shipping them into consideration. This is one reason I haven’t managed to actually send out ARCs yet.

And, of course, converting your book into multiple formats isn’t something everyone is comfortable with.

But if you can offer multiple versions of your book for ARCs, it’s a lot easier for advanced readers to say yes.

Be professional

When you’re pitching an ARC to a prospective advanced reader, it’s best to treat it like a submission. Put your best foot forward. Make sure you’re checking for spelling and grammar errors. Check the correct spelling of your recipient’s name and their pronouns. Make sure the person you’re sending your book to works with your genre.

If all of this seems like common sense to you, congratulations. You’re standing head and shoulders above some of the people who’ve sent me ARC requests.

When you send out ARCs, you’re asking someone to take a chance on you. Most of us don’t have a lot of extra time on our hands. We also have stacks of books we already want to read. You know, for fun? Every day I spend reading an ARC is a day I’m not reading The Caretaker. So please, show me that the book you’re asking me to read will be professional and edited.

It might not be personal

Now, I’m afraid I have some bad news. And if you’ve been a writer for more than five minutes, you already know what I’m going to say.

You can do everything right, and still hear no from advanced readers. And it’s almost certainly not personal.

I have had to reject ARCs that I wanted to read. And it’s for the awful grown-up reasons you probably already know.

I’ve already committed to too many books. I have launches coming out of new books I need to review for Weird Wyrlds. I have a deadline coming up, and I know I can’t commit to reading your book in a timely manner. Or, your book just doesn’t grab me, and I don’t want to damn it with faint praise. (Especially if it’s an indie book, I’d rather say no than give you a bad review.)

Writing is a business. But it’s the business of selling art, which is extremely subjective. My DNF book is someone else’s best book they read this year. So don’t take a rejection personally. Just send your book to someone else.

At some point in the next year, I’ll be sending out some ARCs of my own. So, I’m sure I’ll have more advice to give as I start on that journey. But for now, it’s your turn. Have you had any luck sending out ARCs? Let us know about it in the comments.

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