Last week, we talked about submitting ARCs to potential advanced readers. As I said then, I’ve been getting a lot of these recently, and I wanted to share some tips for those of us sending ARCs. (This is something I’ll be doing myself soon. Stay tuned.)

Today, though, I want to talk about the other side of that equation. If you find yourself being offered ARCs, you may be a little unsure at first how to handle this. Personally, I always feel a little awkward getting ARCs. Like someone gave me a thoughtful gift and I didn’t give them anything.

So today, let’s talk about some practices I follow when I receive an ARC. Do you have to do these things? Of course not. Not unless you’re under some sort of contract. But as we are writers ourselves, these are things I’m sure any of us would appreciate.

Send a thank you letter

I think this is just good manners. But if you received an ARC, send a quick email thanking the person who sent it to you. Especially if it was a physical book. Not only is it polite, but it also lets the person who sent it know it was received.

Say no if you need to

There are going to be times when you just can’t take an ARC when it’s offered. We discussed some of these reasons last week. If you don’t have the time to read an ARC, that’s okay.

Or, if it just isn’t your thing, it’s okay to say that too. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad book. I don’t like matcha, even though everyone else seems to like it. Some people don’t like espresso, as strange as that is for me to believe. Sometimes good things just aren’t to your taste. And it’s best to be honest about that rather than commit to reading something you’re not going to enjoy.

Do your best to read the book in a timely manner

I try to read and review ARCs before their release date. Try being the key term here. I recieved an ARC that’s over six hundred pages that, due to some other time constraints and publishing schedules I just started reading on Monday. It releases on May 26th. I am doing my best!

(Side note, it’s called Rainshadow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro. I’m about a hundred pages in so far, and it is very good! Come back for the review, hopefully, next Friday.)

This is part of why it’s important to say no if you need to. The reason people send out ARCs is to get people buzzed about the book before it comes out. So it always helps to get your reviews done sooner rather than later.

Share reviews in as many places as you can

I wrote full reviews for each ARC I’ve received so far here on PBW. But I also reviewed the books on Goodreads and Bookbub. Because, of course, not everyone’s going to read my review here.

If you can, try to leave reviews in as many places as you have access to. That gives the author the most reach and really helps them out.

(A side note about Amazon reviews! Sometimes Amazon gets touchy if you review something you didn’t buy through them. I’ve been actively locked out of writing reviews before. So proceed with caution there.)

Be honest

This final point is one I struggle with. Because I never want to say bad things about other writers in public. I always go back to the matcha and espresso analogy, and I don’t want to scare off readers who might like a book.

That being said, if I didn’t like something about a book, it doesn’t help anyone for me to be dishonest.

For starters, it hurts me because it erodes my credibility. If I’m telling you I was in love with a book I couldn’t even finish, you’re not going to believe me. And it would come through in my review, believe me.

It also doesn’t help the writer in the long run. Look, if someone reads one of my books and they don’t like it, that’s fine. I’d kind of like to know why they didn’t like it, because I’m always trying to get better. A working writer will always appreciate a review that gives the good and the bad. I just reviewed October Film Haunt on Weird Wyrlds, and it was a great book with one flaw that irritated me the whole time. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like the book. I highly suggest reading it.

Now, this final tip might be just a me thing. But if I really didn’t like a book, I’m probably just not going to review it at all. Honestly, I probably just won’t finish it. I have too many books I really want to read. I’m not in school anymore, I’m not going to spend time reading something I don’t enjoy. So if I really didn’t like a book, rather than giving a detailed list of why I didn’t like it, I just won’t review it.

Now it’s your turn. Do you get ARCs? What are your best practices for them? Let us know in the comments.

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