How I Blog: Wherefore ARC Thou? part 1

How I Blog is a regular feature on All Things Urban Fantasy where I share my tips, tricks, methods, and secrets to book blogging.  You can read all the previous How I Blog posts HERE.

Getting ARCs

**I have to start this post by link to Kristi’s excellent ARC discussion: Advance Readers Copies: What You Need to Know.  Every blogger should read it & Presenting Lenore: Where to get free books and ARCs**

First off, ARC stands for Advance Readers Copies.  Basically these are pre-release copies of books made to send to reviewers, booksellers etc.  I’m not going to distinguish between galleys and ARCs here, but you can check out Writings Of A Wicked Book Addict – WLP Wants YOU To Know All About ARC’s & Galleys for a good breakdown of the differences.

I’m also not going to go into examining your motivation for wanting ARCs.  Lot’s of bloggers have tackled that subject with varying degrees of validity.  I’m assuming you are a reviewer and want them to review and not to break the law by selling them on eBay.  Moving on…

The topic of ARCs is a big one, too big in fact for one post.  I’m breaking it down into three parts: General ARC Resources, Requesting ARCs, and finally ARC Protocol.  Here we go with part 1 (in no particular order):

General ARC Resources:

LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Every month, LibraryThing posts a list of books that you can request via their Early Reviewer program. 

To request books: Click "Request it!" next to the books you're interested in reviewing. At the end of the giveaway period, you will receive a comment on your profile page letting you know whether you've won a book or not.

Winners are selected by LibraryThing, whose decision is final. Winning is based on a combination of factors, such as:

• Expressed interest
• Random chance
• How many books the reviewer has received from LTER
• The reviewer's reviewing history
• The contents and organization of the reviewer's LibraryThing account
• Other factors not revealed or not yet determined
• Lecanomancy

I have had great success with this program.  In June alone, they had 1938 copies of 75 different books and they almost always have several good paranormal titles.

Goodreads First Reads

Updated regularly, Goodreads First Reads allows publishers and authors to offer giveaways of their titles that members can request. 

Be the first to read new books! Prerelease books are listed for giveaway by publishers and authors, and members can enter to win. Winners are picked randomly at the end of the giveaway.

I haven’t great success with this program (which is to say none) but somebody has to win them, right?

NetGalley

NetGalley is primarily an eARC service.  Reviewers can signup, browse upcoming titles from an ever increasing number of publishers, and once accepted, you can download your title or have it emailed to you.

NetGalley is an inexpensive and green way for publishers to share their digital galleys securely. Professional readers—reviewers, media, bloggers, journalists, librarians, booksellers and educators—can all use NetGalley for FREE to read and request galleys they want to review. Welcome, and happy reading!

• Download Galley. Read a Protected (DRM) galley on your computer, Sony Reader, B&N's Nook, or other device. Note: If the publisher has chosen to enable an Open (DRM-free) file, then the galley can be read via Adobe Digital Editions, Acrobat Reader, Sony Reader, B&N's Nook, and other devices that read PDFs, as well as the iPad, iPhone, iTouch, Blackberry and other smart phones. Once you press Download Galley, you will be informed if the file is Protected or Open.
• Kindle. Have the galley emailed to your Kindle as a PDF.

I’m very excited to start using NetGalley as I finally bought myself a Kindle. 

Shelf Awareness

Shelf Awareness is a free email newsletter that in addition to having great news and info about the industry, they post tons of ads/banners offering free ARCs!

Shelf Awareness: Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade, the free e-mail newsletter dedicated to helping the people in stores, in libraries and on the Web buy, seland lend books most wisely.

For example, here is an ad from a recent newsletter:

Paperback Swap – Book Bazaar ARC forum

Paperback Swap is a book swapping site, yes, and you can’t list or swap ARCs through the main site, but you can post and request ARCs through the Book Bazaar ARC forum.  Sign up for a free account, start swapping or buy some credits, then add the ARC forum to your Watched Topics list and you’ll get emailed whenever someone posts ARCs.  If you’re quick responding, you can get lots of titles.

Publisher Sweepstakes

Many of the big publishing houses have at least one sweepstake giveaway running at all times.  Sign up for their newsletters and you’ll always be in the know.  Free Stuff from Simon & Schuster is my favorite.  Here is one of their current sweepstakes:

• Enter the Demon from the Dark Sweepstakes! Starts August 17, 2010 and ends August 24, 2010

Everyone likes something for free, and this is the place to find everything that is free on Simon & Schuster. Find free downloads of entire books, special giveaways and sweepstakes where you can enter for a chance to win even more free stuff such as books or even a trip to London or Hawaii. As the sweeps and free books are continually changing, be sure to sign up for free stuff alerts and keep checking back -- you never know what you might be able to get for free.

Blog giveaways (bloggers & authors)

I think most people know about giveaways, but it is always a good idea to keep an eye out on author blogs as they will often post giveaways strictly for reviewers.  Authors will also typically have exclusive giveaways in their monthly newsletters. 

A good site to follow for excellent giveaway coverage is Not-Really-Southern Vamp Chick: Win on Wednesday: Contests Around the Blogosphere

Book Blog Groups (Ning)

Visit Book Blogs

You may have spotted a badge like this one on various book blogs that links to a network of book bloggers, information, and forums, but did you know about the publisher sponsored book tour groups on Book Blogs?  Within the Book Blog network, you can join hundreds of groups including those sponsored by publishers and book tour sites.  Here are a few of the ones I like:

• Early Birds ARC Review - Book Blogs
• Gallery & Pocket Books Romance Blog Tour Group - Book Blogs
• Host a Hachette Book Group Giveaway on Your Blog - Book Blogs
• Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours - Book Blogs 
• Gallery & Pocket Books SciFi/Fantasy Blog Tour Group - Book Blogs

Join to become part of blog tours with Pocket Books. Each month, two selections will be posted. Most tours will consist of some combination of review, author Q &A or guest blog, and/or giveaway contest to be posted on the assigned tour date.

Author websites

This seems kind of obvious, but it is amazing how many bloggers don’t check out the author’s website when they have a new title coming out.  Many authors now include their publicist’s email for bloggers to contact for ARC requests.  Some authors even have book request forms right on their sites.  So search your favorite authors (or click through the author links on my lower right sidebar) and look around.

Amazon Vine

This one is kind of the White Whale.  I know it exists.  I know I wish they’d send me an elusive invite, but so far nada.

Amazon Vine™ is a program that enables a select group of Amazon customers to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make educated purchase decisions. Customers are invited to become Amazon Vine™ Voices based on the trust they have earned in the Amazon community for writing accurate and insightful reviews. Amazon provides Amazon Vine™ members with free copies of products that have been submitted to the program by vendors. Amazon does not influence the opinions of Amazon Vine™ members, nor do we modify or edit their reviews. I can’t personally attest to this one as I have yet to be invited.

---

Previous How I Blog posts:

• Ode to Windows Live Writer

Stay tuned for:

• Wherefore ARC Thou? part 2 : Requesting ARCs