How I Blog: Wherefore ARC Thou? part 3

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.

ARC Protocol

This is the third and final post in my How I Blog ARC series.  We’ve talked about General ARC Resources (part 1) and Requesting ARCs (part 2) and now that you are all swimming in ARCs, it’s time to talk about ARC Protocol.

These are the steps I go through when I get an ARC:

1. Happy Dance!  ARCs are always awesome.  I never fail to get excited when one arrives at my house (or in my inbox). 
2. Write it down. I mark it down in 3 different places (Yep, I’m that anal):
   1. Goodreads: I add the book to my Goodreads Bookshelf and tag it ‘For Review’ so it shows up on my Received for Review widget & ‘TBR’ so it shows up on my TBR widget
   2. Google “Review Schedule” Document: ATUF has two reviewers, so every title that Julia or I receive gets marked down on our shared document and assigned a reviewer and review by date (as close to the release date as possible). 
   3. PDA/Phone: I have several different bookcases in my house and they are all categorized by genre, so in order to know what book is where, I keep a mobile list of all my TBR books (and who sent them).  It helps for when I’m in a bookstore so I don’t end up buying duplicates of books I already own. 
3. Stick to the schedule.  If I accept an ARC, I’m promising to review it in a timely manner.  This often means I have to wait to read the books I’ve been dying to read in favor of the ones that are releasing sooner.  I try and be realistic about my schedule so I have time to read both new and older title each month, but I’ve learned the hard way that titles can get piled up before you know it.   Again, make a schedule and keep it. 
4. Post the review on multiple sites.  In my Review Policy I state that every title reviewed on ATUF will be posted on Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Amazon.  You can also link your blog to Twitter and automatically Tweet all your posts.  More exposure for the book and your site.  Everybody wins.
5. Email the sender.  Whether the ARC came from an author or publicist or whoever.  Good or Bad, send them your review link when you post it. 

And that’s it.  Just remember that that little disclaimer usually printed on the cover that says DO NOT SELL or NOT FOR SALE means do not post this book on eBay or anywhere else.  I personally can’t keep all of the ARCs I receive for several reasons:  I don’t have the space, and if I liked the book I try to buy the finished copy so I can support the author.  I end up passing them along to other reviewers or hosting giveaways.  You can also donate them to ARC tours like 1 ARC Tours. 

And in the words of Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that.  I hope these ARC posts have been helpful.  Again my way of doing things doesn’t have to be your way.   Other reviews have different methods that work for them and you probably will too. 

I’ll close with my #1 piece of advice for getting ARCs: If you review them, they will come.  Yep, review books.  Lots of them.  Don’t get bogged down with memes and disposable content.  If you want to receive books for review, show that you actually review books.  Two of my best publisher contacts came about because they emailed me after reading specific reviews (Hey, I saw that you reviewed X, we’d like to send you Y for review if your interested…)