A Tip for Building Your ARC Team
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I have been building my ARC team (Advance Reader/Review Copy team) organically for years. Organically as in…I didn’t do the building myself. If a reader reached out to me and asked to be on my list (a list that I never mentioned and never promoted), then I agreed to the add.
But recently, I’ve been more interested in increasing the number of ARC readers . I do like the early reviews and social media mentions and I think they help spike interest in a new release.
Since I’m a pretty late adopter, I decided to make it very simple on myself. Instead of putting something on my website, I reached out to my most dedicated readers–my newsletter subscribers. When my last release came out and I sent an email to my subscribers to notify them, I included a special section in my newsletter:
Would you like the opportunity to read new Myrtle Clover and Southern Quilting mysteries before they are published (and for free)? I have a limited number of spaces on my ARC team (that’s an advance reader copy team). Applicants must be able to read ebooks (on Kindle, epub, or PDF since there won’t be any print galleys). I would love honest reviews submitted to Amazon, Goodreads, or other retailers/reading communities . ARC members receive an early copy 1-2 weeks before the book is published. ARC team members are also eligible to get signed, printed copies of my books at a reduced rate (just the cost of printing and shipping) when purchased directly from me. If you’re interested, click this link to fill out a short form for consideration. Thanks!
The link went to a free SurveyMonkey form. (You could also use a free Google Form.) My form was mostly geared to making sure that any applicants had the technical ability to load books on their ereading devices, although I plan on sending them the ARCs via InstaFreebie (and InstaFreebie offers tech support). I also wanted to know which series they usually read (I’d rather send ARCs of their favorite series, but I may from time to time send free books as samples of the series they haven’t read).
As soon as the newsletter went out I started getting responses.
I notified the accepted applicants to thank them, explain that they’d receive a link to the upcoming book via email, that they’d be reading an uncorrected copy, and remind them that any posted reviews needed to have a disclosure that they’d received the book for free.
Make sure you’re in compliance with Amazon’s Terms of Service/Community Guidelines, in particular this bit:
Book authors and publishers may continue to provide free or discounted copies of their books to readers, as long as the author or publisher does not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review.
I didn’t have a lot of hoops to jump through, but other authors do. I’ve seen everything from deadlines for posting reviews to sending proof of a review to the author. However, because of my concerns about following the Amazon ToS, I won’t explicitly require a review. However, I did stress in my email that there was a waiting list for my ARC team and if life became too busy to read and review, I’d appreciate if they’d let me know so that someone else could have the opportunity to be on the team. I will likely review the ARC team in the future and see if it is helping with sales.
Here are some other examples of ARC forms and copy to take a look at. Some ask very specific questions of the readers to help the authors determine who might be a more valuable member for their team. Some include requests not to issue spoilers for the books that they read in any reviews. Some ask which retailer in which country the reader buys books from (in order to potentially gain international reviews). Again, I’d personally be careful about requiring reviews and requests for reviews, but I think there are other good takeaways from these sites.
Basically…just ask. Ask your most dedicated readers if they would be interested in joining your ARC team.
Do you have an ARC team? How have you added members?
A Tip for Building Your ARC Team:
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I am on your ARC team and you accepted all of us without any requirements and are very generous with your readers. That's why we love you so much!
Thank you!! You have made my day. :) I love y'all too! Sandra wrote: "I am on your ARC team and you accepted all of us without any requirements and are very generous with your readers. That's why we love you so much!"
