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All About ARCs: The Ins and Outs of Using and Abusing Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs)

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Remember ARC Gate?

I wrote about it here a year ago. There were many, many responses, including those that agreed with me and those which disagreed with me. There was an article in Publishers Weekly. It led to a discussion about putting together a presentation for ALA Annual this year on the topic of ARCs and how they’re used.

Liz Burns, Kristi Chadwick, and myself put together a proposal, which was accepted, and we invited Jen Childs (Random House) and Victoria Stapleton (Little, Brown) to join us in talking about the topic of ARCs and how they’re used in the book world.

Because we wanted this to be a presentation about ARCs and how they’re used by those who use them, we wanted to ask people to tell us how it is they use ARCs, how they get them, what they do with them, and so forth. You may remember we put together a short survey a few months ago on the topic, and here are the results!

We had an overwhelming response. 476 people responded. Since 2 responses were non-ARC users, most of the results below are out of a total of 474 responses.

First, we asked how do you identify yourself?

For the purposes of simplicity, I had to make decisions on people’s profession/affiliation when it wasn’t 100% clear. The bulk of respondents called themselves librarians (162), bloggers (129), librarian and blogger (104), teacher and blogger (31), other industry professional (22), book seller (15), and teacher (11).

“Other industry professional” was my way of putting those who fell outside one of the clearer categories into a space, and it included print journalists, archivists, author, trade reviewer, editors, or those who chose not to put an affiliation down.

As seen, librarians made up the majority of our responses, followed closely by bloggers, then librarians who also blog.

We followed that up with what kind of ARCs do you use? We offered three options: print, eARC, or both. Because I was curious if there was anything at all relating to affiliation and ARC use, I broke down the responses in that manner.

Far and away, the bulk of all ARC users try both print and eARCs. A total of 311 responses indicated using both. Print only ARC users made up for 138 responses and eARC only responses made up a tiny 24 responses.

I broke this particular question down by profession since we were curious what librarians were using. I included librarians who blog within this breakdown, as well. It will make sense why I looked at this particular demographic and not the others later on in the data.

Over 66% (176) of the librarians and librarian bloggers used a mix of both print and eARCs. Almost 30% (77) used print only, leaving a very tiny margin — a total of 12 responses — who use only eARCs.

Some of the interesting data points I teased out of this: none of the teacher responses, none of the bookseller responses, and none of the “other” responses indicated using eARCs. I suspect a large part of why those who identified as only teachers did not use eARCs is because it means they cannot then use those books with their classrooms unless they purchase a copy. It cannot be put into their classroom libraries or used with the kids. I cannot make conjectures on the other affiliations and why they may not use eARCs, but remember, they represented a much smaller portion of responses.

Our next question was How do you get ARCs? We allowed responses to come from pre-designed answers, but we had an option for “other,” which will be explained.

The options were:

  • Sent to work 
  • I request from the publisher
  • I request from Netgalley
  • I request from Edelweiss
  • Pick up at conferences/trade shows
  • Trade with friends/colleagues
  • Purchase them
  • Receive them unsolicited*
After going through all of the responses, I added another category to simplify data collection, which is “receive them unsolicited.” The bulk of those who indicated they received ARCs unsolicited were bloggers (which includes librarian and teacher bloggers).
Numerically, it breaks down like this:
  • Netgalley requests: 313
  • Conference/Trade shows: 247
  • Get at work: 206
  • Request from publisher: 203
  • Trade with friends/colleagues: 178
  • Edelweiss requests: 153
  • Sent unsolicited: 35
What’s interesting about this data is that Netgalley requests are by and away the most popular way to get ARCs. Though it was noted above that eARC use only is the lowest popularity in terms of the type of ARCs used, the bulk of readers who use ARCs use both print and eARCs. This suggests — though this wasn’t explicitly asked — that those who do use both print and eARCs may use eARCs frequently and regularly. There’s actually a lot that could be explored from this data alone — do those who use eARCs read more? Do they request more? Do they have a high accept and completion rate? None of those were questions we looked at, but they look like opportunities for further exploration. 
Note that we do not have a bar for “purchase them” as a means of acquiring ARCs. There were responses for this, but they were below the 35 responses of having ARCs sent unsolicited. Also worth noting is that wrapped in the response of “sent to work” were those bloggers who had ARCs sent to their home for review. So, the “sent unsolicited” answers may be those who could have selected “sent to work” and vice versa. We were not as clear in that response as we could have been, as our thought was “sent to work” meant to the library, book store, or school. 
Since we left this a question with the option for “other,” we did receive other responses. They’re interesting:
  • Win from contests: 30
  • Sent from the author (both solicited and unsolicited): 19
  • Review for trade journal: 10
  • Purchase them: 8
  • Bookstore partnerships: 6
  • Part of a YALSA/Award committee: 4
  • Library free pile: 2
  • Baker & Taylor review program: 2
  • Local librarian review group: 2
  • Online tour/sharing groups: 2
  • Work for publishing company: 1
  • Amazon Vine: 1
  • Publishing friends: 1
  • Ask the authors: 1
The followup question is at the heart of why we wanted to do this presentation, which is this: Where and how do you use ARCs?
As with the previous question, we had a list of options, as well as space for respondents to fill in additional answers. Our options included:
  • Collection development
  • Read for review — place of work
  • Read for review — blog
  • For groups at work (teen advisory board, etc)
  • Read for pleasure
Because there were a number of other responses that could be grouped into categories, I made a few categories after the survey closed:
  • Prizes or giveaways
  • Social media reviews (Goodreads, Amazon, Twitter — anything not a “blog”)
  • Author event preparation
  • Classroom libraries
  • Share with other readers
  • Committee reading
  • Reader’s advisory/”staying current”
  • Workshop or presentation prep
  • Deciding book club titles
  • To fill the school library**
Note that these graphs use different legend variants — I had to break them into two charts, and obviously, the scale changed because of the number of responses. So the larger bars in the second chart do not necessarily indicate a larger number of responses.

These responses came from all affiliations in our survey. So it makes sense that the highest number of responses came with “review for blog” at 295. Other top responses were personal reading (280), collection development (201), for groups at work (111), and review for work.

To break this down further, I pulled out the responses from everyone but those who affiliated as bloggers only (so this still includes librarians and teachers who also identified as bloggers), and the responses looked a bit different. Again note the scales are different since this graph needed to be broken up.

The top response in this set for how ARCs are used is personal reading (273). That response trumped all of the others which were top responses, including collection development (196), blog review (170), groups at work (109), and review for work (69).

** One of the responses listed above was “to fill the school library.” For anyone unaware yet, this is not an ethical practice. ARCs have their use in classroom libraries or any of the other purposes listed above, but to use as a means of creating a school library is not an ethical use of ARCs. Fortunately, this was a single response.

Our next question was what do you do with your ARCs when you are finished with them?


Again, we offered a series of response options, and we also allowed for responses to be submitted. These were the options:

  • Add to personal collection (300)
  • Give to colleagues or friends (227)
  • Give away at the library on a free shelf (58)
  • Give away to interested patrons (146)
  • Sell them (7)
After reading through the responses, I made a few more rough categories, which included:
  • Recycle/trash them (29)
  • Donate them — to hospitals, shelters, detention centers (23)
  • Use as prizes (18)
  • Add to classroom library (15)
  • Blog giveaways (9)
  • Donate to school library (6)
  • Donate to library (4)
  • Add to library collection (4)***
  • Donate to thrift store (7)
  • Craft use (2)
  • Bookswap websites (1)
  • Freecycle (1)
  • ARCs Float On / ARCycling (3)
  • Donate to library book sale (1)
  • Other (3)
  • Only use eARCs (2)
In short, from these responses it’s clear that ARCs get around. Even if people keep them in their personal collection, many also indicated they share these with colleagues and friends. They are donated to places that can take and use them. 
*** As noted above, ARCs shouldn’t be put into collections for libraries. But this is still a really small number. 
Our final questions were about the buying and selling of ARCs. The questions were simple and straightforward. Since this survey was anonymous, we feel responses were honest and genuine. 
Have you ever bought or sold ARCs?


Out of our 474 responses, 53 noted they have purchased ARCs. A total of 16 have sold ARCs. Because these numbers were small, I collapsed the data together, so the following charts are for those who have bought AND sold ARCs together. I didn’t see a reason to separate them. 
So who is buying and selling ARCs?
Librarian-bloggers, librarians, and bloggers were among the most likely to buy and/or sell ARCs in this survey. The numbers are small compared to the total number who took the survey. 
If you’ve bought or sold ARCs, where have you purchased them or sold them?


These were the answers. I did separate these out as “bought” vs. “sold”:
  • Bookstore: Bought (37)
  • Bookstore: Sold (11)
  • Library Book Sale: Bought (12)
  • Ebay: Bought (5)
  • Ebay: Sold (3)
  • Thriftstore: Bought (3)
  • Amazon: Bought (3)
  • Amazon: Sold (1)
  • Conference: Bought (1)
What’s interesting about this data is comparing it to the responses to what people do with their ARCs when they’re finished. Some donate them to bookstores or thrift stores or book sales. And then it’s not a super surprise there are people who respond to having purchased ARCs through these places with things like “I didn’t realize I bought an ARC until after.” Because that was a response that appeared numerous times throughout this set of questions.
Worth noting: every response about purchasing from Amazon noted they didn’t know they were buying an ARC. Half Price Books was cited in over half the responses for where ARCs were being bought AND sold. 
What to do with this data?

I’m not doing anything with it except laying it out there. I think the data actually raises a lot more interesting questions and places for consideration when ti comes to ARC use. I’m curious about why there aren’t more eARC only users when it’s clear eARCs are being requested far and away more than print ARCs are. 
ARCs get used. That’s the biggest take away. 
So what more to know about ARCs?

You can check out our entire visual presentation about ARCs, which is primarily these graphs again, right here.

Another dimension of our ARC survey was from authors themselves. We posed the question of what differences they saw between their ARCs and finished copies. Because we know that ARCs are not the finished product, we were curious just how not finished some of them were. The link to the Prezi above will show you some of the responses, but for the curious, here’s a sampling from the over 40 responses we got asking the single question “What were the biggest differences between your ARCs and finished book?” (This, we hope, should illuminate some of the reasons why putting these books in a circulkating library may be a bad idea, among other things).
Note that while we allowed responses to be entirely anonymous, some authors chose to identify themselves. This has been left  — maybe it’ll encourage some exploration of print vs. ARC in and of itself:
  • I make a lot of changes after the ARC is printed, from correcting errors that slip in during typesetting, to tweaking entire passages to improve the writing. For my first YA novel, PROXY (there goes my anonymity!), I actually rewrote the last few paragraphs for a much stronger ending. It didn’t change the story, but changed the quality of the telling and, I hope, the emotional impact of the final page.

  • My ARC went out after copyedits but before proofreading and final changes, so there were still A LOT of mistakes and inconsistencies. Some which I caught, some the proofreader. I always feel a sense of regret when ARCs go out before these changes are made, because reviewers might point out flaws that are fixed in the final novel. But I also understand that with schedules the way they are, it’s difficult to hold the ARC back for these changes without getting out “too late.” It’s a tough one. That warning on the cover, “uncorrected proof” means something.
  • Aside from the grammatical and typesetting errors we caught in the ARC, I opted for the finished book to change the name of the first school my character attended. I had originally used the name of a real Chicago school, citing its gang problem and violence, as relayed to me by a former student and by a parents’ Internet-based watchdog group. However, I felt in the end that I was doing a disservice to the school, and to the teachers and the students and their families, by drawing such negative (though accurate) attention in naming their school. (Leslie Stella, PERMANENT RECORD)

  • I re-arranged an entire scene for timeline continuity in one ARC, and in another changed two names important to later books in the series. The changes were minor details alone, but have huge impact on the overall world-building and timelines of the books.
  • The entire first section–ten poems–of my YA poetry novel were not included in the printed ARC. Reviewers would have had no idea that they were missing anything. It was obvious that some reviewers did not check the finished book before posting reviews. Heartbreaking.
  • Quite a few–the timeline was completely revamped, one character was removed (a minor character, but still), some embarrassing continuity errors were corrected, and the prose was made more sparkly and smooth. I shudder to think of the people who judge the book by its ARC. The ARC gives an idea of the finished product, but it isn’t the finished product by a long shot!
  • I had a book where the publisher sent the very first draft of the book out as the ARC. In the revisions before the final, I changed 45,000 words, removed a subplot, changed the relationships between the secondary characters, renamed people.

  • Sometimes minor, sometimes major.Typos, spelling errors, etc. Proper acknowledgments or dedications might be left out of an ARC. Last-minute content changes can make a difference between an ARC and a finished book, too, not to mention that the overall quality of an ARC is generally less than a for-sale book. I’ve had paragraphs of content that were to be cut, show up in the ARC but not the final version.
It’s our hope that through this presentation and ongoing discussion, it’s clear ARCs have a purpose and a reason behind them. They are not finished copies. They are not meant to be used as a means of currency. They’re instead tools designed to help professionals — be they librarians, teachers, bloggers — engage in professional activities. This can be personal reading; often that personal reading ends up turning into a collection development or reader’s advisory purpose.

What I’m Reading Now

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For you this Friday, a few quick snapshots of the books I’m currently reading.

The Originals by Cat Patrick
I dug Forgotten, plot holes and all, and I had high hopes for this one, too.  Alas, I think Patrick’s exhausted her ability to make me see past plot issues by now. The Originals features three girls who are clones of each other, but fool the world into thinking they’re a single person. One girl goes to school in the morning, another in the afternoon, and the third goes out in the evening for any extracurriculars and social engagements. It’s strange, and it’s frustrating that I have no idea why such a charade is necessary. Identical triplets would be completely plausible. I can only hope the answer is revealed further in the book.

Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan
This is normally the kind of book I love – spies, intrigue, secrets, set in one of the few historical periods I always find interesting (Tudor England). But it’s so slow. So, so slow. I’m halfway through and have only barely begun to learn about the secret goings-on in Queen Elizabeth’s court. If it doesn’t pick up sometime soon, this may be a do-not-finish for me. (Incidentally, if you’ve read this one, please let me know if I should persevere.)

Tumble and Fall by Alexandra Coutts
This is a little different from the usual post-apocalyptic fare because it’s not actually post. An asteroid is about to hit the earth, and Coutts tells the stories of a few teens as they prepare to be obliterated. I expected to read an adventure story (I admit that images of Armageddon flashed through my mind), but that’s not what this is at all. Rather than focusing on a desperate attempt to save the world, Coutts seems to be telling a story about how to live when your days are numbered – lots of personal stories about family and friendship and love. I can’t blame the book for not being exactly what I wanted, but still…it’s not exactly what I wanted.

Vortex by S. J. Kincaid
Insignia was a surprise hit for me last year, so the sequel is a must-read. So far, I have not been disappointed – Tom’s voice is still wonderful, Kincaid’s world is still fascinating, and I was hooked on page 1. Vortex follows Tom and his friends as they become mid-level cadets, encountering new challenges and uncovering more secrets about the Intrasolar Forces and the corporations who bankroll their activities.

Three of the four books above have been tough going for me, and it’s been a bit of a struggle lately to get through the books that I normally enjoy. So I’ve actually mixed it up and have been re-reading the Bridgerton romance series by Julia Quinn. I first read these as a teenager; they were in many ways my entree to the romance genre. They’re funny, fast-paced, and sexy, and I’ve been flying through them. If you are a historical romance fan and haven’t read them (hardly likely), I recommend them heartily. (And I may risk the wrath of many readers by saying this, but you really don’t need to read them in order.)

Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff

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First Second seems to have a near-monopoly on high-quality, full-color graphic novels for kids. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant is another example of what I’ve come to expect from them, though Tony Cliff’s book actually has self-publishing roots. It started out as a web comic, and it’s still available to read online, though I haven’t compared the print vs. web versions to see if there are any differences.
Delilah Dirk is the daughter of an English ambassador, but that hasn’t stopped her from pursuing adventure – which usually involves stealing from very rich people. By the time she’s captured in Constantinople, she’s earned herself quite a reputation. The man set to guard her is Selim, the Turkish lieutenant from the title. She spins him a terrific and mostly true story about her escapades, and the two bond over a good cup of tea. Unfortunately for Selim, Delilah escapes while he’s relaying her story to his boss, and a miscommunication causes Delilah to turn rescuer and save Selim’s life. Selim has no choice but to run away with Delilah.
Delilah’s next target is a very wealthy, very dangerous pirate. She is more than happy to drop Selim off at any point in her journey, but Selim feels he owes her a debt for saving his life, so he stays. It’s quite a ride that she takes him on, complete with a flying ship and a bit of a body count. Selim has to decide if he’s truly up to such a life, even if leaving her would mean also leaving his debt unpaid.
While Delilah is the character that’s most heavily emphasized in the flap copy and other marketing, this isn’t really her story. Instead, we see her through Selim, who gets caught up in her adventures and eventually reconciles himself to an exciting, dangerous life alongside her. Selim is the character with the arc, the one who grows and changes. I can’t say that I wasn’t a little disappointed that Delilah isn’t the true protagonist, at least of this installment, but she’s still great fun to read about. She’s confident in her skills, a natural leader, and there’s never any doubt she’ll be able to extricate herself from any sticky situation; it’s Selim’s story that’s unpredictable.
The art is lovely – deep colors, clean lines, detailed landscapes. Facial expressions are all realistically rendered and characters look consistent from page to page. If you’ve been reading Stacked for long, you know this is just the kind of art I like in a graphic novel. I was puzzled by some of the words chosen to represent sound effects, though – swarm, slice, dive, loom, and so on. In the context of the story, they’re actually verbs masquerading as sound effects. It’s jarring and mostly unnecessary, as Cliff does a good job of telling the action of the story through the art without needing to resort to these words.
This is a natural choice for readers seeking adventure comics. There’s some violence, but it’s not graphic (almost bloodless, really). Scott has a second adventure available for purchase at his website, and one can only hope that more stories will emerge afterward.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant will be published August 27.

Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

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Becky Randle has always considered herself pretty plain. Not an uggabug, mind you, but nothing special either. She lives in a trailer with her mother, an obese woman whom everyone else seems to write off, but who Becky knows is the kindest, most wonderful person in the world. 
But then her mom dies, and Becky is left rudderless. She’s just graduated high school, she has a part-time job at a corner store that she hates, she’s not going to college, and her mom was the only bright spot in her life – aside from her best friend, Rocher (named after the candy). Shortly before her mother died, she cryptically told Becky to embrace the magic when it’s offered to her – and sure enough, it is. She’s contacted by Tom Kelly, the world’s foremost fashion designer, who promises to make her three dresses which will magically transform her into the most beautiful woman in the world.
Sure enough, the first dress she puts on – a hot red number – does just that. When she’s alone, Becky looks in the mirror and sees her average self. But when anyone else is with her, she looks like Rebecca, the knock-out, the stunner. Tom Kelly and his dresses take Becky on a wild ride – the cover of Vogue, a starring role in an action movie opposite the hottest actor, and even a meeting with the prince of England. Then Tom Kelly reveals the catch (you knew there would be a catch, didn’t you?). Becky is not so sure of her transformation, not so sure of Tom Kelly, and very afraid of what being permanently Rebecca would do to her life.
The standout of this novel is Becky’s voice. She’s sarcastic, funny, self-deprecating, and vulgar (though not nearly as vulgar as Rocher). Her story is told in first person, so you really get a good feel for who she is through her own eyes. It’s obvious her self-esteem isn’t very high. It’s also obvious she’s in over her head with this whole situation. Her friend Rocher is a breath of fresh air. I fully expected Rocher to be written as initially supportive but eventually envious, complete with a falling-out and ultimate reconciliation at the end of the book. That’s not at all what happens. Rocher is beside Becky’s side the entire time, and Becky never abandons Rocher for any of her new, more famous, acquaintances. Plus, Rocher is freaking hilarious.
The weakest part of the book is Becky’s romance with the prince, which is fun but not very well-developed. It seems he and Becky go from meeting each other to being an acknowledged couple with no steps in between. It seems rushed, like perhaps Rudnick just wanted to skip ahead to the good stuff. For all that the prince is a good-looking, funny, kind-hearted, famous, and very wealthy man, I never felt the swoon that I felt I should have.
I haven’t been as involved in the new adult discussion as Kelly has, but I think Gorgeous fits the bill pretty well. It features a protagonist who is 19 for the majority of the story. She’s no longer in high school. She’s concerned with marriage (in a mostly non-romantic way), with finding a job that will allow her to make a living, with how the world perceives her as an adult and what her legacy would be. For people who don’t go to college after graduation, these are very realistic concerns. (As an aside, I think it’s nice to see a teenager who makes the valid decision to not go to college.) There’s also quite a bit of strong language, which doesn’t make a book NOT young adult, but it does contribute to a more mature tone.
So is it a good read? Definitely. Is it Printz-worthy? Probably not. The pacing isn’t perfect. More than that, though, the message is just kind of murky. When you write a book about a self-professed “plain” woman who is magically transformed into the most beautiful person in the world, how do you resolve that neatly? How do you make the story true to its world, which values physical beauty, but also prevent it from being total wish fulfillment or a complete downer? I’m not sure Rudnick got it totally right, but then again, I’m not sure it’s possible to get it totally right. And of course, there’s no reason there needs to be a message at all. He gets points for grappling with it in the first place.

June Debut YA Novels

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Here’s this months YA debut novels. As you know, we’ve been keeping track each month (you can get to May’s here, and then April through May’s post and so forth). We try to make the effort to come back and link up our own reviews in each of these posts, so if you’re curious what we thought of the various debuts throughout the year, that’s how you can find out.

If you know of other traditionally published debut YA novels out in June, let us know in the comments. We define debut as first published novel, regardless of whether the author has published in a different category (adult, picture book, etc) previously. We want the freshest blood for these round ups!

All descriptions come from WorldCat unless otherwise noted.

Another Little Piece by Katie Karyus Quinn: A year after vanishing from a party, screaming and drenched in blood, seventeen-year-old Annaliese Rose Gordon appears hundreds of miles from home with no memory, but a haunting certainty that she is actually another girl trapped in Annaliese’s body.

Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn: A lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy must either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.

Linked by Imogen Howson: When Elissa’s nightmarish visions and inexplicable bruises lead to the discovery of a battered twin sister on the run from government agents, Elissa enlists the help of an arrogant new graduate from the space academy.

Tides by Betsy Cornwell: After moving to the Isles of Shoals for a marine biology internship, eighteen-year-old Noah learns of his grandmother’s romance with a selkie woman, falls for the selkie’s daughter, and must work with her to rescue her siblings from his mentor’s cruel experiments.

Ink by Amanda Sun (via Goodreads): On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building. Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they’ll both be targets. Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive. 

In the After by Demitria Lunetta: In a post-apocalyptic world where nothing is as it seems, seventeen-year-old Amy and Baby, a child she found while scavenging, struggle to survive while vicious, predatory creatures from another planet roam the Earth.

Insomnia by J. R. Johansson: Sixteen-year-old Parker Chipp spends his nights experiencing other people’s dreams and getting no rest, so when he discovers that new friend Mia’s dreams are different he becomes fixated on her until memory blackouts lead him to question exactly what their relationship is.

The Oathbreaker’s Shadow by Amy McCulloch: Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert. Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember.

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross: Sixteen-year-old Maude Pichon, a plain, impoverished girl in Belle Epoque Paris, is hired by Countess Dubern to make her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, look more beautiful by comparison but soon Maude is enmeshed in a tangle of love, friendship, and deception.