Dos and Don’ts When Building Your ARC List | How to get more book reviews | Book Launch Basics
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2020
- I’ve talked to you all before about the importance of early reviewers for your book and why ARC readers can help you in the long run. But, how do you find ARC readers? I’m sure you’ve seen other authors here on Authortube promote that they are open for ARC readers, I’ve even done this for some recent book launches.
One very clear DO is to make sure the value to the ARC reader is obvious. You know as the author what benefit you are getting. But why should this reader commit to being an ARC reader for you? I always emphasize a free book. Avid readers have to fund their habit. I have started to put together exclusive video content for my novels so that ARC readers are getting that extra information. Maybe for your book, if you do coaching you could offer a free 1 on 1 or group coaching session. Maybe you are writing their names into the acknowledgments of your book. That is a pretty cool benefit and you could set a deadline around signing up to get that specific benefit.
Don’t just send out ARC copies of your book to your entire email list. Do you know everyone on your email list? You’re effectively giving them a free copy of your book. Are they even engaged with your emails? You don’t know. Instead, promote that you are looking for ARC readers in your next message to your email list. Make it clear what you are asking. They would read the book by the release date and agree to post an honest review of the book on the platforms of your choice. They would need to let you know what email address to send the digital copy to (this reiterates that they are getting a digital version) and what format they want.
Even if someone has said before, I’d love to be an early reader for your upcoming book, you want them to confirm that again. You can send an email or message and say, “Hey I know you said you wanted to help be an early reader for my next book. Well, it is here. The book releases X date, would you be able to read it by then to do a review? If so, can you let me know what format you would like a digital copy in? PDF, Mobi (for Kindle), or ePub (all other eReaders). Don’t just send someone all the versions of the book because 1. That can get flagged in their spam trap and 2. They may not actually be able to help by the date you need it done by. Maybe they’re moving, or sick, or just busy.
Don’t assume that just because someone was an ARC reader for your last book that they want to be an ARC reader for your next book. Always get that positive opt-in.
There are some paid services that people use to help them manage their ARC list. You pay a fee to the service and they manage sending out the correct version of the digital copy, they watermark it, they help with version control, reminder emails, etc. It can foolproof this for you. If you have a lot of money to invest in this go for it. If you have a LARGE ARC list, you’ll probably want to invest in this to make it that much easier for you. But for the most part, if you are starting out, you can do this yourself. It will take a little extra time, but I always recommend that you do the work yourself before you outsource it to a service so you can understand all the pain points for yourself as the author and for the reader.
So, here are just some of the big dos and don'ts for building your ARC list. What are the best practices you’ve found when building your lists? What are some major don’ts that you’ve seen as well? Share in the comments below.
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Have a horror trilogy coming out in the near future, and will have to build an ARC list ahead of time. Because of my budget, I'm trying to stay away from paid services and just try using social media and Google docs for a sign up. This video helped me a lot.
Glad I could help. Best of luck with your books :)
Thanks, MK, I've learned a lot about ARCs this year!
Glad to hear it! Your book has been a huge success because of all the prep work you put into getting those early readers and podcast interviews lined up!
Love the intro 😊
Thank you!
Hey, I'm not random.
I've been trying to build a modest list of ARC readers from scratch for a horror trilogy I've written, but have had no luck in getting any interest. Have posted requests on Goodreads and Reddit, but there seems to be nobody there, just a ghost town.
It has taken me years to build an arc list and just when I think it is set, some people just fall off. Stay patient. Where do you find the horror books you like to read? Other fans of horror may be using those same channels.
Hi! thanks for the useful information! I am just starting to build my ARC for my first book, and was just wondering, what would be a good number? (not overwhelming, that you could 1-1 manage, but help you if they all leave a review)
Congratulations on your first book!! I would say the size of your ARC list would depend on your current audience size. And you want to prioritize quality over quantity. If your aim is a 100% completion rate on reading and reviewing the book, best to stick to a handful (4-6) readers who have come through for you in the past on other endeavors. I find that a 50% completion rate on ARC readers is usually really generous. Best of luck!!
@@1MKWilliams thank you so much
100 is a great number to aim for but you would need to give away hundreds of copies to get there. Focus on a realistic number based on the number of people you know think you can get. I see too many first time authors get caught up in these arbitrary metrics and it ruins the excitement of the moment.
@@1MKWilliams thanks
The thing about more than X number of reviews making Amazon push the book harder is a myth, I'm afraid. 100 reviews is actually a HUGE number for launch week for any author. Those are the kind of numbers that the best authors in the world can hope for. While we should aim high and reviews do have an effect on buyer behaviour, it's important to keep your expectations realistic for your own mental health. For a first time author, getting 10 reviews during launch week is amazing. As with everything else, the size of your ARC team will grow with time. Don't beat yourself up for not meeting an impossible standard.
What is the average size an arc list should be?
It really depends. I know some authors who aim for over 100 and others who focus on quality arc readers and have just a dozen. It's better to have someone on the list that you know will read the book and leave a review than not
I've got a debut coming up and I'm not sure if I want to do arc reviews... I know that it helps with reviews, but it seems like a lot of arcs ghost anyway...
Yes, they do. But having even 10% leave a review is so much better than starting with nothing. A few extra notes: arc readers can also find last minute typos which is a big help. And the ones who ghost are maybe doing a favor and choosing to not say anything instead of leaving a mean review 🤷♀️
My ARC readers have a 90% review rate. I find readers who like my books, so they want to read them and I give them all the feels so they want to review. I think that's where most of my superfans started.