What's an ARC Team and Why do I Care?

ARC stands for "Advance Review Copy."  An ARC Team is a group of people an author sends early copies of an upcoming book in the hope that those readers will read the book in advance and post reviews in the first few days following the book's release.  Typically, these folks are fans of the author's work.

What is the difference between an ARC reader and a beta reader?  Beta readers read the work at an earlier stage in its development and provide feedback about what major changes need to be made or problems need to addressed before the work is complete.  The ARC reader comes in after the book is finished but before it is released.  Of course, if an ARC reader finds an error, they should share it with the author.

Why would a writer want to forgo the income of selling books to these fans by giving them a book for free?  Those early reviews build credibility with browsers and help the book in the all important and myserious Amazon algorithms.

What do the readers get out of being on an ARC Team?  Well, you get first crack at a new work well in advance of release, and you get to build a relationship with a writer whose work you enjoy.  Your insights may even help influence future work by that author.  That sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Here are a few things for authors to remember about building and using an ARC Team:

• You cannot actually require a review in exchange for a free copy.  I mean, how would you even enforce that in the first place?  All you can do is ask for an honest review.  And speaking of honesty . . .
• Give people plenty of notice.   Don't expect folks to turn a review around in a week.
• Make sure to thank your team members.

ARC readers, here are some tips you should keep in mind:

• Your review should be honest.  You do not need to give the book five stars if you don't think it deserves it.  A varity of star ratings looks more credible anyway.  Your author will not hate you for being honest.  He or she cannot grow without constructive criticism.
• Don't stress about your review.  This isn't going in the New York Review of Books.  It's just an Amazon review.  A few sentences about what you enjoyed or about your favorite aspects of the book will do just fine.
• Don't sign up if you know that you can't read and review in a timely manner.  The author is anxious about his or her new release and is counting on you.
• Feel free to email the author to discuss your thoughts.  Believe me, any writer not thrilled to get a message from you about their book is probably popular enough not to need an ARC Team!

How do you start an ARC Team?  

• If you have social media accounts or an email newsletter for your writing, start there by asking for signups.   
• You can create a form in Google Forms or Mailchimp to gather information from your prospects and share the link to the form.  I ask for name and email address, obviously.  I also ask why they want to join the team and if they have ever reviewed any of my books before.
• Some people give a free copy of an older book to a prospective team member as soon as they sign up and allow them one month to post a review.  If they don't do so, they are cut from the team.  It's your team.  You can decide what your standards are for participation and what the consequences are for a lack of participation.

If you are interested in joining my own ARC Team, you can sign up here.

Sending a new book to your ARC Team is an exciting moment for both writer and reader.  So remember to enjoy it!  We write and read for pleasure, after all.  Happy reading and reviewing!

Paperbacks tips for the indie author

I waited to do the paperback version of She Dies at the End until after I'd released the ebook on Kindle via Kindle Direct Publishing.  I wanted to gauge the level of interest before I put in the time.  I was surprised to find out that a lot of people, even young people, still prefer a physical copy and asked me when one might be available.  Having a two month gap also allowed me to correct some editing issues that came to light after I published the Kindle edition.

I used CreateSpace, an Amazon subsidiary, to create my paperback.  Here are just a few tips I figured out along the way.

When you upload your text, CreateSpace lets you know the dimensions your cover needs to be based on your pagecount and the size book you choose (6" by 9", for example).  The dimensions include the front and back covers, the spine, and a little extra for bleed.  You can then either use their cover creator or upload a pdf that matches the required dimensions.

I chose to use Canva to design my cover, since that's what I used to do the ebook and I wanted the two to match pretty closely.  Canva lets you do custom dimensions, and I had no problem creating my cover.  Do remember to leave room for the barcode on the back, and make sure the writing on the spine is centered and oriented properly.

I love Canva.  It is free if you use your own images, and the price for their images is quite reasonable.  It is quite versatile, and they have some lovely fonts.  You can hire a cover designer, of course, but if you have to or want to do it yourself, Canva.com is a good choice.

When you upload your book's docx file to Createspace, it converts your document to the new size and can generate a new docx file for you to download with the proper page dimensions and margins.  You then want to save that file so you can add page numbers, tweak spacing and font, etc.  Remember that you need to choose different odd and even pages under page numbers due to the way books are bound.  (You might need bottom right on odd pages and bottom left on even pages, for example.)  Once you have perfected your work, you upload the new file and submit your cover and interior files for approval.

Once your files are approved and you think the digital proof looks right, get a hard copy proof before you approve your files for publishing.  I cannot stress this enough.  It looks so much different in your hands than on the screen.

Good luck, and happy writing!