I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that the ARC is the Holy Grail of the book blogging world.
I can't escape it- I go to other blogs, I see giveaways for ARCs with 2000 entries. I go to YouTube, I see people asking Kristi at the Story Siren how she gets so many review books. I go to Twitter, I see some talk about ARCs arriving at other people's doorsteps.
See, I
didn't start blogging specifically for ARCs, as some book bloggers aren't afraid to admit. I don't give a crap about ARCs in general. I
really do not mind waiting in queue on a book in the library to read a book that's just come out. My library is very nice, and they almost always preorder new releases, so I can be sure to get in line early, which I like. And I sincerely do not hesitate to shell out ten dollars for a book I know that I will enjoy. I am not poor. I have a job. I can easily buy things.
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| Here's a pic of the book I bought. I couldn't return it or anything. |
I will be honest and say that I didn't even know about ARCs until I went to a used book sale and accidentally got one. Then I looked up "uncorrected proof"- and I found out about them.
Maybe I'm egotistical, and you think that I'm just bluffing when I say this, but I'm not.
No, I'm going to be honest here, and I'm going to put it in all caps: ARCS ARE NOT EFFECTIVE WHEN GIVEN TO BOOK BLOGGERS.
Done.
Why?
When given ARCs:
- Bloggers feel the need to write positive reviews, which doesn't
always equate to sales, because people don't look at positive reviews in
the first place. What people look for are reccomendations, when they are actively seeking books. That's why ARCs should go to librarians and booksellers.
- Bloggers are really only promoting to other bloggers, who more than
likely will not care if it's not an ARC anymore. Some bloggers are only
in it for the freeness of exclusivity of ARCs, not to go out and
actually actively promote the book. (In rare cases, though, we see bloggers who genuinely work to make a book known, which I love. Take the folks over at Cuddlebuggery for example. They've hyped up Stormdancer a lot, which is great for a first in the series.)
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| There are so many networking sites out there, and too many to keep up. |
Because who the hell in the world reads a book blog other than another book blogger? It's all a vicious circle of "Hey, I'm gonna network with
another blogger so they'll be friends with me and hopefully check out
my blog." And don't even lie, you
know that's what it started out as. Hopefully, it didn't
end up that way, and now you've made some good friends online.
Also, another reason is because people forget things. They see a book that's scheduled to come out in two months time. Okay, that's cool. Are you going remember when the book comes out? More likely not than yes.
What makes people want to read a book is when they see it everywhere. I've been seeing
My Life Next Door everywhere, so I actually want to kind of read it, even though I have no idea what it's about, or if it's even out yet. But I do know it was featured on
a lot of blogs, meaning that
a lot of ARCs were given out, just so a few small bloggers like me could find out about it.
When ARCs are given out as favors from authors or publishers, you feel the need to write a positive review. Do you think it's a coincidence that Kristi from the Story Siren magically likes any arc she gets for review and never leaves star reviews?
I'm not banging on Kristi. I think she's a nice person and runs a very successful blog. (I mean, look at my blog. It's like, 2 months old. In fact, if you're reading this, you probably got directed here from some spoon fetish site or something.)
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| They're actually really good. |
Publishers NEED to understand that people buy things on a whim a lot of the time. Like, if I see a commercial for a McFlurry, I'm not going to say, "HEY! I SHALL BUY A MCFLURRY WHEN IT COMES OUT TWO MONTHS LATER!" No, I'm going to expect the McFlurry to be at McDonalds when I get there, point blank.
So if I see a book that I sounds interesting, I'm going to add it to
- things to pick up next time I visit the book store
- things to order at the library
I'm going to wrap up this post with a few thoughts:
I've never actively looked out for galleys on NetGalley or the like, and I've never even dreamed of emailing publishers to request print ARCs. The fact that I'm a new blog aside, it's because I don't want the obligation to review a book nicely (and I KNOW it's not an obligation, but I feel awful if I don't) and because I don't think that ARC reviews are all that effective. I want to let people know if a book is good or not, and then let them be able to try it out immediately.
Reviewing books that I don't want to read sort of raises my blood pressure. I know,
I know, you don't have to review something that you don't want to. But what does that say about you as a blogger?
I am not going to lose my dignity over a 10 dollar book. I'm not.
Maybe none of my points actually were justifiable, but that's just my opinion. I like to do this for fun, not to be on quoted on the cover of a book.
