How to request ARCS

   When I first heard about arcs, I started researching how on Earth to receive them because I had no clue. I think it all started when I requested a publicist and she told me the book was listed on Netgalley. But of course back then I didn't have one so she redirected me there and I created an account. After that, I started looking up emails to contact the publishers directly. And now after almost two years of blogging, I want to use my knowledge that I picked up along the way to help some bloggers that are just starting out!!

Let's start with what an arc even is...

   An Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) is a free copy of an upcoming book provided by the publishers to book reviewers, booksellers, librarians, and bloggers before it's released. It's part of their plan for the book's promotion to help them spread awareness. It is an uncorrected copy that will most likely have grammar errors, and it will not have the final cover. Another term for arcs that people use is galley.

   The time to request an arc is probably around 4-7 months before the book's publication. It really depends on the publisher. I generally submit my request about 6 months ahead of time.

Here is an example of an arc:

On the above picture, I captured how you recognize when a book is an arc. On the front cover, it will have a symbol stating it's uncorrected proof and it's not for sale. On the spine, it will have a date of it's publication. And on the back, it will have the marketing campaign plans for the book.

How To Obtain ARCS?

For starters, you need to have a blog. And you need to be posting consistently. It helps to have engaging readers that comment on your posts. Publishers like to see how many page-views you have which is why I have that widget on my sidebar. Big publishers such as Harper Collins and Penguin will probably be harder to receive arcs from.

• Be an active blogger for at least 6 months before requesting.
• Post a lot of reviews and not just weekly memes.
• Getting comments and replying back.
• Have around 300-500 followers. This probably makes it easier.

Here are some sources for ARCS:

Goodreads ➜ They have a bunch of giveaways that are from publishers and authors. Sometimes there will be arcs or finished copies. I've only ever won three times because many people enter. It kind of depends on the popularity of the book. As well as how active you are on the site.

Edelweiss ➜ This is an e-book platform where publishers list a bunch of their titles for people to request and review.

Netgalley ➜ This is another e-book program where e-arcs are listed by the publishers. Reviews are not required after your request is accepted, but I highly suggest it because publishers will see your Recommended Feedback to Approval Ratio on your profile. It basically means how many times you submitted a review to how many times you were accepted. It's a percentage and it has to be around 80% or you might not be getting accepted a lot especially from the bigger publishing houses.

Novl Newsletter ➜ The newsletter is from Little Brown Books for Young Readers where they send out a newsletter every month to their subscribers. They feature their upcoming books, cute puppies, and a form to request the book of the month. And the first 50-60 people to fill it out will receive a copy. But you also have to submit your review four weeks after receiving it. I'm fairly new at this and I've gotten two books through this.

Penguin Teen Tumblr ➜ PenguinTeen actually has a section on their Tumblr site where bloggers can go and fill out a form so that they have your interests in books and your mailing address. There's also a galley request form for a specific book.

Penguin First To Read ➜ This is an e-book platform just for Penguin books. You sign up and they send an email once a month offering up e-galleys to members. You also earn reward points and once you have 1,000, you can guarantee a copy by redeeming your points.

Join Blog Tours

   Blog tours are virtual tours that help authors promote their book. They go to the selected blogs and there will be promotions such as reviews, guest posts, interviews, etc. They typically happen around the timeframe publication of the book. And if you'd like a chance to read the book early, you can sign up for a review stop. 

YA Bound Book Tours

Kismet Book Touring

Chapter By Chapter

Rockstar Book Tours

Xpresso Book Tours

Inkslinger PR

FFBC Book Tours

Getting Physical ARCS

   Here are some general publisher emails that I have. These you typically find on the respective websites of the publishers. But once you use these emails, you will get the individual email-address from the publicist.

   For example, you email "publisher@publisher.com" and "publicist.name@publisher.com" emails you back. You should keep the publicist email and use that one from then on. Unless stated from the publicist to use a specific email to request from. I now have my own email contacts that I use for many publishers. Just don't share that email as it is meant to be private.

Bloomsbury Children's: childrenspublicityusa@bloomsbury.com
Simons and Schuster Children's: ChildrensPublicity@simonandschuster.com
Chronicle Books: publicity@chroniclebooks.com
Disney Hyperion: dpw.publicity@disney.com
Random House Children's: rhkidspublicity@randomhouse.com
Scholastic: tradepublicity@scholastic.com
St. Martin's Press: publicity@stmartins.com
Tor/Forge: Torpublicity@tor.com
Penguin Group Children's: youngreaderspublicity@us.penguingroup.com

Sending The Email Book Request

   This was something I was so terrible at in the beginning. My email requests were so unprofessional looking and not because I was doing this: lol, hahaha, or :D. It's because I would just write one or two sentences where I would just state the book I was requesting and why.

Here is my email outline I use:

• Introduce yourself (Name, your blog, and what you review/read)
• Book(s) you are requesting and why (Around 2-4. Any more is just pushing it)
• Give blog statistics (Twitter, Facebook, Pageviews, Follower counts, etc)
• Your Full Mailing Address
• Blog URL

   You could also include links to some of your reviews. Just don't make the email too lengthy. Think of it as a resume!! Sell yourself to the publicist and explain why your blog would be a perfect fit for the book.

There will always be three cases after emailing a publisher for an arc request:

A) The publisher responds and says they're sending you an arc or that they're out.
B) They don't answer your request but they still send the arc to you.
C) You don't get the arc and they don't respond to the request either.

   I've already experienced all three of these above scenarios. I'm sure I'm not the only blogger to experience this. But publishers get who knows how many email requests. And when it's a popular author or book, it will be REALLY LIMITED!! So if they don't get back to you or you never get anything, don't bombard them with emails!! This will just make you look bad. You could try again but after a month or so. Sometimes I've sent a request and it took three months. I thought I wasn't going to get the book but I did.

Author websites

   I don't know if many people know about this. But sometimes an author may have the email of their publicist to request their book from in the contact section on their site. But please do not request arcs from the author. That is a no-no! The arcs that they get, they give to close friends, family, giveaways, etc.

The YA Book Exchange

This is a YA trading program that was created for people who have books to trade and also have their wish list for the books they would like to trade for. This is another great place where people can find arcs as well.

Click HERE for the link.

Don't Abuse The ARC!

   There have been so many cases where arcs are being sold or pirated. It's not for sale and it's illegal. And most importantly, it's just not cool. While some people want to receive these arcs to read and review them, there are people making it harder for them to receive them. Because when they get sold, publishers become wary of giving copies to bloggers.

I hope you all found this very helpful and entertaining as I did while making it!