The Love-Hate (Mostly Love) Relationship with ARCs
By Kyle Colley, Apr 18, 2024
Excerpt from our Weekly Newsletter - The Bookum Buzz
This Week in The Book World:
Recently, there has been a rise in discourse about the ethics and protocols of receiving ARCs (Advance Readers Copies).
On the surface, it seems like an incredibly nice gesture from your favorite publishers and authors to receive a free book to read, share, and review online.
You might even feel like a part of an exclusive club of readers lucky enough to get access to books before the general public.
Even more so, you might even feel obligated to give positive feedback on the book whether you enjoyed it or not because a level of reciprocity is at play.
Behind this amazingly nice gesture is also access to millions of dollars (perhaps Billions) in free online marketing (The global books market revenue was valued at USD 137.12 billion in 2022.)
Save to say there are a lot of different beliefs.
Threads post by prettyxbookish
To better understand this phenomena, we sat down with two creators, Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters, and Julianne Buonocore of The Literary Lifestyle, to discuss the roles ARCs and free publicity play in the book space.
Sara has a unique solution that makes a lot of sense (and one we will incorporate in assisting our membership host)!
We will share their takes in clips below:
https://youtu.be/7qPtuBkBteE?si=0DMki-wfhi0GSQTC
https://youtu.be/mzAElOhqrJs?si=CxzH8EhWWJNYHFHB
Our Take:
As book content creators ourselves, turned
book platform, this issue is at the heart of why we started Bookum.
Having experienced the exploitation that book content creators face, as well as the need to support debut/favorite authors, this issue isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.
If you love getting free books early and sharing with your large audience, do it!
If you enjoy ARCs but don't feel like giving a positive review, do that too! Your community will respect your honesty above all!
Ultimately, at Bookum, our focus is to give creators monetization vehicles in the book market that allows them flexibility, honesty, and support for their true fans!
As mentioned above, membership clubs are great for content creators looking to build a space where their community can support them as creators!
Curious to hear your thoughts! Reply to this email and let us know!