Advance Reader Copies (ARC's)

redstick said:

What is the right number of ARC's? I have a book coming out at the end of the month and the publisher sent out 25. I've heard people send out 5 to 100. What do you recommend?

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Might need a bit more information there...

Where are you (globally)?

Where are you in your career? (First novel? Proven best-seller?)

Is your book fiction/non-fic?

What genre is your book?

Ballpark - what kind of sales is your publisher expecting?

If you are self-publishing then you can send out as many as you want. If you have a publisher then you need to check with them on how many to send (if they aren't doing it for you) because most likely they have a cap on how many ARCs they want given out. Sometimes it will even be in your contract.

With ARCs you most likely won't get even half of the reviews back. That's just how it is and it's a common frustration with authors.

I stopped using my review team because they got lazy and I had to keep chasing them to post their reviews. I just use Booksprout now where I can upload my book and people can choose to review it. Also, Booksprout handles everything so I don't have to do anything but post the book and push the button to request reviews when it's time.

redstick said:

Thanks. I have a publisher. They asked me to put together the ARC list.

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Can you ask them for a ballpark figure? I think that's more likely to be right that anything we might suggest...

It's tricky at the start, I know, but you might want to get more comfortable just simply asking them for actual figures and things generally. Remember that they are in business with you, and the product is your book. So don't let them scare you any more than you'd be scared of asking what it costs for extra pineapple on your pizza.

It's just business, and you're on the same side.

ETA: Also, your contract might have information.

It should be in your contract. Mine states how many copies I will get too. I think most people in my debut group are getting between 15 to 30 copies, so 25 sounds about average. If you get a lot more people requesting ARCs you could compile their names into a list and send it to your publisher. That’s the advice I’ve seen floating around, anyway!

A debut group is just a group of writers who happen to be debuting in the same year you are. You just get together over Facebook and chat about anything writing related. I’m not sure if there is one for adult books. The one I’m in is only for YA and MG books.

redstick said:

Thanks for the info. I'll look at FB and try to find a group for mystery/thriller debuts.

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I'm in one for adult fiction (all genres) called 2020 Debuts. It's on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, though Facebook seems to be the main base. The volunteers are great at doing little promotional things on social media for our books, but the main benefit is being able to talk to others in the same position, compare notes, share the joys and anxieties. I recommend it.

Edit: To answer your main question, I think we sent out maybe 15-20 paperbacks - some from me, most by the publisher. They mostly use NetGalley for advanced reviews.

To offer a somewhat related reference point (from a self-pub perspective), I've used an ARC-sending service (Hidden Gems) for the first book in a genre-mashup series. Out of twenty-five ARC recipients, I got sixteen responses/reviews. I'm not sure what the average return rate may be, but I was quite satisfied.

redstick said:

Thanks for the info. I'll try to find the debut group on FB

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FYI--Debut groups are for authors with their first novels being released. If this is your second novel, you don't qualify for a debut group.