Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Thoughts on the distribution of ARCs.

So here's the basic skinny: recently, an ARC for Rosemary and Rue (which is, y'know, not available until September) showed up on eBay. I stomped around, I glared, I made hissy noises, and I got on with my life, because that's what I do. (Behold the Irish temper in action! On the plus side, you can distract me from world-destroying fury with something shiny. On the minus side, that something shiny may well be a death ray.) My dear friend trektone had a question. Namely:

"I'd be interested to know (in your spare time, of course) your opinion of the buying/selling/trading/etc. of ARCs & book proofs. If they are by favorite authors, I love them. ... Regarding your stated urge in #6 above, is it because the official book has yet to hit the shelves? Or because you're not getting your nickel or whatever from the sale? Both? Something else?"

Now, in my spare time, I'm going to provide an answer. Because I can.

The buying/selling/trading/rendering into art installations of ARCs actually makes me happy...after the official book has hit shelves. Beforehand, it both seems like a rather pointed way of taking advantage of people with poor impulse control—look! You don't have to wait, if you're just willing to pay three times the cover price!—and sort of counter to what ARCs are for. I guess I see the "R" as standing primarily for "review" where ARCs are concerned. (While I'm not going to say "oh, sure, re-sell that ARC when you're done with it" to every reviewer on the planet, I'm also not silly enough to think that every person who receives an ARC is going to love it and treasure it and call it George. Lo, I am a slightly smarter blonde than that.)

The giving away of ARCs, or the re-selling of ARCs after they have been read, strikes me as a totally natural part of the book's life cycle. I mean, I don't "get my nickel" from used bookstore sales, and I believe that used bookstores are quite possibly proof of the divine. I don't "get my nickel" from the reviewers and bookstores and con goers and contest winners who receive ARCs through normal channels. Instead, I get reviews, early readers, and people talking about the book...which, if the book is worth talking about, is a good thing. (Presumably, a book could be bad enough that the author would want to collect and burn all the available ARCs. I'm trying to avoid becoming so neurotic that I worry about this particular issue, and I'm worrying about sensible things, instead. Like the idea of Godzilla eating New York, and hence, my publisher, before book two can come out.)

I guess I'm just not all that sanguine with the idea of ARCs showing up on sites like eBay, totally unread and unreviewed, because a) my publisher isn't getting paid for it, b) my publisher, in fact, paid to have it printed, and is hence losing money if the person who buys the ARC doesn't proceed to buy the official version, and c) it didn't get the chance to do its job before it was ripped from the nest and thrown to the wolves.

trektone also says:

"I'm aware "Not for Sale" is typically printed/stamped on the ARC cover. I've obtained ARCs in many ways: free from authors/book folks, purchased from used book stores, winning bidder in charity auctions. For most of the many ARCs I own I have purchased multiple copies of the official version(s)."

And see, as far as I'm concerned, all these are totally understandable and legitimate ways to obtain ARCs. As I've said before, they have a limited but vital shelf-life: until the official versions of the book comes out, they're worth their weight in kittens (mew), but after the "real" books are available, they're interesting paperweights, collector's items, and things for the cats to sleep on.

In the end, I suppose my feelings on ARCs are very convoluted things, I should go find something shiny to distract me, because now my brain hurts. Hope that helps.
Tags: contemplation, rosemary and rue
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  • 41 comments
I suppose what might tick me off about this situation is that there's someone taking advantage of people who just desperately want to read that book before it's officially published, if that makes any sense. It wouldn't necessarily be that I/author/publisher wasn't making any money from the sale, but that someone out there was making more than they should by being an opportunist.
That, too.
Well, for what it's worth, Sandi is loving the hell out of the ARC we received yesterday. Thanks! (I get it when she's done.)
YAY!
While I don't feel like a writer owes me the next installment of a series just because I purchased one already in a series, I feel there is a certain social contract in place for people that receive ARCs. Most of the ones I have received have been at my request or the writer/publisher's offer. In the exchange, it is understood that I will review the book for better or worse. That is the least I can do. Circulating the actual work prior to its release seems like a direct breech of the social contract.
I tend to agree.
I find it interesting that the seller has seven items for sale right now, six of them ARCs of books scheduled for release in August, September and October. Makes me wonder.
You're not the only one who has, really.
Speaking as someone who just recently received the ARC for Rosemary and Rue* and who, through marriage, has several ARCs in the combined library**, I find it extremely irritating that someone would violate a trust*** in this manner.

I am taking a page from my SO's sister and thinking of duct tape, marshmallow cream and anthills for the person who is doing this.

And the story is making me miss San Francisco and environs. *sigh*


*Just started reading it and am enjoying it immensely, BTW.

**From when my SO worked in a major chain bookstore.

***IMNSHO it is a trust to be given something like this for one's own enjoyment.
My hubby knows where all the fire ant mounds in Fort Lewis. And I'd suggest Honey instead of marshmallow creme. :)

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

I don't understand why people want ARCs. Besides to review, I mean, that's a very sensible purpose. But my understanding is that ARCs come out BEFORE the final copyedits.

I'm capable of waking up from a sound sleep five days later and having Yet Another Argh moment over the fact that a book was actually printed with a homophone error. If I like an author, I'd much rather wait for the actual copy-edited book, so that I see the best, most polished baby they can hand me to read.

But then, I'm strange.
There are two distinct markets for ARCs. One is the "must read this NOW" audience, which gobbles up ARCs of books by popular authors or those with significant dedicated fan bases. (Baen Books capitalizes on this to some extent with its Webscriptions program.)

The other is the book collecting audience, which likes ARCs because they amount to the first "state" of a book. Now, the collectibility of ARCs has changed somewhat over time as publishers have begun to print larger numbers of them (print runs for ARCs can vary greatly, from numbers in the dozens to the high end of three figures). This audience remains interested in ARCs long after publication date.

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

keristor

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

Hm... You know, I can definitely understand the annoyance. In a very real way, these people are stealing from our publisher, and that's bad. Goblins for all of 'em.

At the same time, there are very few ARCs being printed. You got a bunch more than I did, but I'd still bet the total number is far fewer than .1% of your total print run, and of those, most are going to legitimate reviewers.

So while these people grabbing the ARCs to sell them certainly deserve the karmic baseball bat of doom, I usually shrug it off, because of all the possible theft and trouble out there with the books, I don't think this one has much of an impact.

As always though, I could be wrong :-)
According to sordak, formerly a bookseller, there should be legal "cease and desist and go directly to jail" repercussions for pre-selling (or even selling) an ARC from the publishers. Unless the industry has changed that much since the early 90's.

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

oreouk

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

I used to get a lot of ARCs back when I did reviews for Sime-Gen and other sites. I treasured the trust given me by publishers and authors, and I used to donate my ARCs to hospitals once I was done with them.

To me, it's the height of presumption to take the trust that authors and publishers are giving you and breaking it by using the GIFT you're getting and gaining money out of it. And it pisses me off to no end. (Probably partly because I miss those days.)
Thank you for understanding.

miintikwa

8 years ago

I find the idea of auctioning or selling off ARCs before the release date to be tacky, unless it's for charity, in which case I'm very fine with it, especially if it's an author and cause I like. Assuming that's OK with the publisher.

After release date, I don't really mind. I'd rather see ARCs wind up with people who'll enjoy them (whether reading or collecting) than get tossed in a landfill.

But I am curious as to how much the Rosemary and Rue ARC went for. Or are you deliberately not looking? "$1? Is that all? WTH!" "$200??? That's enough to fly to see Vixie! WTH!"
You got my curiosity up so I checked. As of today (wednesday at 5:30pm) it's only at $9.99. I hope it doesn't go higher, the guy doesn't deserve to get even that much for selling it early.

Deleted comment

I agree with amberley. For charity is one thing, but not for profit.
Yeah.
I'm of the distinct impression that selling ARCs for fun and profit is Not Kosher. It's a violation of the unspoken contract between publisher and recipient, and totally against the "Not for sale" that is printed on so many of them.

Mind you, most legitimate recipients end up swamped by the darned things if they never cull their collection, so it becomes a question of what to do with them in an appropriate manner. No book-lover worth their salt can bear to just toss them away, they're often too fragile to be given to the local nursing home/orphanage/military contigent/hospital/etc...

That's why I finally came to the conclusion that it's okay to sell them -after- the book itself has been released, for an appropriately modest sum, or to use them as currency among fellow book-lovers, or whatever else will get them into the hands of appreciative people while making as little profit as possible...

My answers, they are not entirely helpful. Of course, I've almost never parted with an ARC in my life. Yet. But I like them because I'm a weird little bibiophile and they're something not everyone else has. :>
You're weird, but we love you.
I do know that there's a local book reviewer, who shall remain nameless who also sells books at conventions. Among the books are often ARCs, usually plain cover ones, not ones with cover art, that are for sale at used prices, usually about $3. I've also seen him give some away.

While this probably isn't 100% what the publishing houses are looking for, I've never seen an unpublished ARC on the table, which shows that he's at least putting forethought into the sales, and not trying to undercut the sales of the actual book. Usually the ARCs are for books I've never heard of or even for books that are out of print, for example, the copy I have of The Last Hot Time, which was available nowhere for a very long time.

So I'm glad that ARCs have a shelf life after their limited run, and while as a semi-completest collector, I can see the desire to have one, I also have a strong desire to go and buy the one off eBay and hand it to you so that no one can do evil with it.
See, after the book is out, I'm not going to complain about resale. It's a part of the ARC life-cycle, and the collectible value is sensible.
Thank you for this post! Much appreciated.

I love used bookstores, too. A local library has a little used bookstore. It regularly sells ARCs, some before the official versions go live, but seeing that the $$ support the library, I've felt no guilt purchasing ARCs there.

Lastly, I did not intend to cause your brain or any other body part to be in pain. Hope you're okay now. Hugs you!
I see no reason to feel guilt. Also, the library, unlikely to be swiping ARCs from reviewers before they can be read.

You're very welcome, sweetie.