Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Noah's ARC, or, reviews and readers, two by two.

I am in the fascinating position right now of having two books in the ARC stage—A Local Habitation (Toby two) and Feed (Newsflesh one)—at the same time. This means there are ARCs all over my house, making people feel that I have an extravagent number of the things. My care and caution with giving them away is hence viewed as channeling my inner Scrooge, rather than conserving limited natural resources. (This makes me think of ARCs as some sort of rare bird. The migratory North American ARC, majestic in flight, aerodynamic like a brick.) The cats view them as natural enemies which Mommy Likes Better, and stalk them with ears flat and whiskers in full threat position. My mother attempts to steal them. And, occasionally, reviewers request them or contest entries win them. Right now, they're worth their weight in kittens, and as the window of their usefulness is narrow, I'm enjoying them while I can. Reviews of A Local Habitation are starting to appear, and various bloggers are starting to announce that they've received their copies of Feed, which means reviews of that should start appearing right about when I get my equilibrium back. Fun!

People periodically ask me* how ARCs get out into the wild. Well, there are three main ways, not counting contests. Namely...

1) You are already on a list, which is in the possession of my publisher, and they will send you one automatically. Most large review outlets are in this category. Feed is being sent to Fangoria Magazine, which is sort of like saying "Seanan, we're going to dip you in chocolate, roll you in selected pages from the script of Night of the Living Dead, and deliver you to James Gunn with a gift tag."

2) You contact my publisher and request an ARC. You probably need to prove that you have a review site or an affiliation with a legitimate review outlet. Your Livejournal is unlikely to count, I'm afraid. I'm sure there are exceptions, but you'll need a readership the size of like, Ohio.

3) You contact me through my website and request an ARC. I go through a lot of the same vetting steps as my publisher—I'll go read your blog, I'll look up the magazine you say you're affiliated with, I'll ask the magical moon ponies whether they've really seen you dancing naked at midnight in the middle of Mare Imbrium—before I decide one way or another.

Be aware that any time you elect for an option that includes the word "ask," you may get told "I'm sorry, no." ARCs are an extremely limited commodity, and just to make things more fun, the number printed tends to decline with each book. It's reasonable math. Your first book, you want to spread it as widely as possible. So you give more copies away, trying to create as much early excitement as possible. Your second book, well, some of that buzz already exists, right? So you don't need quite as many free copies out there, circulating and being read before the actual release date. As the number of people asking for ARCs goes up, the number of ARCs to be had goes down. This isn't the author being mean, or the publisher being dumb. This is using your promotional dollars as sensibly as possible.

What do ARCs have to do with promotional budgets? A lot. Page for page, making an ARC costs more than printing a hardcover. The print runs are small enough that they never tip over into bulk pricing, and since ARCs have no resale value (people selling them on eBay and earning my eternal annoyance aside), there's no way to recover the cost, beyond praying that sending the ARCs out into the world will result in positive reviews and higher sales. So as the "spread the word" value of the individual ARC goes down, the number of overall ARCs printed will also decline, putting those dollars back into the promo budget. I've been very lucky, and have received a decent number of ARCs for all three books to date. The definition of "decent" will continue to shift as days go by.

As a secondary note, if you ask me for an ARC, and I say "yeah, okay," and the ARC then shows up on eBay, I'm afraid I won't be sending you any further books. I can't afford the copies or the postage.

Hope this helps.

(*For values of "me" that mean "the Internet at large, only they use my name, so my Google spiders pick up the post and bring it back to me.")
Tags: a local habitation, book promotion, common questions, contemplation, feed
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  • 42 comments
...but I think this links to the mistaken impression "Authors have a ton of money and can afford to give away freebies!".

Economics of course falls on deaf ears as most people don't understand that while you write for pleasure (so I'm learning - I don't have anything published or even close to it. me <--noob) they forget that you have to run the published end like the business it is. And that sometimes means being that nasty person who has to say no even when they want to say yes.

People love freebies unfortunately. And even more-so when times are tough as they are now. :-/
People absolutely love freebies, and I'm no exception. Dude, you want to give me a free book, I'm not going to say no! But if I seek you out and request it, I'm promising you a review. Not necessarily a positive one—I'm still going to be honest—but a review.

I hate saying no. I still have to do it. :(
I've recently become more interested in how industries like book publishing work, and this ties in nicely. (Next part way off-topic, sorry.)

I have a question, if you don't mind answering in as much detail as you wish: I know you're a filk artist. To what extent do you deal with the music industry--for instance, you have CDs out; that requires the use of a recording studio, but are you affiliated with the music industry's equivalent of a publisher or agent? What kinds of similarities have you noticed between the music and book publishing industries?

I'm curious because I just started a class called "History of Rock and R&B" and among other things, we're covering how the music industry works. I'm a lot more familiar with publishing in the context of writing, but I don't know it well enough to be able to pick out what kind of things apply to both and which apply to only one. Copyrights, marketing, agents, that sort of thing. If you'd care to help my curiosity out, I'd appreciate it. :)
I'm totally outside the music industry, as are almost all filk artists. We don't actually make money on music; if we're lucky, we eventually recoup the cost of recording. I do pay an engineer, because I like quality, but he's a member of the filk community. My CDs are printed in single runs through one of those "print a CD" companies—the musical equivalent of "print on demand" books—and I do all my own distribution.

No agent, no real marketing outside of word of mouth. :)

silvertwi

7 years ago

keristor

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

"dancing naked at midnight in the middle of Mare Imbrium"

Just to be clear, this helps rather than hinders the getting of the ARC? (No, no I don't have any plans.) :-)
You can't get to Mare Imbrium? darn. Sorry Phil the mental image, was, wrong, very wrong. I got little to not sleep last night and I think I'm having hallucinating. For a moment I almost saw that picture. Sorry Jame, Jane.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago


(This makes me think of ARCs as some sort of rare bird. The migratory North American ARC, majestic in flight, aerodynamic like a brick.)


But do they hang in the air in precisely the same way that bricks don't?
Yes.
Wait ... people buy books - Or are Given books - and then SELL THEM? You can do that? I mean, sure, I lend books and I gift books but sell books? My babies? SELL THEM?

Do they sell these books cheap? Can you put me in touch with these people?

What kind of a person gets rid of a book?
At this point, I am one of those kinds of people, because tragically, I Am Out Of House. If I kept every book I had, I'd literally have no room left for the cats. But I don't sell my books. For the most part, I mail them to high school libraries.

ohari

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

ohari

7 years ago

To be quite honest, I'd rather wait till it comes out in the store. I quite like saying to the cash person, I know this writer (you don't think I'd going to try and spell author do you?) not well, but well I know her. Vicky is waiting as well, and she gets first dibs, it's important for her to grow her reading skills, I try not to breath down her shoulder while shes reading. We like supporting people we know who write. When can we buy it????? I really should go check.
That makes sense!

A Local Habitation will be available state-side March 2nd; not sure when it'll get to Canada (although people could carry it to FKO).

smoooom

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

Ditto this. I look forward to seeing it in the store (and moving the remaining copies to a favorable location or endcap :)

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

keristor

7 years ago

ailsa_cf

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

Any chance of me getting an ARC of "Feed" pretty please, I'm very curious to see how different it is from Toby. Also did you hear about Ripley's hair growth problem at Borderlands?
You'd need to email me, darling, as indicated above. ;) I'm not going to say yes or no to any queries made this publicly, it Gives Ideas.

Ripley is losing the extra hair now that she's on thyroid meds, thankfully...
I'm currently in the process of offering myself to the Orbit publicists for whatever sordid purposes they might have in mind... heheh. Seriously, I just do what I can to make sure I remain on the lists.

Sadly, I've experienced the law of diminishing ARCs more than I like to think about. Used to be I'd see ARCS from Jim Butcher or Kim Harrison or others of that ilk, but the more popular they get, and the further they get in their series, the less the publishers need people like me (I'm afraid 'contributor to SF Site and Green Man Review) pales in comparison to the New York Times...) Sooner or later, the time comes around when I no longer get the books from the future by my favorite authors. And that's like denying an addict his crack.

I will note, in all seriousness again, that in the current economic climate, publicity's taken a huge hit from what I can see. Used to be Penguin would send me just about everything from Ace, Roc, DAW every month, either as an ARC or as a finished copy. These days? Not so much. ARCs are far and few between, finished copies a little more plentiful, and I find myself running across books in the store and never even knowing they were out. Alas. So keep that in mind, people, the publicity-related freebies aren't as plentiful as they used to be in the golden ages. :>
I know you tend to review promptly, fairly, and in an articulate manner. That's going to do a lot to keep you on the lists, I think, at least as long as the lists exist.
Don't want one, as it wouldn't do you any good for me to have it, but the Feed ARC is really really pretty. :)
Thanks!
This post is so great. The topic of ARCs comes and goes so often in the book-blogging world. It's very informative when authors give their views on it. I wish that more people realized that ARCs are an important and limited aspect of promotion. It drives me crazy to hear of people requesting any and all review copies they can get their hands on, just for the novelty.

Fangoria used to be the horror go-to for me, however the quality has slumped in the last few years (for me at least) and I've begun to seriously question the journalistic integrity of Fango's magazine writers/reviewers.

For my own selfish reasons I hope that Rue-Morgue magazine will be reviewing Feed! This is my new fave for horror/dark arts culture and news.

Good luck with both of your upcoming releases! I absolutely loved Rosemary & Rue so I have no doubt that they will both be winners :)
I love Rue-Morgue. I just have long-standing associations with Fangoria. Kinda like getting my first anthology invite made me feel like I was finally "a real author," even though I'd already sold three books.
I'm reading more and more book blogs now as my own little collaborative one gets bigger. It's interesting to see who gets them, and when they talk about where/how they've got them. But to be honest, I read so many published books anyway, and I can review them, and it really doesn't matter if they've been released a few months ago, or a couple of years ago - ARCs would be fun, and it would be amazing to get one for a book that I'm counting down days until it hits the shelves, but you can still generate interest in a book when it's been available for a while.
And it's really awesome, from the authorial standpoint, to see reviews still appearing after the ARC phase has passed. It feels more like a review born out of the need to share than a review born of obligation, if that makes sense.
What you say about physical ARCs is enlightening and makes sense. I would be interested in your thoughts about the electronic version (allowing selected people to read the book on-line with the expectation that they would review it before or very soon after it became available for regular sale). Actually, I'm curious about your views about e-books in general; I'm confused and conflicted about the whole issue, and learning how more writers I respect feel about it might help.
My biggest issue with eARCs is the "ease of distribution" thing. My views on e-books in general aside, a lot of people get ARCs and then promptly try to resell them. I'm honestly scared of people doing that with the download code, or whatever other security is put in place, and hence hosing my sales by pre-saturating the market. ARCs getting sold may bug me, but at least there's a limited number of them. Electronic ARCs, not so much.

I'll ponder the eBooks thing.