People seem to have very strong views about ARCs. If you're not sure what this means, it stands for "Advanced Reader Copy" and it means that this copy was an advanced release, given out for review purposes before the publishing date.
I have not received any hard copies of ARCs myself. I don't attend book conferences (I can't afford it and the ones I could "swing" happen during the school year) and I'm not big enough for authors and publishers to reach out to me and offer them. No big deal. I'm not blogging to get ARCs. If I was, I would have quit by now!
I have, however used NetGalley to get e-ARCs or digital copies of the book, so I got to read a few books before they were published. Again, my blog isn't popular enough to get flagged for the really popular books. No biggie. I found a couple of books that I later bought for my classroom!
However, I haven't read an ARC in ages. It's been about a year. Why? Because there is too much pressure and I needed to back off the pressure. Pressure? To read? What? Yes, pressure. Because when you accept an ARC, there is the expectation that you will read and review it before publication. This truly seems fair since you're getting a book for free, right? So there's a deadline and my life gets a little too hectic to have too many deadlines (I have enough deadlines for work!). Plus, I just wanted to read all these other books that were already out. What about those? I was missing out on those! So I gave up on my pursuit of ARCs. I'm considering going back to Netgalley, but trying to be more selective and only choosing books that have far publishing dates, so that I can read them and review them in time.
What are your thoughts on ARCs? Do you love them? Have you ever tried NetGalley or Edelweiss? Or have you sworn them off?
Next week's musing: The greatness of MG and YA
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