The Blog Squad: A Blogger Collaboration - Part XXVIII

We are a group of three book bloggers situated on different continents but brought together by our love for books and a penchant for talking about them. We’ve joined our forces to create a collaborative series of posts about book blogging and we hope you’ll enjoy the discussions.

A MAGICAL WORLD OF WORDS - AmyNikita 

BOOKS.BAGS.BURGERS - Uma K 

BOOK REVIEWS BY DI - Di Hewlett

Does location matter when requesting a print review copy?

ABSOLUTELY! Let me explain this with an example I faced recently. I had requested for “Before She Ignites” from Harper Collins Children UK and a couple days later I got a mail from the publicist. The gist of the mail said - “We aren’t publishing ‘Before She Ignites’ here. I would suggest getting in touch with our US counterparts-. She was also the sweetest person and gave me the contact of the US publicist whom I ought to contact.

My conclusion from this is that sometimes some books aren’t published in a country. They’re published elsewhere and only distributed here. Being in India I know for sure that HC India doesn’t publish all the books HC US does so I check and double check every country website before I send in a request email.

Yes and no. You should always check to see if the publisher you want to request from has an imprint in your country, but if they don’t, then requesting a print copy from an international publisher doesn’t mean they won’t send it to you.

One example I can think of is when I requested a book from HarperCollins. I didn’t know it then, but my local publisher actually had the book too. However, HC still sent the book to me - overseas.
So yeah, you should check your local publisher first, but don’t be afraid of requesting overseas too. I’ve found that St. Martin’s Press, especially, is often very happy to send review copies internationally.

Do you have to read an unsolicited ARC?

You definitely don’t HAVE to read unsolicited copies. I recently received two from Pan Macmillan India that are not my most favorite genre but since they’re unsolicited I’m just going to pick them up whenever I feel like it. Unsolicited copies, as Di says are extra copies they had. Sometimes I receive old ARCs. Publishers don’t have much use for ARCs after the book has been published so they send it off to bloggers who might enjoy reading it. I received an ARC of Windfall from the publisher recently even though the book has been out for a while.

A while ago I received an unsolicited review copy and believed I was obligated to review it. I then suffered through half of the book - hating every single second, literally feeling nauseous because the book was so repulsive - until my #squad kindly informed me I didn’t have to read it unless I’d requested it. Thanks ladies!
I also emailed the publisher who’d sent it, explaining the situation, and she said the same thing: it was unsolicited - an extra they’d had in stock - and I definitely didn’t have to finish it if I didn’t want too.

What is your opinion on selling ARCs?

OMG NO!!! They’re exclusive for reviewers and are a part of the marketing plan. When I say that I mean, AUTHORS DON’T GET ANY MONEY FOR ARCs, SOMETIMES THEY IN FACT HAVE TO SPEND ON ARCs . I believe that if you feel you no longer want an ARCs, you could host a giveaway for it on Instagram, your blog or Twitter. I believe on Twitter if you look up the hashtags #booksfortrade or #arcsfortrade you can exchange ARCs with other bloggers. Have blogger friends who you think might like the story? Pass it on! These are all acceptable things you can do with ARCs you no longer want. But please DO NOT SELL IT.

NO! NEVER!!

ARC copies are advance reader copies of a book, meaning you are getting a pre-published proof that is exclusive for bloggers/reviewers. You haven’t bought the book, the author isn’t getting money for it, and author and publisher are - like Di says - making an investment. The book is yours for reviewing/marketing purposes only. It is not up to you to sell the book and get money for it. That’s abuse of position - you’ve been given the opportunity to review it, and you are harming both the author and the publisher by selling something you have no rights whatsoever to sell.

To see my answers make sure to visit the other collab posts!

A MAGICAL WORLD OF WORDS

BOOKS.BAGS.BURGERS

We hope you’ve enjoyed our discussion post! Please talk to us and let us know YOUR answers below. What do you think of our responses? If you have any specific questions you’d like us to address in the future, please let us know in the comments section below. Stay tuned for the next post!