How to Get Free ARCs from Publishers

How to Get Free ARCs from Publishers

 Part 1: Criteria

 Getting ARCs from publishers is actually pretty easy, but you do need to do some things for that to happen.

1. Get a blog.

 Obviously, you need a blog to receive ARCs. Publishers want someone who’s consistent in his reading and reviewing books and has an established readership.

2. Review, review, review

 Publishers like bloggers who write at least two reviews per week and post other book-related posts. It’s up to you to schedule yourself accordingly to your time, but try to be an active blogger.

3. Experience

 You can’t just create yourself a blog today and expect to receive ARCs tomorrow. That won’t happen because 1) you don’t have the established readership yet and 2) publishers don’t know if they should trust you or not. When you’ve blogged for at least four months, have at least 300 followers on Bloglovin’, WordPress or Blogger – whichever the way you offer your readers to follow you – and have posted posts at least twice a week, then we can talk.

4. Use social media

Publishers like it when you take pictures of the books they’re giving you for review and post them on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook and mention them. Even just talking about the books you’ve received on Twitter can work. They just like it when you spread the word about their books. You don’t have to be super active on social media, but at least create yourself an account and post something now and then. You can even link your Facebook and Twitter to your blog, so it automatically posts a link to your new posts on your profiles.

 Those are really the main keys to getting ARCs.

 Now, when you have readership, followers, accounts to different social media platforms and are posting  without taking ‘‘hiatuses,’’ then you’re good to request ARCs!

Part 2: Requesting ARCs

To request ARCs, you have to e-mail the publishers. This is my favorite part. I like writing the e-mails and then receiving replies. I actually enjoy interacting with publishers, because most of them are extremely nice and easygoing.

When you first contact a publisher, you need to present yourself and your blog. Try to include all of the following elements:

• Name
• Name of blog
• Address of blog and other social media platforms
• What your blog is focused on (Young Adult, New Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary, etc.)
• How often you review
• Where you post your reviews
• What you’re interested in reading
• Why you want to review books for this publishing house
• Number of followers
• Number of visitors on your blog per day and month (unique visitors as well)
• Page Views
• Number of comments
• Your address
• A thank you

My letter of presentation has changed ever since I first requested books, but it looks something like this.

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Hi, HarperCollins!

My name is _____________.

I am a book reviewer of Young Adult books of the fantasy, dystopia, contemporary and paranormal genres mostly, but I can widen my reads to New Adult and Adult titles as well, if the latter contain an ounce of romance. I created my blog, Hit or Miss Books, back in July 2014.

My blog is mainly focused on Young Adult books so, by informing myself on your publishing house company, I realized that I would be honoured to review your to-be-published books.

I post my reviews on my blog, Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I review two to three times a week and have been doing so for more than two years. I also possess a NetGalley account on which I am very active.

Links:

Blog: https://hitormissbooks.wordpress.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lolareviewer/?hl=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7eusC5ilQYj_AyNnaSU8_g

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14596170-lola

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hitormissbooks

Followers

• Youtube: 200
  
• Twitter: 1420
• Goodreads: 3400
• WordPress: 1200
• Bloglovin’: 800
• Instagram: 600
• Google +: 131

Visitors per month: 5 000

Unique visitors per month: 4 500

Page Views per Month: 10 000

My average of comments per month revolves around 400, and I do my best to interact with my followers, readers and other fellow book bloggers out there.

I would be very interested in a copy of:

– Three Dark Crowns

– The Dark Army

– The Fixes

– Avenged

Here’s my address:

[Insert Address]

Have a great weekend!

Lola

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Part 3: Who to Request from

Now that you know what it takes to get ARCs and how to write an e-mail to request them, you need to know who to send that e-mail to!

I know most of my readers are from the US, but I am a Canadian blogger, so my post wouldn’t be very authentic if I gave you the e-mails of publishing houses in the US, if I’m not working with them, but I’m working with quite a few of them nonetheless.

I’m not going to give you the personal e-mails and names of the publishers I’m in contact with, but I’m going to give you the e-mail addresses you should send your e-mails to.

HarperCollins Canada: hccpublicity@harpercollins.com

St-Martin’s Press – in the US but they don’t seem to mind sending me copies anyway: publicity@stmartins.com

Raincoast Books – this is THE publisher you want to e-mail b/c they distribute books from the majority of MacMillian imprints: publicity@raincoast.com

Simon & Schuster Canada : ChildrensPublicity@simonandschuster.com

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – in the US also: childrens_publicity@hmhpub.com

Random House + Penguin Canada: canadianbloggers@penguinrandomhouse.com

Algonquin Books – US: inquiry@algonquin.com

Sky Horse Publishing – US: publicity@skyhorsepublishing.com

Scholastic Canada: nkritikos@scholastic.ca

Hachette Book Group Canada: publicity@hbgcanada.com

Well, I think we’re going to stop here. There’s a few more, but they are less known publishers and, anyway, you can easily find the e-mail addresses by going on their websites and checking the ‘‘FAQ’’ or ‘‘About Us’’ or ‘‘Contact Us’’ sections. Or just Google ‘‘Harper Collins review copy’’ and the links to find the e-mail addresses usually appear.

Well, I hope you learned a lot and that you’re excited to request your first ARCs! I know I was.

Thank you for reading and good luck.

LOLA

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