The Real Reason I Seek Out ARCs

Occasionally, there is talk about the greediness of book bloggers, hording review copies like Smaug horded treasure, all while not actually purchasing books or having any impact on book sales. Know that I'm not referencing anything specific when I say this, and, no, nothing new happened that I know of, but it's something I've heard around.

As far as the purchase of books goes, you know most of us do. I personally keep a lot of my ARCs, but I buy a lot of new books for other people, and my book blogging has increased my purchase of brand new books exponentially, since I used to buy used books almost exclusively. The impact of bloggers on book sales is something I don't know, but I assume we have some little impact, even if it is through a ripple effect. I've not done a study, but I presume publishers wouldn't send us ARCs if we didn't help with book sales at all.

However, that's not what I'm here to talk about at all, so maybe I should get to the point: the relationships of bloggers to ARCs. If you know some book bloggers, you've probably heard them say things like this:

"I would KILL for an ARC of Sarah Dessen's latest novel. Seriously, who do I have to kill?"

"Why does X publisher hate me? They never send me ARCs. #fml"

"Who do I have to sleep with to get an ARC of A. S. King's new book, because my body is READY?"

These are slight exaggerations, but comments about how much a reviewer wants a particular ARC are everywhere. Thinking that bloggers are greedy isn't a huge leap, but, in general, I don't think that's what's going on. There are a lot of reasons to want an ARC of a book:

1. To get to read it first. I won't lie to you. Getting to read a book months before publication is pretty awesome, though I don't get to do it that far in advance all that often myself.
2. The packages. Listen, one of the best things about getting review copies is that I sometimes find awesome stuff in my mailbox (which would otherwise just have bills, ads for lawn care - I don't have a lawn btw - and coupons) or boxes on my stoop. It's a great feeling. 
3. The honor. I feel so awed when an author or publisher sends me books because they want MY feedback. 

Still, the whole ARC system has a lot of drama associated with it and has its drawbacks too. I mean, there's the whole thing with unsolicited ARCs or not having enough time to read all of the review copies that you get. Plus, there's the issue of jealousy, about which there's really not much you can do. All I can say is that it's taken me two and a half years to get to this point.

I feel a little bad about the fact that, though I have more review copies than ever, I am in some ways more desperate for ARCs than ever. Before you start talking about how entitled I am, let me explain. Here's the thing: reading a book takes time. When I accept a review copy, I am trading my time (in reading and reviewing and promoting that review) in exchange for that book. No, I don't get to all of them, and I think most bloggers don't. The ones that show up unsolicited are really hard to plan for and you just can't get to everything.

My review pile? OH YEAH.

So far this year, I've read 64 books (so it's not like I'm not reading). How many of those weren't for review? By my count, about 15. I say about because I had a couple of ARCs gifted to me and read them pre-publication, and I'm not sure where to count that as a review copy or not. Of those 15, five were from my Sadie Hawkins Sunday feature, where I let my readers select books for me to read. Another two were reading the first book in a series, having received the second book for review. Aside from my Sadie Hawkins Sunday books, I am currently not reading ANY books that aren't for review.

What this means is that if I don't get a review copy of a book, I probably won't get to read it. Yes, I can just wait and get the book from the library or purchase it. I've actually done both of these things, but odds are I will return that book to the library unread or leave that purchased copy sitting on my shelf collecting dust.

I am aware that requesting more review copies because I have too many review copies to get to read books for myself is counter-intuitive. I know this. However, if there's a book I really want to read, receiving a review copy is, at least at the moment, the only way that book will be happening in my life in the near future. I've spoken with other bloggers that feel the same way.

Just to be clear, I'm not complaining about receiving review copies. I love them and I do not begrudge the time spent reviewing them. I just wanted to explain why it is that you might see a blogger alternatively whine about the size of their TBR pile and then mope about not having gotten an ARC of something. We're not greedy; it's just that those review copies might be the only chance we have of getting to the book for the foreseeable future.

But, hey, we've all got to do what we've got to do. So go do your thing and have as much fun as you can while you do it! Book blogging is fun, so enjoy it!

At least that's how it works for me. What are your thoughts on this? Do you hope for review copies? If so, why?

On an unrelated note, make the Veronica Mars movie happen by contributing to the Kickstarter! If you haven't seen Veronica Mars, fix that.