In the publishing industry, the term “ARC” refers to an Advance Reader Copy. This is a book sent to reviewers prior to release so the book in question can hit the ground running with a slate of reviews already. Publishing companies have been doing this for a long time. Many moons ago, each one had a list of professional reviewers to whom they sent ARCs of anything they thought the reviewer would like and give a positive review to.

Usually, an ARC is a final draft. It may or may be not a final version. What’s the difference? Proofreading, primarily. There could be minor formatting problems. It may still have a hefty dose of typos. The prose itself should be in pretty good shape by this point, though there could be a few problem spots that need rewording. If it’s a print copy, it has text making it clear the book is an ARC or a Proof. An eARC also has some kind of indicator if it’s not a final version.

Look at that: Harcourt Brace was still around. This thing is super-old.

The Big 5 publishers still do this, of course. As a tactic, it works. Having the NY Times reviewer say something nice–or wretched–about a book grabs eyeballs and opens wallets. Those of us in the indie and small press wilderness do it, too. Except in our case, it’s generally not the NY Times reviewer whose hands we shove them into. Instead, we put them into the hands of fans, bloggers, and genre-specific minor celebrities. Sometimes, we can convince local or regional media folks to give it a go.

How, you might ask, does one get an ARC? There are a myriad of ways to do it. First, of course, you can become a professional book reviewer. Second, you can join a book review service. These organizations come in many sizes and shapes, from the big kahuna of NetGalley to smaller operations like The Masquerade Crew and Choosy Bookworm. Nearly every book-oriented site, from Goodreads to tiny blogs has some way to help authors generate reviews by providing free copies of their books.

Individual authors you love will often be happy to provide an ARC if you ask. It’s important to note that, unlike purchasing a book, receiving an ARC comes with the obligation to review it. There’s usually a time frame attached, because the author wants to have reviews in time for the launch.

So, why would you, a random person, want an ARC? To support an author whose work you love, or to help curate a genre you love.

After writing about this subject before, I’ve had several people say it was helpful, but they’d really appreciate something more…specific. It can be tough to take that feeling you get when you finish a book and translate it into a handful of sentences. I’ve had a few times myself when I had to stare at the screen for a few minutes to come up with something to say. Here are some questions to ask yourself so you can pin down your reaction and write a review:

1. Did I like the book?

Seems obvious, but worth mentioning. Say directly how you felt about it. ‘I loved it!’, ‘I hated it!’, ‘I liked it.’, and ‘I can’t decide if I liked it or not.’ are all valid things to include in a review. The more you liked it, the less things you should have found wrong with it, so if you’re unsure how you really feel about the book, or the degree to which you liked or disliked it, move on and come back to this one.

2. Did the main character inspire any feelings for me?

The underlying question here is whether the book was written well enough to emotionally involve you in the character. It’s not about whether you liked the character or not, it’s about whether you cared. If you don’t care about the character, it’s harder to have significant interest in the book overall. Wanting to smack a character for doing something dumb or obnoxious means you’re interested enough to care and have an emotional reaction to it. Likewise, wanting to meet the character in real life (for whatever, I don’t judge) is being interested in them.

3. Did everything feel ‘realistic’?

Most fiction is, of course, not real. The question is whether you had moments while reading where your ability to suspend disbelief was strained to the point that you lost immersion. If you find yourself stopping and thinking ‘that makes no sense’, that’s a problem. In some genres, such as sword and sorcery fantasy, that’s less of an issue, but it still happens. I’ve read books where the setting left me confused as to why any sane person would settle in a place where a town is, and it detracted from the story.

4. Did you notice poor grammar, lots of typos, or confusing phrasing?

If you didn’t notice, great! If you did notice, the necessity of re-reading sentences and phrases can pull you out of the story long enough to get annoyed by it. Don’t nitpick about a few typos, though. There’s no such thing as a proofreader who catches them all, and it’s monstrously easy to get one or two inserted during the formatting process. Cut authors a little slack–but not too much. My guideline is that I’m willing to ignore up to 1 typo per chapter. More than that and I comment about it.

5. Do you think the blurb/description is clear about the subject matter, or were you completely surprised by the contents of the book?

As an author, I know this much with certainty: writing blurbs is tough. Few of us like doing it. Many of us aren’t that great at it. Sometimes, the blurb highlights parts that the author thinks are important, but the reader disagrees. The author may have forgotten to mention something you think is critical to know before starting it, or maybe it really needs a trigger warning or other content note. Feel free to provide such a warning or note for other readers.

6. If you didn’t like it, unless it’s already addressed by one of the above questions, what specifically turned you off?

This is probably the most important question of all. There does not exist a book that is universally liked by everyone. Every single book in existence, ever and forever, has a segment of humanity that will not like it. Guaranteed. The important part is why you didn’t like it. The things you hate could be the very things I love, and your negative review may be what sells the book to me.

Take the answers to these questions and do your best to articulate them in words. Here’s one more note to keep in mind:

Reviews are not intended for the author, nor should they be about the author. Instead, it’s a notice for other potential purchasers to help them decide if they want the product or not. Because a book is a product, much like a painting is a product. Writing and painting as verbs are art. Writing and painting as nouns are products.