Advance copy

And you mentioned the third book is going through editors and getting reviewed now.

Do you have a dedicated group of ARC readers or beta readers that you go to?

I do.

Thank you for asking because I'm still looking to grow that list.

Yeah, I have a newsletter that goes out to subscribers and many of them are on the ARC list.

Some others I've gotten through Facebook groups.

But if any of your listeners are interested in being advanced readers for the third book, I'm happy to have them.

But I think being able to have, again, that feedback from a group of actual readers.

So fast forward, I'm really glad I kept going.

I think it worked out really well for me and so grateful for my team and the ARC readers because as much as I've done a lot, It would just be impossible without the community.

It would be impossible without ARC readers and street team members and indie bookstores and influencers who champion stories and help them reach more readers.

So that was like a long-winded way to say, I don't know, I kind of just like fell down a rabbit hole and I didn't really get back out.

No, that's incredible.

a reader's first attention, if that makes sense.

I think the hook really was helpful.

I did do Instagram ads, but I did it more on ARC readers.

Instead of working with what was available and deciding the launch date.

So what happened was we didn't have any ARC readers on the book because we rushed and people found mistakes in the book.

So we had to go through and correct the mistakes after it was published.

So that was a problem.

But also that ARC, those ARC readers need about eight to 10 weeks.

Now the survivor's name, which will be out later this year or early January, I'm really leaning towards early January.

with the plan, we gave that book to our ARC readers in August.

That's the way it should be.

We know that you have a street team.

We know that you've recruited ARC readers.

Let's talk about events.

So as a debut author, how hard is it to find events that are near you?

And I need somebody to tear it to pieces so that I can make sure it really works.

So the other thing then, once we've got the book out there and we've done all of that hard work, some people talk about having beta readers and ARC readers.

Did you use any of that sort of stuff at the beginning?

I did.

My beta readers were friends and family.

And then I did search out ARC readers, advanced reader copies.

Copy.

Yeah, that's it.

...

the last little thing that we had on here, which I think is a good little like segue to finish up, is that there was a, a woman who wrote this, um, romantasy that was inspired by Slavic lore, and come to find out, ARC readers were like, "Hey, I don't, I don't know if I feel comfortable read..." And she was like really aggressive, and other people have been like saying things about it.

Her name's Serena Bradley, if we're just gonna be messy with it.

I've never heard about this at all.

And I don't know if it's just getting review-bombed, but it seems-

Probably that

... a lot of people that are saying, um, "I was an ARC reader, and I DNF'd," or it was just la-- the execution was lacking, and then like people are following up and be like, "You know what? I saw how they treated other ARC readers." And the whole thing is when you're an ARC reader is, one, you're not like legally required to read and review the books.

Sometimes they'll be like, "Please, can you?" 'Cause like a review's a review.

Yeah.

And I have like a hundred ARC readers already signed up.

ARC signups are open and just a hundred people signing up is crazy.

And right now I'm really excited because it's a number of people wanting to read it and they found their way to me.

But at the same time, it's a hundred people reading my book.

It's excited and at the same time, a little bit nervous.

Oh, wow.

So if for those who don't know, ARC is it's ARC, it stands for advanced reader copy, which that's when author offers a copy of the book, and they hope that you will read it and review it.