How to Build an ARC Review Team for your Book Launch

An ARC review team helps launch a book effectively

by Dave Chesson

As authors, we need reviews. There’s no way of getting around it.

While it doesn’t appear that reviews directly affect things like the Amazon algorithm, reviews are still a crucial tool to sell books.

For example, if you’re trying to choose between a book with 20 reviews and 4 stars, vs a book with 100 reviews and 4.5 stars, you’ll go with the 100-review book every time.

Newer books suffer because of this, because they start out with zero reviews, and getting them up to the needed number to get readers’ attention can be challenging.

Enter the ARC review team (Advance Reader Copy).

With a focused team of readers who love your work and want to help out, you can get some of those first crucial reviews right out of the gate. This should help you to get a great head start on the whole process, and make you more likely to sell more books due to increased reader validation.

But there are two problems with ARC review teams.

• Finding good reviewers
• Managing your team

It’s these two problems that we want to address today with a list of helpful tips, and hopefully provide you with solutions to improve your author ARC team.

Tip #1: The Difference Between an ARC, Beta, and Street Team

There are three terms for different “teams” an author can have: Beta, Street, and ARC.

There are subtle differences between each of these, so it’s important to break down what they all are, and why we’re focusing specifically on the ARC team.

• Beta Team: Beta readers are a group of individuals who read your book while you are in the writing/editing process. They provide you with feedback so you know what is/isn’t working, and what you might want to change.
• Street Team: These are a group of readers who can help you out with the promotion of your book. They help to get the word out, post on social media, and basically spread word of mouth.
• ARC Team: This is a team where you send a copy of your book (usually as an ebook) for the specific intention of getting them to review the book on Amazon, Goodreads, and whatever other platforms your book is on.

If you don’t have or don’t want all three teams, that’s fine. There is often a lot of overlap between these different teams, especially between the street and ARC team.

That said, they are different, and we want to focus specifically on the ARC team today, so we will not be talking about the promotion aspect, or getting feedback on your writing.

Important: I want to clarify that yes, you are still allowed to send out ARC copies to readers in return for a review.  Amazon has specifically said that they will honor this tradition in the book world. For specific information on this, check out this video.

Tip #2: How to Find ARC Readers

There are a number of ways to find readers who are willing to be ARC readers.

By far the best tactic is to advertise that you need ARC readers to your email newsletter.

[Side Note: If you don’t have an email list, you should absolutely start one asap.  I have a list of which ones are my favorite for authors, and I also created a full free video course showing authors how to set up their account with MailerLite]

If you have a newsletter built up already, you already know these people like your work enough to subscribe, so why wouldn’t they want to be an ARC reader too!

We’ll talk later about how to make sure that they actually review your book, rather than just try to get a free book from you.

Here is a list of other tactics you can use to build up your ARC team if you don’t have a substantial email list, or if you’re just looking for other options:

1) Use a professional service

While Amazon doesn’t like paid reviews, most of the reviews you can get through these services are still acceptable, since they still allow the reviewer the leeway to select what they want, and to be honest in their review. Here are some options:

• NetGalley: This is an industry-recognized platform that is used by traditional publishers everywhere. It is a bit pricey, but they have a large database of readers that are eager for more books, and who have followings as well.
• Booksprout: With Booksprout, you can work within their system to find good reviewers, and reach out to them directly, and it’s one of the better services out there for the price.
• StoryOrigin: Among other things, StoryOrigin offers a review system, where you can post your book for potential review, and interested ARC readers can request. There’s even a way of proving that these readers have left reviews before, which is handy to weed out the freebie seekers.
• Booktasters: This is a service that is similar to Netgalley.
• BookSirens: Another service similar to Netgalley.

2) Social Media

Now whatever you do, don’t spam social media with your requests. But social media can be a viable way to find readers who are willing to leave reviews.

The best way to do this is passively. Go to Facebook or Goodreads groups that cover your genre, interact organically, and if people ask, be ready to mention that you’re looking. There are also groups that are specifically designed to find ARC or beta readers.

3) Advertise on your website

If you have a website for yourself, or perhaps a website geared for readers of a certain genre, like the following author did, this can be a great way to attract interested readers via organic search, and if you have an email newsletter or other form of signup, you can let them know that you’re searching for ARC readers. You can even advertise this directly on the website. Creating content that is based around a specific niche, can be a good way of attracting readers of that niche.

4) Network

Don’t forget to reach out to other authors, especially if you know the authors personally and are on good terms. If they believe in your work, they’re likely to be willing to share with their team that you are looking for ARC readers.

Hopefully that should give you a few ideas to go on. But don’t forget that the best way is to nurture a good email list, and select your ARC readers from that list. Hint: Look for the really enthusiastic fans who love to interact with you.

Tip #3: How to Organize Your ARC Review Team

So you’ve got an ARC team, you’ve received their permission to send them emails, and you’re ready to go. Let’s say you’ve found 20 people. All you have to do is send them your advanced reader copy, and sit back and watch the reviews roll in, right?

Well…not so much.

You might get some response. When I first started writing, I got a few reviews this way. But most of the time, managing an ARC team takes work.

This is not a “set it and forget it” step in book publishing.

Some might find this hard to hear. After all, we’ve already done the hard work of writing the book, editing it, getting it ready to publish, paying for a cover, and probably more. We even worked hard to get more ARC reviewers on our team, and now we have to do more work to manage them?

Yes, yes we do.

So what’s the best way to go about this?

My preferred method is to use spreadsheets, and I know of several other authors who find this to be the best method.

Like Sam Howard at Nerdy Book Girl says, “Without organization, ARC reviewers will fall through the cracks and cause loss and frustration. So, be sure to be organized on your front, and you’ll see better results.”

Here are some key areas you want to cover for the ARC review team spreadsheet:

1. Name: Self-explanatory, but make sure you know their name, and that they didn’t just sign up with an email.
2. Review name: This is useful if they use a name other than their own when writing reviews. I like to ask an ARC reviewer for this up front when they’re signing up. If they don’t have one or can’t look it up, they’re probably not in the habit of leaving reviews often.
3. Email/contact information: Also self-explanatory, but make sure you have a legitimate way to contact these people.
4. Last communication: As we’ll see below, communication is the key to great ARC reader engagement. You don’t want to get them on your list and then never speak to them again until you have a book ready. With this on your spreadsheet, you’ll be able to keep track of the last time you contacted them, and therefore be sure you don’t go too long without communicating
5. Notes: Here you can put some additional information that might be pertinent and different for each reviewer.
6. ARC Sent (Checkbox): Put a checkbox here to make sure you keep track of everyone you’ve sent an ARC to.
7. Review Published (Checkbox): This is the most important part of the spreadsheet, and where the most work comes in. You must track whether reviews were left. If they don’t report to you, or you can’t find the review on your own, you need to follow up with those people. It’s okay to give them some second chances, but repeated offenders should honestly be taken off your list. That said, if you follow up several times and they still haven’t left a review, you’re better off removing them and searching for more ARC readers who follow through better.

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This might seem like a lot, and it is. But if you do this properly, you can go from getting 1-2 reviews out of that 20 ARC reviewers, to getting 15+, and that makes a huge difference.

And if you have a lot more than 20 ARC reviewers, the benefit you’d see would be even higher!

Tip #4: How to Maintain Communication

It’s easy to get a list of ARC readers, and only communicate with them when it’s time to publish a book. And even if you’re publishing a book a month, or every few months, this is too long to leave them hanging.

If you don’t communicate regularly with your ARC readers, most of them will not leave you reviews.

But you might be wondering, what can I talk to them about if I don’t have a review copy to give them?

Well, there are a number of things you can do.

Here are a few ideas to keep your ARC review team happy:

1. Talk to them individually: An ARC team should not be the same as an email newsletter. You don’t want to blast out an email to all of them and expect their engagement to stay the same. That’s why I recommend a spreadsheet to manage your ARC readers, instead of a newsletter service like MailerLite. These are people that genuinely love your work, and you should foster relationships with these people, even if it’s just the occasional email asking them how their life is going.
2. Check in more often: This goes along with what I’ve been saying, but I wanted to emphasize this again. You should email more often than just when you have a book to launch. I would speak to them at a minimum of once a month.
3. Get their advice: An ARC team doesn’t have to be exclusive to leaving reviews. You can ask them for their advice and input while you are writing the novel. Readers love to feel that their opinions are valued, plus, this ends up building hype for the book, so they know that an ARC review will be expected once you finish it.

Ultimately, this is the most crucial step in keeping active readers. You want to speak to them, and the more you can do so as a real person, and not just as someone who sends out occasional newsletter blasts, the more they will come to enjoy leaving a review for you.

Tip #5: How to Get ARC Review Team Hyped For a Prelaunch

There are a couple of strategies that you should keep in mind before you’re ready to launch your book. Using these strategies isn’t necessarily required, but can be helpful.

1. As mentioned above, make sure you communicate regularly with your ARC reviewers, especially during the prelaunch time period, so they know that a book is coming, and they’re expecting it.
2. Make sure to give your ARC reviewers plenty of time to read your book. Two weeks before launch is a good benchmark to reach for, as it’s not so long that readers forget about your book, but still provide enough time to read it. This may, however, depend on the genre and length of your book.
3. Consider using a soft-launch technique. This is a strategy where you secretly release the book a few days before announcing it to the world. You can drop the price of your book to $.99 and let your ARC readers know. Even though they already have a copy, many might consider getting it for $.99, which means that their reviews would have that coveted “Verified Purchase” tag. Then you can raise the price to what you planned, and share it with the world after that. Only now you already have a number of reviews before people even start buying!

Ultimately, you want your ARC readers to get hyped, because that will help get your general readers hyped, and the more reviews you can get in the beginning, the more likely it is that more readers might pick it up.

Tip #6: Launch Strategies

Well here it is, finally the launch date of your book. Whether you’re doing the soft launch outlined above, or just diving head-first into the launch, your steps for working with ARC reviewers should be about the same.

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1. Give them the ARC ahead of time. We covered this in the last section, but don’t forget to actually give them a copy of your book at least two weeks in advance.
2. On launch day, send out a personalized email telling them that the time has come!
3. If you have special pricing set up for just the ARC reviewers, make sure they know about it, and direct them to the link to buy (but make sure it’s clear that this is optional).
4. Ask them to let you know when they have posted a review.
5. A few days after launch, send out a personalized email to everyone who hasn’t responded yet, thank them for helping out, ask if they have left a review yet, and send a link.
6. If anyone says they haven’t had a chance to finish the book, remind them that they can always leave a review and change it later.
7. 1-2 weeks after launch, make sure you reach out to those who still haven’t left a review. You can also send out an email to everyone else to let them know how the launch went.
8. If it’s been a month or two since launch and you still have ARC review team members who have not left a review, and you’ve prodded them several times, consider giving them one last notice, but make sure they know that in order to continue being part of the ARC review team, they need to leave reviews. Don’t be afraid to be firm. You’re running a business here. If you can’t rely on someone on your team, then it’s better that you find someone else.

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And that’s it! Hopefully if you follow these steps. With the addition of other sales steps in your overall promotion, you should have a pretty smooth launch as far as getting reviews goes.

The Bottom Line

Overall, there are a couple of key takeaways to remember. In order to create and manage your team of ARC readers.

• Reach out and find readers who are genuine fans of you or the genre you write in. Slowly form your team.
• Keep track of each member of your ARC team.
• Communicate personally with each member of your team to keep them engaged.
• Prep your team and follow up after the book has launched.

I would also add that you should thank your team profusely for helping you out. This is something that readers agree to do out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re not getting paid, other than by getting a free copy of your book, and that’s amazingly kind of them. Make sure they know that.

With all of these tips, you’ll have a book full of glowing reviews in no time.

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by Dave Chesson (@DaveChesson) August 8, 2021

What about you, scriveners? Have you got an ARC review team lined up for your next book launch? What did you find is the best way to find ARC reviewers? Or are you like Anne and kind of leave reviews up to chance and hope for the best? (Listen to Dave, not Anne. 🙂 ) 

Dave Chesson is the creator of Kindlepreneur.com, a website devoted to teaching advanced book Marketing which even Amazon KDP acknowledge as one of the best by telling users to “Gain insight from Kindlepreneur on how you can optimize marketing for your books.”

Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker and more, Dave’s tactics help both Fiction and Nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers.

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Featured image: FIFA Germany team By Granada – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69807688