A couple of months ago a review site asked for an ARC of Rock Star so they could review it for it’s recent re-release. For those not in the know, an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) is more or less the final version of your book before it goes to pre-press. It might contain errors or whatnot, but since many reviewers want a three-month lead time publishers customarily send them out. More importantly, a lot of reviewers are accepting electronic ARCs as well, obviously making it easier (and cheaper) to send out review copies. Unfortunately, I never received any ARCs of Rock Star in any format so I had to send the reviewers one of my very limited author copies. This is frustrating because I have to pay for any additional books, and of course I have to pay the postage to ship the book as well. I knew there were instructions on how to format an ARC, but I was in deadline hell at the time and couldn’t be bothered.
I came across some excellent instructions from best-selling author Bronwyn Jameson, and with a minimum of fuss I was able to do an ARC of Rock Star. Though I doubt I’ll receive any further requests, it’s a savvy bit of knowledge to have.
