Do Professional Publishers Use ARCs?

ARC stands for "advance reader copy" and refers to a limited pre-publication print run of a book prior to its official release date. Professional publishers may be asked for ARCs by author clients. Should professional publishers be providing their author clients with ARCs? Or is this a solution without a problem, thanks to innovations in the professional publishing production pipeline?

If you have ever wondered what an ARC was, or whether you should being giving ARCs to your author clients, this quick overview will help you navigate that conversation with author clients and with your internal stakeholders.

ARC vs. Uncorrected Proof vs. Author Copy

The ARC often gets confused with two other types of limited pre-publication print runs: the uncorrected proof and the author copy. While all three can serve a similar function (more on that later) they are not interchangeable.

Uncorrected Proof

An uncorrected proof (or galley) is printed prior to production making its final updates to the book. That means that it is likely not proofread and will not have the final cover. Uncorrected proofs are printed in paperback format with a plain cover. There will likely be some mistakes both in the content and the format of the book. These are not meant to be sold and are given away by publishers and authors to generate interest with booksellers. Individual readers are unlikely to want or be interested in an uncorrected proof.

Author Copy

The author copy is printed just before (or concurrent with) the book's publication. Author copies are final versions of the book, and are sometimes even given some extra special attention. Professional publishers might use offset printing that is more expensive but allows author copies to have special features that are not supported by most print-on-demand (POD) methods. These are printed and shipped directly to the author to use as they please, and can be sold or given away to bookstores, on book tours, or to individual readers.

ARC

The ARC sits somewhere in between the uncorrected proof and the author copy. ARCs are also unfinished paperback versions of the book, and will probably have some lingering errors. However, they are usually more complete than the uncorrected proof. If an ARC doesn't include the final cover design, it will at least have concept art as an eye-catching placeholder instead of the plain cover of an uncorrected proof. ARCs are also not meant to be sold to individual readers, but publishers and authors are more likely to use them for promotional purposes. This is because they are more aesthetically appealing and less likely to contain significant content errors than uncorrected proofs.

Why Do Authors Like ARCs?

If you are a professional publisher, you may have had author clients request ARCs from you. Many author clients see ARCs as an expected part of the publishing process, even if they are not working with a traditional publisher. Some author clients might even see ARCs as a way of proving their book is "really published" in the face of critics who negatively associate professional publishing with self-publishing.

While an author client's concerns should always be listened to and addressed, it is worth being able to understand and explain the differences between traditional and professional publishers when it comes to why ARCs may or may not be useful or even practical.

Why Do Traditional Publishers Use ARCs?

The traditional publishing industry takes a long time to publish a book. It can take upwards of two years to go from manuscript acquisition to release day. This means that even if the author and publisher made a big deal marketing the acquisition, everyone has probably forgotten about it by the time release day comes around. Do you remember everything you were excited to buy two years ago?

One of the reasons this process take longer is the traditional method of printing and distribution. Traditional publishers don't rely on POD options like IngramSpark and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) like professional publishers do; they work with large manufacturing facilities that produce print runs of books, the quantity of which has been predetermined and factored into profit and loss statements, sales pitches to vendors, and marketing plans.

Once the books have been printed, they are shipped to warehouses to be distributed as needed. If the publisher is large enough, they will also be coordinating with printing and distribution centers in other countries to coordinate release dates. All of these facilities operate on a schedule, so there might be a significant gap between when the book is technically done and when it is finally available on shelves for individual readers. So how to "rewarm the market" in the meantime?

The first step is to reconnect with their sales funnels during the production process by sending uncorrected proofs to brick-and-mortar booksellers well in advance of the publication date. Vendors are not concerned about cover art or typos when looking at uncorrected proofs. They just need the basics to figure out if they want to stock the book, how many copies they can afford to order and warehouse, and what the ROI would be for them to add it to their inventory based on buyer trends.

ARCs come into play a little later, once a more polished and finalized version of the book is ready to be circulated but before it is ready to be released. Publishers may send ARCs to the author to distribute to potential readers or local bookshops to build excitement. They may also want to provide advance copies to reviewers or critics, or nominate them for annual book awards with upcoming deadlines. For all these reasons, ARCs can be useful as promotional material while the manufacturing side of the publishing company does its thing.

Why Don't Professional Publishers Use ARCs?

Professional publishers have disrupted the industry by speeding up the publication process through digitizing printing and distribution and removing manufacturing, warehousing, and vendor relationships from the equation. By using third-party POD conglomerates and working directly with Amazon, the wait time between a book being finalized and publication has been reduced to a matter of days.

There are pros and cons to this business model, but one upside is that it has completely removed the need for both uncorrected proofs and ARCs.

Why Professional Publishers Don't Need Uncorrected Proofs

Most professional publishers do not have pre-established vendor relationships with brick-and-mortar booksellers and do not rely on this type of vendor relationship to distribute their books. Therefore, uncorrected proofs are no longer necessary. Booksellers that want to stock professionally published books can do so by using Ingram Book Group's global distribution platform, ordering returnable POD copies in bulk for wholesale discounts (which means less inventory risk for them).

Why Professional Publishers Don't Need ARCs

Because the lag time between the finalized version of the book and the publication date has been reduced so significantly, it doesn't make a lot of sense to order ARCs. You still can order them, but only if the professional publisher artificially extends time to publication in order to make room for the ARCs to circulate and generate buzz. However, at that point, it could be argued it makes more sense to just circulate the book itself and start making money on sales right away.

How Author Copies Bridge The Gap

Operationally speaking, uncorrected proofs are an inventory management tool and ARCs a minimum viable product used by a manufacturing industry that is selling in bulk via third-party distributors. They are valuable solutions to problems within traditional publishing, but their practicality and usefulness do not extend beyond that business model.

So what solution does work for author clients and their professional publishing partners? This is where the author copy comes back into play.

POD Bulk Orders with Publisher Discounts

In this new business model where authors don't sell their books but rather books sell their authors, it is imperative that the book be a complete and impressive package that facilitates direct and intimate relationship building between the author and their audience. The best way to do this is to order a limited POD run of author copies through the backend of IngramSpark at a publisher discount and shipped directly to the author. They can then hand out their books personally to clients, collaborators, or conference attendees.

Special Editions through Offset Printers

If time and budget allows, professional printers might even order a limited print run from an offset printer that can provide an "author edition" of the book. These printers can use higher quality materials and more customizable designs than standard POD printers, such as embossed or gilded dust jackets, clothbound and stamped binding, and full color illustrations. These versions can be gifted to the author client's friends and family, or used at networking events or in gift boxes.

Distinguishing Between Legacy and Logistics

As with so many conversations in the professional publishing space, this conversation comes down to distinguishing between legacy and logistics.

The legacy of traditional publishing is easy to see from the outside. There is a lot of cultural weight and legitimacy that comes with being a traditionally published author, thanks to a combination of tradition, history, and stellar marketing. Even those authors-to-be who opt for professional publishing want access to as much of that legacy as possible, which influences what they expect out of the process of being published.

What most people (readers and authors alike) don't see are the logistics going on behind the scenes. Often decisions that traditional publishers made decades ago to solve for specific challenges are treated as "just how things are," even when the challenges they were invented to solve no longer exist (or might be better solved in new ways). When we romanticize the process without understanding the process, we risk spending unnecessary time, money, and energy in what can amount to a very expensive game of charades.

For a majority of author clients, pointing out the logistics behind why ARCs were created and how professional publishing has provided an alternative better suited for their individual goals will be sufficient to redirect their energy into a productive conversation about author copies and other supplementary forms of book marketing. Use this question as an opportunity to establish credibility, dig deeper into the author client's end goals, and build a more robust and collaborative relationship.

And those author clients who still want ARCs, even if they might artificially inflate the publishing timeline or cost a little bit extra? Well, it is their book, after all. And if receiving ARCs of their book means participating in a legacy that will legitimize them in their own eyes and in the eyes of others, that's what providing a positive publishing experience is all about.