This is complicated by the fact that I don’t even know where to sell them. I tried taking them to a used book dealer and they didn’t want them.

This is very frustrating because some are by well known authors, and I know there are collectors out there who would want them…

True, writers don’t get to pick these things. or … hey, maybe that can be part of the newly negotiated WGA contract!

No worries about thread tangents. Though, returning to the original theme, I actually sought out and found a Syrup ARC. I’m assuming you’ve got one by now but if not I can pass it along to you once I’ve read it.

But writers don’t get to pick these things.

I will stop derailing your comment thread now.

The last thing we need is yet one more law that cannot really be enforced. Besides, why should anyone care if those ARCs are sold? If sales of what should be a relatively small number of ARCs are going to significantly decrease your sales, you need to rethink your entire marketing plan.

Once you have given or sold the book to me, it is my property. I can do just about anything I want with it, short of making unauthorized copies (violating copyright). There is nothing illegal about it, nor should we try to make it so.

Although some publishers do send out hundreds of ARCs, for most books that is a foolish waste of money (IMHO). We send out ARCs to the big pre-pub reviewers (all six of them) and a carefully selected list of people whose endorsement on a book might make people look twice. (Although there is reason to doubt that celebrity or expert endorsement truly increase sales for most books, but that’s a different topic.)

If those ARCs find their way into the marketplace, rather than going in the trash, I am happy about it. More people to see and read it. More possibilities for some word-of-mouth and viral marketing.

We always make sure our ARCs are as close to final product as possible, so we don’t worry about the negative effects of an unedited book having a negative effect on our image.

We frequently send out promo copies of the final book to bookstores and other retailers. I always tell them to feel free to put it on the shelf and sell it with no obligation to ever pay for it. When it sells, they may decide to order more for stock.

Here’s the last paragraph from my Op Ed/blog entry:

“There are a lot of shady practices, archaic standards, and inherent inequities in the whole idiotic publishing industry. To shift the focus of our ire to something as trivial as reselling ARCs seems shortsighted and a waste of time, energy, and resources.”

And that’s the view from my knothole as a micro-publisher and author.

Walt Shiel
http://SlipdownMountain.com
http://FiveRainbows.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/waltshiel

but the whole issue of selling them becomes a non-issue when looked at logically -

first of all, yes, it is true that publishers do not make any money from their sale; the production of ARCs is a form of advertising - of publicity for the book - so do publishers make any money if a copy of a magazine with their ad in it is sold? Of course not -

Any ARC which is being sold is being sold as a “second hand book” - authors do not make any money from the sale of second-hand books - nor, by the way, do they make money from remaindered copies.

If an ARC becomes a “hot” item, it just might keep the number of remaindered copies down -

In terms of publicity, it is better for both the author and the publisher is the ARC is sold and read again (assuming, of course, that the book is worth reading) - if the ARC can command a high price, that is almost always an indication that the real first printing is either “huge” (like Steven King’s books) or will sell out (like “The Kite Runner”)

Therefore for good books, selling an ARC can be a benefit, and for mediocre books, it is irrelevant - it is hard to even give away some of those ARCs -

The other side of the issue is what should happen to ARCs after they are published -

Basically, there are 3 choices:

1. destroy them - since ARCs are sometimes bibliographically significant (representing the earliest published version of the book, sometimes different from the final version, and sometimes including information about the size of the print run, comments from the author, etc) this is certainly not a good option (although I’m sure many are destroyed)
2. give them away (which, of course, makes no money for the publisher or author and so has all the drawbacks of selling them and none of the benefits)
3. sell them - which has the added benefit of showing that the author’s work is “valued” - perhaps even collected….

Thanks for stopping by and yes, I very much enjoyed Jennifer Government. (Wincing a bit regarding my Company review now.)

I hope you get the film adaptation made soon, I think JG would work well on the big screen. Kidman over Garner eh? Split the difference, maybe Jessica Alba? Sort of a Dark Angel revisited type of thing, right?

If you’re interested in an author’s perspective, I wrote about ARCs a little while back:

http://www.maxbarry.com/2005/11/24/news.html

Max.