by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I have been building my ARC team (Advance Reader/Review Copy  team) organically for years. Organically as in…I didn’t do the building myself.  If a reader reached out to me and asked to be on my list (a list that I never mentioned and never promoted), then I agreed to the add.

But recently, I’ve been more interested in increasing the number of ARC readers . I do like the early reviews and social media mentions and I think they help spike interest in a new release.

Since I’m a pretty late adopter, I decided to make it very simple on myself.  Instead of putting something on my website, I reached out to my most dedicated readers–my newsletter subscribers. When my last release came out and I sent an email to my subscribers to notify them,  I included a special section in my newsletter:

Would you like the opportunity to read new Myrtle Clover and Southern Quilting mysteries before they are published (and for free)?  I have a limited number of spaces on my ARC team (that’s an advance reader copy team). Applicants must be able to read ebooks (on Kindle, epub, or PDF since there won’t be any print galleys).  I would love honest reviews submitted to Amazon, Goodreads,  or other retailers/reading communities .  ARC members receive an early copy 1-2 weeks before the book is published. ARC team members are also eligible to get signed, printed copies of my books at a reduced rate (just the cost of printing and shipping) when purchased directly from me. If you’re interested, click this link to fill out a short form for consideration. Thanks!Continue reading