Wi11: Booksellers Share Tips for Getting the Most Out of ARCs

At the Winter Institute 11 education session “ABC Presents: Getting the Most Out of Your ARCs,” a panel of booksellers and publishers offered tips for repurposing advance reading copies (ARCs) to generate sales while staying within publishers’ guidelines for sharing ARCs.

Moderated by Johanna Albrecht of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the panel featured Jesica DeHart of BookPeople of Moscow in Moscow, Idaho; Carol Moyer of Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina; Elise Supovitz, executive director of independent retail and Canadian sales at Candlewick Press; and Mark von Bargen, senior director of children’s trade sales at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

A bookstore’s stockpile of ARCs, galleys, and F&Gs is a resource that, when used creatively, can lead to new sales and new customers — the ultimate goal when sharing these books, said DeHart. “Never give your books away for nothing. Make sure every book you give away is going to lead to a sale.”

At BookPeople of Moscow, adult ARCs are stored in the back office and have various uses once staff members are done reading them. One is the store’s Blind Date With a Book program. When staff is finished with them, ARCs are wrapped and put on the store’s very popular Blind Date With a Book display, where customers are encouraged to choose a book and make a donation (at least $3 per book is suggested). The funds are set aside in an envelope under the cash register and used at book fairs hosted by BookPeople to provide $10 vouchers to children who otherwise would not be able to make a book purchase.

“Of everything that we do, this is what I hope you all immediately go home and do,” said DeHart. “It’s genius marketing and it leads to so many sales. It’s right on our front counter — it has the most prime real estate in our store.”

The store’s teen advisory board helps with wrapping and decorating the ARC packaging, which is done using keywords and themes from a book’s back jacket or from an enclosed publisher letter. Books in the display sell constantly, especially among those ages 18 to 30, said DeHart, and people will frequently purchase more than one book or make a larger donation than necessary. A coupon inside each book gives the purchaser 15 percent off their next purchase. “We get so many of those coupons back. We get funds for philanthropic giving and we get another purchase,” she said.

BookPeople of Moscow organizes children’s ARCs by release date and many are used for donations to local schools or by the store’s teen advisory board, which “has really changed how we buy books for the store,” said DeHart. The teens choose young adult ARCs to read and provide feedback on, but they are not allowed to keep the books. “You don’t need to give those books away to them because they will buy them” when the finished book comes out, DeHart assured.

In the greater Moscow community, DeHart has coordinated a partnership with two area hospitals that now receive a bag of ARCs each month — stickered to render each one a coupon for use at the bookstore — to place in lobbies, waiting rooms, and staff break rooms. In return, BookPeople of Moscow is the vendor for all hospital events that involve book purchases.

DeHart also makes it a practice to maintain strong relationships with teachers, librarians, and principals, and asks to be informed when new teachers are hired. She shares advance reading copies with local teachers, who come back to place orders for their classrooms or events and introduce fellow teachers to the store.

These programs give DeHart and other store staff members an opportunity to revisit ARCs before they leave the store. “It’s a chance to look and hold every ARC in your hand and spend a moment with it,” she said, and to read it yourself or distribute it to staff if it needs another look. DeHart also ensures that every book given away carries BookPeople of Moscow’s name on it in some fashion. “Every book that leaves the store is branded back to us,” she said.

At Quail Ridge, adult ARCs are set aside for staff on shelves organized by publication month; children’s copies are arranged by publisher. “As the year goes on and the next season’s titles come in, anything from the past season becomes a candidate for donation for some purpose or one of the other things we do with them,” said Moyer.

Quail Ridge shares advance reading copies with the International Reading Association, whose meetings Moyer attends to give presentations about store, discuss new and upcoming books, and offer ARCs for attendees to take home, along with a store flier, events calendar, and ordering information. Quail Ridge also routinely gives away tote bags of ARCs and other promotional materials to charity organizations or to school parent-teacher associations for use in auctions, including a coupon or gift certificate that will lead the recipient back to the bookstore to make a purchase.

Once a year, during a monthly educator event called The View From Tuesday Evening, Quail Ridge invites professor Pauletta Brown Bracy of North Carolina Central University to share books from the previous year that have a multicultural element — many of which she learns about through advance copies provided by the bookstore. “This is our most popular educator night,” said Moyer, and for weeks afterward, teachers and librarians return to the store to place orders.

The primary reason publishers make ARCs available to booksellers is to generate excitement about upcoming books, said Supovitz, noting how much publishers appreciate getting early feedback from booksellers, both directly and for the Indie Next List.

Von Bargen echoed her request for early commentary about upcoming titles. “The feedback that comes from you, from your customers and you directly, is a great help to our editors, to our marketing department. We do look at that when making decisions about our resources, just like you would,” he said.

DeHart said she writes and sends off a review for any book she has read 50 to 100 pages of, because publishers recognize the effort and then send more ARCs to the store. She also shares with publishers the thank-yous the store gets from those on the receiving end of ARCs, which she said is always appreciated.

The important thing to remember is that advance reading copies are not for sale, said von Bargen, who requested that booksellers keep in mind the intended purpose of publishers’ ARC programs. “They’re an extension of the marketing programs that we do. Being able to utilize that and get a second life out of these books is terrific, as long as we remember the spirit in which they’re used. It doesn’t do anyone any good if they replace a sale.”

Supovitz reminded booksellers that ARCs cost much more than finished books because the print runs are so much lower. The average price of an ARC is $6, she said, and asked that booksellers really spend time with the ARCs before sharing. “The purpose of the ARCs going to your bookstores is to have you and your staff read them first. We appreciate if staff first takes a look at them and circulates them before giving them away,” said Supovitz.

DeHart urged booksellers to stay true to publishers’ rules regarding ARCs so they will continue producing and distributing them. “I would encourage you all to be absolutely, 100 percent following the guidelines for this. There’s no gray area,” she said.