The ARC Reviews are in!
- Cecilia Perry
- Mar 28
- 2 min read
When I first sent out the ARCs on February 11, I honestly had no idea whether people would like my little book baby. To be honest, I skipped some of the typical steps associated with publishing a book, including having Alpha or Beta readers, so this was the first time EVER that someone read my novel. To say that I was nervous about the reviews would be the understatement of the year.
However, within a couple of days(!), the first review was in, and it turns out I'm not the only one who has fallen in love with Peyton, Henry, and his family.
It's really difficult to pick a favourite review, but I wanted to share a few of my faves (you can read more on Goodreads and Fable):
For complete transparency, I thought I'd also share the ARC stats to date (as of March 28):
194 ARC requests received (coming mainly from ARC review groups on Facebook, as well as a few Instagram posts). Money spent: $0
161 ARCs sent out (83%) after removing a handful of duplicates, submissions with incorrect email addresses, and people without ANY kind of review history or social media presence (unless they explicitly stated that they were new to ARC reading). Money spent: $100 (Bookfunnel distribution)
136 downloads via Bookfunnel (84%). Money spent: $0
40(ish) reviews received across Goodreads, Fable, and social media (approx. 25% response rate out of the total ARCs sent out). Money spent: $0
Total cost: $100
Key learnings:
What worked well:
Sending out the ARCs early (6 weeks before release) worked out nicely, since I was able to use some of the early reviews for marketing.
Leveraging free Facebook groups instead of paid ARC services to find readers.
Setting up a Google form to gather ARC reader information.
Using Bookfunnel to send out ARCs.
Setting a high target (100 signups); considering the typical response rate (I've read it's usually somewhere between 10–33%), I will definitely target 100+ ARC readers again.
What I will do differently next time:
For my next book, I will be contacting a handful of Beta readers first, to make sure that that book also hits the mark and to make the ARC process slightly less stressful.
Before I go, I would be remiss not to mention that I have lowered the preorder price for 'Stupid, Childish Games' to only $0.99 for a very limited time. If any of the reviews above caught your eye, consider preordering a copy or reading it on Kindle Unlimited once it becomes available on March 31st.
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