Part I – ARC Etiquette
This really is dependant on the publisher, Nereyda. Most state, that they prefer you post within the month of the release, but others have told me anytime is good as long as it’s before the release date. I’ve posted after release date before, mainly because it takes me so long to get to some books. I’ve actually waited until the second book was about to be released to post the review, but I’m not sure how that played in the publisher’s eye. My advice to you, would be to build a communication line with certain publishers and ask their preference if you tend to get books from them regularly. From my experience I know a few publishers have specific preferences, others really aren’t particular. And it might even vary between your contacts, since they have different Marketing reps for divisions. It can be confusing. But rule of thumb I would say about a month before release day to the release date, is target.
Always ask the author first when giving an ARC away… if it is before release day. After the book has been released, you are pretty much in the clear. This goes for starting ARC tours and things like that. It is always better to ask for permission. The reason for this is because sometimes they have restrictions on distribution, or only a limited number of ARCs because of secrecy, those types of things.
Mass distributed ARCs at conferences though are another thing and I’m always up in the air regarding ALA or BEA books. They give away hundreds and a lot of them end up on eBay being sold or Bloggers grabbing doubles and even triples. I don’t think they expect permissions for giving those away. This really only comes into play when you are specifically selected to get an ARC.
Part II – Technical Issues
I get stuff like this:
” Posted by Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com at 11:21 AM 69 comments · Email ThisBlogThis! … News Flash: Coupon for Tales of Whimsy Readers …”
How do I get a description of my site to appear?
For example when I Google you I see this: “Parajunkee’s View is the home of all things paranormal. The blog is a promotion/review spot for books, movies and anything else that might be …”
Thanks R 
– Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com
Juju – you need to set up your meta tags. These are special HTML tags that give the browser your “metadata”.
Just tag strings that you place within yourarea. It is easy in theory, but can be rather confusing. Take a look at this tutorial, it might help you out: Blog Know How
The read more link actually helps your blog load faster for people landing on your homepage if you have a lot of posts generated on your landing page. Your SEO is not going to be impacted, because the words and keywords that you are sending out there will lead people to your actual posts, so they are still there and working.
This is the manually inserted READ MORE link, not the automatically “excerpt” posts set up for Reader.
As a personal choice, I kind of like the read more link for large posts, but if you have short little posts, there doesn’t seem to be a need for it. I specifically make sure I do a read more link on posts with Linky Lists, or other type of scripts that have to load and tend to lag down a blog.
Happy Thursday. Talk Less. Read More. Blog with Integrity.
Ask A QuestionHave a question? Fill out the form by clicking on the button to the left. This will go into a spreadsheet to be looked over at a later date and hopefully answered on this blog. This is completely anonymous, you do not have to leave your real name. Urls will not be included in your question unless it pertains to the question.
Latest posts by Parajunkee (see all)
- Feature & Follow #149 – May 16, 2013
- Ten Tips for New Bloggers – May 16, 2013
- The Adventures of Evil Book Blogger Ep. 1 – May 15, 2013
- PJV News: Hot Books Releasing Today – May 14, 2013
- Breath by Jackie Morse Kessler – May 13, 2013
- Feature & Follow #148 – May 9, 2013
- Twitter Etiquette – May 9, 2013
- My Favorite Book is become a movie…an obsession story. – May 8, 2013
- ‘Til The World Ends (Anthology) by Julie Kagawa , Ann Aguirre and Karen Duvall – May 7, 2013
- Hot Books Releasing Today – May 7, 2013
Personally,
I post the reviews on release week and never before the book is out. As a
reader, I hate reading early reviews of books I can’t immediately get; I have
unfollowed blogs for posting reviews as early as 3 or 4 months. I do think that
the reviews should be posted close to release day (maybe during release week or
so) especially if it’s an ARC they sent months before. But I’ve never had a
publisher ask for me to post the review before release day, and I’ve never had
an issue with any publisher for posting them after.
I agree, I never publish (much) before the release day (usually in the week after). My readers often say, Oh, I’ll look for that book tomorrow when I’m shopping. It’s not nice if I have to say, But it’s not out yet for another few days!!
I always contact the publisher when my review is up and they have never commented on it being late or anything else. So I don’t think it matters much.
Although, to be fair, I did a poll/post on the blog about early reviews, and most of the voters said they liked early reviews as long as they were posted close to release day. Of course, those are just the opinions of the 3 people who read my blog! LOL
The ARC etiquette was really helpful for me. I’ve always wondered if it was okay to give away my ARC’s.
Very helpful post. Thanks for posting this.
I always look at publisher’s guidelines on Netgalley to see what their preferences are before posting. If they don’t state a time, I post a review within a 3 month window. But most usually like a month.
Now posting after release dates…it happens. Like in April of this year, I received so many books, and I’m not complaining, but I couldn’t get to them all before the drop date. I did want to read them, however, and I review every book I read. So I still state how I received it. And in the end, I am still giving publicity to that book, even if it’s after the release date. It’s a front-list title, so it’s all good.
I still have an April book left, actually….
Thank you sweetie. I was able to figure it out. I hope I’m not the only one that has wondered this.
Thanks for the info on meta tags! I had no clue; something to add to my list of to-do’s.
Where do I send my payment?
hee, hee
Ha!!! Ha-HA!!
I was wondering why in the world my blog opened slow!! I don’t want to give anything up, I like it all, like the stuff in my sidebars and long posts and lots of ‘em and everything, so this is sooooooo SAWEEET to know!! I’ll add breaks. Or more correctly, I’ll attempt to add page breaks for that “click more” thingy.
THANK YOU!!
Seriously, some of this stuff you’d think is obvious & yet I have “Oh, Yea!! Cool!” moments nearly every week. Lol.
I love it when users use “breaks” to make their blog load cleaner and faster. It makes it so much easier to read and it makes it easier for me to scroll through and find something I want fast! If a blog takes a long time to load, I don’t read it! So clean up those sidebars and use those page breaks ladies! :->
DT
from Dead Trees and Silver Screens
Wow! I didn’t realize what showed up when I googled my blog. Thanks! And, I’ll have to see how to make a Read More link and see what people think. Thank you! I love these posts. They’re so helpful!