At the end of last week a 3.5-year-old blog post made fresh rounds on Twitter. It prompted me to wonder about ARC book review etiquette and what that means to me versus what it might mean to others.
In the circulating blog post, the author provided suggestions about what to do if one finds one cannot review an ARC (advanced review copy) of a book. My personal philosophy about reviewing ARCs generally aligns fairly similarly with this blogger. However, this person also alleged that not reviewing an ARC amounts to theft of the ARC. In short, I agree with this person on some points, but not on others.
So, here I am, looking at ARC book review etiquette. Before I launch into the thick of it, please understand that much of what I wrote is personal opinion. I try to hold myself to it, but others may not feel it’s the correct course of action for them. I also am not perfect all of the time with my own philosophies, and I’ve learned to give myself grace. However, I recommend that reviewers consider and understand that there are some basic rules of etiquette in life. And those “rules” are perhaps good to apply to establishing and maintaining relationships. This includes for the book review world.
In this post I share my opinions on what is an ARC review commitment and why it’s a good idea to follow through on them. I also discuss why it’s not the end of the world to not leave an ARC review. Lastly, I discuss why I don’t believe it’s theft if the receiver of an ARC does not leave a review. This is not a post about book review etiquette with respect to style and faux pas, as Nicole described here. Rather, I provide, for consideration, the positives and negatives of leaving or not leaving ARC reviews.
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