How to Get Advance Reader Copies in 2026 📚

You get advance reader copies by requesting them on reviewer platforms like NetGalley, BookSirens, and Edelweiss+, by emailing publisher publicity teams two to three months before release, and by building a small but genuinely active review presence that publishers can verify.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• The five channels that actually supply ARCs, ranked by how hard they are to break into
• Why your NetGalley feedback ratio matters more than your follower count
• The exact structure of a publisher ARC request email that gets a yes
• The FTC and Amazon disclosure rules you must follow when you review a free copy

Here’s how each channel works, starting with what an ARC actually is.

What Is an Advance Reader Copy?

Advance reader copy (ARC) — An uncorrected pre-publication edition of a book, sent free to reviewers, booksellers, librarians, and media before the official release date in exchange for honest reviews and early word of mouth.

ARCs come in two forms. Digital ARCs arrive as a file you read on a Kindle, tablet, or app, and they make up the overwhelming majority of what you’ll receive.

Physical ARCs are printed paperbacks with plain or non-final covers, usually stamped “uncorrected proof” and “not for sale.” They cost publishers real money to print and ship, so they go to the highest-value reviewers first.

The text inside is not final. You’ll find typos, missing chapter breaks, and occasionally placeholder art. That’s expected — you’re reading a book that hasn’t finished editing yet.

How Do You Get Advance Reader Copies for Free?

You get advance reader copies for free through five channels: digital ARC platforms (NetGalley, BookSirens, Edelweiss+), direct publisher requests by email or form, indie author ARC teams, Goodreads and Facebook giveaway groups, and publisher newsletters that announce reviewer calls. Every ARC is free by definition — you never pay for one.

The catch is that “free” doesn’t mean “unconditional.” You’re trading a review for the book, and publishers track whether you deliver.

Here’s how the five channels compare on difficulty and volume.

Where to Get ARCs: The 5 Channels Ranked

1. BookSirens — Easiest Starting Point

BookSirens is the lowest-friction way in. You sign up as a reviewer, pick your genres, and browse a catalogue that refreshes with hundreds of new titles each month.

There are no per-book application forms. If a title is open in your genre, you claim it and start reading.

The trade-off is catalogue composition. BookSirens leans heavily indie and small-press, so you won’t find many Big Five lead titles there. For building a review history from zero, that’s an advantage, not a drawback.

2. NetGalley — The Industry Standard

NetGalley is where most traditional publishers list their digital ARCs. You create a profile, request individual titles, and the publisher approves or declines each request.

Approval is not automatic, and that’s what trips up new members. You’ll get declined on hyped titles for months while your profile has no history behind it.

Start with “Read Now” titles — books publishers have made available without approval. Ten completed Read Now reviews build the track record that unlocks the approval-required ones.

3. Indie Author ARC Teams — Fastest Yes

Independent authors run their own ARC teams and are almost always short on readers. Follow authors in your genre on Instagram, TikTok, or their newsletter, and watch for ARC signup calls before each release.

The application is usually a short form: your genres, where you post reviews, and your Amazon or Goodreads profile link. Most authors accept anyone who reads the genre and can commit to a launch-week review.

If you want to understand what those authors are looking for, our guide on how authors find ARC readers lays out the criteria from the other side of the table.

4. Publisher Email Requests — Highest Value, Highest Bar

Publicity teams at publishing houses send ARCs directly, including physical copies. This is how book bloggers and Bookstagrammers get the finished hardcovers you see in unboxing posts.

Find the publisher of a book you want, go to their media or publicity page, and locate the ARC request contact. Large houses list a different email per imprint — using the wrong one gets you ignored.

Request two to three months before publication date. Later than that and the ARC print run is already allocated.

5. Edelweiss+ — The Trade Catalogue

Edelweiss+ started as a catalogue tool for booksellers and librarians, and it still behaves like one. The interface is dense and the learning curve is steeper than NetGalley’s.

That difficulty is also the opportunity. Fewer casual reviewers compete for the same titles, so a serious reviewer with a completed profile often gets approved on Edelweiss+ for books NetGalley declined.

How to Get Approved on NetGalley

You get approved on NetGalley by keeping your feedback ratio at or above 80%, writing a specific reviewer profile, and requesting selectively rather than in bulk. NetGalley recommends the 80% benchmark directly, and publicists sort request queues by that number before they read a single bio.

That ratio is the single most important number on your account. It is the percentage of approved titles you’ve submitted feedback for.

Here’s how one NetGalley publicist described the process in an interview on the platform’s own Bookish blog: they start approvals from the highest feedback ratios down, and only start reading bios once requests fall below 80%.

Protect the ratio from day one

The failure pattern is predictable. New members request thirty exciting titles, get approved for twelve, read four, and watch their ratio collapse to 33%.

Requesting fewer books is the fix. Three active ARCs at a time is a sustainable pace for most readers, and it keeps your ratio in approval territory permanently.

If your ratio has already dropped, NetGalley’s own recovery guidance suggests pausing new requests entirely and raising the number one percentage point at a time.

Write a profile publishers can act on

A bio that says “I love reading!” gives a publicist nothing. A bio that says “I review contemporary romance and romantasy on Goodreads and Instagram, averaging 40 reviews a year, with reviews cross-posted to Amazon at release” gives them a reason.

Include your review outlets with links, your genres, your average monthly review count, and where you cross-post. Specificity beats enthusiasm every time.

Negative reviews do not hurt your approval odds. Publishers value honest feedback — a profile full of five-star raves reads as less useful, not more.

How to Write an ARC Request Email to a Publisher

An effective ARC request email is short, names the specific title and publication date, states where your review will appear with links, includes your mailing address for physical copies, and explains in one line why this book fits your audience.

Publicists read hundreds of these. Yours needs to be scannable in fifteen seconds.

Subject: ARC Request — [Book Title] (Pub date: [Month Year])

Body structure:

1. One sentence naming the title, author, and imprint
2. Who you are and where you review, with live links
3. Your audience size or review volume, stated plainly
4. One sentence on why this specific book fits what you cover
5. Your preference (digital or physical) and your full mailing address
6. A single-line close offering to send the review link on publication

Skip the flattery paragraph. Skip the life story. Publicists want to know whether the copy will convert into a review, and everything else is noise.

If you’ve reviewed for that imprint before, say so in the second sentence. Prior delivery is the strongest signal you can send.

Do You Need a Big Following to Get ARCs?

No, you do not need a big following to get advance reader copies. BookSirens, NetGalley Read Now titles, and indie author ARC teams all accept reviewers with no audience at all. Follower count only becomes a gatekeeper for physical ARCs from large publishers, which represent a small fraction of what’s available.

What replaces followers is a verifiable review history. A Goodreads profile with sixty honest reviews is more persuasive to a publicist than an Instagram account with 5,000 followers and no book content.

Build the history first. Access to the harder channels follows from it, not the other way around.

If you’re building a review presence from scratch, our guides on how to write a book review and getting traction on Bookstagram cover the craft and distribution sides.

Do You Have to Disclose That You Got a Free Copy?

Yes. The FTC requires you to disclose any material connection between you and the product you’re reviewing, and a free book is a material connection. Amazon explicitly permits ARC reviews on the condition that you disclose the free copy and that no one required or influenced the review.

One sentence satisfies both. Put it at the top or bottom of every review:

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

That’s the entire obligation. The FTC’s endorsement guidance requires the disclosure to be clear and hard to miss — not buried in a hashtag block or a link.

Two lines you cannot cross. An author or publisher may not require a positive review in exchange for the copy, and you may not accept payment on top of the book for an Amazon review. Both violate Amazon’s community guidelines and can get your reviewing account removed.

Can You Sell or Give Away an Advance Reader Copy?

Don’t. ARCs are printed with “not for sale” on the cover because publishers intend them for review use only, and the author earns nothing on a resold copy.

The legal position is murkier than the ethical one — Book Riot’s analysis notes that property you receive is generally yours to dispose of. But Amazon’s marketplace only permits ARC listings for out-of-print titles, and publicists blacklist reviewers they catch reselling.

Passing a physical ARC to another reviewer in your circle is normal and accepted. Listing it on a marketplace the week of release is the thing that ends your access.

How Long Does It Take to Start Getting ARCs?

Most reviewers receive their first ARC within one to two weeks of signing up, using BookSirens or NetGalley Read Now titles. Approval-required NetGalley titles typically open up after five to ten completed reviews, which takes two to three months at a normal reading pace.

Physical ARCs from large publishers are a longer game — usually six to twelve months of consistent public reviewing before publicity teams add you to a mailing list.

The sequence matters more than the speed. Volume of requests early on hurts you; volume of completed reviews early on helps you.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Requesting in bulk. Every approval you don’t review drags your feedback ratio down and shrinks your future access.
• Reviewing only what you loved. Skipping the books you disliked distorts your ratio and reads as unreliable to publishers.
• Posting the review after launch week. ARC reviews are most valuable in the days before and after release — late reviews still count for your ratio but not for the publisher’s goals.
• Omitting the disclosure. One missing line can get an Amazon review removed and, repeated, your account flagged.
• Treating an ARC as a free book. It’s a working copy attached to an obligation. If you can’t finish it, submit feedback saying so rather than going silent.
• Emailing the wrong imprint. Large publishers route ARC requests per imprint, and a misaddressed request is simply deleted.

How Do Authors Get ARC Readers for Their Own Book?

If you’re on the other side of this — an author trying to line up reviews before launch — the mechanics reverse. You’re recruiting, vetting, and managing readers rather than applying to be one.

Start with our advance reader copy guide for the full campaign structure, then ARC team management for running the team once it exists. If you’re considering the paid route, NetGalley for authors covers listing costs and co-op options.

Reviews are the last step of a launch, not the first. Our book launch checklist sequences the whole run-up, and how to get book reviews on Amazon covers what happens after release day.

Our Pick — Chapter

Before you can send ARCs, you need a finished manuscript. Chapter takes you from idea to a complete, structured draft — 10,000+ authors have used it to write and publish books.

Best for: Authors who have the book in their head but not on the page Pricing: $97 one time, 2 books included (fiction or nonfiction), 30-day money-back guarantee Why we built it: Most ARC campaigns stall because the manuscript isn’t ready in time, not because the reader outreach failed.

What’s the Difference Between an ARC Reader and a Beta Reader?

An ARC reader receives a finished, edited book before publication and provides a public review. A beta reader receives an unfinished draft and provides private developmental feedback to the author.

The timing separates them. Beta readers come months before publication and shape the book; ARC readers come weeks before publication and shape the launch.

You can do both, but they call for different skills. Beta reading is closer to editing — our guide to beta readers explains what that work involves.

FAQ

Are advance reader copies free?

Yes, advance reader copies are always free. Publishers and authors provide them at no cost in exchange for an honest review posted around the publication date. If a site asks you to pay for an ARC, it is not a legitimate ARC program — reselling review copies is against most retailers’ policies.

How do I get physical ARCs instead of digital ones?

You get physical ARCs by requesting them directly from publisher publicity teams, two to three months before release, with your mailing address included in the request. Physical copies cost publishers money to print and ship, so they go to reviewers with a demonstrated audience and review history rather than to new accounts.

What is a good NetGalley feedback ratio?

A good NetGalley feedback ratio is 80% or higher. NetGalley recommends this benchmark directly, and publicists sort approval queues by feedback ratio before reading profiles. A ratio below 60% is the most common reason established accounts start getting declined on new requests.

Can you give an ARC a bad review?

Yes, you can give an ARC a bad review. Publishers ask for honest reviews, not positive ones, and critical feedback does not reduce your approval odds. Requiring a positive review in exchange for a copy violates Amazon’s review policy, so no legitimate publisher or author will ask for one.

Do ARC reviews count on Amazon?

Yes, ARC reviews count on Amazon as long as you disclose the free copy. They post as unverified purchases rather than Verified Purchase reviews, which carries slightly less weight, but they still appear on the product page and contribute to the total review count and star rating.

When should I post my ARC review?

Post your ARC review during launch week — ideally on or within a few days of the publication date. Retailers like Amazon do not accept reviews before a book goes live, so schedule your Goodreads or blog review early and cross-post to retailers the moment the book releases.