Advance Reader Copies of books

[ksoehrlein]

Just got back from the book sale at our public library. Lots of old library books (2002 version of the UG, for example) but then I discovered the boxes of Advance Reader Copies of brand-new releases, some of which haven't even been officially published yet. They were soft-cover, which was fabulous, since the library charged $3 for hard-cover books and only $.50 for soft-cover!

I always shied away from the library book sale because I know how grungy old library books can get, but these were brand-new copies of newer-than-new releases. Some had disclaimers that the final edit hadn't been done yet, but who cares? I'll be paying closer attention to library book sales now that I know about this! FWIW, I got there at opening on day one of the sale, something I'd never done before.

DFIL is getting two new books for Christmas at a total cost of $1!

 

[challada]

ARC copies are great for fun reading, but know that they cannot lead a "second life"...ie, you can't resell them (was actually not legal for your library to sell them) and you cannot trade them (such as paperbackswap).

 

[ksoehrlein]

ARC copies are great for fun reading, but know that they cannot lead a "second life"...ie, you can't resell them (was actually not legal for your library to sell them) and you cannot trade them (such as paperbackswap).

Oopsie! Thanks for the info. That explains why I had never seen them anywhere before.

Out of curiosity, who do these usually go to? Book stores and reviewers? Anyone else?

 

[Cindy B]

You can't even check out advance copies out of my library. They are behind a counter that you can browse through in front of the librarians, but you can't walk away with them!

 

[HM]

Also remember that Advanced Reader copies sometimes are not the final edited version of the book. Often changes are made before the final publication.

 

[bigolive9]

usually book stores and reviewers get the advance reader copies. i have about 3 or 4 books that my husband got for me when he worked at a bookstore that were advance copies. the only big thing i noticed was some spelling/typing errors that hadn't been caught by editing. Also, one of them had a page either out of order or in the book twice.