Trad Vs Indie

Why don’t most indie authors offer physical ARCs?

I personally haven’t had any pushback from ARC (advance review copy) readers about this aspect of Indie Publishing, but I know that some authors have, so I thought I’d give a little peek behind the curtain about why your ARCs from indie authors will nearly always be ebooks and not paperbacks.

Spoiler: It’s not because we don’t want to send paperbacks.

Let’s talk money. One of the big differences between traditionally published authors and indie authors is that indie authors become defacto business owners. As business owners, all the money for launching our book comes out of our own pockets.

A trad author has been lucky enough to get a book deal, and with that book deal, there will normally be an advance given to the author. They are paid for a portion of their future royalties upfront. They will finally get paid something for the countless hours they’ve invested in writing that book, even before it’s published. Yay!

A trad author then hands over their manuscript and it is up to the publisher to edit it, provide a cover, make promotional materials, do advertising, send ARCs out, etc… They invest their capitol and take on the risk of failure/success.

On the other hand, by the time an indie author gets around to publishing their book, they have earned NOTHING, and they’re already in debt. Indie authors will usually have paid for a cover and editing at a minimum. But many also pay for developmental editing, proofreading, promotional materials, and ads.

By the time I get to publishing, I’ve usually invested between $1500 and $2000, depending on the length of the book.

So when it comes to sending ARCs, an indie author is more likely to send ebooks than paperbacks. If we want physical copies of our books, we PAY for them. If we need to send them to people, we would be paying for shipping. So as much as I would LOVE to see physical copies of my book baby in the hands of early readers, it simply does not make good business sense to invest that kind of money when the ebook can be reproduced and distributed for free.

Luckily, most ARC readers are happy to have an early copy no matter the format and are wonderfully supportive, but to those who have a strong preference for paperbacks, hopefully this helps with understanding why it’s not something that’s normally done among indie authors.

For Fun

I created these graphics for instagram, but they do such a good job of showing how my Dalthia and Winberg books are interconnected that I wanted to share them here as well!

Here they are all together.

Books of Dalthia

And Tales of Winberg

Clean Romance Highlights

I’ve got three holiday books for you this week! All new releases. All on KindleUnlimited.

The first is an autumn romcom from Bella Greene called Espresso Your Love.

The handsome K9 cop next door? Let’s just say he’s the dark roast to my sweet latte – bold, strong, and impossible to ignore.

A wintery read from Hazel Belle. Finding Me in the Storm.

A snowstorm leaves me stranded at a cozy, remote ski lodge, and the charming owner might just be the festive joy my heart has been longing for.

And a Christmas book from Jennifer Griffith, titled The Mistletoe Lift.

She’s stuck in the broken office elevator under the mistletoe—with the office flirt.