Stop Sending ARCs to Strangers

Every publisher knows the frustration. You distribute twenty ARCs. Eight reviewers post nothing. Four post one-liners that don't help anyone. Two post reviews on platforms your readers don't use. You end up with fewer than half the returns you were hoping for, and no way to know why.

The problem usually isn't the reviewers. It's the matching. When you send ARCs based on little more than a username and a stated preference for 'literary fiction', you are guessing. And in a landscape where ARC distribution takes real time and your launch window is short, guessing is expensive.

What you actually need to know before you send

A reviewer worth sending to should be able to answer three questions:

• Do they genuinely read in your genre, or do they just say they do?
• Do they follow through? A reviewer who has posted ten detailed reviews is more reliable than one who has requested fifty books and reviewed three.
• Do they have an audience that will actually see their review?

Most ARC platforms give you none of this information upfront. You get a name and a preference list. The rest is optimism.

Pre-qualify reviewers on I Turn Pages

I Turn Pages gives publishers a visible reviewer profile before a single ARC changes hands. You can see which genres a reviewer has actually posted in, how many reviews they have completed, and how their reviews are rated by the wider community. Our Top Reviewers feature surfaces the most consistent and trusted voices on the platform, so you can prioritise them without any guesswork.

You can also filter by genre interest and reading history when inviting reviewers into a group or an ARC campaign. Rather than opening up a request and hoping the right people apply, you approach the readers who already have a track record with your type of book.

The difference it makes at launch

When you send fewer, better-matched ARCs, the return rate goes up. Reviews are more considered, more useful to readers, and more likely to be posted somewhere your audience will find them. A smaller number of well-placed reviews from verified readers does more for a launch than a large batch of ARCs distributed to whoever raised their hand first.

Over time, publishers who use I Turn Pages build a shortlist of go-to reviewers for each genre in their catalogue. Not because they've had to manually track everything in a spreadsheet, but because the platform shows them who has consistently delivered.

Fewer strangers. Better matches. More reviews that actually land. That's what pre-qualifying your reviewers looks like in practice.