Dear John:
I was recently browsing your site as it popped up as a sponsored page on my Facebook. I noticed that you are selling some ARCs and was just wondering about the legality of that since I've been told it was illegal to sell them? I was just interested in some of them and wanted to check in first.
Thanks so much,
Destinee
John replies:
Hi Destinee -
It is a contentious subject in the book industry, but for book COLLECTORS it's a non-conversation. As booksellers (that focus on the collector niche) we see our primary goal is the promotion of the author and ALL of their work. If there is a t-shirt, a poster and yes, an Advance Reading Copy that gets people interested in the author and their bibliography (not just the current title, but back list titles as well), then we want to get that in the hands of the reader, potential fan, and collector.
Illegal? No - publishers don't want them sold because they didn't receive (direct) revenue from offering them. We see this as short-sighted. We receive the promotional ARCs, review the books, give them away and yes, sell them, as well as interview (we have a BlogTalkRadio channel). Their (ARCs) value, however, is in more than the money exchanged, and book collectors expect those unique titles and editions.
I'm sure this doesn't "clear up" all of the confusion you may have had, but I hope it helps.
John
Ask John at: [email protected]
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