I couldn't help noticing that the first batch of books looks (from my perspective, at least) awfully similar, and given that I don't read much of any fiction I can't see my wanting to bother with any of these.

Is there any indication that the selection will be expanding to non-fiction stuff like Physics, Metaphysics, Politics, Archaeology, Religion, etc.?

I sure hope it won't all be fiction. I agree that the current books on offer seem to be much of a muchness. Heck, even a broader selection of fiction would be nice.

Same here. I don't like fiction, but I would be happy to read Philosophy, Anthropology, History, and any form of Science. Things along those lines.

Personally, I like both fiction and nonfiction so a variety would definitely be nice.

Hey, all just joined. The books look good, but I hope this expands to include a lot more books. More of a range would be great.

The only one that really struck my fancy was Peony in Love by Lisa See because her previous book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was one of the best historical fiction books I've ever read. Early Chinese history is definitely not one of my interests but she pulled me in and still has me in her grip.

But I definitely prefer non-fiction.

Message edited by its author, May 23, 2007, 3:26pm.

If the early reviewer book samples are anything like the advanced reader copies of books we get at my bookstore, I expect mostly fiction.

That's interesting. I know that both are made, but I have no idea of the breakdown.

It may be that bookstores aren't the targets of advanced readers editions for non-fiction, however. I mean, I got ARCs of Everything is Miscellaneous (fantastic) and The Starfish and the Spider (meh) because they're right up my alley, but I can't imagine that spraying bookstores with that sort of highly-focused book would work as well.

Message edited by its author, May 23, 2007, 7:23pm.

It must depend somewhat on how technical the book is, but I think advance reader copies of non-fiction tend to go to specialists and specialty / trade journals. I've got advance copies of some math and statistics textbooks hanging around, for instance.

Message edited by its author, May 23, 2007, 8:15pm.

When I worked at Borders, almost all of our ARCs were fiction (once in a while we'd get a biography or memoir). And more specifically, it was mainly literary fiction.

The logic behind it was that anyone buying non-fiction would be looking for something specific, and genre writers already had a loyal following. So the majority of browsers were browsing literary (and often mainstream) fiction. So, the majority of our ARCs were literary fiction because those who just browsed would want recommendations in that area.

There are many non-fiction books designed for the layreader and that is what I was referring to.

I know non-fiction does get released as ARCs as I have a few that I've acquired and they were released to non-specialists. I have more rigourous books which were released to specialists in the subject (including a few that were released directly to me). Unfortunately, my primary source of non-fiction ARCs and eval copies has since dried up.

#11 -- I agree. My sister works in a bookstore, and I have gotten ARCs of The Long Tail and a few other nonfiction titles from her. But her selection is definitely way more fiction.

The Long Tail is an interesting one insofar as it has a lot to say to booksellers.

Away by Amy Bloom seems to be interesting, I would like to get a chance to read this one...

However, message 10 not withstanding, I also would like to see a greater range of fiction, if not some non-fiction as well. I like literary fiction as well as the next guy and I'd love an opportunity to expand my reading scope. Also, I'm sure my wife would love a chance to read/review some of these... but some genre fiction thown into the mix would be a nice change. All the books currently seem to fit in the same themes.

They have to start somewhere, right? This is only the beginning. Let's give 'em a break.

And they did mention that the books we have in our collections may eventually influence what books are sent out by the publishers.

Not to whine or anything, but, although publishers are gung-ho to talk about anything, actually moving the ball on something like this takes a lot of effort. It's totally untested. (The first time anyone's ever done it.) And so forth. If this works—if everyone is happy—then I expect that RH and eventually other publishers will find it very handy, and expand both the numbers and the diversity of offerings. Cross your fingers.

I read mostly literary fiction so I like what I see. But there is an 'Oprah' feel to the selections, which are all by women, and mostly about women, if you notice.

Denton

I'm happy with the selections they are offering. All of them look like they would be interesting reads. My husband is like most of you and prefers mostly non-fiction, poertry, politics and religion. I've never gotten an advanced copy of a book before so will be kinda neat to be able to say I got one (if I'm chosen). How often will they add new books?

Literary fiction is all right as a change of pace, but I hope they are able to attract publishers of mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, history, biographies.....I know that my local mystery book store receives many ARC's and they occasionally let me have one. Do you think they could match the ARC's to the types of books in a person's library?

> 19

Do you think they could match the ARC's to the types of books in a person's library?

Indeed, that is what makes this Early Reviewer program unique: http://www.librarything.com/blog/2007/05...

It might be nice to see if any of the small, specialty publishers or niche publishers might have an interest in this - it would be great to have poetry selections (and there have to be a lot of poetry publishers just aching to get attention).

I agree. That would be nice. We're going to have to set some sort of barrier to the low-end, however. There are going to be self-published authors who want to donate five copies of something as a way of promoting their work. Any suggestions how to do it? I think it's probably just gut feel. I suppose a fee will help weed things out.

well Tim, I'm not sure that that would be such a bad idea - as it stands you are helping the publihing industry which is pretty closed and limiting, to continue in its rather ignorant ways

A fee might well help; it's also possible to limit it to publishers with a certain reputation or that publish books that win significant awards: On the Poetry front, I think of Copper Canyon or Greywolf - even New Directions, as a specialty publisher of high-quality literature and literature in translation.

But both Copper Canyon and Greywolf release a lot of great books that could use more exposure. Might be that the Poetry Foundation could help identify some as well.

Do university publications give ARC's?

#21- A lot of small presses don't do ARCs which are not cheap to produce and distribute. They do tend to send out some (not many) review copies which are the published edition. Some of them get a stamp but many don't.

That's a good point. They don't need to be ARCs per se, or even pre-release copies. I want to keep this a review thing, however, not a free publicity thing. The publicity here is supposed to be user-generated, not company pushed.

I would be OK will all fiction, as long as it becomes a wider selection of fiction.

I couldn't find one of the first batch I was interested in getting for free.

But if Non-fiction is an option I would be interested in that too.

ARC means advance review copies?

29> Yes

I was surprised that one of them appealed to me since I usually read fantasy but "Peony in Love" sounds like something I'd read.

#21 Poetry would be nice. It doesn't seem to get as much exposure as fiction does.

#31 - I also picked Peony in Love, and I did so based on my reading of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It wasn't something I would have normally picked up, but my sister-in-law recommended it, and really enjoyed it. It contains an eye-opening (and somewhat nauseating) crash course in the practice of foot binding!

I was without internet while I was moving so I didn't get to pick any books, but they all look great to me...and for FREE!! That's awesome. I can't wait for the next batch to come around so I have an opportunity to snatch some up. I'm a HUGE literary fiction fan so I'm happy with the selections.

clamairy, if you want the really nauseating version, see this serious historical study: howard levy, chinese footbinding: the history of a curious erotic custom.

I don't know if I could handle it, pechmerle. It was the 'erotic' element that really fried my mental circuits in the first place. This probably isn't a suitable topic for this group, but I'm not sure where it would belong. How could they break bones, bend, warp, and mutilate a foot, and somehow turn it into a sexual object? Don't answer that. I don't really want to know.

I work in an independent bookstore, and we get free ARC's from representatives from publishers, and we received Peony in Love, and I just LOVED it. I thought it was less extreme and brutal than Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and thought it was just marvelous. Though the owner, didn't seem to like it much.

Dang it! I snooze for two months and the nifty stuff starts. That's okay, 'cause I know about it now.

Well, since it's new, I suspect that main-stream fiction is where they will see the better numbers. If they are just testing the feasibility of using this as a semi-focused (sorry Tim) ARC outlet, they won't want to send out the really focused material yet.

However, looking around LT gives me the impression that there are quite a few "specialists" in attendance. I believe I've seen just about every science represented as well as most of the arts. I will admit to not having been a complete walkabout through LT yet, but the sampling I've done so far shows the availability. Of course, I don't have the inside information that someone like Tim would have, so I can't claim that there is a high percentage of "specialists" in attendance, just that there seem to be many.

Me, I like Sinus Friction...um... Science Fiction. And Fantasy. Put humor into either one and I'm gonna read it as if the words were disappearing. I'll even jump into a halfway decent YA book. I even like reading the layman-to-non-specialty science books (like The Bit and the Pendulum). I don't think I'd be the only one either.

When (not "if," because I don't see this program failing) these kinds of books become available, I'll surely be signing-up for the advance read.

It's not that I don't like regular fiction - the ether knows I've read enough of it - it's just that I don't get burnt-out reading science, science fiction or fantasy the same way that I get burnt-out reading fiction.

Message edited by its author, Jun 19, 2007, 4:09pm.

#25) They sure do. But you have to be in academia or have a connection in academia. I miss my eval copies from university presses!