Review Writing part 4.2 – ARC

Each reviewer is going to have to decide for themselves what it is worth to them to handle the ARC and the possible ethical ramifications. I cannot tell you what you should do, because it is not my place to do so. Nor is each situation exactly the same. But I can warn you that there will be situations where you will have to decide on how you are going to handle it, and the decisions will not be easy.

But to give you two examples of how I have handled some of my own issues, I will relate two brief stories. I received ARCs on the material and had to make a decision.

The first one involves my own standard of ethics. I am not one for blatant use of other people’s material. A book that an author was promoting to launch several associated ventures he had going used material from other sources and constantly compared the material to two well known series. While the material may or may not have been copyright infringement, depending on how you interpret copyright laws, I was not impressed with the content, the value of the book or the author‘s cheap comparisons to boost his own presence. And I said so in my review.

Needless to say, I received some very off color emails, hate mail from his diehard fans and eventually the review was removed from the posted location because of constant pressure from the author. But not before some other readers agreed with my thinking. I believe, and this is my opinion, that I stuck true to my own set of ethics and it appears that there were readers who agreed. I am not loved by the author in question, but neither do I care. But I still have the respect of the reading community and to me that is more important than the ire of one bad author.

As a side note – I still receive ARCs for this author‘s work.

But in another instance, what started out as a really good series got itself trapped in constant squabbling between the main characters and the original focus was lost, at least to me. Looking for the original theme of the series, a mystery, became impossible to find once the main characters started bickering between themselves and became wrapped up in themselves. The mystery aspect became lost.

But the series is successful. And I am very fond of some of the early stories. They are well written, great pieces of literature in their own right. So, rather than get into a situation where in the future the author may work out the issues and produce some first rate work again, I dropped the series for now, and will revisit the works at a later date and see if the material has improved to my own level of interest. Because I have not reviewed any of the books in this series lately, I do not receive any more ARCs, but I can pay for the book if I feel the material has improved enough to interest me.

You may find yourself approaching some similar situations as a review writer, and you may find yourself handling these differently, but that is the choice you make and live with.

To be considered by a publisher as a reviewer worthy of ARCs is a position of responsibility as well as honor. And we find ourselves in a seat that can be uncomfortable. But we also know that once we receive that first ARC from the publisher, we have reached a level of success in our chosen career. It is something to work towards as you start out reviewing.

2 Responses to “Review Writing part 4.2 – ARC”

1. cp brakewell says:

   February 22, 2010 at 1:34 pm

   Food for thought, (well, what I could read of it). I am color blind (protanopia in my case). I mainly use Safari browser (unsure if that is important), and much of your webpage is hard for me to read. I don’t wish to whinge, and I know it is my problem really, nevertheless it would be nice if you would bear in mind color blind surfers while doing the next web page design.
2. Sara Slack says:

   February 23, 2010 at 11:55 pm

   Hi there,

   At the moment, I don’t have the required expertise to develop a site which is ‘friendly’ to a host of different readers, but now that you’ve brought this to my attention, I’ll certainly keep it in mind for future developments. Thank you.