Step Eighteen: The Galleys

The First Hint Of What’s To Come

The next few steps in the process of publishing a book are somewhat quick and painless, though this particular step is fraught with anxiety.

The galleys, or Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs)—the terms are interchangeable— have gone out for LAST SEEN.

Why does this cause anxiety, you may ask? Because this, my friends, is the step where the tastemakers, influencers, and reviewers, and yes, a few elite readers, too, get to see the physical manifestation of what this book has become. And they get to judge the book on its face. It is their response to this stage of the process that can make or break a book’s trajectory. Starred reviews pour in and a book is made. No reviews, or worse—negative reviews, and everyone starts reevaluating what they’re going to do about the PR and marketing in the leadup to release. You need to capture the attention of the market at this point, and do so in a positive manner, or you might have a more uphill battle to sales success.

Yes. Yikes. 😬

This step puts the book into a veritable no man’s land. It has been deemed ready for the industry professionals to read, but as of this writing, no input has been received. No reviews, no ratings, no stars. The story is just floating about in the ether, living in the stacks of media mail that every reviewer receives. Something must tip the scales to allow for a deeper look. Be that the cover, the marketing copy, the author, the title, or just plain curiosity—the book must stand on its own now.

When I did a galley giveaway a couple of weeks ago, I recieved a question about what the purpose of having a galley is. Because galleys are uncopyedited proofs of the book, not the final version. At least rarely the final version. The question was why would you send an unfinished book into the world.

That’s a good question—and the answer has everything to do with the lead time of the various publications that we hope will cover the book, be it with a review, an article, an interview, or any other kind of PR that comes from this round of outreach.

You will see books being talked about months in advance of their actual release date. That is all part of the prepublication marketing. Galleys are a major initiative in the campaign. Some books don’t get galleys, and I’m always grateful that my publishers do send my books out early for review.

The physical galley is different than the bound manuscript that went out for blurbs—it has a cover, marketing plans, tour info, and other details that help the professionals prioritize their coverage listed not he back or inside. Sometimes there’s a letter from the editor telling the reviewer why they should pay attention to this particular book. Again, we’re competing for eyeballs and limited resources, so anything that makes a galley catchy helps.

There are only a handful of traditional trade review sites left now—and the biggest are Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Kirkus reviews. Obviously, the New York Times is the prestigious one everyone wants…but that’s one I’ve never managed to crack into. There are many more review sites, some huge, some small, some extremely influential, some run for the love of the books they review. These are comprised of newspapers and magazines and online forums and catalogues and bookstores. They are all receiving hundreds—thousands—of books that they must choose from. It is highly competitive, and nothing is ever guaranteed. As review space dwindles and reviewers are let go, the number of places to get these vital early reviews goes by the wayside.

(True story — my very first byline was a mini review in Elle magazine. This was a few years before I tried my hand at fiction. I would die of happiness if they ever featured one of my books.)

It used to be galleys were the only way to see what sort of book you wanted to stock, but obviously, everything has gone digital now, so some say physical ARCs are becoming a bit of a relic. They are expensive. The coverage is far from guaranteed. Some people are tacky enough to take them and sell them on EBay—a HUGE no no in the industry. That’s why many of the mega bestsellers never ever have galleys. They don’t want to the story getting out early and ruining it. And yes, there’s also the bottom line to consider—the whole free milk from the cow scenario. Some authors just don’t need the extra push.

They are still very, very important though. Why? Inumerable reasons. All of this begins the wave that marketing and PR capitalize on.

Bookstores get galleys so they can decide who to request on their seasonal grids. I make sure all of my indie friends get early copies of the books.

Sales teams use the galleys as an expansion of their catalogs, delivering promised material based on the seasonal offerings, too. You want the accounts: Costco, Barnes & Noble, Target, Books-A-Million, etc., to order the book, and the galley can solidify the buyers instincts about how many to order.

Libraries see these early copies too, and that helps them decide what books to stock for their patrons. (PS - if you’re so inclined, go to your library website and request LAST SEEN. Thank you very much!)

You’ve certainly heard of Netgalley—a place where reviewers are able to request the books. Edelweiss, too, has DRCs (another pseudonym - digital review copies) for their accounts to download copies, too.

And more. Always more. The industry innovates constantly.

And of course, this is the point where you start seeing the book on social media. It’s started showing up on Instagram this week, and readers are starting to mark it as Want to Read on Goodreads.

We did a cover reveal that drove some early looks, which I’ll talk about when I go deeper into the marketing and PR. But now, weeks later, the physical galleys are showing up in influencers’ feeds, and I am a cat on a hot tin roof. I know in the next few weeks, feedback will start. The book isn’t mine anymore, I understand this, but I also don’t know what anyone outside of my team and early readers think about it. It’s scary. Honestly, it is. You just never know how a book will land in the market. Quiet books go on to be monster bestsellers. Loud books can flop. Books I’ve felt aren’t my best work get raves, and ones that I belabored die on the vine. You just never know.

But sometimes, there are a lot of accolades, and the book lives up to the pressure, and goes on to be a bestseller. That’s what I’m hoping for here.

Like I said, we’re in No Man’s Land.

As a professional in the industry, I too receive galleys. Some are for endorsement, some are for me to consider for the show. I understand, deeply, how one must prioritize one’s reading life to accomodate both the professional and the personal reads.

It doesn’t make this moment any easier.

So, in the meantime, while we wait to see if the book lands… I have a galley for YOU! Leave me a comment and I’ll pick one of you to get an early look.

Also, Founders, your books are in the mail! 😘

I’m going to go deeper into the Marketing and PR for LAST SEEN next time. Until then…

This post is part of my paid craft series delineating the 22 Steps of a novel’s lifecycle from concept to publication day, following my journey as I write my new novel, LAST SEEN. Start here if you’re new and you’d like to follow along in order, and if this is your free post, upgrade your subscription to get the entire series as it releases.