Friday, March 11, 2011

What Have I Been Doing?

Lately I have been reading a LOT. I have been reading books I've borrow, bought, or received as gifts and have been sitting on my shelves for a long time. I think now that I'm almost a year past Grad School I am ready to dive back into the world of reading for pleasure! In particular I have been reading a lot of ARC's lately that I got for free when I went to an ALA Conference in San, Diego. If you have never heard of an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) before no worries I am hear to tell you about them.

What is an ARC?
An ARC is basically a almost published version of a book that a publisher gives out for free to start buzz, get reviews, etc. They often change cover art, edit a few things, but mostly when you read an ARC not much changes once it is published. If you want information about ARC's from a few other sources you can find them here and here.

What is a Galley?
While I knew what an ARC was before I went to the ALA Conference I had never hear of a galley before. Galley's are basically ARC's but they are digital. Often publishers will have these postcards with their upcoming books on them and how you can read a digital copy of that book. You can learn more about book galleys here.

How do I get an ARC?
There are a lot of different ways to get ARCs or Galleys. You can get to know an author and then ask them for an ARC/Galley of their upcoming book. You can get to know a publisher and ask them the same. You can go to Book Fairs, Book Conferences, ALA, etc. and you are bound to come home with more books than you ever imagined. You can find good information about getting ARCs here. You can find book ARCs/Galleys here.

In reading all kinds of books lately I decided that I want a place where I can talk about them. I also want to give some of my thoughts as review, start some dialogues, and so forth. Because of this I have started a new blog called: Find The Best. If you are interested in what I'm reading, writing, or reviewing come take a look.

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