The Thing About ARCs...

So, I got this...

And trust me when I say it’s even more gorgeous in person than it is in the picture!!!

But here’s the deal with ARCs (or Advance Reader Copies)...I sorta have mixed feelings about them.

On the one hand, I love them. I mean, when I open the box and see my manuscript all dressed up in gorgeous book form for the first time, I can hardly contain myself! I want to jump up and down, and weep tears of joy, and celebrate by throwing glitter in the streets--all at the same time! Seriously, getting ARCs is one of those moments in the publishing process that is almost surreal!     

Yet on the other hand, there’s another part of me that sort of hates them. You see, ARCs are unfinished versions of a book. Unfinished, meaning it’s been copyedited, but I still haven’t made that final, absolute, very last sweep through it to make all the changes I want to make.  For some writers, that pass may mean only 10 or 20 (or even 50) changes before they feel it’s really, really done. 

For me, it’s usually more. A lot, LOT more... 

Like up to 250 more wording tweaks, sentence changes, and even some flat out scene rewriting. This pass is almost an obsession for me, in which I become preoccupied over every single word choice, every comma, every transition from one scene to the next...I mean, this is my last chance to make any possible changes before it goes to press, after all!  And knowing that this advance version (as pretty as it may seem) actually goes out to early readers and reviewers as-is...well, it makes me just a tad twitchy.  Okay, more than just a tad.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m SUPER EXCITED for this book (this very real and beautiful book!) to start making its way out there!  And yes, I realize that reviewers know that these ARCs are not the final versions...but is it so crazy to want EVERYONE to read the best possible version??? Okay, yes, it probably is. 

Is it even more crazy that I might actually sleep with this ARC tucked under my pillow tonight??? You betcha!