A Slice of Orange

I am finally doing something I should have done a while ago…set up an Advance Reader Group.

I made a poor first attempt at this about a year ago.  I say poor, because only one person responded.  I’m not sure why the response was so poor, but it was.

This time, I’m attacking ARGroup recruitment a lot differently. Instead of a small mention in my newsletter, I did a mass mailing to my entire mailing list.  I reviewed ARGroup requests from other authors and came up with one that worked for my brand. [See below]

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Wanna Join My AR Group?

Advance Reader Group Request

Do you love my books and want more?

You can join my advance team and read them FREE. ARC reviewers play a huge role in the success of an author’s books and I hope you’ll be part of that success by joining the team.

What is an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) and why is it so important to authors?

Prior to publication, select readers will receive an early copy of my work — Advance Reading Copy (ARC) — before it is available for mass distribution. These ARCs are sent out for free in exchange for an honest review of the book.

Publishers and authors know that reviews are the best way to spread the word about a book. After all, you tend to trust the opinions of fellow book lovers.

When reviews are posted to Amazon in the first week of a book’s release, it’s an amazing thing for an author. It’ s like finding that perfect pair of black pumps.

What does it mean to join my Advance Review Group?

It means you get to read my books for FREE before I release them to the world.

Group Rules:

• •Honesty before ratings.
• •Read the books by the deadline. You are not signing up for free books that you’ll eventually read.
• •Members who fail to post in a timely fashion will forfeit their access to the group.
• •Members must email links to their reviews to maintain their access to the group.
• •Members…please follow me on social media.
• •You must know how to open .mobi, .epub, or .pdf files.
• •You must join my mailing list.

Sounds good.  How do I join?

There’s just two steps to join my Advance Reader Team.

1. To qualify, if you haven’t already done so, you must read one of my books and post the review on Amazon.com and Goodreads. (I can’t give out unlimited ARCs, so I need to know I can count on you to give thoughtful, honest reviews).

2. Send me a message [tracyreedwriter@icloud.com] to let me know you want to join my Advance Review Team and include the links to your reviews on Amazon.com (Do this by clicking on your name under the star rating of your review. This will take you to all your Amazon reviews. Click on the review of my book and send me that specific link). I’ll follow up with you from there.

Here’s a little incentive. If you respond by August 31st, you can read my upcoming release “Unexpected Love” before everyone else.

Hope to hear from you,

Tracy

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I sent this email out twice.  I’d like to say everyone signed up, but they didn’t.  Instead, 33 people unsubscribed from my list.  I got twenty recruits to my ARGroup.  YEAH!  I’m so excited.  Another great thing that happened, reviews.  I picked up a few reviews.  Another reason to cheer.

Once I received the initial sign ups, I sent out a Thank you email.  I wanted my readers to know  how much I appreciate them and their participation. [See below]  As you can see,  I gave them an option to bow out.

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Welcome To My ARGroup

I’m so excited to have you on this ride with me. Thank you for posting your reviews. I really appreciate your honesty. Which leads me to a little review about the group rules.

Group Rules:

• •Honesty before ratings.
• •Read the books by the deadline. You are not signing up for free books that you’ll eventually read.
• •Members who fail to post in a timely fashion will forfeit their access to the group.
• •Members must email links to their reviews to maintain their access to the group.
• •Members…please follow me on social media.
• •You must know how to open .mobi, .epub, or .pdf files.
• •You must join my mailing list.
• •Do not share Advance Copies.

Please confirm your acceptance to the group with an email to: tracyreedwriter@icloud.com. This step is just in case you’ve changed your mind about joining the group and don’t want to participate. If I don’t get a confirmation email, I’ll assume you’ve changed your mind about joining the group.

Tracy

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See you next month.