I'm so pleased I stumbled across Jarrett Lerner's informative post on ARC sharing groups.
Now I had no idea what an ARC was. I like to think that my characters arc, but no, that is not what he meant. ARC is an acronym for Author Review Copies.
For those of you who have published books with publishing houses, you may get a handful of copies shipped to you. Some authors send these to book sharing groups, who make suggestions & comments using good old post-its (sticky notes). It's like pass the parcel, with a book. Or a chain letter, with benefits. The readers benefit by engaging with a book, with one-another and with the author.
The author benefits by getting feedback, and placing their book into the hands of educators, librarians & what I call "Reading Champions". People who love reading, and are champions for promoting books.
If you publish through Amazon, you get one free proof copy. Mine got scribbled all over, by me. One can also purchase author copies at an affordable rate, and send them on. So I am sending "Trainsurfer" on an ARC tour. It isn't a genuine ARC tour because it is not an Author Review Copy, but a published copy. But I will be sending "Saving Thandi" to the same groups, and they need to read book 1 of the "Adventures of Jabu & Friends" first.
Thanks to Jarrett, who seems to be of the mindset that a rising tide lifts all boats, I made the offer of ARC copies on a tweet and the following groups have requested books:
Westgrade8@WestVikings8 #bookexcursion
It thrills me to think that "Trainsurfer" will be read in multiple States of America. It is also being read to children in classes in New Zealand and South Africa.
Jabu needed to travel from Soweto to Durban to find his auntie. I would never have imagined, when I started to write his story, that he would begin to travel around the world!
Here is Jarret's post: https://jarrettlerner.com/2018/09/15/arcs-and-arc-sharing-groups/