Plan and manage advance copies
Create a physical review-copy inventory
When printed advance or finished copies arrive, count them, decide how they will be used, and track what is left.
Why it matters
Running out of printed copies during the review window means telling a reviewer no, or paying rush prices for more. Having too many means money spent on boxes in the garage. A count with a plan keeps the copies where they do the most good, and it tells you early if you need to order more.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher and Author and Publicist. Whoever holds the copies keeps the count; author tracks their own allocation
- When
- When printed advance copies arrive, and again when finished copies arrive (Plan and manage advance copies: twelve to six months before publication, ahead of every review deadline)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Printed review copies are finite, and they disappear faster than anyone expects: a box goes to the publicist, a handful to family, a few to a bookstore, and by the time a real reviewer asks there are none. An inventory is a simple count with a plan: how many arrived, how many are reserved for each purpose, and how many remain.
Count what you actually control. At a publisher, most printed advance reading copies (ARCs) and later most finished copies sit with the publicity department and go out in the publisher's own mailings, so ask how many they are sending on your behalf and keep your inventory to your allocation, so the two lists do not overlap. If you hold all the copies, which is common on a hybrid contract and always true when you are the publisher, the inventory is the whole plan: count the delivery, set aside the copies with required uses (the Library of Congress copy if you have a Preassigned Control Number, copyright deposit if you are registering with print copies, contest entries), then allocate the rest.
Keep the inventory next to the request and shipment log, and update it whenever a copy leaves the shelf.
Common mistakes
- Giving away half the copies to friends before the review window opens.
- Not reserving copies for award entries that require physical submissions.
- Forgetting the copies that must go to the Library of Congress or the Copyright Office when those apply.
- Keeping no count at all and discovering the box is empty when a reviewer asks.
A template for this
Review-copy shipment slipA half-page slip to tuck inside every physical review copy, so the book's details and your contact information stay with the book after the envelope is gone.
When to use it: Use this when you mail any advance or finished copy to a reviewer, outlet, librarian, or award program. Print one per copy and tuck it inside the book. Do not use this when you are sending a digital copy only. Put the same details in the covering email instead.
What done looks like
- The number of copies received, by format and by advance versus finished.
- Copies reserved by purpose: trade reviewers, media, booksellers, librarians, awards, required deposits, personal.
- A running count of copies remaining, updated when the shipment log changes.
- A threshold at which you reorder or ask the publisher for more.
Ask your publisher
Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified