Preorders and ARCs for The Scars of Gaia - R.P. Lauer

Full details are as follows (I truly apologize for how long this is):

The time is finally set! The Scars Of Gaia is officially on pre-order, releasing on May 28, 2021! And that means it's almost time to start sending out ARCs. ARC stands for Advanced Review Copy, and they are exactly what they sound like; copies that are sent out in advance for the purpose of being reviewed. Established authors, or authors with an agent and a traditional publisher, will usually have someone else handle this for them, or they will already have a set procedure for this process. As a newbie to writing/publishing, I do not have any of that. I don't even know exactly what I am doing here, therefore I'm going to be winging it.

So this is what I have decided. I don't really care who gets a copy, as long as they are requesting for the intended purpose; to read it, review it, and post their honest review in the appropriate places on release (or as close to release as possible). The following is a list of criteria I require for receiving an ARC:

1) These will be e-ARCs. More specifically, PDFs. You have to be willing and able to handle PDF files. (Other formats are a possibility, so if you are interested and fulfill the other requirements, please let me know what format you would prefer and I'll see what I can do.)

2) By requesting an ARC, you ARE obligating yourself to leave a review. So please do not request an ARC if you are not planning on leaving a review. If you just want a free copy of a book, please just be honest with me on that. I won't get you an ARC, but I'll do my best to get you a free eBook upon release and you can just take it and run, no review necessary.

3) You have to be willing to give a negative review. If you are not willing to post a negative review, you really cannot take part in this. Positivity is a great thing, and I do try and put as much of that out there into the world as I possibly can. But this is a review, which is intended for potential future customers. Customers need to be properly informed before purchasing a product, and that includes any and all negatives. So please, if you know that you are someone who would rather not say anything at all than to say something negative, just skip this. If you really just want a free copy, reach out to me and I can try to send you one, as long as you are honest with me, and promise me that you won't leave a review at all, ever.

4) You must send me a link to your outlet of choice for book reviews, whether it's a goodreads profile page, a video channel like on YouTube, or a personal blog. However, you cannot post a review on Amazon. Amazon has very strict policies for reviews, and even though they sort of claim that ARC reviews are allowed, they really aren't. They leave enough wiggle room in their TOS so that they can delete any review at any time, and it's ultimately not worth the time or effort. So please, do NOT request an ARC if you are planning on posting your review to Amazon.

5) In addition to being comfortable posting a negative review (because you really, seriously do need to be comfortable with that), you also have to disclose exactly how you came about the copy in your review. When you do post your review, you have to disclose that you received a free copy for the purpose of an honest review (hence the need to be comfortable leaving a negative review).

6) The ARC that I send you will be for you, and you alone. Do not share this with anyone. If you know someone else who would like to review this, have them send me an email as well. But these files are not to be shared or distributed in any way, shape or form.

Well, I think that that covers everything. If you are reading this, and you feel I left out some vital information to ARCs, please feel free to reach out. Also feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Otherwise, if you feel you can agree to all of the terms above, please send out an email with the required information to gaia@rplauer.com with 'ARC' somewhere in the subject field. As soon as I have something ready, I will send out an email with a PDF attached. (You can also reach out to me on one of the social media platforms I'm on if you want, but I will still need your email address.)

I will also be sending out a reminder email a few days before release. This will simply be to remind you to post your review in a timely manner. From what I understand, you are not allowed to post reviews before the book is officially released/launched; unless of course you are on your own platform in which case you can do pretty much whatever the hell you want, other than distributing the file or even a re-creation of the file.

Thank you,

R.P. Lauer

DISCLAIMER - Privacy is very important to me, as I am sure it is to you. You have my word that I will keep your email address private, and will ONLY use it for the purposes of this one release. I will NOT add your email address to any mailing lists or future endeavors. Once this release is complete, once the ARC process for THIS novel is finished, I will remove your address from my inbox and any other file that may contain it (depending on how things go). Basically, I will not be reusing or distributing your email address in any way, shape or form.

P.S. If you absolutely require a physical copy in order to read and review a book for whatever reason, please go ahead and send an email with this information. I cannot guarantee you that I'll be able to accommodate your needs in this matter, but I can and will try. A huge part of my physical orders will revolve around finances and I cannot guess right now how far I can go financially. But I will try.

P.P.S. My ultimate hope here is to have reviews ready and posted on release day. However, I completely understand how life can get in the way. If you miss the launch, that is absolutely fine. I just hope that you'll still finish and post when you can; better late than never.

P.P.P.S. If you happen to see any quotes or sections that stand out to you as good or noteworthy, I would appreciate it being pointed out to me; I'm having a hard time seeing anything special like that myself.

P.P.P.P.S. If you made it this far, I'm really, truly sorry lol. I did try to keep it brief, but brevity isn't one of my strong points.