Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Discussion Forums - Questions about PaperBackSwap Questions about PaperBackSwap

Topic: How Do I Know If I Received an ARC?

Club rule - Please, if you cannot be courteous and respectful, do not post in this forum.
  Unlock Forum posting with Annual Membership.
NJSurferGirl avatar
Subject: How Do I Know If I Received an ARC?
Date Posted: 8/13/2009 4:22 PM ET
Member Since: 3/17/2008
Posts: 333
Back To Top

I just received a book today that has the correct ISBN, but it has a different page count and no library in congress info. It's also a different size (smaller) and has a slightly different cover. At first I thought book club edition, but they usually say it, right?

Cattriona avatar
Member of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Gold medal
Date Posted: 8/13/2009 4:31 PM ET
Member Since: 7/7/2007
Posts: 4,815
Back To Top

Erin--

Book club editions aren't always easy to identify.  And page counts can differ if the publisher assigns the same ISBN to, say, both a trade and mass market paperback editions of a title, or if the data has been taken from a sketchy source (Amazon is often fairly sketchy for book details).

ARCs often have wording somewhere about being "uncorrected proofs" or "not for sale" or "advanced reader edition".  They may also have, on the back cover, instead of the usual plot blurbs, info more of interest to booksellers, like "20 city author tour", "1 zillion copies first printing", etc.

Feel free to PM me and we can talk about your book -- I'm both a librarian and a former bookseller for Borders, so I've seen a lot of ARCs.

Cheers,

Catt