I have a couple of these; but I haven't read them yet.  Can anyone tell me how close to the actual book these typically are?

TIA ~ Irene

Usually they're pretty close, I think--although I admittedly haven't actually read the "real" version if I'm reading an ARC to review a book. I have come across some with a LOT of typos, punctuation problems, some formatting issues, etc...the ones labeled "uncorrected proofs" are typically worse. But i don't *think* there's a lot of editing of the actual content that goes on after they release the ARC.  Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure! :)

Cheryl

The ones I've read have been fairly close to what the final product turns out to be.  Most of the time I haven't noticed any chances from ARC to final release, except for the cleaning up of typos and such. 

The one's I've read just needed typo and grammar editting, the actual story was never changed.

I think ARCs are usually made from early-pass files, but AFTER the editor and author do the bulk of the editing work together. So the story shouldn't change much, but things like typos, grammar, name changing, etc. might change.

Also, graphical items -- maps, illustrations, photos, etc -- are often missing from ARCs.  How important these are, obviously, depends on the book.

Cheers,

Catt