There are a number of steps to our program, but only a few that you have to worry about. We do most of the heavy lifting.

1. First, select the primary genre of your novel to ensure we send your book to the right set of readers. Hidden Gems handles a variety of genres:
   • • Romance
     • Erotica
     • Mystery
     • Science Fiction
     • Fantasy
     • Thriller/Suspense
     • Horror
     • Humor/Satire
     • Young Adult
     • Self-Help
     • Cookbooks
     • General Non-Fiction
     • Women’s Literature
     • Faith/Spirituality
     • Children’s Books
     • General Fiction

   (if your book does not fit within one of these genres, please contact us)

2. Select an available date from our calendar and pay the small deposit to lock in your date. Complete the information as best you can, however you can always add updates for any info you don’t have at the time of booking (or that changes) via the edit link that will be emailed to you after booking.  Updates are allowed up to 4 days before your scheduled date.  If all your book info isn’t included by that date, your ARC may be cancelled and replaced by another from the waiting list, as we need that info ahead of your ARC date to send to readers for sign up.  (Cancellations due to your info not being submitted on time mean a forfeit of your deposit)  Book details are sent to readers 2 days before your scheduled date, which is why we need them locked in ahead of that, or need the extra time to find a last minute replacement if we don’t get it.  Remember that your book details are used by our readers to decide whether to sign up to read and review your book, so please enter as much information as possible to ensure we find the best and most appropriate reviewers for your book.
3. Around 4pm EST on the day before your ARC is scheduled to go out, you will receive an invoice (via Paypal) for the balance owing. Pay that promptly so that your book goes out on time, as scheduled.
4. Make sure you’ve sent us your book files (PDF and EPUB formats are required, each file must be LESS THAN 10 megs) prior to your scheduled ARC date.
5. On your scheduled date, readers that reserved a copy will be given access to your book.
6. Once they’ve done reading, those readers can leave reviews on the review sites you’ve requested.
7. Once it seems like all of your reviews have been logged (usually within a month or so), we’ll send you a wrap up email with any comments left for you from our readers.

Note that although readers are given at least a week before we remind them about leaving reviews, everyone reads at their own pace and so some reviews may come in sooner, and some may take longer. A week is more of a guideline that we ask readers to use in planning which books they reserve, so that they can read them in a timely fashion and don’t fall too far behind.

And again, since all of our ARC program subscribers are genuine, unpaid, voracious readers that have voluntarily signed up to read these free books, Hidden Gems cannot force anyone to leave reviews, nor can we make any guarantees on the number of reviews you will get – however, the program is made up of readers that generally leave reviews and when we identify any that are not participating anymore, they are removed. But even the best readers sometimes don’t review a particular book for any number of reasons, and that’s okay. Life happens. We only remove reviewers that are consistently not participating.

Please remember that Hidden Gems has no control over the review sites and their evolving rules, although we do our best to make sure we are in compliance with them. As such, we cannot be held responsible for reviews that are removed from those sites, although when made aware we will work with the reader to provide guidance on any ways that may help rectify the situation.

Sample timeline:
Given the above, here is a sample timeline for a book called “HG Super Novel” that has a scheduled date of April 3rd.

• March 30th – All metadata info for “HG Super Novel” should have been emailed or updated on the edit form by today (or earlier)
• April 1st – Details of “HG Super Novel” are sent to all ARC readers in your given genre that can review on your desired sites so that they can reserve copies
• April 2nd – Book files (PDF and EPUB, less than 10 megs per file) should have been emailed or added to your edit form by end of day today (or earlier)
• April 2nd – Final Invoice is delivered (around 4pm EST) and should be paid ASAP
• April 3rd – Book is delivered to readers that reserved a copy
• April 9th – Review reminders are sent (assuming book is published by now)
• April 10th+ – Depending on how many reviews were asked for, they may continue to come in for a while – although the majority come in within the first week or two
• Late April – Wrapup email arrives with comments (if any) left for your book from readers