The Hidden Gems ARC program has been around for over a decade, and become one of the most trusted ARC programs around for both authors and readers. It all started as a website and still continues as such to this day, although we’ve recently expanded the program as an Android (and soon iOS) app. Regardless of how you use it, though, the program works essentially the same way.

Hidden Gems Books (HG) sends out a variety of new novels every day of the year, from the thousands of authors that use our service. With so much variety, every reader will eventually see something that interests them, but at the same time, they will not be interested in (or have time to read) all the ARC offerings. For that reason, each of our books is opt-in but there are often only a limited number of copies available for distribution.

Here’s how the process generally works:

1. Author Contacts HG About Their Book

An author looking for reviews on their novel contacts us and provides us with the details of their book (cover, blurb, genres/categories, etc), how many reviewers they want us to send the book to, where they want it reviewed, and when they want it to go out.

2. Book Details Sent to Readers

A couple days before it is scheduled to be sent to readers, the book becomes available for you to reserve with the details showing up in the New ARCs section of your app (as well as to your email, depending on your settings). The reservation period is open for just under 2 days, before the book will be made available for download by those that were interested.

The books available in the New ARCs section of the app depend on the following factors:

1. • Your genre preferences
   • Your review profiles (whether you can review on the sites that the author is looking for reviews on)
   • Whether you have enough points to reserve the book (most people can reserve at least one per day)
   • Whether there are still copies available to be reserved

We ask that readers ONLY sign up for books that look interesting to them, and that they think they will enjoy and have the time to read and review in a reasonable amount of time. There are always more books to come!

3. Book Files Available For Download

On the scheduled date of an ARC, any books you’ve reserved will be available for download from either the Books You’re Reading section of the app, or through links in the email sent to you. Note that you are responsible for reading the book even if you miss the email (or if it got lost to spam/junk/promo folders) so it is highly recommended that you add our email address to as a trusted sender, and/or that you make sure to allow the HG app to send you notifications. At the very least, make sure to check your Books You’re Reading section regularly, to ensure you haven’t forgotten about any.

Authors are counting on your reviews!

4. Readers Must Fill Out Reader Forms for ALL books they’ve received

Any books you’ve reserved and that were sent to you will be listed in the Books You’re Reading section of the app. Each book listed here shows the details of the book and are separated onto their own “Reader Forms”. This is where you go to notify us when your review has been posted, or if you decided not to review a particular book, or even to download the book files.

Note that only one of those fields (review or reason for not reviewing) needs to be filled out for each reader form, and is one of the requirements for remaining in the HG ARC program and continuing to get new books.  Readers that fall too far behind on filling out their reader forms may end up dropping in gem levels and even be restricted from signing up for more books.

However, it is perfectly fine if it takes you longer to read and review a book than the review date posted – review dates are simply guidelines that the author hopes readers will aim for but it’s always better to get it in later than not at all. The important thing is to fill the reader form out when done, and only use the reason for not reviewing field when there are no plans to review the book at all.

Periodic reminder emails will be sent when reader forms are incomplete and past their review dates, but these reminders are automated, so should not be taken personally.

Also note that for those that wish to do so, there is a place on the reader form to leave an optional private comment to the author about the book – but it only shows up after leaving a reason for not reviewing, or at least 1 review link has been filled out. Books that have already had their reader form filled out can still be viewed in the Completed Books section, where comments can also be added or edited.