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 readers to reserve with the details showing up on the New ARCs Available tab of their dashboard, as well as to their email (with more limited info*) so that they know, at a glance, what new books are available that day. Readers can then click to go to their dashboard to see the full details of the book or reserve their copy.
The new books available depend on the genre preferences of the reader, as well as whether they can review on the sites that the author is looking for reviews on, whether they have enough points to reserve that book (most people can reserve at least one per day) and whether there are still copies available.
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!
*Whether readers get the email and how much detail it has is dependent on the email settings of the Your Settings tab.
3. Book Files Available to Selected Readers Only
On the scheduled date of the ARC, readers that have reserved a copy will be able to download the book files from links on either their dashboard or email notifications. Note that readers are still responsible to read the book even if they miss the email (or if it got lost to spam/junk/promo folders) so it is highly recommended that everyone bookmark their dashboard and get in the habit of checking it regularly, as it is the most reliable source of the books available and those that have been sent.
4. Readers Must Fill Out Reader Forms for ALL books they’ve received
Any books a reader has reserved and that have been sent to them will be listed on the Books You’re Reading tab of their dashboard, and from there they can notify us of when their reviews have been posted or their reason for deciding not to review a particular book.
Note that only one of those fields (review or reason for not reviewing) needs to be filled out on each reader form for each book received, as that 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 readers longer to read and review a book than the review date posted – those 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 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 the reason or at least 1 review link has been filled out. Books that have already had their reader form filled out can still be viewed on the Completed Books tab, where comments can also be added or edited.