Forget designer bags. In the book world, it's all about which advance copies you carry

High atop a shelf, away from her messy child and dog, sits one of Cassandra Henrichsen's prized possessions: an advance reader copy of “Katabasis.” 

Out from Harper Collins in August, Henrichsen's copy of R.F. Kuang’s new fantasy novel doesn’t even have a cover design, but still comes with bragging rights. She received number 193 of the 200 early copies doled out. 

In the lead-up to a book’s publication, publishers print a certain number of early copies, also called advance reader copies (ARCs) or galleys. Think Miranda Priestly's twins with the "Harry Potter" manuscript in "The Devil Wears Prada." While these copies historically went to booksellers, press and the author’s personal network, book influencers are now an increasingly important part of the strategy to create early buzz. 

The ‘in’ crowd: What makes a galley brag?

The term “galley brag” is a particular phenomena of the BookTok generation. In an age where readers collect deluxe editions like infinity stones and line up outside of stores hours on release day, securing a copy months before the book even goes on sale is the ultimate gold star bragging right. Posting about it is even sweeter satisfaction.

“A galley brag,” HarperCollins editor Ezra Kupor writes in his newsletter of the same name, “is when you post a photo of a status galley on your Instagram or your Twitter. It's kind of a tip of the hat saying: look what I got.”

As soon as Henrichsen heard that Kuang was publishing a new book, she began immediately posting TikToks about it. She had received ARCs from Kuang’s publisher, Harper Voyager, before. She hoped her genuine excitement (and knowing the author’s work well) would give her a better shot at securing that coveted galley. And then it came.

“I was already shaking in my boots opening the package,” Henrichsen told Paste BN. “But actually knowing that I got one of 200 copies was really exciting.” 

The envious comments came swiftly: “Hey so what time do you usually leave the house and do you have like, dogs inside?” one reader joked about stealing the copy. “How does it feel to be God’s favorite,” wrote another.

How 'Intermezzo' sparked envy, became the galley brag of 2024

I, dear reader, am not above a galley brag. When I got an early copy of Sally Rooney’s  “Intermezzo” over the summer for work, you can bet I flexed it every time I read in public. And I wasn’t alone. “Are You Cool Enough for the Latest Sally Rooney Novel?” reads an Esquire headline from September.

“Truly having an out of body experience over here. Someone may need to check my pulse,” wrote Maddie Taylor, a reader from Maine, when she secured her early copy. Taylor designed cookies with the “Intermezzo” cover as a plea to publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) in addition to her formal email request. They later commissioned her cookies for the release party. 

But while the roll out may have seemed exclusive to outsiders, it was actually the biggest ARC distribution FSG had ever done, says Sheila O’Shea, SVP and director of marketing and publicity. They released 2,500 early copies, working to honor as many personal requests (like Taylor’s) as they could before they ran out. The biggest portion went to booksellers, she says. 

“We did it with purpose … to actually create the most amount of people reading it as possible in advance of the on sale,” O’Shea says. “We were so excited to share the manuscript and to share the work and we were hoping that people would fall in love with the book the way we had.”

“We weren’t holding back,” she adds.

The importance of the ARC cannot be understated, publishing marketers told Paste BN, not just because of the early eyes but because of the community it creates. When FSG threw a release party for “Intermezzo,” I spent the night talking Rooney with influencers that received the treasured ARCs. 

“The community of a book, in a way is what you’re creating when you’re putting it out to market,” O’Shea says. “It’s not about creating exclusivity. That was not our intention there. It was to create the most amount of people we could get reading the book and the community of people that we knew love Sally Rooney.”

In other instances, the galley is crucial to establish that in-crowd status for smaller authors. Knopf Associate Director of Marketing Matthew Sciarappa saw success after promoting Kaveh Akbar’s debut “Martyr!” – a National Book Award finalist – by sending copies alongside handmade zines from Akbar and tote bags with the book’s snappy, memorable design.

“It was this big swag package all themed toward a book that nobody knows about,” Sciarappa says. “My goal with that was to signal the importance, that you should be excited about it in the same way that you’re excited about your favorite author’s next thing.”

In the age of social media influencing, marketers adapts

The result of growing influencer-publisher relations is an earlier marketing timeline, says O’Shea, who notes that previously much of the public conversation about a book started after it went on sale, not before. Many publishers, including both Penguin Random House and Macmillan, now have influencer programs to streamline the connection between passionate influencers and their equally passionate followers.

But what happens when ARCs become status symbols like collector’s editions with the gold trim and sprayed edges? Can saying “I had it first” go too far? What about the murky ethics of selling galleys at sky-high prices despite receiving it for free? Henrichsen, who considers herself a book collector, has been on the hunt for an ARC of “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt for quite some time. But on eBay, they can go for over $300. 

“Social media, by nature, is built on envy and capital. That is the system, that is what algorithms want you to inhabit,” Sciarappa says. “To an extent, galleys do tap into that culture.”

It’s also bled into “haul” culture – in unboxing videos, book influencers open packages upon packages of gifted early copies. 

“You’re seeing more photos of the ARCs and there’s such a volume of books going out, but sometimes you don’t see the review of it,” says Laura Flavin, a senior marketing director at Holt, owned by Macmillan. “There’s no way they’re going to be able to get to even half of those books.” 

Those who receive ARCs are never required to post reviews, but marketers do hope they’ll share their thoughts. Part of Holt’s intentional strategy, Flavin says, is to target smaller accounts as much, if not more, than ones with hundreds of thousands of followers. It’s about quality over quantity – what matters is getting a book into the hands of someone who will hopefully enjoy it as much as the publisher does.

But do ARCs translate to more books sold? It’s hard to say, though Sciarappa notes it’s complicated. His anecdotal rule of thumb is “it takes three times seeing a book before somebody’s willing to buy it.” 

“The most successful stories about books and publishing happen without the hand of the publisher,” he says. “It’s when (readers) find that book and fall in love with it and, without any prompting, scream about it. That will sell books. That is the one thing that is going to make things skyrocket.”

Clare Mulroy is Paste BN’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, check out her recent articles or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.