In brief. Twenty honest reviews at launch is one of the few levers in self-publishing you control, and ARC platforms are how you get there. Most comparisons of them quote prices in the wrong currency, or from memory, or from two years ago. I took every figure here from the platform’s own pricing page on 5 September 2026, rated each one the way I rate everything on this site, and worked out how many copies each costs you. One platform this page used to recommend as a free option has announced a hiatus, and I say so.
Prices checked on the vendors’ own pages 5 September 2026. Page reviewed by Robert Prime, 5 September 2026.
What an ARC is, and the rule that governs it
An advance review copy is a copy of your book sent free, before or at launch, to a reader who has agreed to review it honestly. The reader posts to Amazon, Goodreads, sometimes a blog.
The rule that matters is Amazon’s, and it is narrower than most authors think. From KDP’s customer reviews page, checked 5 September 2026:
“You may provide free or discounted copies of your books to readers, as long as you do not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review.”
And:
“Offering anything other than a free or discounted copy of the book, including gift cards, will invalidate a review, and the Amazon Community team will remove it.”
So a free book is fine. A required review is not, a paid review is not, and any platform that promises reviews rather than readers is selling you something Amazon will delete. Reviewers should say they received a free copy; “I received an ARC of this book” is the standard line, and every platform below asks its readers to include it.
How to read this page
| Rating | What 1 means | What 5 means |
|---|---|---|
| Impact | A few reviews if you are lucky | Enough reviews at launch to change how the book sells |
| Difficulty | Upload, set a date, wait | Managing reviewers, swaps, follow-ups for weeks |
| Technical | If you can attach a file, you can do it | Integrations, watermarking, mailing-list wiring |
| Budget | Free or under $50 | $500 or more a year |
The break-even basis. A £2.99 ebook at Amazon’s 70% royalty earns about £2.09 a copy; a $2.99 US ebook earns about $2.09. So a $100-a-year platform costs you roughly 48 copies a year.
| Platform | Impact | Difficulty | Technical | Budget | Price, from its own page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StoryOrigin | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Free; Standard $10 a month or $100 a year |
| BookSirens | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | $100 a year, or $10 an ARC plus $2 a reader |
| Booksprout | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | $9, $19 or $29 a month |
| Hidden Gems | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | $20 deposit, then per reviewer |
| NetGalley (via a co-op) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | $75 a month for an ebook slot, billed yearly |
| Reedsy Discovery | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | $50 a submission |
| BookFunnel (delivery, not readers) | multiplier | 2 | 2 | 1 | $30, $200 or $300 a year |
1. StoryOrigin
Impact 4 · Difficulty 2 · Technical 2 · Budget free to $100 a year
The workhorse. Free for file delivery and universal links; the paid tier adds the review machinery that matters here.
Verified from StoryOrigin’s pricing page, 5 September 2026: Basic, free (file delivery, universal retail links, email-service integration); Standard, $10 a month or $100 a year (group promos, newsletter swaps, reader email collection, “Vet review history & completion”, “Automate reviewer follow-up”, direct ebook sales). A guided-setup option carries a setup fee on top.
The model. Largely author swaps: you list your book seeking reviewers and read other authors’ books in return, plus reader-only sign-ups. Reviewers who are also authors tend to be supportive and slow. The vetting tool on Standard, which shows a reviewer’s completion history before you accept them, is the feature that separates a campaign that produces reviews from one that produces downloads.
Break-even: Standard is 48 copies a year.
Best for: any author with no review base yet, and any series author building a team for book two.
2. BookSirens
Impact 4 · Difficulty 1 · Technical 1 · Budget $100 a year or pay as you go
Vetted reviewers who specifically want ARCs, with a 30-day commitment to read and review. Higher quality than a swap pool, and the simplest of the paid options to run.
Verified from BookSirens’ pricing page, 5 September 2026: Author plan $100 a year ("$8.33/month paid annually"), unlimited ARCs for two pen names, three months of reviewer access per book, review tracking and reminders, with “no per-reader fee and no per-ARC fee”. Or Promote, $10 per ARC plus $2 per reader who downloads. A Partner plan for higher volume is custom-priced.
The arithmetic. On Promote, 30 readers on one book is $10 + $60 = $70. Two books a year on Promote costs more than the $100 flat plan, so the flat plan wins from the second book.
Break-even: $100 a year is 48 copies. A single Promote campaign at 30 readers is about 33 copies, once.
Best for: a debut that needs 25 reviews before the first paid promotion, and authors who would rather pay than swap.
3. Booksprout
Impact 3 · Difficulty 2 · Technical 2 · Budget $9 to $29 a month
A distribution platform with built-in review tracking and reminders, tiered by how many books you run at once.
Verified from Booksprout’s pricing page, 5 September 2026: Growing Author $9 a month, Pro Author $19 a month (adds audiobook review copies), Bestselling Author $29 a month (“Everything is unlimited”), and a Publisher tier at $59 a month. Each tier caps active books and reviewers per book; the caps are on the page and I have not reproduced them here because they read as a grid and I would rather you saw the vendor’s version.
The catch. Readers can claim copies with less obligation than BookSirens imposes, so the completion rate is the thing to watch.
Break-even: $9 a month is about 4 copies a month; $29 is about 14.
Best for: prolific authors with several releases a year who want one reviewer base across all of them.
4. Hidden Gems
Impact 3 · Difficulty 1 · Technical 1 · Budget $20 deposit plus per reviewer
A curated service: you submit, they distribute to genre-matched, vetted reviewers and manage delivery. Quality is the selling point.
Verified from Hidden Gems’ ARC product pages, 5 September 2026: "$20 is the deposit for the ARC service" and “the final balance will be based on the number of book reviewers that sign up”. The per-reviewer rate sits in its FAQ and I could not read it on the product page, so I have not printed one; see what I could not verify.
UK reach: predominantly US readers, which matters if your book leans on British setting or idiom.
Best for: authors who want reviewers chosen for them and are happy to pay per head.
5. NetGalley, through a co-op
Impact 3 · Difficulty 3 · Technical 2 · Budget about $900 a year for a slot
The platform librarians, booksellers and journalists actually use, and the one with a UK arm. NetGalley does not publish a price for independent authors: its plans page offers pay-per-title by quote and lists promotions at $125 (audiobook) and $150 (digital review copy). The realistic indie route is a co-op that holds a NetGalley account and rents you a slot.
Verified from the Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, 5 September 2026: ebook slot $75 a month, audiobook slot $80 a month, both $155 a month, and the site is explicit that “your fee is a once-per-year fee” covering twelve months, so an ebook slot is $900 for the year, with one active title at a time and the ability to swap titles in and out. You manage your own requests and approvals.
Who it is for. Authors targeting bookshops and libraries, and literary fiction with media aspirations. NetGalley readers are professionals and heavy reviewers, and a co-op slot is only worth it if you have more than one title to rotate through it.
Break-even: $900 is about 430 copies. That is not a debut-novel expense. It is a catalogue expense.
6. Reedsy Discovery
Impact 2 · Difficulty 1 · Technical 1 · Budget $50
Not an ARC pool in the usual sense: one editorial review from a Reedsy-vetted reviewer, which you can quote on your Amazon page, plus a feature to Discovery’s readers on a launch date you choose.
Verified from Reedsy’s own FAQ, 5 September 2026: $50 to submit; the launch date must be at least five weeks out so a reviewer has time to write a longer editorial review.
Break-even: about 24 copies, once. Cheap for an editorial quote; do not expect it to produce a launch-day review count.
7. BookFunnel: the delivery tool, not a source of readers
Multiplier · Difficulty 2 · Technical 2 · Budget $30 to $300 a year
BookFunnel does not find you reviewers. It delivers files, watermarks them, supports every e-reader your reviewers own, and handles the “how do I get this on my Kindle” emails so you do not have to. Several of the platforms above use it or integrate with it.
Verified from BookFunnel’s pricing page, 5 September 2026: First-Time Author $30 a year (500 downloads a month, no ARC feature); Mid-List Author $200 a year or $20 a month (adds “Secure ARC Delivery”, watermarked files, mailing-list integration); Bestseller $300 a year or $30 a month (unlimited downloads, six pen names). Prices in US dollars.
Do you need it? If you use StoryOrigin or BookSirens, their delivery is included. BookFunnel earns its money when you run your own ARC team from your mailing list and want watermarked copies and reader support without the platform in between.
The one this page used to recommend
Voracious Readers Only was listed here as a free, UK-friendly reader-only platform. On 5 September 2026 its site carried reader-subscription products and a page titled as a hiatus announcement that I could not open (it returned a 404). I cannot tell you from its own pages whether it is currently accepting authors, so I have removed the recommendation rather than repeat it. If it is back and you can confirm terms on the site, it may still be worth a try.
Which to use, by author
- First book, no budget: StoryOrigin Basic, your own newsletter and friends-of-friends. Accept that swap reviewers are slow.
- First book, around £100: StoryOrigin Standard and one BookSirens Promote campaign, or the BookSirens flat plan if a second book is coming within the year.
- Three or more books: BookSirens flat plan plus Booksprout or StoryOrigin Standard, so one reviewer base carries across releases.
- Bookshop or library ambitions, and a catalogue: a NetGalley co-op slot, rotated across titles, on top of the above.
- You want a quotable editorial review: Reedsy Discovery, once, five weeks out.
How to run the campaign
Four to six weeks before launch. Submit with a finished cover, a real blurb and accurate genre tags; reviewers pick by those. Email your own list for ARC volunteers. Set the window in writing: copies go out on one date, reviews are requested by launch day plus a week.
Delivery. Send a DRM-free file with a short note: this is an ARC, the book launches on this date, an honest review that week helps more than you would think. Include the disclosure line reviewers can copy and a link to your newsletter at the back.
Follow-up. One reminder two weeks out, one on launch day, one thank-you to everyone who posted. Then stop. In my experience, chasing past that point loses you the reviewer and sometimes the review.
What determines the outcome. Not the platform. Genre fit, a cover that signals the genre, and whether your blurb reads like the books your reviewers already like. A poorly matched book on the best platform produces downloads and silence.
What I could not verify
- Hidden Gems’ per-reviewer price. The product page states the $20 deposit and that the balance depends on how many reviewers sign up; the rate itself is in its FAQ and did not appear on the page I could read.
- NetGalley’s direct pay-per-title price. By quote only, per its plans page. The co-op figure above is Victory Editing’s, not NetGalley’s.
- Voracious Readers Only’s current status. See above.
- Booksprout’s per-tier caps. On the pricing page as a grid; not reproduced here.
- Any “expected number of reviews”. Earlier versions of this page printed ranges such as “20 to 50 reviews per campaign”. They were estimates, not measurements, and I have removed them.
If any of this has changed, tell me and I will re-check and re-date.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best ARC platform for a UK self-published author?
StoryOrigin for free delivery and swaps, and BookSirens for vetted readers who commit to review within 30 days. Together they cover most first and second books for about $100 to $200 a year, all from the vendors’ own 5 September 2026 prices.
Is it legal to give away free copies for reviews?
Yes, on Amazon’s own terms: a free or discounted copy is allowed as long as you do not require a review or try to influence it, and anything beyond the free copy, including a gift card, invalidates the review. Reviewers should disclose the free copy.
How much does NetGalley cost for an indie author?
NetGalley quotes pay-per-title pricing privately. The common indie route is a co-op: Victory Editing lists an ebook slot at $75 a month, billed as a once-a-year fee covering twelve months, one active title at a time.
Do I need BookFunnel as well as an ARC platform?
Not if you use StoryOrigin or BookSirens, which deliver the files themselves. BookFunnel earns its place when you run your own ARC team from your mailing list and want watermarked delivery and reader support.
How many reviews should I expect from an ARC campaign?
I no longer print a number, because the honest answer depends on genre fit, cover and blurb far more than on the platform. Plan for fewer than the number of copies you send out, follow up twice, and treat every honest review as earned.
Related guides
- Getting reviews for a self-published book: the full review strategy, of which ARCs are one part
- Best platforms to promote your book: 25 platforms rated the same way
- Building an author email list: the reviewer base you own
- Book launch checklist: where the ARC window sits in the timeline
