ARC delivery and tracking

Two ways to deliver

In the wizard's step 4, How will readers get it?, you choose the campaign's Delivery, and the trade is named on each:

• Read on Booklabria (recommended, and the default for a new campaign): the file stays on our servers. Readers open the book on the site or in the app, one chapter at a time, and you see progress by chapter, who finished, and where readers stop. Nothing to download, nothing to pass around. It needs the EPUB (a PDF has no chapters to serve); the wizard says Reading on Booklabria needs the EPUB: add it, or choose download.
• Download a protected copy: readers download the EPUB or PDF, up to five times per copy. Every EPUB carries a watermark tied to the reader's copy (a code, never their name). You see downloads, not reading progress.

Campaigns that existed before this choice keep download, the door they promised their readers. The Delivery tab shows which door the campaign has: Readers read on Booklabria; the file stays here or Readers download a watermarked copy.

Files

On the campaign's Delivery tab, add or replace a file: an EPUB or a PDF, one per format you offered. Until a file is there, approved readers cannot read or download, and the wizard's summary says No file yet: upload before readers download. Your message to your readers shows here too; add one with Edit campaign so readers hear from you before they start.

How readers receive it

• Read on Booklabria: from their ARC hub › My requests, approved readers press Start reading; the book renders one chapter at a time, their place is saved as they read, and the last chapter offers I finished the book. The download door refuses the file on such a campaign.
• Download a protected copy: approved readers download from My requests through a signed link that expires fifteen minutes after it is issued. Files are never at a public address. Each approval allows five downloads; an expired link that was never used does not count, and a reader who reaches five is told to write to you or to support. Every successful download is logged: who, when, which format.
• The watermark: every EPUB served, read or downloaded, carries the reader's copy code (never their name or e-mail): a comment in the file's source and unseen zero-width characters in the first paragraphs, so the mark survives copying and a plain-text export without showing in a reader. A leaked copy is matched back to the copy it came from. A PDF download is not marked; it has nothing to carry the mark.

These are the protections in place today. The Terms forbid sharing or republishing an ARC file, and a reader who does can be reported (Reporting and blocking).

Following the campaign

• Reading, on a Read on Booklabria campaign: Started (approved readers who opened the book at least once), Finished, Reading now (a place reported in the last seven days), Time to finish (the median from the first page to the end), then Progress by chapter: how many readers reached each chapter, and how many stopped there (no report for seven days, not finished). Counts only, never names. Until someone opens the book it says Nobody has opened the book yet.
• Activity on the campaign notes approvals, downloads and reviews as they happen.
• Each application shows Review posted once the reader's review is up, and their reliability shows set down (DNF) when a reader honestly set the book down instead of going silent (ARC reviews and your reliability).
• Studio › Analytics › Campaign funnel: everyone who asked, applications you accepted, approved readers who fetched the file, downloads that became published reviews, and reviewers who now follow you (Understanding your analytics).