ARC delivery and tracking

Three ways to deliver

In the wizard's step 4, How will readers get it?, you tick the ways a reader may get the book, under How readers get the book. At least one stays ticked, and the trade is named on each:

• Read on Booklabria (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).
• Protected download: 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 Downloaded, not reading progress.
• Send to Kindle: we e-mail the watermarked EPUB, as an attachment, to the reader's own Kindle address, up to five times per copy. It needs the EPUB (a Kindle takes no PDF from us). You see Sent to Kindle and the date, not reading progress, and you never see the reader's Kindle address.

Read on Booklabria and Send to Kindle both need the EPUB. If you tick either and have only a PDF, the wizard says so, and you add the EPUB or untick that way.

The line under the boxes says what readers will see: Readers get the book this way. with one way ticked, Approved readers choose one of these. with two or more. When readers choose, each approved reader picks one from equal cards, may switch until the first download or send (leaving Read on Booklabria asks first, because you then see Downloaded or Sent to Kindle instead of progress), and then the way is fixed for that copy. If you change the ticked ways later, readers already approved keep the way they were approved under.

Campaigns that existed before this choice keep download, the way they promised their readers. The Delivery tab says which ways the campaign has: Readers read on Booklabria; the file stays here, Readers download a watermarked copy, Readers get a watermarked copy e-mailed to their Kindle or, when readers choose, Each reader chooses: … naming only the ways you ticked.

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, download or have it sent, 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 Early copies › My early copies, 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. Readers can highlight and take notes as they read; those are private to the reader, and you never see them.
• Download a protected copy: approved readers download from My early copies 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.
• Send to Kindle: from My early copies, the reader presses Send to Kindle; the first time they add their Kindle address and add our sending address to Amazon's approved list (Sending an advance copy to your Kindle is their side). We e-mail the watermarked EPUB as an attachment, never a link, up to five times per copy, and log every send (which copy, when, how big), never the address. A file above the e-mail size limit cannot be sent: the reader is told so and pointed to the download.
• The watermark: every EPUB served, read, downloaded or sent to a Kindle, 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.
• When readers choose, each application shows how that reader reads: their progress, Downloaded · June 14 (or Downloaded · read here to 34% first), Sent to Kindle · June 14 or Approved · hasn't chosen yet. The funnel reads Approved › Started › Finished › Reviewed: Started counts readers who opened the book here, downloaded it or had it sent to a Kindle, and Finished counts readers on Booklabria only, because a download or a Kindle cannot report it.
• Reviews posted: 3 of 8, under the funnel on the campaign page: how many approved readers have a review live on Booklabria, with Shared elsewhere (Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, other) beside it. The list shows each reader, Read review, the sites they marked and the date, newest first; it has no star column and no sorting by rating. Not posted yet: 3 opens to names only. There is no remind button: Booklabria sends the reader one release-day note and at most one follow-up (ARC reviews and your follow-through).
• 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 record lists 3 set down when a reader honestly set the book down instead of going silent (ARC reviews and your follow-through).
• Studio › Readers › Early copies: 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 Readers page).