ARC reminder email templates for every stage of a launch
Reminders are the cheapest lever in an ARC campaign. Most readers who don't review didn't decide against it - they forgot, or the book slid down the pile. A short, friendly email at the right moment brings a lot of them back.
Below are six emails covering a whole campaign, in the order you send them. Each one is short on purpose: a reader should be able to act on it from their phone.
Two wording rules for every email
- Ask, don't require. Amazon allows reviews of free advance copies only when the author doesn't require a review in exchange or try to influence the reader's opinion.Amazon So "if you'd like to share a review", never "your review is due".
- Ask for honest, never for good. No "5-star reviews help the most", no hints about rating. In the US, incentives conditioned on a review's sentiment are prohibited.FTC rule
The schedule
| When | Who gets it | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Invitation | Start of the reading window | Everyone on the team |
| 2. Download nudge | 3–5 days later | Invited, not downloaded |
| 3. Mid-window reminder | Halfway to release | Downloaded, no review yet |
| 4. Final reminder | 3–5 days before release | Downloaded, no review yet |
| 5. Launch day | Release day | Everyone who downloaded |
| 6. Thank-you | After they post | Each reader who reviewed |
How long the reading window should be depends on your genre - see when to send your ARCs.
The segmenting matters as much as the wording. A reader who never downloaded needs the link again, not a reminder about a review. A reader who already posted should never get a reminder at all - nothing annoys a good reviewer faster.
Send the thank-you whatever the rating. It's the email readers remember when the next invitation arrives, and thanking only the happy reviewers is exactly the kind of sentiment-based reward you're avoiding.
Small things that make reminders work
- Put the link in every email. Readers lose download links. Re-sending it costs nothing.
- Give the date, not "soon". "Out on 14 March" is something a reader can plan around.
- Link straight to where to post. The fewer clicks between the email and the review box, the more reviews you get.
- Stop after the final reminder. A reader who downloaded but hasn't reviewed by launch week gets the launch-day email and nothing more. If it becomes a pattern, here's how to handle readers who don't review.
Sending these automatically
The hard part isn't the wording. It's sending the right email to the right group on the right day, for every reader, while you're also launching a book. ArcRoster sends each reader their own copy, tracks who has downloaded and who has submitted a review link, and sends deadline reminders automatically to the readers who still need them. Those who reviewed don't get chased. Every campaign then feeds each reader's reliability tier for the next launch.
Sources
- Community Guidelines - Amazon, Checked October 2026.Policy
Allows reviews of free advance reader copies from authors or publishers, provided they don't require a review in exchange or try to influence the reviewer's opinion. Reviewing requires $50 of Amazon.com spend in the past 12 months.
- 16 CFR 465.4 - Buying positive or negative consumer reviews - US Federal Trade Commission (eCFR), In force since October 2024.Policy
Prohibits giving incentives conditioned, expressly or by implication, on a review expressing a particular sentiment.