The Future of ARCs = eARCs?

I just discovered NetGalley, an online service that offers electronic copies of Advance Review Copies (ARCs) to book reviewers, journalists, librarians, literary bloggers, and other “professional readers.” At Conversational Reading, Scott Esposito has a lengthy interview with Fran Toolan of NetGalley. Toolan describes NetGalley’s service, which is free to book reviewers, as follows:

NetGalley is a service for people who read and recommend books. Publishers upload their galleys, plus any marketing and promotional information; then invite contacts to view their title on NetGalley. Readers can also find new titles through NetGalley’s Public Catalog, and request to review those titles from the publisher.

What a great idea for saving the costs of printing and shipping all those ARCs, many of which go unread. It’s also an easy way for publishers to ensure their ARCs don’t make it out into the market (via used book stores, book swap sites, eBay, etc.) to compete with sales of finished books.