ARCreader: looking toward the future

i'm thinking i may have to retract my pledge to have an ARCreader by May and take home no print ARCs from BEA.

it's not the vagueness of rep replies (although i understand that sales conferences are ongoing, and am hopeful for more updates next week), though those have been a little disappointing. in this case, i'm of the "build it and they will come" mentality -- if i put it out there (and am obnoxious enough about it) i'm betting it'll take less time than more for publishers to come around, at least a little bit. and every digiARC is one less that i will agonize over: keep, donate, recycle? worth it to me.

no, what's worrying me is finances. due to some very unfortunate and very unforeseen circumstances, i'm buried under car-related expenses, and will be playing catch-up for the next few months. in other words, those precious credit dollars are claimed.

add that to the fact that, thus far, no sponsors have come forward and i was unable to get in touch with anyone at Sony who could actually authorize a discount, and it equals no ARCreader for me.

which is ok -- i knew the pledge was ambitious when i made it. and thankfully the conversation continues: Stephanie and Jessica (who, for the record, is super smart and overly modest) have added excellent thoughts and points, and the discussion continues on Twitter (#digiARC and #ARCreader are both worth the search). Stephanie's point about the importance of physical objects is well taken and needs more thought, and Jessica's assertion that e-ARCs would make us better at handselling e-books makes me want to stand on my chair and cheer.

but in the meantime, i really did want to have a print-ARC-free BEA... maybe next year?