ARCs that aren't ARCs at All (Well, Not for Me)

I was reading through the Reddit self-publishing thread yesterday, and naturally, I'm always eager to click on the posts that talk about not getting reviews. (I like something I can really relate to.) One poster lamented that he/she was rejected by BookSirens ~ been there! And that BookSprouts never panned out for him. Been there, too.

One respondent mentioned something called Pen Pinery. Well, that was new, and I thought I'd heard of all of them. You'll always find people who claim that some place like BookFerret really worked out for them, but I know those are just flukes. I've tried all the animal-named promo sites and none of them work. This Pen Pinery outfit isn't a promo site, though; it's an ARC site. I was ready to move on to the next post, when I read that published books are also accepted, and I was intrigued enough to research them. The website doesn't address that issue, but Google's AI says:

"Yes, authors can share already published books on Pen Pinery. However, it's essential to understand that Pen Pinery is primarily focused on distributing Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) to generate reviews for upcoming or recently published books." 

So, if my goal is reviews, why not try it out? 

Here's my initial impression of the place: It's small, really small. Right now, I would estimate there are about 50 books listed, and the majority of them are already archived, meaning their ARC deadlines have passed. I checked out ten current and archived books, and not one of them had any reviews. CORRECTION: I did find two books with reviews, but one of them had only one review written by the author, and the other had one legitimate review. My assumption is that the site has a very low overhead and only stays in existence via the fifteen dollars an author must pay to list their book.

A feature of the site is that authors can choose to filter potential reviewers and only choose those who...I guess, look promising. I would advise, though, not to be too picky, since nobody seems to review anything there. 

Of course, with all this laid out before me, I surely didn't participate, right? Wrong. (Add my $15.00 to your coffers, Pen Pinery.) I admit, I just wanted to do something. I haven't done anything in a while, and inertia is not my natural fallback position.

In the site's defense, pitiful as that defense is, it's only been in existence since late 2023, so maybe people just haven't found it yet. I tried to find out from where it originates, but have not been able to, although my suspicion is the UK, given the awful name, plus when I was scrolling its list of labels to add to my book, "Brighton" had the most usage, and I'm no geography expert, but I'm pretty sure Brighton is in the UK. 

And speaking of awful names, what the hell? Luckily, I bookmarked the site, because I keep wanting to call it "Pin Pinnery" (which also makes no sense, but still...) Again, per Google:

"In general, the word "pen" refers to a writing instrument, while "pinery" can mean a pineapple plantation or a forest of pine trees." 

Oh. 

I'll withhold my opinion of the place until I find out how well or poorly it delivers. I'm not optimistic, but it would be unfair to weigh in right now. The site is relatively easy for an author to use in creating a campaign, but that's kind of a low bar.

So, more to come, but if you're curious, feel free to check it out. 

UPDATE: I actually got two review requests! (One guy said my cover sucks, however. Thanks.)