What do you call the free copies you get from publishers?

Hi folks, I'm a native English speaker but I'm a bookseller in Germany and I can't for the life of me think of an English word for the German *Leseexmplar* (lit. "reading copy"). I know about ARCs (advanced reading copy), but this is different, just the normal books on the shelves that you ask the publisher for a free copy of because you're a bookseller and you want to read it. I assume this is normal practice in most places. Here we get what we ask for about 9/10 times.

Is there a specific word y'all use for this when you ask a publisher for a book?

Posted Sep 29, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC

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