Before the release of his novel The Adderall Diaries, Stephen Elliott found himself with a stack of advanced reader’s copies of the book that he was supposed to give out to media-types. Instead, he decided to form something called the Adderall Diaries Lending Library — an offer, essentially, to send an ARC to anyone who promised to pass it on after they read it.

So how did it work? In a new post on his website The Rumpus Room, he says the program — in which he gave out about 400 ARCs — was a smashing success, in lots of expected and unexpected ways: “When I was told I should do a large book tour, rather than going from bookstore to bookstore I sent a note to the 400 advance readers of the book. Now I’m doing a cross-country tour of readings and events primarily in people’s homes. It’s a lot less lonely, I think, to have someone responsible for your event in each town. And I’ll probably sleep on their couches (there’s no budget for hotel rooms). These are mostly people I haven’t met who liked the book enough to invite me into their homes. Hopefully none of them are crazy.”

There were some drawbacks, though. For example, “it’s expensive and it takes a huge amount of time.”

And one overarching rule: “One thing to remember: If you don’t write the right book nothing will work. The reader has to connect with the work. I would advise against putting significant time and resources into a work you don’t really believe in.”