One thing I’ve noticed lately in the blogosphere is that the number people receiving ever increasing amounts of review copies is rising. Or at least the number of posts about the subject is rising. Which is great for me, since I thought I was the only one facing this problem. Every day a new book (or two) lands on my doorstep, and I have had to endure endless teasing from my family because of it.
But this isn’t just about me complaining that I have too many books. The problem is, I simply don’t have time to read all of those books. And let’s face it, I don’t really want to either. Even in a perfect world where I would have unlimited time for reading everything I wanted, not every book will appeal to every person.
So I’m starting a new page rule. I’m going through all my books and giving away a great deal of them that I think that I will never read. So if you aren’t hooked up to Bookmooch, now would be a good time to do that. :-) I am also starting a 50 page rule. If a book doesn’t grab me by 50 pages in, I’m going to put it down and move onto something else. I love reading, and especially reviwing and blogging about my books, but this is a volunteer hobby, not a full time job.
Believe it or not, this was actually a hard decision for me to make. I have a lot of authors contact me personally looking for reviews for their books, and it’s hard for me to tell them no. So to combat this, I’ve decided to start a new section for the blog. It’s going to be called the book feature. These will be book I have not read (or didn’t finish), but still want to get the word out about so people can give them a chance. These posts will usually consist of a short plot summary (usually from the book itself or Amazon.com), a picture of the cover, and a link(s) to where you can find your own copy. Since I haven’t read these, I won’t be putting any comments in the posts about the book, but simply give them their time in the spotlight.
So there you go. I hope to get started on those soon. And if you’d like to skip over them, dear readers, that’s fine too. I’m just trying to find a way to give every book a chance. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean someone will. Don’t worry, I’ll still be doing regular reviews, and I’ll try not to make the features overpower the reviews.
I’d love to hear what you think about the new system. Anyone else come up with a good solution to this problem?
10 comments:
That's a good idea! But I try to read all the ARCs I get because I've requested for them. So, no matter how boring it is, I'll just go on reading until the last page! :D
I do read every single book that I've requested. But there's so many companies who send them without asking lately!
Wow, good for you! Probably the best thing to do now is just take your time reading them...if you want to. :)
Good luck!
I know what you mean. I've gotten books that I never asked for as well...and even the ones I ask for take me awhile to read! I think this new idea is great. You're still trying to show off the book for the author and if it sounds good to someone, they might want to check it out. We all love different things!
-Lauren
This is a really good idea. I get annoyed with publishers that email saying, 'I read your blog and thought you might be interested in reviewing XYZ' and XYZ has nothing to do with what I review (teen books). Does this ever happen to you?
Em, that does happen a lot! I do occasionally review things other than YA, but many requests aren't even remotely related.
Hey Alyssa I am on bookmooch and have requested to be your friend and have already mooched some books from you (hee hee)if you give away anymore please let me know. And yes I am definitely having the same problem. I haven't yet gotten to many piling up but I am receiving ones I never asked for and have no intentions in reviewing I have no idea where they came from and am very confused so i'm sorry publishers but they're going to be put up on bookmooch.
I'm pretty new to reviewing ARC's and haven't received any books in the mail that I didn't know were coming. So far I've been lucky none of the books have been so bad I didn't want to finish reading them. I'm not too picky with books as far as once I start reading I'll usually finish. I sort of know what genres I like so I stick to those and stay away from the ones I know I wouldn't like.
wow! that's crazy, i wish people lived longer so that we could have more time to read but nooo we have to do other stuff too hehe like eat : ) i can't really think of any ideas for you but what you're going to do i think is a really good idea : )
I'm impressed. I would love to get ARCs, mainly because if they were any good my students would have a copy. I'll have to read your blog more closely and learn how you get people to send you things!
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