I am officially a bad blogger.
Not only have I been really awful at keeping things updated and writing new posts, but I’ve also let my review copy pile get a little bit out of control. This has always been a problem – when I started blogging I went a bit crazy on Netgalley, and it was only at the end of last year (after four and a half years of blogging) that I reached the recommended 80% requested books reviewed.
Now it’s my physical review copy pile that’s the problem – I have about five books read and still waiting to be reviewed, and AT LEAST 20 other books waiting for me. I try to decline all review requests now because the guilt is really building up, but I still get a lot of unsolicited copies, and sometimes I just can’t pass up the chance when something amazing comes along, or I’m offered a book I’ve had my eye on for a while.
I think my main problem is that I am a mood reader. If I piled up the review copies and told myself that they were all I could read until I was done, I would either really start to resent those books and read veeeerrrry slowly, or do anything else but read. I need to pick and choose what I want to read in that moment. Maybe my best solution is to look at those books first, and if nothing takes my fancy at that point then choose from all the others.
How do you deal with a review copy backlog?
Rinn Reads 
When the guilt builds up, I tend to declare an ARC-only month and stop myself reading anything else. My ARC pile is definitely looming over me at the moment (which obviously didn’t stop me going on a NetGalley request spree yesterday because oh my words the books coming out this autumn) – so I’m definitely at the point where I need to knuckle down and get on with it. It’s been read-alongs and comfort for me all summer and it shows. Of course, 2 of those read-alongs have several months left to run, so if you don’t hear from me again, the ARCs ate me.
That’s a good idea! I’m slowly working my way through, trying to go for the ARCs first, but I’m also trying to catch up on a few months of book group books. I haven’t touched Netgalley in forever now, mostly because I just hate reading from ebooks so I know it’ll be forever before I get round to reading them.
I hope you have survived the ARC deluge 😉
I uh well um may be outnumbered over here. Don’t send a rescue team – just send tea and cake 🙂
So with you on this! Having been on the publishers radar for only a short while now, I am starting to get more sent through. A lot are those I request, but occasionally I get unsolicited ones. At the moment I am reading them in publication order. Just need to finish May off now!
Wow, it’s impressive that you’re doing that! Sometimes I am just completely unaware of pub dates
It is so hard to catch up on review copies! I really try to cut back on requesting as well, because when I realized I couldn’t catch up and more importantly that a lot of the books I had didn’t really interest me anymore, I just decided to not read what I didn’t want and focus on what excited me. It all takes time, and I haven’t been good with blogging much either, which I’m slowly hoping to turn around. 🙂 Glad to see you are blogging a bit more too!
Yes, especially when we also have stacks of books we’ve bought that we want to read asap as well 😀 I’m also attempting not to request so much. Nothing from Netgalley, and only the occasional acceptance of a book from a major publisher when I’m REALLY interested (e.g. recently I was offered an illustrated copy of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere… not turning that down!).
Hey all you book bloggers out there cut each and everyone of yourselves some slack. I read several book blogs and as a reader I have myself fallen way behind on my reading, for life has a way of demanding my attention elsewhere.
Far as I am concerned Rinn you are doing the best you can and that is all that can and should be asked of you. You like everyone else have your fast times and slow at least this very post shows you care.
All of you have a great day. Keep up the good work Rinn
Aww, thank you very much Raymond 🙂 I just feel guilty when I receive something for free and either don’t get round to reviewing it or take forever. However I’m sure most publishers send those books out to hundreds of bloggers and probably only expect a certain percentage of them to be reviewed in return…
I know it’s hard to catch up on reviewing. In some cases, I just decide not to review, in others I go for shorter ones. And then there are those books that I will try to review and make a schedule for posting. Sometimes creating a self-imposed deadline can help.
I hope this helps!
Going straight for the shorter books definitely helps – we can get through them quicker and it feels like a weight off the shoulders 😀
Interesting topic Rinn, and definitely one that I used to fear when reviewing ARCs. I did try to read them first so that I reviewed them within a reasonable amount of time, but I too am a mood reader and felt a lot of the time that my mood affected my reaction to an ARC.
Having said that, I only read and reviewed like, three ARCs this year =O
Mood reading is a bit of a pain when it comes to blogging, right? And I totally agree, if you force yourself to read an ARC you’re not in the mood for, it may affect your opinion of it by the end.
You’re definitely not alone! I’m in a position at the minute of having a bit of an ARC build-up and, like you, I don’t like to give myself strict TBRs because I’m a mood reader. Sometimes, though, I’ll give myself an ARC-only reading challenge; if I call it a challenge, rather than a TBR, I can stick to it a little better and I’m not so strict with myself that I don’t let myself read anything else. Even if I just get through a couple of ARCs, they’re two less ARCs on my pile. =)
Yes, challenge always sounds better! 😉 Somehow that’s quite a motivation booster.
I CRY AND REGRET ALL MY LIFE CHOICES. Just kidding. I just have to let some go and hope I get back to them at some point. I also don’t review the ones that publishers don’t know I have, or unsolicited ones, so that helps. For now, I have stopped requesting unless I am in dire need of it. I think I only have 4 more for October, so I’ve been doing a good job, for now.
YES 100%. Maybe I should put unsolicited ARCs on the back burner for now. Or just pick them up when they really appeal? And nice one 😀