Okay, so I am in the middle of NaNoWriMo and hoping to make it through 10,000 words in this last week, it really should work out fine, but what is a deadline without procrastination. Here is my procrastination for all of you to see. I have just received in the mail 7 books from a publisher.
That is exciting!! right? Is it exciting to get books in the mail?? It is right? Okay, it sure is...but what about being tooooo greedy. I know we all joke and say that you can never have too may books, that you can never have too much to read...but I am not sure if that it true all the way. I know it is true (at least for me) that I can never have enough books, but I think I can have way too many ARC's. I think I am pretty close to having that magical "too many" number on my shelves right now.
I am going to be honest with you and tell you how flooded I am: I have 45. Ahhhh, please don't judge me. I needed to be honest in order to create a setting that would breed honesty and vulnerability in you as well....yes I have 45 I admit that I have a problem.
At the same time every Monday I see these "mailbox Monday" posts where you all seemt to get at least 5 books a week from publishers!! How do you manage? Do you read them all? Do you skim? What is on your ARC shelves? Do you feel the pressure of books falling down on you? Do you dream at night of angry books chasing after you with big bloody teeth ready to bite your heels? I am dramatic, what can I say...but I am feeling a little over loaded.
Be honest, count your ARC pile, how many do you have(please make me feel better by saying way more than me!!!!)?? Does it slightly take the joy out of reading when you have piles? When you read one of the books that is not an ARC do you feel guilty?
Yes, I am the question gal...BUT I NEED ANSWERS!!! :)
sincerely,
books nipping closer
26 comments:
I got 7 today, too, and I think I'm in the same boat as you. I'm not counting mine because I don't want to know. I read them all, but don't worry too much about deadlines. Most of them that came today won't be published until March.
Well, I went back and counted and I have 30, but I'm about half way through one of them.
Bethany, I am with you entirely on this. Yes, you can have too many ARCs. When you cannot go to your book shelves and pick one out at your fancy due to obligations you've made to publishers, authors, publicists, etc, you have too many. I hit that magic mark last month. Interestingly, I think 45 must be the magic number. I have given away about 11 books to others to review over time and I started my push to get out from underneath my pile at 36 books. 45 or there abouts may be the magic number. For me, I was just so excited about people wanting to send me books that I never or rarely said no. Now I'm just the opposite. If I don't think the book is a good fit for me or my blog, I don't even respond to the email (unless I can tell it was written personally for me). I don't want my blog to feel like a burden and all these ARCs make me feel that way. I don't know if this helps you, but I understand you completely.
I totally know how you feel. I don't want my blog to feel like work, so when I started blogging, I decided to try to keep a 50-50 balance between ARCs and books from my personal TBR pile. I read about 10 books per month, so I try really hard not to have more than 5 ARCs scheduled for any one month. I've been lucky to get review copies of many books that were on my personal TBR, so that kind of kills two birds with one stone, as I'm reading something I was going to read anyway. I haven't counted my ARCs, but I know I have several lined up for each month through about April so far. Like the Housewife, I now turn down anything I wouldn't pick up on my own, unless it sounds really amazing, and I've cut back on what I request from Shelf Awareness. Reading and blogging should be fun--go pick up one of your own books, and don't feel guilty, girl. Life is short.
Wow, this sheds light on how much publishers are really wanting the blog community to read books! But I can see how taxing that can be.
But...go NANO! You are almost there, too. How cool is that? I'm getting excited about finishing, though my last couple of chapters are stalling. I may have to add a recipe or two.
Karen
bermudaonion- I know isn't it fun and scary at the same time!?! yes I read them all too....it is getting waring on the eyes though. I may need to get my eyes checked.
literatehousewife- YAY! I am glad you understand too. Yes, I agree this many is TOO many.There must be a magic number.
rjsbooklady- Oh, thank you :) thanks for understanding. I like what you do, read half and half, that is a great tip!!
scoobberlotcher-
Yes, they must LOVE us to pieces for sure!!! :)
and yes, NANO is awesome, I am so excited~!
I have 1 ARC. Unfortunately, it's been sitting around for a few months. Which made me realize I'm not cut out for the whole request an ARC, review, repeat routine.
Like Kathy, I keep the arc thing in perspective by considering the release date. I have a half-dozen or so that won't be released until February and March, so I plan my reading of those books accordingly.
But you're right - I think it is entirely possible to have too many arcs. As I see it, when I receive one that I requested (do you hear that Random House....emphasis on requested!), I'm entering into an agreement to read and review the book by release time. That's what the marketing folks are after, right? With a little planning, I suppose it isn't too hard to accomplish.
Now review copies are a horse of a different color. Usually the books are already "out there" and the publisher wants a review fairly quick. I can't do that if I've got a bazillion of them on the shelf. So I limit those.
(Answer to your question: 6 arcs and 3 review copies to be read.)
It's too easy to get overwhelmed. And once you start to get behind and have publicists on your butt to get the review up it just sucks all the fun out of it.
I have 17 books waiting. I've been trying to show some self control because I actually want to enjoy the books instead of feeling pressure to get through them all. It's hard not to request books when I know I will probably like them.
In addition to the 17 ARCs, I have about 60 books that I have bought or won that I haven't read yet.
I did have a nightmare last week that people kept handing me books. I would set one book down and immediately someone would hand me another one. Over and over again. I think it might be a sign. :)
Overall I love the ARCs and getting free books, but I have definitely been trying to get a grip on my requesting lately.
To put things really in perspective, I think we'd have to also mention how many books we review per month. Because if you have 45 books waiting to be reviewed but you review about 20 books a month (which some folks do), then that's only two and a half months' worth of books. But if you only review four or five books a month (which is more my speed), then 45 books translated into 9 or 10 months' worth of reading, which is much crazier! I currently have 10 books to review (mostly review copies, not ARCs), with at least three more on their way, plus another half a dozen that I won from various giveaways waiting for me. And I've requested more than I may or may not get. For me the magic number is much much lower than 45!
I haven't counted, but from the size of the piles, I'm guessing I have about twenty to thirty books waiting right now, a good percentage of which are review copies and/or ARCs. This is partly why I've stopped accepting that sort of book -- too much obligation! And, frankly, too many of the review books I was getting were just plain blah.
I have 30 books waiting to be read. I don't know how many are actually ARCs and which are just review books, it's all the same to me. That's not counting the 10 plus I have in the mail to me too. Some are picture books though.
Yes I feel too book greedy and I've struggled to turn some down since I'm behind but it's so hard to turn down free books!
I'm too lazy to go in the other room and count right now, but I'm pretty sure it is in the 30s. I had between 40 and 45 for a looong time, every time I read one, a new one took its place. Until today, I hadn't requested or accepted a book in WEEKS, maybe a month. I am very proud of myself. Whenever I saw one I wanted, I made myself wait at least a day and, by then, I usually forgot to request it.
I don't seem to get many ARC, but then I don't really go looking for them. I try at librarything, and have received a couple. I do ask for review copies from a publisher connection, but I try to keep that on a read-review-ask again scheduele.
So I happily don't feel overwhelmed by ARCs. Now, just plain old books that I've bought or received, that's another story.
BTW, I just got Life After Genius in the mail today. Thanks!
Because of law school, which prevents me from doing lots of fun things, I only have limited time to read. As a result, I accept very few ARCs and advance review copies. Right now, I have four and that is plenty. Also, I like the freedom of reading what I want without fear of feeling like I am on a deadline.
softdrink- you are my hero!!! how could you not get sucked in!?! are you human? AHHHH...I wish I could be you. :)
michelle at readers respite-
Oh, you are so right, arc's are better to dally on than review copies. I have too many of both for my own sanity is all I know. Today I will get two reviewed, that I just finished, and we will see how it goes from there!!!
You too are my hero, with 6 and 3...I need to do what you do girl!
Thanks for the insight :)
Alyce- That is so funny, your nightmare!! It is exactly a book bloggers nightmare...that people would just keep giving and giving us books! :) haha...that is a great one.
At 17 you are doing really well too, keep up the self-control! :)I need that restraint.
avisannchild- mine is much lower than 45 too!! I don't know what happend to me :) I think I would like to be at about 10 really. Then I could have things to choose from, but I know I could finish them easily if I wanted to.
Chritine- and then it is no fun! I don't like having to read bad books...but if you request them, it is what you get right? Yep. I pick books by their covers, and mostly I am right about them. HAHAH!
Callista- YAY! another greedy like me! Thanks for sharing and making me feel better, you are sweet. Yes, books are hard to resist, and free books impossible.
Jen- Great work getting yours limited down! I need to do that. Thanks so much for the tip on waiting for a day, that is an excellent idea, than the impulse is gone :) I will try that.
raidergirl- you are another hero of mine, you read what you want, but you don't get as many free books...I guess it is a pick your poison type 'o deal. :) Right now though I would rather declare book review bankrupcy!haha.
Yes it's possible to have to many arc's to read. I'm there also and I've decided that I will only review for the ones I'm currently reviewing for and that's it. It's crazy and to be honest I'm scared to count. One thing I don't like doing is skimming. If a book isn't great and there are parts I can skim, I will but if I've picked up a book that is capturing my heart I have to read each and every word. I do however keep looking longingly at my own bookshelves where there are a multitude of books I picked out for myself to read because I was interested in them but due to obligations to read others I don't get to read my own. So, yes that is beginning to bother me too. So, I've drawn a line and now I'm going to try to catch up to what I currently have by taking it a few books at a time and staying calm and trying not to feel too overwhelmed by it all.
You bring up great topics, friend : ) Right now I have 10 (including the one I'm reading now) and that feels like way too many for me. Mostly I think it's too many because I really enjoy book challenges and my two book clubs - and those are just more obligations to read OTHER books besides the ARC books. I'm done requesting for a while so I can get back into a better ratio :)
Great great topic, Bethany. I don't participate in Mailbox monday because I get maybe a book a week, but I read other's posts and wonder how the heck they can get any reading done--and if they are reading ALL those books how they manage to do anything else besides read.
I have 8 ARCs on my shelf right now--some from publishers, some from authors. But I have 200 books of my own that I'd like to read someday as well. I've stopped seeking out free copies, stopped looking at the lists of books from Hachette and other publishers on book blogs, and I've started telling people who contact me that I won't get to reading the book until at least January.
And I've said this before, but I miss the old blogosphere where people posted mostly about books that I've heard of or books that are on my shelf or books that have already been published, etc etc. I don't like getting on my reader and seeing 5+ posts about the same ARC--frankly as much as I love reading everyone's posts, I usually skip those posts from people. Horrible, I know.
many of the books I have are already published. I don't have many ARCs. I do have one that is long overdue. UGH, but that's because I have a different addiction...virtual blog tours!
I think i have somewhere around 20 books to read and review right now. i was rather happy to see a bunch come in recently that are under 250 pages. That's going to be nice! I keep a list and a calendar and have the books in a stack in the order I think i need to read them.
I do wish i could get reviews to people sooner than i am in some cases though so that makes me feel sort of bad.
Great topic and great pictures :D
I don't want to count them, so I won't, and you can't make me. But there's lots. And it TOTALLY makes reading feel like work, and I don't look at that stack and think, Wheeeeeee, books! In the same way I do at a stack of library books. I think, Man, I have got to get to WORK! Which is why I'm toning down the whole free-book-barrage. Not all free books are good books.
I don't get offered very many ARCs, I think because my blog isn't solely focused on reading. I do get some, but I don't respond to a lot of the offers. I think there are maybe 3 or 4 on my shelves right now. Now, books that I have of my own are threatening to collapse my shelves.
I have ZERO review copies to worry about. I know, I know: "What a loser!" The explanation is quite simple: 1) I don't seek them out. 2) More importantly, hardly anybody reads my blog anyway! I do have about a zillion books of my own that I'm behind on, but I either bought them myself or received them as gifts. I do feel "guilty" about not tackling the backlog more aggressively sometimes, but it's not like anybody's knocking down my door requesting my opinion about the unread books or funding time off from work for me to read the dang things!
hahaha! I know I am not supposd to LAUGH... but can't help it :D
The images are so damn funny...!
EVERYOE seems to be agreeing :D how do u point out things that others dnt seem to wanna discuss ;)
i dnt get any ARC's... but i like to read them. if i get them of course!
:)
lemme read the answers ;)
lol!!:) how do you read our minds??:) i am scared to look at my bookshelf these days coz i know there are some ARCS sitting there and I know i have to read and review them.. but sometimes I find a interesting book in the bookstore/library/friend's place and i have to read that first! so my ARCs sadly take the second place..shall go back home, count them and give you an update..:) after reading all the comments here, i am glad we are not the only ones!:)
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