I struggled a lot with a topic for this week's discussion. I had covered a lot of topics in recent weeks but, after I made another review log last night (because I had accidentally deleted the first one) I realized that I wanted to do one on ARC's, e-ARC's and how I deal with them. I am a big fan of lists. I make lists of books I want to read, lists of books I have to read and lists of books that I've read.
Yet the only formal lists I make have to do with ARC's & e-ARC's. When I initially started blogging, I focused only on the books I already owned. I had no idea what ARC's were and more to the point, I didn't want to have ARC's. I'm not a greedy person and it's not in my nature to be grabby with things, even things I love, like books.
Acquisitions of ARC's & e-ARC's started off slowly. Since I have such an eclectic taste in books, I was getting a variety of review requests from indie authors and publishers. Many of them, I accepted because I was running out of books to read. The whole concept of "running out of books" suddenly became foreign to me. Things only got unmanageable when I discovered first Netgalley and then Edelweiss.
As a newbie blogger, the ratio of approvals to denials for both of these systems were pretty lopsided for awhile. I was still keeping up with my books for the most part until I was six months in and Edelweiss decided to auto-approve me for multiple publishers. Then, I'm mortified to say, I got overwhelmed and yes a bit greedy. Of course I'm embarrassed about that.No one wants to be called greedy. It's a terrible thing to be called.
I tried to use Excel spreadsheets to organize things, but it just didn't work for me. I ended up using just a straight up Word Document. I wrote the title of the book and the date it was scheduled to be reviewed on my blog. Whenever I finish reading the book, writing the review and scheduling it, I cross it off of the list.
So how do you keep your review pile organized?
I am AWFUL at organization. I too got a little crazy with my ARCs from NetGalley and Edelweiss so I know what you mean. I like the idea of a Word doc, I'm going to have to do something to keep up with all these books! Great topic.
ReplyDeleteNormally I am really organized but I've definitely had issues with it lately.I am trying to limit my requesting to books that I am truly excited about while still trying to get a toehold on my current pile.
DeleteI totally thought that an Excel spreadsheet would work for me, but for some reason it didn't.
I love this post because I always find it interesting to hear about other bloggers' dealings with ARCs. :) I'm not all that "greedy" either, and since I still have a somewhat small following, I haven't gotten into ARC requests (and eARCs are out of the question because I don't have an e-reader). However, when I went to ALA and got a bunch of ARCs, I just tried to read them in order of when they were coming out and do my best to get my review up in a timely manner. I didn't stress about it too much because I didn't want reading to become a chore, which is my biggest ARC-related fear.
ReplyDeleteSide note: don't feel too bad about getting overwhelmed on Edelweiss! Almost every blogger I know who uses the site over-requests. It must be pretty hard to resist!
I have a small following too. That's why I've been so shocked to get so many of the e-ARC's. It was like once I hit 6 months blogging, that's when the approvals started pouring in. Sometimes I think it would be easier not to have an ereader.Then I wouldn't be easily overwhelmed and people wouldn't hint at me being greedy.
DeleteI am cutting down my requests on both EW & NG to books that I am truly excited about and want to read.I desperately need to catch up on my eARC's/ARC's
I've just started blogging, but I can relate about going crazy with all the arcs. I used to entertain all sorts of authors who asked me to review their books (even if I didn't want to and didn't like the book synopsis) just because, yeah I was greedy too. But when I discovered netgalley and Edelweiss, I learned to request only the books that actually interest me, and it's been a bit more organized since. I usually use the Notes app on my iPod to keep track of everything. :)
ReplyDeleteKimi of Geeky Chiquitas
Yes, I made the same mistakes with authors and their books before. I haven't accepted a request from an author for awhile though. Nothing has really jumped out to me enough to say "I must have this book" Now if only I could control my e-ARC's the same way.
DeleteIt is such a fine balance with ARCs, what to read, what not too and most importantly, still making time for the TBR pile and series that you already are in love with. I love getting ARCs and some months I do great at not overwhelming myself with them and other times, not so much. I have been blogging for about 2 years now and I am sad to say I still don't have it all balanced as much as I would like to but I am still trying to read those books in my TBR pile and to try and not grab every single ARC I see.
ReplyDeleteIt can be challenging at times for sure!
So it looks like I won't be super successful at controlling the book haul huh? I've only been blogging just about 9 months and lately it's been the e-ARC's that have overwhelmed me. I see some great looking books and suddenly I have to request them right away. I need willpower to cut down on these e-ARC's.
DeleteAlexia, girl, it is okay.
ReplyDeleteI've been a blogger for nearly 3 years now and I'm still... yes, a bit greedy about the whole eARCs thing (I'm sure you know, I have NO self-control). At least you HAVE a system for organizing your ARCs! I don't. I should probably figure that out, perhaps I'll try out your way with the Word Document! Thanks for sharing :)