Well, I have come up with a Blog Folder as a solution. It keeps track of my upcoming posts for Teen Book Scene, reviews to post, and when to start and finish books. Hopefully this will keep me much more organized than I've felt with review books lately. If not then I'll just lock myself in my room for three weeks and do nothing but read.
What do you do to keep up with review books? Do you have any special techniques that you swear by that you want to pass along?
I share the load. My daughter helps me read through the pile :-D
ReplyDeleteI find that if I put a sticky note with the release date on the front of the book, and then keep them in a stack by order of release I'm more likely to go, oh this one is going to be released soon I should read it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that would work for everyone. But just knowing that I want the review up before the release date helps.
When I agree to review a book, I go in and create a post draft with the date that it needs to be posted by. This way I know what order I need to read in. It is a good theory, but sometimes hard to stick to when a book that I really wanted to read shows up on my door! At least you can take solice in the fact that you are not alone in this dillemma!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a probably a lot of bloggers are running into. Generally speaking, I have a couple of review piles. There are ones that just show up at my door, those that the pub wants the review by day X, and those that are just for review. For me what works best is just trying not to stress about it.
ReplyDeleteI use Google Calendar alot! If the author / pub wants the review by date X then I make sure that I put that on the calender. The same goes with books that are upcoming releases. If it has already been released then I try to make a list of what I got in the month and try to read those in order I got them.
I don't think there is a tried and true why of getting through the review stack... so just try to do the best that you can.
I don't get review books. It's that simple. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've gotten a few, but there aren't a ton of books I want badly enough, and those I DO want badly enough are bigger titles than I could possibly get!
Most of my books come from contest wins or from me buying, so then I can just read when I feel like it. And generally when I DO get an ARC, I'm so excited to have it that I go ahead and read it then.
When I start getting more than I could possibly handle, I'll let you know how my system changes.
My case is like Julies. I only get a few books for reviews, the rest are the ones that I won on contest or bought. But I have been reading other comments and some have pretty good ideas...specially using the release date as a way to have a reading order.
ReplyDeleteI don't get a ton that have specific dates to be done by, so I'm usually ok. I do like Kate's idea tho! Might try that one.
ReplyDeleteI don't get books to review, sad! I do attempt to read a Goodreads win as soon as possible to get my review out there.
ReplyDeleteI have around thirty review books in my pile right now, so it's a problem for me too. (But, you know, a *good* problem!) Publishers send them at different rates and whereas I receive some a week before they're published, some I get months in advance.
ReplyDeleteIn general if I'm desperate to read one I read it as soon as it arrives, but to help me overall I have a spreadsheet. Yep, that's really nerdy of me, but it helps. I have columns for the name of book, publication date, who sent it, and whether it was a review request I accepted or whether it's a surprise arrival. Then I also make columns for the agreed review date if there is one, as well as the date I post the review. I fill in that information for each review book I get and *then* I colour code each book's details: different colors for those that are due within two weeks, due later than that, and of course completed. If I'm finding it hard to keep up, any that I've agreed a review date for take priority, then those I accepted requests for, then surprise books. It sounds REALLY boring, but it helps, and you can do it in Google docs if you don't have a spreadsheet program.
I sort them by average rating on goodreads and that way I'm getting to the best first, every once in awhile I'll read a book I've been dying to get my hands on but I'm pretty good at sticking to my system.
ReplyDeleteHow do I cope? I don't!!!! (nah that was a joke guys) I have no predictible order of how I review my books. I pick them randomly judging on the cover ( yes, I judge books by their covers), if it's a book in a series, length ( sometimes I'm too lazy to read a long books) and according to how much I have heard about the book!
ReplyDeleteUmmm... I don't cope either. I am actually thinking about saying no more please because I feel like a constant failure. There are all these lovely publicists and I feel like I am letting them down because I can't get through these books fast enough. Honestly, you are not alone. Perhaps we all need to learn to say no (very politely). I don't seem to get to read the things I feel like reading anymore.
ReplyDeleteI keep a spreadsheet. I log in when I receive books, when they come out and then I highlight the ones that I need to review soon. It works for me especially since I keep tabs for next to everything on my blogs like upcoming posts, ideas for posts, contests/giveways and everything else.
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ReplyDeleteI tend to try and review/read by publication date, although if some have asked for reviews sooner (eg blog tours) then I read those first.
ReplyDeleteIt does vary :)
My method isn't great! Right now they are lining my floor with sticky notes on them!
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