I have been blogging for approximately 7 months. When I started I was so utterly jealous of bloggers who got mounds of digital and physical ARC's sent to them . For those who don't know, ARC stands for advanced review copy. Publishers will sometimes send them out to bloggers and editors to read, review and generally create a little hype and excitement for when the book is actually released.
About 2 months had passed and I could no longer resist the urge to start begging publishers for review copies and to be added to the those ultra elusive VIP (insert more important sounding terms) reviewer lists.
Being the hugely pessimistic moany individual that I am led me to believing that 99% of my requests would go ignored. This then led to me emailing as many publishers as I could find/think of.
Weeks passed and I forgot about my many requests. I continued buying books and reading copies provided through Netgalley.
Then something wonderful happened. I got my first review copy. I was elated. This publisher thought that little old me was doing a decent enough job to warrant sending me a book to read and rant about. So I did and all was well in go book yourself land. For a while.
Another book arrived. Great! Then another. Wow! Then another. em..it's OK ill get through them. Then another and anotherandanotherandanotherandanotherandanother.
I now have a pile of approximately 15 books in the corner of my room. That may not sound like a lot to some, but it is to me. I hyperventilate when I see it and actively try not to look at it.
Yes. I am hiding from a pile of inanimate objects.
Everytime I glance in the corner my guilty conscience kicks in:
Guilt midget in my head: Why are you reading a book that's not from the pile? Ignoring it won't make it go away.
Me: I know, I just saw this book and fancied reading it *sad face*
Head: Oh how grateful of you to ignore this pile of books these nice publishers send you!
Me: I know! I will get through them..eventually.
Head: Oh eveeentually...that makes it OK then
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I now have a pile of approximately 15 books in the corner of my room. That may not sound like a lot to some, but it is to me. I hyperventilate when I see it and actively try not to look at it.
Yes. I am hiding from a pile of inanimate objects.
Everytime I glance in the corner my guilty conscience kicks in:
Guilt midget in my head: Why are you reading a book that's not from the pile? Ignoring it won't make it go away.
Me: I know, I just saw this book and fancied reading it *sad face*
Head: Oh how grateful of you to ignore this pile of books these nice publishers send you!
Me: I know! I will get through them..eventually.
Head: Oh eveeentually...that makes it OK then
*Cue the endless cycle of procrastination and guilt*
I am determined to read them and this means sacrificing any thought I had of buying new books for Christmas. Moral of the Story: Be careful what you wish for!
P.S I would like to thank the publishers who have sent me books. As whiny as this post sounds, I do appreciate it. You will hear from me regarding reviews...eventually.
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What a fun whiney post LOL. I loved it
ReplyDeleteAw thanks. I feel a little less guilty now :D
DeleteI felt the same way.. hence the hiatus i seem to have taken.. I had so many books that I was asked to review both v. good and some not that I could not take it.. i had a very highly anticipated book that I bought by an author I love that sat on my shelf so I could trudge through the stack. Grateful for free new exciting books, but very much burnt out!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently experiencing this with eARCs because I got auto approved by a few awesome publishers, and now I have like 20 to get through. I started emailing publishers recently too ..thinking it probably wouldn't hear back...and just got my first arc in the mail this week! So while I'm ecstatic about that, I'm now not going to email any more or request anymore until I catch up! Eeek!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you have to read every title from a publisher that auto approves you. It just means you don't have to wait to be approved?
DeleteI understand how you feel also. My review pile only has about 3 in it at the moment but I'm taking a break once these are done before I burn out. Christmas is busy enough! Great post by the way!
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful post :D
ReplyDelete"This publisher thought that little old me was doing a decent enough job to warrant sending me a book to read and rant about." Oh, I still feel that way sometimes. Isn't it a great feeling?
And I also feel guilty when I read a book that's not from a publisher or author, but sometimes you have to take a break. At the moment, I'm trying to whittle down my review pile. I have an ambitious list to read by the end of the year and it will barley put a dent in my pile but I'll feel accomplished if I manage it.
Enjoy your book, both review and non-review and try not to stess.
I feel this way too. I have about 6 books in my review pile. 3 of them overdue. I feel guilty about not reading them yet.
ReplyDeleteI feel you, you're in a much better place than I am. You only have 15 I have triple that maybe. I'm in the process of leaning my TBR out and it's going to be a long ride extending til half of next year.
ReplyDeleteUh I think that would be heart attack inducing for me!
DeleteI made this mistake on Netgalley the first time I started blogging. I requested so many eARC's, since people said they were often turned down and I got accepted for all of them.. The trick is to slowly make your way through it. Don't go and stress about it, but make a list of when they are published and try to read them in that order :) I'm sure it will be less stressing if you let go of the fact that you HAVE to read them right away. You can always switch up. One book you really want to read, ARC, book you really want to read etc. Everything will be fine ;)!
ReplyDeleteYou don't want to see my ARC list. I made the mistake one month of requesting 17 titles from Netgalley. *hides*
ReplyDelete(I'm down to 31 to read.)
ahaha yeah when I first Joined I did that. request request request....oh wait now I actually have to read these O.o
DeleteI feel your pain/pleasure/pain! I still love getting ARC's but like you the stack is rising and it can be a bit scary! And I don't want to read review books only, I still like to buy books so I'm drowning in all the books. But happy enough to be that way (most of the time!).
ReplyDeleteA great post - I now rely on a spreadsheet to keep track of ARC's I have to read and when the books are going to be published so sometimes it feels like I am on some kind of mad schedule. Having said that I have read some fantastic books (and before they are available to most people :-)
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