Introduction
I have already read a 2022 release. I do not actually plan on reading no new releases this year. (If you plan to read no new releases this year, please sound off on how and why in the comments!) Making such a commitment would go against my fundamental principle of reading whatever I want whenever I want.
Lest I be called out for clickbaiting – let’s emphasize the ‘what if’ part of this question. That ‘fundamental principle’ I mentioned above is often aspirational. I try out different strategies every now and then as I attempt to optimize my reading approach. The titular question stumbled into my mind one evening as I contemplated 2021 books I never found the time read. So allow me to address “What if I don’t read any 2022 releases this year?” as a thought exercise.
Backlist Value
I started blogging seriously about books in 2014. Two events of note happened that year: I completed an English degree specializing in children’s literature and the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks took off. Translation: I was well-versed in kidlit up to that year, and that year proved to be a turning point in children’s publishing. I focused on new and forthcoming releases that offered fresh perspectives which had previously been denied in children’s publishing. I added many new books to my TBR and raced to read them because those new books offered stories we had never seen before in middle grade fiction.
No longer do I feel that running to keep up with new releases is the only way to access diverse perspectives. There will always be more new books featuring excellent diverse stories than I can keep up with. And in 2022, I now have plenty of backlist titles on my TBR that also offer excellent diverse stories. (To be clear, I mean ‘diverse books’ as in ‘books that differ from one another‘.) Books published five years ago (2017) vs. books published five years before I first started book blogging (2009) differ greatly from one another. I don’t need to keep running ahead when there are now so many great titles behind.
An additional thought on the value of backlist reading crossed my mind when I recently DNF’d The Wolf and the Woodsman. By waiting until some months after a book has been published, you can avoid some of the ebbs and flows of hype. I imagine I was able to approach The Wolf and the Woodsman with a clearer mind, coming it at from a more balanced and neutral perspective, than if I had tried to read it at the peak of its hype.
The backlist has more titles of value to me now than it did in my earlier years of book blogging. (Also, I can dodge some of the effects of hype.)
Marketing Machine
At times, I feel like a marketing machine. Tweet this, read that, review here and there, and onto the next book. More often than I wish was necessary, I have to remind myself why I started book blogging – to share my thoughts on the books I’m reading. Not to stay ahead of the curve. Not to learn about new releases. Not to promote books that I’ve enjoyed. I strive to keep my focus on reading and enjoying books. That focus can be easily lost when I feel the allure of new and forthcoming titles.
The idea of not reading any 2022 releases came to me as a way to hit the marketing machine breaker. The machine feeling especially kicks in when it comes to anticipated new titles. We all know how important visibility and sales are in the early days of a book’s life. Sometimes I feel pressured to rush and read and promote a title I’m excited for, instead of just enjoying the story. And then I may feel a bit disappointed when I don’t get a new release right away, like I’m not ‘doing my duty’ as a book blogger.
Just because I feel this way occasionally doesn’t mean I think these is a ‘correct’ way to feel. Not sure how to phrase this but – There are so many books! You can boost them any time! No one can support every great book all at once! I am reminded of this when I see big bloggers reviewing backlist titles and I catch myself thinking, “Wow, So and So hadn’t already read that one?” But they’re just reading books and reviewing them as they like, and it still makes a difference in that book’s visibility.
[Update after post publication: Krysta @ Pages Unbound posted yesterday “5 Myths About Book Blogging“, including points related to new releases and ARCs, so that is another relevant post you can check out.]
(Another small critique I have of the marketing machine vibe [which is slightly tangential to this post]: I’m not keen on hyping books before I’ve read them, which seems to be something that happens a lot in the online book community. Focusing on new releases includes the pressure to do that.)
So again, I need to refocus on reading and enjoying books. A frontlist title does not have more inherent value than a backlist title, at least for me. Focusing on picking up books to enjoy at my own pace and letting go of any need to turn on the marketing machine should result in me naturally boosting books I’ve loved, instead of running the promotional hamster wheel.
Not reading new releases would allow me to feel less like a cog in a marketing machine.
ARCs
I recently read two great posts about ARCs from a book blogger’s perspective. Caitlin @ Realms of My Mind published “Blogging to Get Free Books: Sometimes Necessary, Not Evil“. Amber @ The Literary Phoenix published “Five Reasons I Kind of Hate ARCs“. Caitlin acknowledges the advantages ARCs provide; Amber highlights some of the disadvantages. There’s plenty one can say in a discussion about ARCs! For this post, I’ll focus on two points in particular.
ARCs exist solely as a marketing tool. For book bloggers, they can be a critically important way to access new releases. Moving reminded me how long it can take to get ahold of new releases, depending on public library access. Acquiring an ARC can sometimes be the only way to read a book I genuinely want to get to in the year that it’s published. If I request an ARC for a book I’m keen to read and I’m approved and that book is great, then hooray, that’s a wonderful experience. If I request an ARC for a book I’m keen to read and I’m denied or the book isn’t great, then boo, that’s a dreary experience. It can be a risky game when it comes to requesting ARCs (which by their nature are all new releases).
Additionally, ARCs come with deadlines. I realize that may be a contentious assertion lol but the purpose of an ARC is to boost and review the book up to its publication date. Such deadlines can turn a potentially enjoyable reading experience into a dreary one by transforming reading into an obligation. That’s the tradeoff – you receive a free book before publication date, you read and review that book within a certain time period. This is not always a negative experience. But as I noted, if the ARC you’ve received turns out to be a book you’re less than excited for, it can be painful. This is one of the reasons I generally only request books I was already interested in and planning to read anyway. (For context, I would like to note that so far I have requested four 2022 releases on NetGalley and been approved for three.)
ARCs have value, but they can also turn reading from a joy to a chore.
Conclusion
And now we have come to the crux of this discussion! Because the question “What if I didn’t read any 2022 releases this year?” is really a larger question in disguise: “What do I value most when it comes to my personal reading choices?”
Kathie @ Bit About Books wrote an inspiring post on this question back in November (“What Are My Reading Values?“). I don’t have an answer to that greater question for myself yet. I have felt unsure of my values for a few years now. I was getting close to finding them at the end of 2020 but I lost the thread in 2021. I think it’s a challenge for me because my values and/or priorities seem to be always changing. But I feel addressing this ‘smaller’ question and reflecting on a focus on new releases a good step forward.
This is not an exhaustive post; I likely have further musings on this topic. That’s enough from me for now. Now, it is your turn. I would love to hear your responses to these questions.
What factors do you consider when choosing which books to read?
How do you approach requesting and reviewing ARCs?
What do you value most when it comes to your personal reading choices?
For me, it’s easy. I just want to read and I have never had much extra money to spend on it, so I basically always read backlist books. Even now that I do have some money to spend, I am so used to this that I don’t have the need to run to every book release to be the first one to read it. I simply don’t care when a books was written and released. I have a library subscription (they aren’t free in my country), I get books for my birthday and with Christmas, sometimes I buy new ones, most likely I’ll buy used ones and I still get a lot of them from little free libraries. Those that I have read, usually travel along, unless I really really want to reread them. So that’s another reason not to spend too much money on books. I hardly ever keep them!
Ah, this is a great point. I didn’t even consider the book buying angle, haha, as I am also selective with the books I buy. (I usually only buy new titles if I’ve read them before or they’re by an author I already love.) If buying them was the only way I could read new books, I think I would feel this way also. The backlist has so much to offer anyway!
In my first years of book blogging, I was really excited by the chance to get advance copies of books that looked interesting to me. Some of these were disappointing, and that made it hard to meet my review commitment. I also found that although I’d expected that I would attract more blog traffic by reviewing new books, this was not the case. I actually had much more engagement and meaningful discussion when I posted about older books or on themes that meant a lot to me, rather than some random new books. It makes sense that people have little to say about brand new books, because few of them have had time to read them!
Now, I request few new releases (although i go on an occasional Netgalley binge). I read what I want and I post about it if I feel like it. I tend to read newer books after a few years have passed and the hype has died down, leaving a few that keep asking for my attention. I have enough connections in the book blogging community now that I don’t have to try to attract more with ARC reviews, even if that were to be an effective method.
I enjoy reading a few of the newest books each year, but it’s not many! Sometimes I feel sorry that I’m not participating in the “up to the minute” conversation, but mostly I’m happy this way.
I like what you’re saying here: “I actually had much more engagement and meaningful discussion when I posted about older books or on themes that meant a lot to me” because it’s true. When someone writes about what means a lot to them, it’s more real and therefore a lot more interesting! Thanks for sharing this.
I haven’t looked closely at my traffic/engagement for posts about frontlist vs backlist titles, but I feel I would discover the same thing. On the rare occassion when I do post about a book ahead of or around its publication date, the comments are usually something like “I am also looking forward to reading this book!” There does seem to be less room for discussion when you are one of few who have read a new title. While I do enjoy learning about new and upcoming titles from other book bloggers, back and forth discussion and connection over a book review really comes best when both the reviewer and the person reading the review have read the book.
I feel like I am moving toward the position where you currently are when it comes to reading and reviewing (or not) new titles. Perhaps I will still feel a twinge of disappointment when I can’t participate in ‘up to the minute’ conversations, but so long as I am enjoying what I am reading and reviewing – then that should be enough. Thank-you for sharing your thoughts.
Really love your thoughts! I’m definitely guilty of being caught up in the marketing aspect, wanting to always chase the shiny new release. But there are SO MANY good backlist books I haven’t read that I know I’ll absolutely love if I just sit down and read them. I’ve been trying to scale back my ARC requests, but haven’t quite broken the habit yet. Great post, and thanks for the links!
Thanks Caitlin! Your post came at the perfect time, when I was just beginning to stew on this question. I think it may be a good idea for us book bloggers to remember, at least occasionally, that if no new books were to ever be published again, we would still have a wealth of backlist titles to keep us occupied a lifetime.
A worthy question. When I first became a book blogger, I was an elementary school library with a budget of $0. Yes, you read that right…$0. I did anything I could to get books for my library. It was a classic case of having an administrator who did not realize that maintaining a library costs money.
Now, however, I’m retired. I pass along any books I receive in my Little Free Library. I’m not worried about getting books at all. That said, I still want to read the good books. Yes, I have plenty of old good books awaiting me. But it’s always nice to read a new book or two each year.
It breaks the heart to think of a children’s library with no money for new books! But I see how that’s quite a different situation from where you find yourself now. Good books is really the fundamental goal, whether new or old.
On a semi-related note, I could add that I think about your post “The Last 2,000 Books of My Life” a lot. I’ve been using it as a framing question to help me decide whether I want to read books I feel ambivalent about – ‘If I only had a finite number of books left to read, would I choose this one?’ Useful for both new and old books!
I definitely think waiting a while to read books is a good way to get a more balanced perspective and see if people REALLY enjoy them. I agree that I see tons of people hyping books they haven’t read yet on social media and their blogs, and I also think even sites like Netgalley or Goodreads before a book is published tend to skew overly positive. That is, I pretty strongly believe people approved for ARCs feel pressure to be more positive about them, even if that’s just bumping a 3 star review up to a 4 star one. (Maybe that’s a controversial take, but I think it’s very noticeable that there will be only glowing reviews of a book before publication and then after publication more readers start going, “Uh, but this book isn’t that good?”)
I agree with that ‘controversial’ take – I know that’s certainly true for me! Sometimes I think that striving to be more positive can have a good effect (perhaps you spend more time thinking critically about a title and considering overlooked positivies instead of just focusing on obvious negatives), but when it comes to a book you truly didn’t enjoy… it’s something I have to consider when weighing the pros and cons of being approved for a title. Knowing that someone specifically approved you to receive a copy of a book and is waiting to see your thoughts and how you ‘hype’ the book has a different affect on how you approach that book than if you just picked it up independently.
So much of this resonates! I think about the marketing machine a lot because as much as I’ve loved the opportunities being a part of this book community offers, I don’t want to get too far from the pure enjoyment of reading. And I definitely agree with you in not wanting to hype books I haven’t read, I personally find it more authentic when I can promote something I truly enjoyed.
I’ve been thinking more about new releases this year as last year ARCs made up more than half of my reading. So far this year I’ve been really focused on my TBR, so backlist titles by default, and I have appreciated that it feels like I’m taking more time for my own reading rather than keeping up with publishing. These are great hypotheticals because while I don’t see myself not accepting ARCs, unless I leave book blogging, it does let me reflect on my purpose in book blogging and more internally with reading.
Thank-you so much for this comment, Sam! I’m glad to hear this post helped you reflect. ARCs have never made up a significant portion of what I read, so I appreciate hearing your perspective and that even someone who is more used to working with ARCs can also feel some of that ‘marketing machine’ pressure. Here’s to continuing to read focused on our own enjoyment.
As others have said before me Jenna – you have openly and honestly shared how many of us are feeling. Kathie and I have been discussing this for the last little while and how the joy of reading has evaporated for a variety of internal and external factors. I so appreciated the links to the other posts that helped you drive your thinking and emotions as they too resonated for me. Ultimately for me I think I have to go back to read what I want and when I want – putting a title down if it is not resonating with me at the moment or reading the so called “gift” of an ARC. As always thank you for contributing to my thinking and look forward to more of your thoughts on this topic.
Thank-you so much Laurie! I’m so glad I took the time to write this post, seeing how it has reonated with you and other bloggers. Those quotes around “gift” really hit the nail on the head when it comes to bloggers’ relationship with ARCs.
I feel this post so much! I get tired of trying to keep up with the marketing machine. And BE the marketing machine. I don’t want to read books because I feel compelled to read them in order to be current. I want to read books because I am interested in them. Right now I’ve been indulging in some rereads. And I might have gone down a sort of research rabbit hole and requested a bunch of books on the same topic the other night. None of that may translate into looking trending, but it does make reading more fun!
That’s the spirit! The trick for me, I think, will be doing a little more self-relecting on why I feel I’m interested in a book. Does the book itself truly appeal to me and that’s why I’m interested in reading it, or am I interested in reading it because shiny new story? I find it’s mostly middle grade titles that I have to do this with, since I’m personally interested in only a slim selection…
I totally feel this more in the last year and a half or so. It is so hard to keep up. (and yet I still request books) I have gotten more picky with what I request on Netgalley but I really struggle saying no to (self-pub) authors who reach out to me personally. I feel almost obligated.
Oof, yeah, that’s another level to deal with when an author reaches out to you directly. I don’t have any relationships with authors like that. When I get e-mailed review requests from authors, I just ignore them 😬 (They’re always generic e-mails for the type of books I never review anyway, so I don’t feel too bad, haha.)
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Even though my pile of Netgalley widgets get never ending I like to pick up backlist books. I usually try to keep balance like If I read 8 books a month, I make sure 2 of them are from my shelf or older ARCs that I couldn’t read by publication date.
Finding the balance between marketing a blog and remembering why we blog – to have fun writing content and to enjoy helping people with the content – can be challenging. I find myself in full on marketing mode now because I feel guided to take that journey. But it still feels uncomfortable as I also know that I could write and publish blogging tips posts all day long.
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