State of the ARC: September/October 2018

October 30, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

State of the ARC is a meme hosted by Evelina at Avalinah’s Books used to track ARC progress and motivate us ARC reading slackers.


My friend Evelina at Avalinah’s Books and I have a problem: We tend to let our ARCs pile up. Yup, that’s right. Our Advanced Reader Copies quickly become Current Reader Copies. And in some situations, even become Old Reader Copies. That’s right–we both have ARCs which are over a year old. SUPER guilty!

Evelina decided to take matters into her own hands! Not only did she start this lovely meme, State of the ARC, for people to try to grapple with their love-hate ARC relationship, but she also started #ARCsAnonymous on Goodreads. This group is geared towards just pushing through the ARC pile and making a difference. All are encouraged to join!


September/October Progress

I didn’t post a State of the ARC in September as I made no progress on my ARC reading. O_o I’ve been trying so hard to keep up with my book clubs my ARCs have been woefully neglected. For some reason, all my book clubs chose challenging books to read in September and October. Rude, right? XD Regardless, through both months I was steadily reading one ARC:

All book titles are links to their Goodreads pages.

 

My Little Ikigai Journal by Amanda Kudo

This is a super cute guided journal. I took my time reading the prompts and participating in one prompt a day. I’m not super into journaling, but this was quite insightful! I definitely found myself better understanding what makes me happy and what I should be surrounding myself with in life! Unfortunately, I received a protected Adobe DRM version of this book and it expired before I could finish my journaling experience. I reached out to St. Martin’s Press to see if they could provide me with another copy so I could finish the journaling experience… We shall see! DNF or not, this is still a highly ranked experience!

Review to be published when I hear back from St. Martin’s Press.

 

Loading Penguin Hugs by Jacqueline Chen

In my last State of the ARC, it was Evelina who was my book pusher. This month? Captain @ Captain’s Quarters encouraged me to request this readily available book. Or, uh, all she did was write a review. I’ve loved Chibird comics for YEARS. Chen’s uplifting comic gifs have always been my go-to when cheering up friends from a distance. I am so happy to have found this book!

Review to be published in November.

 

I am in the middle of a November 5th release. I don’t know if I’ll make it in time, but I’m definitely trying! It feels good to be on track with my one ARC a month read goal, even though that doesn’t really push me quickly towards my end goal of breaking up with NetGalley. I want to push through and achieve that larger goal– but I know slow and steady will win the race!


Current State of the ARC

ARCs read in 2018: 9 ARCs

ARCs acquired in 2018: 8 ARCs

NetGalley Backlog: 10 books

Author Request Backlog: 3 books

Giveaways/Unsolicited: 6 books

Total ARC TBR: 19 books; 18 post-publication date

 

I’m a little behind on reviews being submitted to NetGalley. I have three missing reviews to write still (oops), but I’ve achieved a 67% feedback ratio! Once I submit the 3 missing reviews, I believe I’ll be at 72%! This is a huge increase since I started 2018 with a 55% feedback ratio.

My original goal for 2018 was to achieve the coveted 80%, but I’ve moved on to only caring about fully breaking up with NetGalley by the end of 2019. Achieving the 80% feedback ratio would just be extra. To achieve the 80%, I’d need to not request a single additional book, read 5 more ARCs and publish reviews for them all. I just… don’t see that happening in 2018. Close! I’ll be so close…

In June, Evelina also started an ARC Bingo game to help mix things up and keep ARC reading fresh. I started keeping track in July. Here are my September/October bingo updates

BINGO! It’s super exciting that I’ve made one bingo already! I hope to get two more bingos this year: #ownvoices ARC and my oldest ARC. Here’s hoping!

 


ARCs Acquired in September and October

 

Sigh. I was sooooo close to not requesting a single ARC this month. That said, I am SUPER proud that I not only requested a Read Now ARC, but I also completed reading it in the same month! At least I didn’t add to my TBR Future Jackie has to deal with. Here’s hoping November will be request-less.

 

Tentative ARCs To Read for November:

 

I’m getting to the bottom of the books remaining in my NetGalley TBR pile. This is super exciting! Also frustrating– as they are mostly books I am less interested in reading. However, three of them are nonfiction, which is awesome for Nonfiction November. Plus, two are fairly short, which means I should be able to blow through them easily. Regardless, it will be challenging to get myself to prioritize reading ARCs. Oops.

Here are my priorities this coming month:

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jale Yolen: November 5th, 2018 — Unpublished

Year of No Clutter by Eve Schaub: Published March 1, 2017 — “New to me” genre

Shadows of the Forest by Emma Michaels: Published November 4th, 2016 — Oldest ARC

As mentioned above, slow and steady win the race here. These selections could help push me towards improving my NetGalley feedback ratio as well as more bingos! I see the end in sight. Only a few more books left…


What do you think?

  • Do you participate in State of the ARC? Share your post below!
  • What ARCs are on your to be read list for November?
  • What books have been sitting on your ARC TBR for a long time? Why?
  • Have you read any of the books I identified above? If so, share your thoughts!

17 Comments

  • Alexa October 30, 2018 at 9:34 am

    Congrats on your bingo!! 😀

    • Jackie B October 30, 2018 at 5:23 pm

      Thank you so much, Alexa! I am super excited as I’m not a frequent ARC reader. Here’s hoping I can make another before year end!

      Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I really appreciate it. <3

  • Susy's Cozy World October 31, 2018 at 5:34 am

    All of your ARCs seem great! Both the ones you have read and the ones you plan to read! 🙂

    • Jackie B October 31, 2018 at 9:34 am

      Hahaha. I don’t think my taste is that good. XD We’re definitely getting to the dregs of my NetGalley TBR. The one I am least excited about is Year of No Clutter. However, Ottavia @ Novels and Nonfiction recently inspired me to pick it up. She read it as part of her passion for minimalism and loved it. This gives me hope! 🙂

      • Susy's Cozy World November 3, 2018 at 9:31 am

        Well, I hope you would enjoy it, too!!!! 🙂

    • Jackie B November 2, 2018 at 12:56 pm

      Thank you, Susy! It was a fun month for ARCs. But I should probably read someone with more dense text for the future. XD I just keep putting off the non-fiction and verse books at this point. Soon I’ll have nothing but them left. Oops!

  • Grab the Lapels October 31, 2018 at 9:58 am

    The ARC bingo is so cute! I feel like I’m doing something similar with my 2018 reading goals. I get the oldest book, the newest book, Etc. It’s a great way to keep me happy as a reader. The only thing I’m unhappy about is I’ve had three very dense novels that are taking me forever to get through, so now I’m behind. I think I’m going to make up for this with an audiobook that I start when I travel for Thanksgiving.

    • Jackie B October 31, 2018 at 10:54 am

      Exactly. I’m at the bottom of the barrel with my ARCs… The ones I have left are not books I am interested in all that much. I know we talked about me walking away, but this isn’t because of the content. It’s a mood reader thing. I have a few 500+ page books and quite a bit of non-fiction. I enjoy non-fiction, but I prefer it in audiobook form. Perhaps I should invest in audiobooks for the ARCs I have, as they are all already published. XD

  • Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote November 3, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    Slow and steady sure can win the race, and hope it’s your case too! Glad to see that Evelina’s feature is working so well for you too. And that cover of Shadows of the Forest is wooooow! 😮 Happy reading, Jackie!

    • Jackie B November 5, 2018 at 9:22 am

      Yes, it’s great to have a way to push me to read more ARCs without making it feel too much like work. XD My relationships with ARCs is certainly not as healthy as yours is, Lashaan! I don’t know how you manage to read and review so many of them!

      • Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote November 5, 2018 at 10:51 am

        Hahah it might have to do with the number of ARCs I decide to take on too. 😛 And once 2019 arrives, I’ll probably try and reduce the number of ARCs a bit more so I can finally read my “own” books hahah 😀

        • Jackie B November 5, 2018 at 11:11 am

          How many ARCs do you take on each month? And, as you have many physical copies, it seems like you have a solid relationship with some publishers. I assume you have discussion with them before taking on ARCs? You know, deadlines for reviews and all that…

          • Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote November 5, 2018 at 11:19 am

            Around 3-4 novel arcs and 10-13 comic arcs/review copies! And actually, no. I think the folks I talk to know that I’ll probably publish my reviews around release and I’ll always deliver something soon. I have yet to have one tell me to review something before a certain date or to ask me if I’ll ever review it soon hahah I do have to admit that I’ve ran into a couple publishers, no actually not the publisher itself but the marketing person in charge of arcs and all who simply seemed reluctant to partner with me and would prefer my coblogger for example. I don’t care about this anymore and quickly move on now, but it still shows how complex this can get You just have to get lucky with the people you get in contact with hahah

            • Jackie B November 5, 2018 at 11:29 am

              Wow! That’s a TON of ARCs a month. Plus school?! I don’t know how you do it. I’m shocked and impressed.

              I’m glad you aren’t letting your connections get to you. At the end of the day, we’re always interacting with people. And there will be people I like to work with and people I don’t like to work with. The space to choose is important.

              Have you met any of these people in person? Do you attend conventions and the like?

              • Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote November 5, 2018 at 12:41 pm

                Hahaahah I’ve filtered it down to publishers who have the most interesting books too over the years, I’m just really happy that they even acknowledge what I do and continue to support it. 😛

                And yes, you’re totally right. I was just totally surprised that such a thing is even possible though. The unfairness is bewildering and sometimes you wonder what reasons they could possibly have to ignore you and talk to others. I tell myself that it might just be the name of the game, reasons could be anything, from favoritism to segregation, from me not reading as much YA as they wish I did, to my writing style. Anything goes, and I don’t have time to worry about these little things. 😀

                I’ve never met any of them, as they all don’t live in Montreal. Some are actually closer than others, but I wasn’t invited to check out their headquarters or had the time to travel just for that.

                I’ve had the chance to attend one convention, YALLWEST back in 2016 or something right in Santa Monica. After that, all the opportunities were mostly given to my coblogger for.. well.. you know now hahaha No one knows this by the way hahah Exclusive knowledge just for you. Consider it tagged confidential.

                • Jackie B November 5, 2018 at 2:16 pm

                  Noted. I shall be all hush hush about it. I have some theories about why you might be given fewer opportunities, but I’m certain you have your own thoughts as well. The publishing industry is so odd. I am never quite able to figure them out…

                  I would like to attend a convention some year, but I mostly want to have the experience than gain anything from it. I’m a bit surprised you went to YALLWEST as you aren’t a YA reader. Do publishers ever go to Comic conventions? They totally should…

                  • Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote November 5, 2018 at 2:47 pm

                    Hahah it is an odd one right? But it was one where both me and Trang were invited to go to, and was especially and almost solely based on my review of Six of Crows. I didn’t pass on that since I not only got to go on a trip, got to assist my first book convention and got to meet Leigh Bardugo hahah

                    I believe they do go to comic conventions, for example the San Diego Comic Con has a lot of book publishers participating. It would be a dream come true if I were invited to go to one of those thanks to publishers though hahah But for now I’m very content with what I got and what I get to do!

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