Friday, May 3, 2019

Bookish Rants and Rambles: My Diminishing Interest in ARCs



Bookish Rants and Rambles is basically where I either rant or ramble about something dealing with books.

ARC, or Advanced Reader's Copies. When I first joined the online book community it did not take long for me to find out about ARCs. The idea of reading books before they even came out sounded amazing to me! I used to faithfully watch Epic Reads unbox all of the HaperTeen ARCs during their ARC Parties and hoped that I would be one of the lucky viewers that would win an ARC.

Then I started my book blog and realized that many of my fellow book bloggers would receive ARCs for review. I would stare longingly at their stacks of ARC copies that received for review and would dream about getting my own ARC copies in the mail. Unless I won an ARC, found one at a book convention, or a used book sale, that never did happen. I did not quite do enough to warrant physical ARC copies. I was able to get ARCs on Netgalley and, very rarely, Edelweiss, but I still got so excited to read those ARC copies!

What is my point in all of this? I've been thinking about ARCs lately and realized that they don't really interest me anymore. As much as I was dying before to get my hands on an ARC, I'm now fine with waiting. Part of this comes from my extra long hiatus. I wasn't exactly getting ARC copies or books for review when I was away from my blog, but it also comes from just looking at my TBR. 

As of writing this post, I own 724 books that I haven't read. There are 722 books on my to-read list (that I don't own). I also have 450 ebooks that I own but haven't read. Oh, and the 185 books on my come-out-already shelf, let's not forget those.

That's a lot of books and just looking at some of these books, how many of these did I desperately want? There's no telling the number, but I know there are books I preordered because I really really wanted to read them, yet they are still sitting on my shelf.  Also, while I have sooooo many new releases on my to-read list (that's what happens when I am interested in almost every genre), sometimes the older releases don't get enough love and maybe I need to focus on those. 

I still get tempted by those ARCs, but I remember that with those ARCs there is pressure for a review. Nowadays I review what I want to review. I don't review everything I read because I'm already a ball of stress and I don't need any more stress!

Anyway, right now I'm content to read the books I have. I can still read the newer books, but I can preorder those or put them on hold at my library. I can read the early reviews from you guys. Right now, I'm okay with waiting. 


How do you feel about ARCs?


2 comments :

  1. I don't care for e-books. I can never get into them. I get excited anytime I get any kind of book that I don't have to pay for, like giveaways, from publishers, friends, etc. So I still get excited for them. But I don't care if I get them before they come out or not.

    Ash @ JennRenee Read

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  2. I think I’m weird in the book community because ARCs have never interested me. I don’t like having a deadline to read something. I’m happy with reading older books and reviewing them whenever I want. I don’t need extra stress in my life.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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