Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Ok, joining late but will continue on to later months as well. I am a newcomer to NetGalley but I think this challenge will help me stay focused on getting the books read and reviewed.

Feed Your Readers, the NetGalley Challenge
Duration: Monthly
April:
On shelf - 3
Feedback ratio - 0 (brand new)

On my bookshelf:

Myst wrote: "Sadness, one of the arc's I have isn't on here as it's a romance suspense sampler so I just tacked it on at the end.."

I have one like that right now too. If it isn't there by the time I read it, I'll just add it. I had to do that once before.

Sonia wrote: "Sooo, instead of reading books to improve ratio, I end up clicking the Read Now button... TWICE!

Added to my bookshelf:
[bookcover:Crave: The 2015 Atria..."

Tell me about it, I just finished one & found out today I have 5 new titles.... lol

Greta wrote: "Ok, joining late but will continue on to later months as well. I am a newcomer to NetGalley but I think this challenge will help me stay focused on getting the books read and reviewed.

Feed Your ..."

Welcome!

Hopefully this challenge will help you keeping on track. NetGalley addiction is hardly avoided - unless you skip the site altogether.

I am late to this but since I have more books on my shelf than I can read in one year, I thought I better try new ways to get through them, this seems like a great idea, hopefully we can all help each other through. For the newer people to netgalley, do not let them build up, it's almost impossible to catch up.
I have put all the titles of the older ones in a box and picking them randomly, but I am trying my best to keep up with newer ones.

The new ones I want to read soon are:

The my next older one I want to read is:

I'm excited to go through this thread at the end of the month and read all the reviews everyone adds. I always love hearing about new books.

I finally finished my first book this month! I read From Junk Food to Joy Food: All the Foods You Love to Eat...Only Better and loved it. My review is here.

Emma wrote: "For the newer people to netgalley, do not let them build up, it's almost impossible to catch up..."

Oh gosh. Yes! ^^^THIS.
Once you have too many Netgalley books on your shelf it is so hard to get caught up.

Emma wrote: "For the newer people to netgalley, do not let them build up, it's almost impossible to catch up."

That's so true. But it's almost impossible to NOT pick up the newer books, especially when they're continuations of series already started or authors I like.

Very true, but I waited at the start for release dates, I should have just read then written the review on release date, I have been playing catch up ever since.

Kristie wrote: "Myst wrote: "Sadness, one of the arc's I have isn't on here as it's a romance suspense sampler so I just tacked it on at the end.."

I have one like that right now too. If it isn't there by the tim..."

I normally do not grab samplers but this was a Harlequin which I have a low chance of getting any acceptance emails.


I've just added 5 more titles to my tbr pile & have about 22 on my pending... LOL I never seem to get higher then 28%

Kristie wrote: "I finally finished my first book this month! I read From Junk Food to Joy Food: All the Foods You Love to Eat...Only Better and loved it. My review is here."

woohoo!

Emma wrote: "Very true, but I waited at the start for release dates, I should have just read then written the review on release date, I have been playing catch up ever since."

Oh I'd never thought of waiting for a release date! Only one book the email from the publisher asked to keep the review until closer to the release date, but none of the others specify, so I just read when I can :o

Amanda wrote: "Oh gosh. Yes! ^^^THIS.
Once you have too many Netgalley books on your shelf it is ..."

well... not all of us have 3 digits of books to read *cough* ...

teehee

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Emma wrote: "Very true, but I waited at the start for release dates, I should have just read then written the review on release date, I have been playing catch up ever since."

Oh I'd never thought..."

I try and do it but now I just read and schedule a post on my blog. :)

This is a great idea, but I have hesitated to join because of the embarrassingly large number of books on my NetGalley shelf. But then I realized I could follow Amanda's lead and be mysterious, while still getting some books read and reviews done, with some extra encouragement here.

NetGalley Challenge - April
On shelf - ?
Feedback ratio - 57%

Titles to read in April:


Read: Icing by Kelly Jamieson - 4/27/16 ♥♥♥
Review: Icing Review

Connie N. wrote: "This is a great idea, but I have hesitated to join because of the embarrassingly large number of books on my NetGalley shelf. But then I realized I could follow Amanda's lead and be mysterious, whi..."

don't be embarrassed! quite a few of us have a large number of arc's tbr via netgalley!

I have arc also haven't read it yet but my mom loved it & asked about more. Our account is connected & I'm pretty sure I read think I enjoyed it as a light reading.

Connie N. wrote: "TBut then I realized I could follow Amanda's lead and be mysterious..."


hahaha
nice one. Welcome!

Who all is going to be writing reviews for our "Review Weekend"?! How many books have you read that you need to review?

I had 3 books read prior to the challenge I hadn't reviewed yet. I need to do those, put the 4 that I've read since the challenge started that I haven't reviewed yet. I did read and review 2 since the challenge started, but they both sucked! :)

Karsyn wrote: "Who all is going to be writing reviews for our "Review Weekend"?! How many books have you read that you need to review?

I had 3 books read prior to the challenge I hadn't reviewed yet. I need to d..."

I have two books to review and I hope to finish another two this weekend.
I'm going to pick out the shortest books I have and read them so I can get some done. :)

I only read one Netgalley book so far this month, and I've done the review. I really need to start another one :o

Karsyn wrote: "Who all is going to be writing reviews for our "Review Weekend"?! How many books have you read that you need to review?

I had 3 books read prior to the challenge I hadn't reviewed yet. I need to d..."

I got 3 done & 1 tech done but can't post on goodreads until the book is published as it's asked in the arc. I just got 3 more titles to review lol. I've been tryin to get through a few new ones so I can get into reviewing some for a publishing house I'm still waiting to hear back from.

I have a challenge in another group this weekend, so hope to get two NetGalley books completed for it. Of course, I think they are both books I got after the start of the month...

Feed Your Readers, the NetGalley Challenge
Duration: Monthly
April:
On shelf - 7
Feedback ratio at start of April - 0 (brand new)
Feedback ratio at the end of April: 43%
Reviews in April: 6

Reviewed:
5 stars Review
3 stars Review
4 stars Review
4 stars Review
4 stars Review
4 stars Review

Who's working with this review weekend? I for one have to catch up on my reading so that I can review.

It's still the plan for me to review this weekend.... I got sidetracked.

Last night, Hubby says to me ~ "Any plans for tomorrow? I want to play games," and points to Widget (my gaming PC) and my head goes "Wait, I wanna play games too!" :)

So I'm getting my gaming time in until He's ready, then I'll review! :D

You all have inspired me to take a look at NG again. I've been away awhile. Finished my first book after awhile away: The Prairie in Seed: Identifying Seed-Bearing Prairie Plants in the Upper Midwest with my review for it here: My Review

Not entirely convinced this challenge is working for me. Am I the only one who is now spending even more time on NetGalley. I've posted 3 reviews so far but have added 4 books to my shelf and requested another 3. Someone really needs to cut me off :)

Alison wrote: "Not entirely convinced this challenge is working for me. Am I the only one who is now spending even more time on NetGalley. I've posted 3 reviews so far but have added 4 books to my shelf and reque..."

bahahaha
I know... It has made me login to NetGalley may more often than usual. Luckily I've only managed to add one extra book :o

Daphne wrote: "You all have inspired me to take a look at NG again. I've been away awhile. Finished my first book after awhile away: [book:The Prairie in Seed: Identifying Seed-Bearing Prairie Plants in the Upper..."

Nice!
I love all the interesting books people are reading on NG :)

Nope Alison! That's probably normal for most of us now. :)

I'm the same way. I'm 4 books up from where I started with the challenge, have requests in for 4 more and already read 1 or 2 that I had requested after the challenge started. :D

Us NG addicts have to stick together. We may never have an empty shelf and perfect ratio, but really where is the fun in that? :D

Alison wrote: I've posted 3 reviews so far but have added 4 books to my shelf

No you're definitely not the only one. I'm quite a newbie to this site, so it's kind of like an addicting vortex for me, but I'm trying to remember to concentrate on the reading, and on the reading only so that I can pump out those reviews faster. ;)

Possibly a good idea would be for me to stop requesting the third book in a series when I haven't read the first two yet. It's looking like next week will be spent reading the Talon series although I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing :)

Alison wrote: "Possibly a good idea would be for me to stop requesting the third book in a series when I haven't read the first two yet. It's looking like next week will be spent reading the Talon series although..."

:o I'm /supposed/ to be reading Talon as well and I received it from NetGalley. Do you want to possibly buddy-read Alison?(as a source of encouragement)

6 of my 7 reviews completed. :) Thought it was 8 I needed to do, but it was just 7. 6 are done, so YAY! :) Won't post the next review on here, since it's for an Artistic Nude photo book.

Updated my Post with the new reviews. It's post 8, and the last 6 were the ones posted this evening.

Got my shelf down to 29 (from 35) and my ratio up to 71% (from 67%). Yay! :D

Hooray! Excellent job Karsyn

Wow, you've been so productive!

Nice job Karsyn!

go you, sounds like your doing great :)

@ Alison - You are definitely not alone! I've added more than I've read or reviewed too.

@ Karsyn - Way to go! At least one of us is doing the challenge right. lol

@ Marcelina☮ & Karsyn - I have no books to review this weekend! I have only read one this month and reviewed it as soon as I finished it. I typically review right after reading.

Karsyn wrote: "6 of my 7 reviews completed. :) Thought it was 8 I needed to do, but it was just 7. 6 are done, so YAY! :) Won't post the next review on here, since it's for an Artistic Nude photo book.

Updated ..."

Well done Karsyn. I didn't realise you could get photo books on NetGalley. I don't think I'd know where to start with a review.

Marcelina☮ wrote: "Alison wrote: "Possibly a good idea would be for me to stop requesting the third book in a series when I haven't read the first two yet. It's looking like next week will be spent reading the Talon ..."

I'd definitely be up for a buddy read but I'm planning to read while I'm off on holiday this week. Not sure what Wi-Fi will be available.

Ah, thanks ladies. Just had to get caught up. :)

I hoped to have more to review this weekend but I started two books on my list that I couldn't get into at all, so I put them back on the TBR pile. I'll give them both another try at some point because I don't like DNF-ing NG books. I have a feeling both will be though, and I'm usually right. :)

Alison wrote: "Well done Karsyn. I didn't realise you could get photo books on NetGalley. I don't think I'd know where to start with a review."

I didn't either. I was surprised when it popped up as a new book, and it looked like something I'd love. I was so surprised that I was approved for it, but I really enjoy it. Of course I'm a fan of artistic nude/nude photography in general, so I figured I would like it, even though I'm not into dancing.

I did pretty well this weekend! I finished 5 Netgalley books and wrote 3 reviews.
I also went through my books and was completely honest with myself about some of the books on my shelf that I requested because I thought I should read them (nonfic books about history, science, etc.). I'm probably not going to ever read them. So I sent feedback with only a note to the publisher stating that I'm no longer interested in reading them. I got rid of more than 5 books that way.
I never knew that was an option until I joined a Netgalley forum and some of the members recommended doing that.

Amanda wrote: "I did pretty well this weekend! I finished 5 Netgalley books and wrote 3 reviews.
I also went through my books and was completely honest with myself about some of the books on my shelf that I reque..."

well done!

Amanda wrote: "I got rid of more than 5 books that way...."
ahh... I think you should add a zero on the end of that 5 to make a dent in your shelf! ;)
Yes, NetGalley are not very forthcoming with the readers ability to not read or finish a book. When I asked them about not reading a book (because a book file was not formatted correctly and I couldn't download it - NetGalley was able to download but the download took 35 minutes!) they just evaded any direct questions and basically inferred that I had to read the book no matter what or just let it sit on my shelf. They did try and contact the publisher for a decent file with no luck, so I just marked it as read and gave my reasons why I couldn't read it.

Well... I'm not near as successful as some of you, but I managed at least to send feedback about my already read books.

Meaning feedback is back at 67%, since I already requested 2 new ones.

Amanda wrote: "I did pretty well this weekend! I finished 5 Netgalley books and wrote 3 reviews.
I also went through my books and was completely honest with myself about some of the books on my shelf that I reque..."

Nice job! And thanks for the tip. :) I'm sure I have a couple of those too.

I'm sure NetGalley doesn't want people to know that because it wouldn't look good to the publishers if a lot of people started doing that. NetGalley needs to keep their review rate up too.

Do you think those publishers will be less likely to approve a book for someone that sent in a non-review stating that they lost interest in the book in the future?

Kristie wrote: "Amanda wrote: "I did pretty well this weekend! I finished 5 Netgalley books and wrote 3 reviews.
I also went through my books and was completely honest with myself about some of the books on my she..."

Good question.

However, I can love some author's books, and totally stay away from some other author and both being published by same publishers. It's a matter of taste.

Besides, I may feel disappointed they don't approve me, but it is better than being forced to read a book I'm not interested in. How fair will my review be?

I honestly didn't know that you could opt out of actually reading the book as a newbie. Thanks for the tip! So far I've been limiting myself to 5 books only on NetGalley and out of those 5 I've already written 2 completed reviews and made a dent in reading a 3 rd book this weekend. Happy with the progress from everyone here!

Will this challenge continue onto next month? Cause I would love the encouragement.