I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while but I never found the time and well, now I have some. I was mainly inspired when I posted this snapshot on twitter:
I finally finished reading all of my eARCs on Netgalley and I was so damn proud of myself. I then received a lot of tweets saying ‘HOW’ and ‘WHAT’ and ‘TEACH ME YOUR WAYS’
Well, ask and you shall receive!
I’ve been blogging for about 11 months (blogoversary things are being planned though!) and I haven’t gone crazy with all my requesting. Be warned, this is a personal post and probably won’t help you as much as I think it probably should. It’s just me ranting so, be prepared.
I think one part of this is seeing other bloggers. I joined the book blogging community late in the game and I saw that many bloggers were having issues keeping up with books. I didn’t want to end up not reading all the books I had to, I wanted to be responsible and so, I didn’t end up requesting a lot. I also had my own personal books that I bought and I have an awesome local library, I didn’t feel the need to request things. Also, I just wanted to share my love for books, even if they weren’t the newest.
As I started using Twitter, I noticed that a lot of bloggers get physical ARCs and I will admit, that I wanted to request some too. Books that are coming out in a couple months could be IN MY HANDS! But the problem was a) I didn’t know how to start a request. Don’t get me wrong, I read all the posts and saw all the sample emails but I never felt like actually putting my effort into it. b) I was hesitant about my stats. Before joining Octavia here, I had a very very small-scale blog. It was definitely not big enough to merit receiving some physical ARCs, in my opinion.
(Before I continue, I should mention that I was always scared of being rejected. I wanted to read *that* book but what if publishers wouldn’t accept my request because my blog wasn’t big enough?! I just want to share the book love but in my opinion, I thought my passion was preventing me from doing so).
In February, I signed up for a blog tour (I managed to get a guest post spot!) and all the participants got an invitation to read the book on NetGalley. And thus, wanting to read this book, I forced myself to create a NetGalley account. I saw that once I made my account, I got pre-approved for a couple titles which made me pleased. Maybe my stats weren’t that bad? So, I began requesting some books. BUT, I did not request everything I wanted. For you see, I was still weary about being irresponsible with all my review copies.
I am still iffy about requesting anything but I feel more confident about it. I’ve accepted that my fear of rejection is totally illogical. The worst that can happen is they say ‘no’. It’s not like I’ll be shunned from the community forever or anything drastic. While I may not get to read the book before it comes out, if I really want to read it, I’ll pre-order it or just buy it when it comes out. (In related news: I sent my first physical ARC request last week! I’m going to be requesting to be added to blogger newsletters soon & I’m feeling more confident about everything).
But right now, you are probably thinking: That’s a nice story and all but WHAT IS THE POINT?! WHAT DOES THIS TEACH US?! Well, I also learned a couple things while writing this post. So without further ado, here are some of my tips and guidelines that I ask myself. You don’t have to use this but I thought you guys would be interested in it.Here are a couple questions that you should ask yourself before requesting:
- How many other ARCs do I have to read?
- Do I have any other ARCs to read that come out on the same day?
- Do I really want to read this ASAP? (Can’t I wait a little bit?)
- When does this book come out? (Do I have enough time to read/review it before it comes out?)
If you’re like me and you are constantly worried about your stats, just remember that the worst that can happen is that the publishers say is ‘no’. Rejection sucks (I’ve been there) and it’s not fun but at least you can still share the book love when the book comes out or you can read other books, no opinion or book is too small!
