I’ve done this post in a Q&A format because I figure that it’ll be more fun to read. Enjoy.
What do you mean no new books? Are you insane?
I mean, that starting from whenever this post goes live, I won’t be borrowing or buying any new books. I also won’t be requesting any books, but I’ll get to more on that later.
Yes, I am insane.
Won’t this challenge stop you from supporting debut authors and the publishing industry?
I have thought long and hard about this part of the challenge. I love to support new books and debut authors and old authors I love so I’m going to remedy this conundrum in two ways.
1) A weekly feature in which I feature new books releasing this week that I want to buy in the future, books I discovered this week and was tempted to buy and any/all books that earn a spot on the blog. I hereby dub this feature.. Shelly’s Stamp! I love the term “stamp of approval” and I figured that this would be a fun feature!
2) For every 10 books I read, I’m going to buy 1 new book. Bonus points* if it’s a debut author. Double points if I buy it from an independent bookstore.
But what about your reviews? I’ve noticed that you tend to mainly review books you get from publishers.
This has always been a flaw of mine, and I’ve been trying to work hard to review all books I read. This challenge will motivate me to review any/all books I read. I hope it’ll also give you lovely readers to get a chance to be exposed to some older titles.
Is this a challenge for blog followers? Do you have a special name for this crazy endeavour?
No, this is not a challenge for my blog readers because I don’t expect any of you lovely people to join my crazy challenge.
I’m calling this challenge Shelly’s No New Book Ban. Perhaps I’ll use the #ShellyBan on Twitter. Not sure yet.
*there are no actual points, I just really like this expression.
What do you think of this crazy feature? Would you be interested in reading weekly recaps about my progress?
Good luck with the challenge. It’s hard to keep up with your books when you’re a book blogger. I know from experience. I’ve hardly accepted any new review books this month, but I do buy them. I always wonder when that later will be, the time when I’m going to read all the books I’ve collected… I admire your courage as I know I won’t be able to do it.
You go, Shelley! *high five*
I’ve been only reading books I own all Summer, so it can be done! Have no fear! You will get through the books! Although, I’ve still been acquiring some, but no library (which is haaaaard!!!). It feels really good to make progress on clearing out that backlog of books you’ve collected. *pats your hand*
Dammit, I spelled your name wrong! Sorry! *cringe* It’s bed time, so yeah…
Haha it’s okay, I get that a lot! And THANK YOU! This journey will be hard
Wow! You’ve got this. I need to do the same thing. I’ve got a ton of books. But I’ve also slowed down on the requesting and only from those that I’ve been waiting forever for.
Can’t wait to see some of the older titles you have coming up!
Thank you! It’s going to be so hard not requesting any but maybe I’ll turn that energy into blog features or something, who knows?! 😛
That’s a great idea!
Good luck!
I just recently bought 3 new books that were too cheap to pass up. But I’ve been in such a reading slump this summer that I keep getting books hoping something will catch for me. I need to get like you and read what I have at home. I let my library card expire with a small fine on it to deter me from going to the library for a while.
We got this Shelly!
Good luck!!!! I’m trying to really cut down on the number of books I buy (I’ve actually gone to the bookstore and come out empty handed!!!) The hard part is not requesting books (ARCs). Must stop!
That’ll be the hardest part for me too, especially when there’s awesome services like NetGalley and EW!
I just came to this similar realisation as I was doing a book clean out on the weekend. I miss the days of manageable, small psychical TBRs, so I’m going on a book buying break, too. No more buying until I make a BIG dent in my books! Uh, well, except for the book sale I’m going to tomorrow… And I’m only going because I’ve been waiting all year for it and it’s for a good cause 🙂 Wishing you luck with your new challenge!
Good luck with the challenge! This is something I told myself that I need to do, if I was being honest with myself. I have wayyyyy too many books sitting around now that I need to read before requesting or buying a new one.
Let us know how it goes!
Great challenge. I really need to stop requesting so many books. I have so many ARCs and it feels like forced reading sometimes.
I think it’s an EXCELLENT idea! I’m trying to do something very similar myself. I recently won The Night Thief by Lisa Kessler, but I discovered that I couldn’t open it accept the gifted Kindle book on my cell phone – Amazon was trying to make me buy it instead, doh! So, instead of giving in to starting a newer book, I started Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia. I was gifted that book last year by a book club member and then I won the entire Poughkeepsie series and the entire Seraphim series as well. That was MONTHS ago, and I’ve rescheduled the Poughkeepsie series read so many times for new shinny books that I’ve lost track. So, I’m going to try to alternate between shinny new books and books that I’ve won, another reason why I joined your blog’s ARC challenge. I think #ShellyBan might sound a tad negative though. How about #ShellyCrushTBR? I suck at this naming thing, lol! Good luck!
Oohh that’s not a totally bad name, better than mine! I haven’t figured out the name thing yet but thanks for the suggestion, perhaps I’ll go off something similar!
Or maybe #ShellyTBRCrush? The changed order jumped out at me when I saw your reply, lol! Good luck! I suck at even coming up with passwords.