So, way back when I got my very first ARCs, courtesy of NetGalley, I was, to put it bluntly, very impressed with the fact that I was reading books, like, MONTHS before everyone else on the planet got to read them. I was freaking awesome!
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| Delusions of grandeur? Who, me? |
So, of course, I felt it was my sworn duty to bring word of these books to the unwashed masses. Publication date in ten months from now? Pfft, you need to know NOW, and *I* need to be the one to tell you. God forbid SOMEONE ELSE beats me to the punch.
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| Move aside, lady, I have books I need to share with the world! |
But then I realized something. As a reader, I really kind of hate reading reviews for books that are MONTHS away from publication. And let's not even talk about how long I'd have to wait for a copy to come into the library (and don't get me started on hold lists).
I'm an impatient AND forgetful person, so it doesn't really work for me when I read a review about a book that's TOTALLY AWESOME AND EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT!!!!!!!....when it comes out FIVE YEARS FROM NOW.
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| Waiting does NOT fill me with happy feelings |
So this is why I no longer post reviews for books until AFTER the book has been published (usually. I don't account for time zone differences and foreign sales. Also, sometimes scheduling conflicts come up. But I do TRY).
This way, when I write a spectacular review and you're all GIVE ME THAT BOOK RIGHT NOW!! you can actually get that book RIGHT NOW!
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| Rarely do I even manage to COOK half the batch, let alone wait for them to cool. Especially when it comes to cookie dough... |
NO MORE WAITING!
What about you? Do you care if a book is available NOW when you read a review? Do you mind if you have to wait? What is the earliest you like to read reviews? Does it bother you that I wait until after a book has been published (am I SO yesterday?) If you're a blogger, how early do you post your reviews?
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hehe!! YES when I started blogging I also didn't care so much when to post my review! Now, the earliest I post is 1 month before publication. That is when slowly the buzz begins to build and the book is available for pre-order.
ReplyDeleteSome publishers want an even closer date, so those I review 2 weeks before or after publication!
I actually go to NetGalley and look up the publisher to see what they want and what not!
Agreed! I usually only post it really early if it's for a blog tour and the publisher gives me that date. Usually, I'll either post it within a week or two or wait a while until everyone else has reviewed it. Sometimes, I see everyone reviewing the same book at the same time, then nothing in the future. So, for example, even though I read THRONE OF GLASS in April, when I couldn't use it for Fairy Tale Fortnight, I decided to hold off until release. There was so much buzz at release that I want to hold off for at least another week or two before posting so that the reviews have more life...if that makes any sense?
ReplyDeleteI usually don't read ARC's so I am mostly posting reviews once the book comes out. This doesn't seem to bother my readers any. I read a lot of books they haven't heard of or just maybe never thought of reading, so your review could possible make them pick up the book. Now the few times I have gotten ARC's from NetGallery or Publishers I usually wait until around the time the book comes out..my thinking..because it is how I actually think..is if I read a review MONTHS in advance, I am likely to forget about the book later when it comes out.
ReplyDeleteLet me start off by saying the main reason I stopped by this post was She-Ra! And then I read it. For me I have to write the review right away while the book is fresh on my mind. Otherwise I lose the great or bad feelings I had right after I finished the book!
ReplyDeleteAngie
Angela's Anxious Life
I have to write the review right away, but if its going to be a long while before the book is out, I will schedule the post for closer to release time. I hate when I read a review that the book doesn't come out for months and by the time it releases, I've forgotten about it. So I blog the same way.
ReplyDeleteIt feels like most publishers prefer bloggers wait until 30 days before but I usually try to do week of release or no more than the week before. I hate waiting and very rarely bother reading reviews if they're posted more than a month in advance. Waiting does not make me happy either!
ReplyDeleteOooh, yeah. It is somewhat annoying to read an awesome review for a book that ‘s months away from release. I honestly don’t read reviews anymore if the book isn’t at least a month away from it’s release date. It’s not usually worth the extreme book lust.
ReplyDeleteFor myself, I used to post reviews somewhere within three weeks of publication because that seemed like a reasonable amount of time to generate buzz for a book without annoying everyone. Except now it’s annoying me, :D, so I usually just wait until release day or a few days after.
I like the idea that when I read a review, I can go get the book THAT VERY MOMENT. I also think that you're more likely to get quality comments on your review after more people know about the book and have read it. Not that comments are the sole reason why we post a review, but I think the review is more relevant to readers once the book is more well known. The drawback to that, of course, is that SOMEONE has to post first and drum up interest.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I want to hear about a book closer to release date.
ReplyDeleteBut on the flip side, do you worry by that time that most bloggers will be tired of reading reviews for that book?
I "think" we are supposed to wait till within a month before an arc is due out to publish a review, but I'm not 100% on that and I hate reading those long lists of rules. Hee hee. That being said, I'm usually good if I can at least put it on my tbr list on Goodreads. Usually I can't get to a book when it first comes out anyhow, so I'm okay with waiting .... but, I am more likely to buy a book if the book is already out when I read the review :)
ReplyDeleteDanielle
nowntoread.blogspot.com
In the rare times I actually get the book read before the publication date, I have this rule that I wont post my review until the month it's published (usually post the day or week of though). I do like seeing some reviews for upcoming books though I hate waiting too :( I think it bothers me more when there are so many early reviews I think the book is already out and then I go to get it and I'm like WHAT? Not published for another 3 months?!?
ReplyDeleteI have the same thing for Waiting on Wednesday posts. I can't bring myself to post about books that come out more than a couple months later. I feel so cruel even then :P Loved the way you worded everything and the pictures were hilarious!
I'm actually in a life phase where if I get the book read in the same month it was published, it's a miracle. I kinda wish I could have the option of posting months in advance :) But, if I did, I would totally be wanting to be the first to post about it.
ReplyDeleteWell, sometimes I get excited and I need to post the review NOW, like last year when I read Froi of the Exiles and Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink. I think I posted the reviews like three to six months before the the books were published in the US. (I admit, with Pilgrims it was because I had no idea when the book came out)
ReplyDeleteBut then I posted a reminder sort to make me feel better. LOL
That aside, I'm usually so behind on my review list that I end up posting the reviews after the books come out. Though I'm trying to be better and review the books I get on the month of publication, I'm not there yet but working toward it. It does cramp my pleasure reading though, particularly when I don't remember why I requested a book but now I got to review it.
Anyway, I consider game to post the review whenever unless the publisher tells me to wait within the month of pub. But again, I rarely have that problem.
This is a weird discussion to me, maybe because I'm just dense and confused. The way I work the system is I go along and request my books, sometimes way in advance, if available, but then here's the catch. I put them in order by pub date, then I read them in the publication month. So, yes I may have requested a book 6 months early, but I will NOT read it until the pub month. Then, I ALWAYS write my review only a couple weeks before the book releases or 1-2 months after release date. I seriously thought this was the way the publishers wanted me to review their books. I swear I read that somewhere? Maybe on NG? Publishers don't like bloggers to write reviews too far in advance. I thought they always appreciate them much closer to the review dates.
ReplyDeleteSo, after all that is said and done, I'm VERY happy you are waiting until closer to or post pub dates to do your reviews. This makes perfect sense to me. Oh, I guess I could say I may make an exception, read a book earlier, but then I write my review when I've finished and then schedule to the review to be posted close to the pub date.
Well, for what its worth, that's just my 2 cents worth. Great discussion post Small!
lol, I feel the same way but thanks to GoodReads I keep track of the books I should read when they finally come out. Also, some publishers request that you publish your review a week or so before the book comes out - not too much ahead.
ReplyDeleteMy situation is similar to Gina's. I have books from NetGalley that I got months ago that are just coming up on my reading schedule. I usually try to post my reviews within a week or so of the publication date. Somehow I chose 6 that will be published on Sept. 25 which is going to mess up my schedule some though.
ReplyDeleteI also don't like to read reviews when I can't get the book. I read one yesterday that sounded amazing but I couldn't even find the book anywhere to pre-order. I will certainly forget about it before I have a chance to buy it.
Good post. Thanks for sharing your point of view.
I will go as far as a week before publication. That's not too long to wait, and a good time to "pre-order" if you want. I think within a week after publication is a great time to post a review too. Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteYES! I was totally She-Ra about reviews when I first started blogging. It took me a while to figure out that most other bloggers had a method to their madness. Plus, I share your forgetfulness. Strategy was (is) also not my strong suite. I gave very little thought to the best time to post reviews based on things like "striking when the iron was hot," or grabbing peoples' interest.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about writing reviews for books you can get NOW. It's very thoughtful of you, and Classic Small. I think it's an excellent philosophy. But I'm going to stick with "vaguely near the release date" as my own. I'm just too lazy to do anything else.
It's pretty sexy if I'm well-organized enough to put my reviews out a week or a few days in advance of the pub date. Publishers like it too, when you pay close attention to their publicity machine and play along with how they'd like to promote things.
ReplyDeleteBut! My priorities have shifted in the last year or so, from being the blogger that's on top of things, to being able to be the Youth Services librarian who can talk kids and teens into picking up those backlist titles we happen to have on the shelf (of which we have many) instead of getting on the impossibly long waiting list for the latest Hot New Thing, of which we have, sadly very few. And the titles that are easy to push, are those things that are 3, 4, 5 years old. So, I'm kinda all over the map with my reviews lately. But that's okay!
LOL...I do my best to post reviews within a few days before or after release so that it's reasonable for people to go get the book or remember to get it in a few days...my window goes up to two weeks either way depending upon blog scheduling. any more than that and I think you are doing the book a bit of a disservice!
ReplyDeleteI also love the She-Ra pic! I *try* to publish ARC reviews a few days before or after the release - I suffer with lateness rather than earliness, though. If I get an ARC from NetGalley, I put it in my TBR list until the time when I *need* to read it. Sure, I'm dying to read it straightaway, but on a normal day I have a whole stack of books I'm dying to read, anyway.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't mind reading ARC reviews months before a book comes out. If I'm interested, I'll add the book to my Amazon wishlist as a reminder. As a reader of blogs, I do hate it when you see the same book on every blog the week of its release and prefer to see something different, even if it's months away.
When I first started blogging I wanted to be the first to post a review...even if it was months in advance. These days I try to stay within a month of the book's release date, and if I do read something way ahead of time, I schedule the post for a later date. If it's a really, super-duper, awesome, OMGREADTHISNOW book, I'll do a little sneak peek for it.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think I prefer when book reviews are posted the week of the release, that way I'm antsy for a book to come out but I'm not waiting months and on ths before I can read it! And it still adds to the hype that publishers are looking for!
ReplyDeleteAmber Elise @ Du Livre
I have tons of ARC's I've never read. I feel really bad about it. When I first started blogging, I was like give me ARC's!! But now...I wait till the book is out or it's been out a while. It's too much pressure to try to read something before it comes out, plus I'd rather read about a book way after the buzz has died. I started to feel like all I was doing was reviewing books. My life was books and reviewing! I still cherish the books I've received and will post reviews in my own time. The books are still on the shelves. It's not like a book comes out once a month and then you never see it again. Hype and buzz are great but sometimes it's overload.
ReplyDeleteSmall, I love you.
ReplyDeleteThe end.