BOOK TURNOVER

[LAURA KAY]

Just wondering how many books do you have at one time?

How quickly do you post a review?

Do you tell the authors how long until you will review their work?

 

I have a number of books to review and have gotten a few more requests. I want to accept, but can only read one or two books a week and I'm not sure how long an author thinks I should take to do a review of their work. Advice please :)

 

Laura Kay

http://anovelreview.blogspot.com/

[The Book Heroine]

I am so glad that you asked this! I have been fretting over my reading times. My three jobs tend to get in the way of reading and breaks only allow for so much time. I hardly get through one book a week, even though I am a fast reader. The problem for me is staying awake enough to write a review. I like the idea one of you made to create a calendar of sorts to keep track. I have over 90 books on my Kindle from netgalley and a couple on my shelf from authors.

 

My question, if you don't mind me asking, Laura, is which books do you pick to read first? Do you go by receiving date, interest, or physical ARC vs. ebook?

[LAURA KAY]

I know for me I try to squeeze any books that I need done for a book blog tour by a certain date. If I know a book is being released by a certain date then get those read near that date (ahead of time). Then I do my best to read as they come in. So far this is working for me.

[Gareth Wilson]

I usually have quite a TBR list to be honest but I work my way though them.  The main thing to do is to get your organisation correct.  Don't worry about one genre outweighing others during each month just get through what you've got.  As to appearances, the best thing you can do is work out what you most want to read and put a 2-4 week turn around time on it.  I don't tend to shout about it but if I get a book ahead of schedule I usually have it appearing on or around its release date and let the publisher along with the author know the exact date when I've placed it.

[Marie August]

I would suggest you be honest with the author. Give them an estimate based on how many books you have commited to read on how soon you would be able to read/review their book. It is their choice at that point if they want to wait. They probably won't mind waiting though as long as they know they're going to have to.

[LAURA KAY]

that's what I'm finding. thanks.

[Tina Arnoldi]

I try to keep my requests to two new ones at a time (from different publishers) and usually post within 2 weeks.  I think most places are okay with 30 - 60 days.

[Lady Krishna Asi]

I'm new to blogging reviews about the books that I've read and I have offers from authors to review their books. What I do is check the plot of the books first. If I'm interested I accept them but I limit myself to two or three books a week. I don't have a job right now so I have a lot of time to read and I get to finish a book a faster because as I said no job means free time. writing reviews is different because i need time to gather my thoughts about one book. I want to do a review that gives the book and the author, the honest review that they deserve.

 

I also ask the authors when they want the review to be posted. If they need it sooner than I can do, I tell them that I can't do it that soon. Of course, one reviewer should always be polite in declining and I believe an author should also be polite and understanding on accepting the reviewer's decision.

[Moissanite Jewel]

Wow, I never seriously thought about yet. I've just begun and so far I am just reviewing books that I've bought. Does it really get that busy after awhile? I think I will just read like I normally do and gage myself how many I should take then. Right now I'm just reading a Doctor Who novel...and I'm pretty sure BBC doesn't care whether I do a review or not. LOL.

[iamjenai]

I only read 1 book at a time. I tell authors/publishers 3-4weeks before review is posted because I may read their book in one sitting but writing review takes time. I usually post everything about the book and authors bio (and of course reading them too) so drafting a review for book info alone can take hours.

 

i suggest, before giving your mailing details/accepting any request, ask them first if they agree to you book review turnaround. you also have to stop accepting. In my experience, i calendar all post in my blog (1-2 book reviews, guest author, memes a week) so if i see that slots are full for that month, i will no longer accept book review request and will ask them to re-send the following month.

[Allison]

For starter, I should let you know that I have only been blogging for a year. With that info in mind, here are my answers.

I currently have four books waiting for reviews. I post teasers during the week, but a review only once a week. I teach and write fiction too, which means I need to restrict how often I can review. While I am a fast reader, I take notes on every book I review and that slows down my pace. The trade-off is I post fairly in-depth review.

I tell authors that it will take a month to review their book, notify them as soon as I have date scheduled for their book, and email them again once I post their review. My blog has only recently gotten busy enough that I needed a schedule. It's hectic but fun keeping up with everything involved with a blog review site.