Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic encourages you to share your bookish goals for the year! These can be milestones you hope to hit regarding follower counts, the Netgalley ratio you want to hit, number of reviews you’d like to write, number of books you’d like to read, certain books/genres you’re wanting to get into or check off your bucket list, etc. I love making goals, even if I sometimes struggle to meet them! I can’t wait to see what you’re hoping to accomplish this year.
1. Read 60 books this year.
This is what I’ve set my Goodreads goal at, and I think I can do it! I usually set it to 52 books (one for each week), but I’ve surpassed that the last two years so I’ve upped it a little to try and challenge myself more.
2. Get my Netgalley feedback ratio to 80%.
For those of you who don’t use Netgalley, the feedback ratio is my nemesis. On your Netgalley account it shows the percentage of the books you’ve reviewed from the books you requested. Back in the olden days this ratio didn’t exist and, as a baby blogger who was excited to review books, I requested everything I thought I might like (not expecting to be approved for them all). But I was. lol. I dug myself into a huge hole that I’ve been spending years trying to climb out of. I’m hoping this is the year I hit the recommended 80% (although, I’d like to go higher if possible!).
3. Request and accept fewer books for review.
This kind of goes hand in hand with #2. I don’t want to fill my plate so full that I can’t enjoy my Kindle Unlimited and Audible memberships, my library, and the books I already have on my shelves or receive as gifts. For years, I exclusively read review copies and missed out on a lot of other titles I was super excited about.
4. Read more backlist titles.
A large portion of last year was spent reading books that came out 10-12 years ago and I LOVED it. I loved reading different things than everyone on social media. I loved sharing my love of titles whose spotlights burned out years ago. It was fun going in a different direction than the majority.
5. Share my thoughts on every book I read.
I think I’ve put too much pressure on myself to write super in-depth, long book reviews (especially for review copies I receive), and that prevented me from reviewing a lot of the books I read because I just wasn’t in the mood. But blogging shouldn’t feel like a chore! So even if it’s just a few sentences, I want to post a review for every book I read this year.
6. Read more books from my bookshelves.
I’ve got shelves full of unread books, and I want to try making those a priority this year! If I don’t like them, I can donate them so I have room for more!
7. DNF more.
I did much better with this last year, but I want to do even better! If I’m not enjoying a book, I need to cut my losses. Life’s too short for bad books!
8. Not try to force my mood.
I’m a major mood reader, and sometimes I find myself trying to force my mood to read something because it’s the right time to do it. Like, in September/October I tend to want to read spooky and atmospheric books, but last year I couldn’t find any I loved! I spent the entire spooky season DNFing book after book because nothing worked for me. I probably wanted to continue on my historical romance kick instead. I sort of caused my own book slump!
9. Read the books I’m excited about immediately.
I’ve wondered if I’m the only one who does this, but if I get my hands on a book I’m super excited about I tend to save it for the opportune moment. A trip, a stretch of time when I’m in less pain so maybe I will enjoy it more, a holiday, after I’ve read x first, after I’ve accomplished this goal, etc. And so often, I end up not reading the book at all. Maybe the mood leaves me or I find something else or that opportune moment never comes. I need to read the books I want to read right away, and not when the stars align.
10. Find more books off the beaten path.
I feel like book bloggers tend to all read the same books. We all seem to be chasing the latest release, the “it” book of the season, the latest social media sensation, etc. I want to go looking for books not everyone is talking about. I want to be different!
What are some of your reading goals this year?
How many books are you hoping to read in 2023?
Great list! A few of these are on my list as well!
Love all your goals, especially number 9
Nice reading goal this year, Jana. Great list, too. I am working on DNFing more books as well. Reading books I am excited about should also be a focus for me this year. Good luck with your goals!
I should read more of the books that leave me excited right way too!! Why put off something we’re that excited for if we don’t have too?? :) All the best with all of your goals, Jana. Hope 2023 is your best year yet.
I can relate so well to all your goals! I’ve never set a goal for number of books read before, figuring I’d always read as many as I can, but this year after I joined StoryGraph I set a goal of 100. That’s actually less than in past years; I am trying to read slower and more mindfully so I figured a lower goal was more realistic.
Good luck with all of these and I wish you an excellent reading year.
So many of your goals either resonate with me or are included in my list. Good luck with them.
Good luck with your reading goals! I can relate to these, especially the NetGalley one.
Good luck with your goals!
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-expected-more-from-in-2022/
I like your #10. I hope you find some fun books!
https://cathysreadingbonanza.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/top-ten-tuesday-3/
Nice set of goals! I’m hoping to read more from my TBR pile this year as well! I guess I was always pretty good about not over requesting on Netgalley. Though I feel like it was always 50/50 if I got approved or not. Despite always leaving some kind of feedback on every book I requested my ratio is still 99% not sure how that’s possible when there is literally nothing else I can “review”. But oh well! lol.
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You and I have four goals in common, Jana. Good luck with your goals and sticking to them.
Number 2 and the reason are spot on! It’s on my list as well. NetGalley is the biggest source of stress in my reading life.
Number 7 is on my list too. One of my friends said it best: there are too many good books out there to waste your time reading the bad ones. I adopted the mentality of if I can’t rate it three or more stars OR is I wouldn’t recommend it or buy as a gift, I DNF it.
I need to add number 8 to mine 😅 I’m such a mood reader and if I’m not in the mood, there’s a good chance I’m DNFing.
Good luck with all your goals this year!
I love your last goal, Jana. Funnily enough, sometimes I feel a little out of place for not chasing trends in what I review. LOL.
I didn’t think about the 80% rule being added after people started using NetGalley. I think it was already in place by the time I joined, but I TOTALLY see how that would set you up to be behind for a long time. That stinks! I’m glad that magical 80% is in sight for you this year! Yay! I also totally feel you on the tug of war between ARCs and making room for other titles. I’m really struggling with that myself. This is a great TTT topic! Thanks so much for posting your goals list.
These are great goals! #6 is one I’m always trying to do.
Best of luck on your reading goals! I think a lot of us have the NetGalley goal and read more backlist! :)
These are great goals! I love that you enjoyed reading older books so much last year, and the way you described it—”sharing my love of titles whose spotlights burned out years ago”—is just perfect! Best of luck with your reading goals!
I really hope you achieve your goals! My aim is to read 30 for my 30th birthday this year and to read more backlist to.
I’m trying to learn to be okay not finishing books as well! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
We do have quite a few similar goals. I also hope to read more male authors since I mostly read female authors.
Great goals! Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week! :-)
We certainly overlap on some of our goals for 2023. I just made it to 80% on NetGalley after getting myself in a very similar situation. I hope your 2023 reading goals are happy ones for you 😊
These are great goals, and I can relate to a lot of them. I’m handling some of them as challenges as opposed to resolutions. I tried to keep my resolutions small in number but (in some cases) broad in scope.
These are great goals! Good luck with them. The NetGalley ration one makes me laugh because my own ratio is abyssmal (like 7%). I still get approved for lots of books, though, so I’m not too worried about it. Ha ha.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
SEVEN??? At the rate you read? And that’s not missing a zero?? Were you getting ten ARCs a week or what.
These are all fantastic goals and I hope they lead to a great reading year. But I have to say, as a longtime member of the Backlists Are Beautiful club for all the reasons you listed, I especially applaud #4 and 10!
It sounds like your reading goals are going to prove very fruitful! I think you’re doing the right thing by accepting fewer ARCs and doing more DNFs. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with them, you need time to enjoy them properly.
I’m a mood reader too so I totally get where you’re coming from. That’s why I can never do those pretty posts that are “just read, currently reading, reading next”, because it always changes! hah!
Have a great week x
Life’s too short for bad books is an awesome philosophy – so is reading the books you’re excited about. Good luck with your goals
My netgalley ratio is 87% and I still keep getting declined for reviews. *sigh*. I think my problem is partly that they tend to prioritize people from the US, UK or Canada and partly (probably mostly) that I don’t have a personalized blog, but ‘only’ a dreamwidth one.
Ah well. At least I still get some :-D
Maria, I have a blog and was recently declined for two books I really wanted. Don’t feel bad, I know how you feel! Who knows why? I’m sure there are many reasons. You might be right about certain countries getting first priority though and that really stinks!
Love your goals! Especially about older books as I gravitate to those more and feel like I should be only reading and reviewing new books. It is easy to get caught up in your stats and thinking if no one reads your older book review somehow it’s a problem. I also wholeheartedly agree with shorter reviews! After all, we aren’t writing summaries, just our thoughts on what’s the main point, did we like it or not. Agree!