From the Booking Desk:
I am often asked how I decide what to review. This is far too complicated a process for me to distill into one blog post, but I did think it would be interesting to do an analysis of how I obtained the books I reviewed for 2014.
Total Number of Books Reviews = 61
Digital Galleys = 13
- Edelweiss = 8
- NetGalley = 5
Purchased = 10
- Myself = 9 (6 physical, 3 digital)
- Gifted = 1(digital)
Conferences = 15
- Book Expo America = 12
- Bouchercon = 3
Direct from Publisher/Publicist/Author = 18
- Physical ARC = 15
- E-ARC = 3
Audiobook (from Publisher) = 5
From The Booking Desk:
This of course only reflects stats for books that resulted in a review. Since I don’t keep complete records of the books I don’t finish or don’t review, I can’t break those out for us to examine – maybe next year.
What can we learn from this? There are many ways that books get into the hands of bloggers. Most bloggers will use any and all methods available. For me, it appears that the methods are fairly evenly split this year. While E-ARCs are becoming more popular, the physical ARC still dominates in my case, mainly because of the conference attendance. Direct marketing from Publisher/Publicist/Author is still vitally important. I didn’t break those stats down further as often, it is a combination of these three which result in BOLO Books receiving the title. E-Galley services are also important, but this shows that for me, they are pretty much equal in providing content. I prefer the interface with Edelweiss, but the recent changes to NetGalley may change that. This was my first year doing audiobook reviews, so we’ll see if that continues.
I hope this small insight into the blogging world has proven to be useful. Onward to next year!
Interesting! Have you reached the point where you have needed to turn down reviews, or not review all of the books which you receive? I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens, as I suspect with your continued, much-earned success, you will be given more and more books.
Oh yes Kristina. I don’t accept a vast majority of the review requests I get. Since I am usually working about 3 months in advance, most of the things I turn down are simply because they are too late for me to handle. In other cases, I know a book is not going to be something I will like, so I would rather direct the author to bloggers who may be a better fit. As for books, you can’t imagine the volume of books that are sent to me. I would guesstimate that I review about 50% of the unsolicited books and close to 80% of the requested titles (I am pretty good at knowing what books I am going to like, so I try to only request things I’m pretty sure will result in a review).
I listen to a lot of audiobooks, especially when driving long distances. Do you find that the reader influences how much you like the book. I find some are amazing, but I recently listened to a book which was the next in a series that I had read and loved. I had an image of the characters in my mind but the author’s voice and cadence completely ruined the book for me.
I completely agree Leslie. I am fairly new to audiobooks, but I have found that if the reader is not “right” for the part, I just can’t get into it. But when they get it right, I have really enjoyed the new format. I suspect that in time, I will learn which readers I like.