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A Turnkey or Not?
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On your 'to read' but have you actually read it?
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Many people, including myself, have a huge backlog of books to read. When I sit down to read something it will then be marked "currently reading". There are too many books and only so many hours in the day unfortunately.
I do like Barks & Bites. I switch from to-read to currently reading when I do read a book. Most people's 'to read' list is extremely long. Books can easily get lost in there. :(
To help me with that, I created a 'next' shelf where I put the books I need to read before the 'to read'.
Everyone has different methods, and as B&B said, there aren't enough hours in a day for people to actually go through all their to-read list. I'm not saying that no one does. I'm sure some do, and I am also sure everyone has good intentions and wants to read them all. The problem is that books continue to add faster then people have time to read them.
I only have 64 books on my to-reads shelf, which is light compared to others I've seen. I used to read the next book based off the # order GR places it in your folder but after a build up I stopped. How I decide now is if a books been on my shelf a while and I own it, it's the next to read. If I get my hands on one thats been on my list a while I'll read that too. The idea is if you have small to-read shelves you can read the ones that have been on the list the longest. Of course there's the occasional bump where I can't help but read one before another but for the most part, I stick to my system.
My to-read list has only a half-dozen books, and I read only one or sometimes two at a time. I try not to load a bunch of books that I'll never read. I notice that my own books are on several to-read lists for people who have hundreds and even thousands of books on their to-read lists. I'm skeptical they'll ever read them, but I'm always hoping.
I'm with you there Ken and Tony. Many people have my books on their to-reads list, hundreds in fact because I did a giveaway. Makes me wonder how many will ever get themselves a copy. Also have a few people who have the books as currently reading,good right? Yeah except it's said currently reading for almost a year now...:/
Same here too. I wished there wouldbe a way to get on the "giveaways" after they close. I always thank the writers for my copy .
Ken, its by me too this way. The read list includes the books I was reading 5 years back, til I joined goodreads. The to-read list is longer, since they are the books I hoped to win. Otherwise, getting those one book at the time.
Have you seen some of these to-read lists? :O) I wish I could read all the books in mine but these authors just keep coming out with more and more...it's insane !! :O)
Tony, Ken, Justin and Steven,I agree with you guys. I recently did a one-copy giveaway of my novel and after it ends (with one winner), the book is on some 180 members' "to-read" lists. I do wonder how many of them will actually buy and read the book. And some of those "to-read" lists are just unreal :-)
yeah the to-read lists are more of just a suggestion of what to read. However, if I enter a giveaway and win I usually move that book up into my next-to-read list cause I know the author gave me the book free of charge and the least I can do is give feedback and a review.
I do as Steven does too. If I win a print copy, it automatically takes priority to any other books I already have on my 'next' shelf. (If I don't win, the book still stays in my to-read list. After all, if I entered the contest, it's because I wanted to read it.I have two exceptions so far to my priority rule. The first, I won two prints from an author on GR, but not from a GR Giveaway, and the books are not edited at all. There was no mention anywhere that they would not be drafts. I'm still going to read them, but since they are already published, I presumed the they have been edited. I'll read them when my mind is ready for that. I read a few chapters but... it's a lot of mental work.
The other exception is because there were two ebooks I really, but really wanted to read before. It will be next though.
I have a lot of books on my TBR list and I own some of them. I've read quite a few books that were on my to read list but I still have a humungous TBR, and I don't own many of the books on it. So I'll probably have to go through it soon and delete quite a few that I'll probably never read anyway.
At one point I could have taken on and read every book on my to-reads list as it was only 10 books. Also since I didn't read much I could have done it however over 3 years 10 books has become 62(with more to be added I'm sure and I'm not an Add A Book Junkie). Will I read them all? Probably not but in the event I come across any or put a dent in my list, I'll always be interested in something to read.
Ooh it got scary when I did a give away...over a thousand people put it on their listI still have only seven reviews on Amazon
Very disheartening
The majority of readers here just express their interest in a book by putting it on their "to-read" shelf.This should not be mistaken with a to-do list!
While browsing on this site you will come across a lot of books which sound good enough to read. Add to that the recommendations on here when interacting with other readers in groups and such and you will find yourself with books on this shelf, that you would likely need more than 50(0) years to read them all...
I do not think that anybody here expects others to take pencil and paper in order to take a note of a book which raised one´s curiosity...
Agreed and good way to look at it. It could also serve as a way to say 'hey I'm interested in your book'.
@ JustinJust so you know. If you want to name one of your shelves: "hey I'm interested in your book'" you can always do so...;)
Haha! I'm not one for creating tons of shelves but thanks for the suggestion (:
When I actually physically own a book (paperback or Kindle ebook), I put it on my to-read list, and I try to read every one of them. Hence, my 100-book challenge every year. Of course, I'm constantly adding books to my to-read shelf, so there is never really an end in sight! :) I also have a wish-list that currently has over 800 books on it, but those are want-to-haves that I hope to get to in the future.
It its such a shame, I wonder if you can contact those that have your book on their to read list and ask if they have actually read the book?Not sure it would be ethical or not
O. o.That´s a really bad idea, Tony!
Try to hold back...
Sure it was just a thought that was all Wouldn't have the nerve to do that anyway
Just imagine yourself being at the receiving end of such a message.If an author would contact me, asking me if I have read his book already, "annoyed" would not even come close to the feeling I would have at that moment.
You pick up a book to read when you are in the mood for it and not because a stranger told you so.
This is not school here and it´s not like we are refusing to do our "homework".
Readers who have read your book, move it to their "read" shelves.
If it isn´t on there, they haven´t read it yet!
Yes your are quite right Katerina and I am just as guilty of doing it as anybody else although i do try to remember to move my read books to the read shelves after reading them, but sometimes I do forget, this has just reminded me to go through my list and correct this
Tony, to coin a phrase from the title of my blog post: Market Like a Reader. You are not going to gain a reader by contacting them to ask if they have read your book (which will come across as why have you not read my book yet?). Despite what some marketing gurus might tell you, Goodreads is not designed for book marketing, but for interchange between readers. The fact that a writer also reads books does not justify a writer writing to a reader and asking them to read their book.
I agree with you Mercia but honestly I was just making a comment (which was in my mind) out loud. I would certainly never contact anybody to ask if they had read my book unless they had contacted me first
I think most of us would like if their was a method of giveaway leftovers and to-readers to be notified. Of course there isn't and we as authors know their is a line and it would be crossed.Thinking though..they could call it 'GR Reachout' and what it would do is allow either the author or GR to alert a portion of the readers who have marked their book. No spamming just a simply kind gesture alerting them that if they still wish to read the book they can. Just a thought..
That does not seem to be a bad idea actually Justin Interesting for sure
I think if GR would not only notify the winner(s) but also the ones who entered the contest that they didn't win, it would make a huge difference. Personally, there are a few books I entered the contest that when I did, I was thinking that if I didn't win, I would buy it because I REALLY wanted to read them. I know it's not the case for every book I did enter. Some I felt it would be cool and nice to read but didn't feel the tug. As to buy it before the contest, I did that ONCE, and believe it or not, I won. :/ I was happy to get it in the print version, but talk about a waste for the author. I posted a review even before I received the book.
I have notified a "to read" that my book was going free. If they intended to get it anyway, I wanted to make sure they didn't miss the opportunity. It was in the readers best interest, and those that wrote me back appreciated it.
G.G. wrote: "I think if GR would not only notify the winner(s) but also the ones who entered the contest that they didn't win, it would make a huge difference. Personally, there are a few books I entered the co..."That's also crossed my mind - it wouldn't be a hard system to set up.
Just realized this thread title is 'On Your 'to-read' but have you actually read it', shouldn't it be 'On your to-read but do you actually plan on reading it'?Not a big deal I just happen to notice it.
Justin, I assume that the title means have you read it and forgotten to move it into the Read category. Although I first clicked on the thread because I thought it was about us as readers putting a book down as to read, forgetting that we read it several years ago (maybe because we thought that we had only seen the movie). I have read the novel Star Wars, but it is only because I reflected on whether I had an example of this that I remembered that I had read the book of the movie in the Seventies.
Am really interested to know
regards
Tony