Today I looked back at my stats… and I’m happy with what I see. We will ignore the fact that I think I’m mixing something up in my grand master sheet of ARCs… I think there are actually like 5 ARCs more than I managed to count. Counting ARCs in a list of hundreds is actually a nightmare, especially when Google docs just doesn’t filter the list, despite the boxes saying the same thing without typos, and also regardless or every drop of sanity and the fact that it totally should. But hey, what are 5 ARCs, give or take? If I wanted to, I could end my NetGalley black streak in a matter of months now. As opposed to when I started out with this meme and had like… over a hundred?
I’m starting to think about what I’ll be doing with this meme when I cut back on my overdue ARCs and won’t have stacks upon stacks anymore! will that even happen tho I’m sure you’ll still want to join the State of the ARC, because it’s become such a fun community meme and activity. I guess I’ll just have to keep requesting FOR YOU ALL 😂😂😂 cause that’s definitely the reason why. Yup. Although, to be very honest, I have barely been requesting lately, and I’d say even for months now. For some reason, it’s just lost its shine. I hear that happens to “older” (LOL) reviewers a lot. But anyway! Let’s get to the meme and the numbers.
~ For Those Who Are New To The Meme ~
Anyone is free to participate! If you want to, just link up anytime during this month and refer to this page as to the rules of what to put in your post and how to link up. The next State of the ARC post is going to be on (most likely) February 27st, so if you can’t make this one, mark it down!
~ My Current State of the ARC ~
The reason I was happy with my stats was because I’m now down to less than 30 on NetGalley! My NetGalley dashboard doesn’t say that yet, cause although I’ve drafted the reviews, they’re just not out on the blog yet. But even with all those reviews uploaded, I still think there are at least a few books that I’ve lost among the cracks in the spreadsheet. However, there are so few compared to what it used to be, I’m sure I’ll weed them out with just the help of the NetGalley dashboard itself. Currently, most of the books I have that are way, wayyyy overdue are from authors and other obscure platforms – from back in the day, even before I blogged. Not looking forward to reading most of those, to be honest. Most of them aren’t even in my genres. Maybe I can just weed them out and DNF them. Years later, it probably doesn’t even matter that much anymore.
~ The ARCs Bingo! ~
I am quite happy about this month’s bingo progress, although I wasn’t working on it specifically at all! But I guess the first slots are the easiest to fill anyway, right? I might be struggling when I need to fill that fantasy one (I don’t read a lot of fantasy..) or the diversity one (it’s mostly YA that’s diverse, like, ever, and I don’t request YA books..) I feel like the good mental health rep one could be hard to get too, because it’s not an easy beast to find, good mental rep, sadly!
An ARCs bingo sheet with no romance, nonfiction, overdue and scifi slots filled
~ Bricks Knocked Down ~
This month I concentrated on bought books, library books and buddy reads, so I didn’t read too many ARCs. Which is why I’m surprised I somehow finished five! I guess they dragged on from the time of the holidays. It all seems so far away now! Hasn’t January been like a super long month, somehow?
I started the month out with some adventure scifi called Agents of APE which was fun and there’s a short review here. Then there was To the Edge of the Sky, a long overdue book that made me cry and touched me to the depths of my heart. I’ll actually be reviewing it next week! Then there were Interplanetary Robots, a nonfiction for the NASA nerd which was pretty enjoyable, although I’m not nearly nerd enough to have enjoyed it properly. There’s a review on Goodreads here. Then I read Heavy Flow, a book on demystifying menstruation and explaining the negative narrative around it that surely doesn’t have space in the 20th century anymore. I can recommend this book to every female out there, and I’ll be reviewing it in the coming weeks. I will also be reviewing Calling Major Tom soon – also a book that I greatly enjoyed, because it’s one of those books that both makes you laugh and cry while reading it. Deeply touched me!
That puts me at four bricks knocked down off my wall – the reviews are written, now I just need to schedule them!
And that’s it! How’s your ARCs bingo going?
I’m Evelina and I try to blog about books that matter, with a bit of fun there too! Disability and equality will be topics you see a lot, but there’s also a lot of scifi, fantasy and… GIFs. I’m also the proud founder of #ARCsAnonymous.
That’s great that you still managed to finish five, even when ARCs were not your focus. Happy Reading!
Thank you! 🙂
Huge congratulations on getting your NetGalley down so low!
To The Edge Of The Sky looks an interesting read
Thank you! Although I think I might have messed it up a little this month xD hahaha
I really need to start doing this with my arcs. I am notoriously bad for requesting and then taking months to finish them at this point. Oops…
Yes, please join us 🙂 ONE OF US, ONE OF US 😀 seriously, this meme does help with the motivation a lot 🙂
Wow, congrats on your bingo progress! I filled surprisingly many squares this month as well. Ironically, I’m having trouble with the sci-fi ARC, even though I normally read a lot of sci-fi.
Thank you 🙂 yes, I noticed! Your progress was amazing 🙂 oh well, you’ve got a full five more months for the scifi ARC. It’s too bad the Murderbot series is done for now, huh 😀
Definitely too bad! I re-read all four books in January and I neeed more 😀
Definitely! Can’t wait till the full novel arrives 🙂
Each time you share your stats I feel there is hope for mine. I am writing reviews for more of my ARCs right now, starting with the ones that have been waiting the longest. I’m excited to check them off as I complete them.
There definitely is 😀 you should totally join the meme! 🙂
Wow, Evelina, your stats are so good now. I can’t believe. And here I am still in the same position. But hey, now I have stopped worrying about the older ones 😛 Good to see that you are able to achieve what you desired with this meme 🙂
Haha, I don’t think they’ll be so good next month xD I kind of grabbed a few copies, whoops xD
It’s been ages since I requested an insane amount of books, but that was me last week! I fell down the rabbit hole and will have to try really hard to stay on top of things. I accepted a few unsolicited review copies, and I also specifically requested a few titles on NetGalley. For awhile though, I was just happy knocking off older ARCs and re-reading some of my favorites!
Of course you’ll have to keep requesting books! I love this meme. 😉
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?
I feel like I also requested more than I should have lately xD the good thing is that internationals don’t get approved a lot 😀 in this case, it’s actually a good thing lol 😀 😀
Ah, unsolicited review copies aren’t always that good.. But I hope you will like them 🙂
I’m so glad you like the meme 🙂 thank you, it means a lot to me!
Do you have any advice on how to get through ARCS and have them reviewed by their publication date? I definitely think I’m in over my head for February. Too many books with not enough time. Are most publishers, especially books approve on Netgalley, okay with reviews being posted after the publication date?
Hahaha lol I know what you mean! But I actually do have advice! 😀 I have this app called Pocketbook on my phone. It lets me run my apps with text to speech, and then when I commute, exercise, shower or do chores, I can listen to them. I also listen to them at like three times the speed. That usually helps with overdue ARCs 😀 And publishers mostly want the books to be reviewed before their publication date, unfortunately. If you’re going to be late, try to at least review in the same week as it was published. But… Read more »