Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Confessions of a Bookworm: Irrational Fear of ARCs


I saw this awesome Confessions meme on Parajunkee, and I thought I’d play along. The goal is to answer a question and write a post about your most eccentric bookworm confessions. So, here is one of mine:

Confession of the week: I’ve been reviewing books for 2 years, and I’ve never requested an ARC. I’ve been given a few ARCs by authors, but I’ve never actually tried to get one. I'm scared of reviewing ARCs. I think it’s because I don’t like due dates or the pressure to review something. I know that I’m perfectly capable of reading a book, writing a review, and posting it on a certain date, but the thought of doing it is stressful for some reason. I should just join NetGalley and get it over with. It won’t be stressful once I’ve done it a few times.


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Question of the week: In which book would you like to live? (I don't think this is the correct question of the week, but I'm going to answer it.)

Answer: Um, none of them. The worlds in the books I read are usually pretty unpleasant. It might be cool to live in the Harry Potter world (post-Voldemort). Then I’d have the ability to make my house magically clean itself.

I think the parallel Londons in A Darker Shade of Magic could also be interesting. I wouldn’t mind seeing those.

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This week’s REAL question of the week: Do you prefer using bookmarks, or bending the book page?

Answer: Bookmarks, definitely. The only time that I bend the page is when I can’t find a bookmark and don’t have time to look for one. 

7 comments:

  1. I totally know how you feel about ARCs! I'm so scared to request on Netgalley because I am SUCH a mood reader! I'll ask for something and then when they finally request it a week or two later... I'm over it. Same with book tours! Sometimes I get really stressed out by the "due dates" and regret my decisions. Great post!!

    Tracy @ Cornerfolds

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    1. That’s one of the reasons that I’m nervous. I’m worried that I’ll get approved for a bunch of books and then not want them anymore. Then I’ll feel bad for having requested them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. I guess I understand your fear, but there really is nothing much to fear. I started blogging in March. And at the end of March I joined NetGalley. Wasn't really planning to do much there, just wanted to be set up and ready. I discovered that they have this 'Read Now' category that mainly seems to consist of books already published, but you can get them to read for free (obviously) and without waiting for approval. So that might be a nice way to start for you, as there are no set deadlines (except for maybe the one of how long you will still have the book available for you to read after you have downloaded it). And it is probably a nice way of getting out some reviews and the request/review ratio on NetGalley so you look better to publishers.
    And you can still have a look around on other categories. I even request some books. Mostly not ones I knew about before, but they sounded fun. And I even got approved for them. So that felt like a win for me.
    Just gotta jump right it, I suppose.
    Good luck with ARCs! :)

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    1. Interesting. I didn’t know there was a ‘Read Now’ category. I really should join NetGalley and check it out.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  3. Hi there! Sorry for taking so long, but I returned the follow for last week's hop. Have a good week! :)

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  4. I definitely understand the ARC fear feelings, even though I do request them haha. The deadlines can be super intimidating and stressful. You just have to let that fear not take over your life and cut yourself some slack. Nobody's going to come after you if you don't review the book in a timely fashion! If you ARE going to try Netgalley, just make sure not to get excited and request more books than you could manage bc you assume you won't get access to many of them. That's how I screwed myself over in the beginning haha.

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  5. I've only been blogging four months, so I don't ask for ARCs yet, but the prospect sounds a bit scary! :)

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