Let's Talk With Smash & Kt (26)
Welcome to the Let’s Talk weekly discussion meme!
Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another! Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses.This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let's Talk!
We'd love to hear any ideas you have for questions. Submit them Here.
This week's question:
Do you accept review requests? If not, why? If so, then how many review requests do you get in a month? How many do you accept? How do you balance between review requests and reading your own books? Have you ever gone out of your way to reduce your incoming review books? With so many reviews books being offered (solicited or not) to book bloggers, have you ever emailed a publicist to reduce the number of books sent? Do you ever feel guilty over receiving these review books that you know you won’t be able to get to knowing other book bloggers could benefit from them? How do you deal? (Thanks, KT and Na)
Broken down:
Do you accept review requests?
Yes I do, and our review policy can be found here.
If so, then how many review requests do you get in a month?
Usually somewhere between 50-75 plus around 10-20 unsolicited physical copies that arrive on my doorstep.
How many do you accept?
I review 2 books per week. So when a request/unsolicited/Netgalley/Edelweiss book comes up, after I decide if the blurb sounds interesting, I look at the release date, and see if I have room in my review schedule before that date, or shortly thereafter. Also, I take into consideration if the book is the 2nd or 3rd, etc in a series where I haven't read the previous books. Unless I have time to read the previous book(s) first, its an automatic pass. So, some months I'll accept 8 max books, sometimes more if the requests are for books further out. So long story short, on average I can only accept two-ish per week.
Since Kirsten's tastes seem opposite to time in the paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy genre (I like romance in my books, she doesn't.), I'll send her anything where the blurb doesn't jump out to me (as long as it in our reviewed genres of course). She then decides if she's interested, and then if yes she adds it to her pile. She doesn't seem to have a limit, but I will say that she is very particular about the ones she does accept, so it works out in the long run.
How do you balance between review requests and reading your own books?
Since starting with Entangled, my reading and reviewing time has been cut back drastically. So, now it isn't very often that I read a book that isn't one for review or for work. However, I've compensated for being a whole lot more picky about which books I accept for review so that way I'm mostly reading things that I'm very excited about, not just mildly interested in.
Have you ever gone out of your way to reduce your incoming review books?
I wrote up our Review Policy page to help cut back on the requests outside of our review genres, which has helped some, but we still get a decent amount of oddball requests. I also stopped requesiting everythign that interested me on Edelweiss/Netgalley, only grabbing the ones that really jump out at me.
With so many reviews books being offered (solicited or not) to book bloggers, have you ever emailed a publicist to reduce the number of books sent?
Yes, but not really to reduce the number of books received, but I have emailed publicists letting them know that they have been sending me books/requests outside of my reviewed genres. The requests aren't as big of a deal, although I still do give them a heads up. However, I hate it when books show up on my doorstop that are in the wrong genre. I just am never sure what to do with them. It's not like a giveaway would really work as my readers come for the genres I review, so they sit on my shelf growing dust.
Do you ever feel guilty over receiving these review books that you know you won’t be able to get to knowing other book bloggers could benefit from them? How do you deal?
I used to feel guilty when books came in that were in my genre preference, but the blurb didn't grab me. I knew I wouldn't review it, so again they wound up sitting there gathering dust. But then I put the call out for an associate reviewer, and found Kirsten. It's really awesome because between us, there are few WELL EDITED books in Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal YA, Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Dystopian that won't appeal to us.
