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Organising Your Review Pile

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Something I’ve struggled in the past with is reading books in time for publication date, and being able to talk about a book as soon as the day of publication. Usually my review pile stacks higher and higher and eventually it becomes way too big too manage. This year, however, I’ve worked out a system to get me more organised than ever before.

Step One: Designate your review books their own section on your bookshelf

Before I’d chuck all of my review books onto my main TBR pile and it got SO confusing. Visibility is key to organisation when it comes to your review pile, and once I cleared space for my review books it became so much easier.

In my case, I’ve got two sections for my review books: published in 2015 and not published in 2015. This means that I know which books I’ve missed from previous years that I can slowly catch up on, and I can still check up on the books that are yet to be published.

Step Two: Organise your books into order of publication

I first set out all of my January books into a pile and organised which would be published first during the month and so on. Once January was finished, I could move on to February and it was a gradual process to make sure I had them in exactly the right order. Goodreads is a great way to find out the exact dates, and you can also check on press releases if you received one with the book!

Step Three: Constant upkeep.

It’s no good organising it once and then leaving it! As soon as books drop through my letterbox, I first add them to my haul pile and then once my book haul has been recorded, I’ll add them to my review shelf. Upkeep is such an important step in being organised!

How do you organise your review pile?

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6 Comments

  • Reply
    Bekka
    3 April, 2015 at 8:18 am

    Since I prefer digital ARCs to physical (honestly, shelf space is hard to come by over here) this system wouldn’t quite work for me. Instead I have something similar, but just digital instead. I have a spread sheet for all my review copies. They’re listed by publication date (along with my source, the genre, publisher, details like that.) Every time I get a new review copy, I add it to the list. Every time I finish reading a book, I check the list to see if I have any upcoming titles that need to be read. So it’s sort of your system (exactly your system?) but just on my computer screen.

    Before I did this, I would completely lose track of which titles were releasing each week. When I first started getting books for review, I’d just read them immediately – which was totally the better option as far as organization goes, but at this point I’m nowhere near ahead enough in my schedule to do that anymore.
    Bekka recently posted…Movie Night GiveawayMy Profile

  • Reply
    Chloe Lauren
    3 April, 2015 at 10:36 am

    At the moment all of my books are organised by authors last name so it is very easy to lose track of my review books. Sometimes I look at my bookcase and worry about it but I will definitely be trying this as it will help a lot 🙂 Thanks
    Chloe Lauren recently posted…Adjusting To The Real WorldMy Profile

  • Reply
    Michelle @ Much Loved Books
    3 April, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    Great post. I have two ways of organising my review pile.

    Physical Books
    I have separate shelf space on my bookcases for my review books. Unsolicited ones get placed with the others but requested one has their own little space. I do my book haul as I get the books so once that;s done they are shelved according to publication date.

    eBooks
    I organise these on my kindle app into collections. Each collection has a month for the label and the books are sorted into their publication month.

    I also use google calendar and each book is added with different colours, either as a book I have requested and ‘shelved’ for the publication date. Or books are ‘shelved’ on the date they are published. This means I can see at a glance which books are out that month, and ideally get ahead with posts for the books, although that is still a work in progress. 🙂
    Michelle @ Much Loved Books recently posted…A Month of SunMy Profile

  • Reply
    Debbie @ Snuggling on the Sofa
    Twitter:
    5 April, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    Such a fabulous post, Lucy! I’ve been thinking about it for a few days, and today I decided to do a little shuffle of my books, so I’ve grouped together the review books I really want to read. I could never do it by date order- I’m too much of a mood reader! I do think sometimes they get lost though, and I feel so guilty for the ones that get missed.
    Debbie @ Snuggling on the Sofa recently posted…Spring Clean Your TBR: GoalsMy Profile

  • Reply
    Cassie (Happy Book Lovers)
    13 April, 2015 at 8:47 pm

    Yes! I did this about a year ago (organized my review copies separately and by pub date) so I could keep track, and this year it’s helped so much! I’ve already reviewed more books as they’re released this year than I did total last year!
    Cassie (Happy Book Lovers) recently posted…Happy Book Stuff #4My Profile

  • Reply
    Weekly Recap| Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2015 | Oh, the Books!
    18 May, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    […] Lucy has tips for organizing your review pile. […]

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