How Too Many ARCs Can Lead To Blogging Burnout

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Advance Reader Copies (ARCs), they are unpublished copies of books that are given out by publishers and authors to create pre-release buzz for a book. It’s a great marketing tactic and is also an added benefit for bloggers. BUT and this is a big but…. What do you do when you have more than your share of ARCs to review in a given month and not enough time to read them?

I’m sure some people think my long absence from blogging had to do with the release of my first novel. I can assure you that is not what caused my blogging burnout. I was already worn down prior to my decision to publish. The mountain of books I had to read and review combined with the release was beyond stressful, and I ultimately chose to focus on one thing over the other. While writing, marketing, and working on my novels took up a lot of my time, that is not the primary reason for my absence. By the time Thanksgiving hit, I had so many ARCs, both physical and ebook, to review that I was overwhelmed. It literally gave me anxiety because I was trying to figure out how I would find the time to read every single book by the pub date.

I am that blogger, the one who wants to do everything in their power to help out another author. I became a blogger for two reasons: to meet other bookish people who like to talk about books and to help promote authors I love. I accomplished both of these things through blogging and met some amazing people along the way who I am proud to call my friends. At the time I started my blog, I had no plans to publish my books. They were manuscripts just sitting on my computer that I was too afraid to shop out because I didn’t feel like putting the time into looking for an agent.

I became a book blogger not only because I love books but because I love promoting authors. I really do. And indie authors have always been my favorite to promote, and that was long before I became an indie author.

Books are supposed to make you happy NOT give you anxiety. I was going through my blog planner, NetGalley, Penguin First to Read, my bookshelf, my email, and my Kindle, and I literally could not breathe after thinking about how many books I had agreed to review. I kept thinking about how the authors and publishers were relying on bloggers to promote and review these books, and I gave myself migraines every day until I made the decision to take a step back and focus on something else.

Now, I know you’re thinking I shouldn’t have requested all those books. Some of them I did not even request. They were mailed to me by the publisher or showed up in my NetGalley queue as an auto-approval. I didn’t even know books could just show up in my queue until it happened, and then I was like wait, I don’t have time to read this book. Add to the list the indie books I had agreed to read and the pile of books was honestly too much for me to stomach.

Luckily, I received books that were 4-6 months ahead of the pub date so I can catch up on them now. I have a lot of reviews coming up in the next month. I’m also catching up on all the books all of you told me to read. I thought I’d share this bit of information so you don’t end up burning yourself out. I love blogging and talking to everyone, which is why I stayed connected on Facebook and Twitter while I was on hiatus. I may not always have the time to visit everyone’s blog, and I do try my best to visit the blogs who comment, but I do value your friendships and support. I just thought you should know that.

For those of you who have followed me over the past year, you know I give it to you straight. This is me keeping it real. I’m working on reviews and posts for the blog, and I am now getting back into the swing of things. I promise the blog you once followed is coming back to life. Again, thank you for your continued support of my blog and my writing. You have no idea how much I appreciate your tweets, messages, and posts. Thank you!

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH BLOGGER BURNOUT? What do you do or have you done to avoid a hiatus?

Talk to me, peeps!

XO,

Jill

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