By Tessa Pulyer Posted on

#BookBloggerHop | Percentage of Books I Read that I Review

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Billy @ Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to their own blog.

Question:

What percentage (roughly) of the books you read do you write blog post reviews for?

(submitted by Elizabeth @ Complex Chaos)

Answer:

Right now, I have overburdened myself with ARCs and blog tour books – so the answer currently is 100%.

When I have a typical ARC and blog tour load, though (enough for 2 reviews per week but no more), I have time to read books that I have bought or borrowed from the library. My rule of thumb is that I only review purchased or borrowed books if I have something that I really want to say. Those are books just for me to enjoy and not worry about saying anything about if I don’t choose to do so. It enables me to sit back and enjoy them more without the pressure of having to come up with words to describe my reading experience.

Not that writing reviews is all that burdensome, but I like to have little bits that I have a choice about. Don’t we all want the power to choose now and again? So, during regular times, my review rate is roughly 75%.

I’ve told you mine, now you tell me yours: What percentage of books that you read do you review?

34 Replies to “#BookBloggerHop | Percentage of Books I Read that I Review”

  1. mehsi says:

    I think for me it is 40-55% is what gets on my blog. That sounds like not a lot, but I read quite a bit and just cannot feature every book I read. Plus, I often read a lot of Dutch books (not this year though given the libraries have been closed since December) and I want to keep my blog mostly English.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. mehsi says:

        Yay! I just see so many say higher numbers for other people’s blogs, so 40-55% feels so little. Haha. But I guess I am doing pretty OK. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Renee Nash says:

    I feel the same way. ARCs always get reviewed, books I buy, if I have time, if not, they are just for my reading pleasure! Unless I see an author asking for reviews, then I will at least put a short one on Amazon!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Jonetta (Ejaygirl) | Blue Mood Café says:

    I guess I’m in the minority here. Mine is close to 100%. Years ago after joining Goodreads, I felt it a responsibility to post reviews since I was benefiting from others’ reviews and this is a site for readers. I now review everything I read. So, why not include everything on the blog?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      That’s an excellent thought. I always rate books on Goodreads, probably because that’s what I look at the most. I hadn’t stopped to think about it til now. If I write it, I share it on my blog too. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Staci Troilo says:

    If I finish a book, I’ll review it on my blog. But if I can’t give a book a 4 or 5, I won’t post it on Amazon, Goodreads, and BookBub. I used to put 3 starts there, but I won’t even do that. And forget anything lower. There are so many people who delight on posting negative reviews for authors, even when they’re unwarranted. Sometimes you can tell they haven’t even read the book, but Amazon doesn’t remove them. It ruins rankings and it’s spiteful. So I won’t post anything other than a 4 or 5. But I’ll review everything I finish on my blog. I can be honest there without hurting an author’s livelihood.

    If it’s so bad that I don’t finish it, I don’t even bother mentioning it on the blog, though.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      I use 3 stars as my cutoff. Three stars for me means it is well written/editted but it just wasn’t a book that I’m enthusiastic about. I still find things that I liker about it and put that in my review, though. And, I get very annoyed at reviewers I can tell didn’t read the book – those that rate it badly and those that rate it high. It feels very manipulative to me.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Teri Polen says:

    I won’t post anything below three stars. With some books that I’ve read for myself (not ARCs or review copies from authors) I may write a review and keep it in the queue to use if I’m running short on posts. I probably review around 90-95%.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      That is a good plan. I guess I always have that in my back pocket too. Like you, three-stars is my cutoff. I hate that Amazon considers 3-stars a critical review. It’s kind of funny to see one of my reviews as the top critical review and then you read it and it’s full of the positives I wrote about.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Zainab says:

    For me, I think it’s also 100%! I got way more into reading in the lockdown, so I’ve had many more book reviews!
    Hey, I’m Zainab and I’m a new blog follower! I love your blog and I’d love it if you could check out mine! Great post!! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      I figure you’ve already supported them by buying the book, so just enjoying it and not worry about taking notes, etc., is okay.

      Like

  8. Louise H says:

    I review everything I read be it arc, bought or KU. I don’t blog the DNF’s and some of the “this was meh” reviews (which I don’t leave many of because I’m more inclined to DNF it if it doesn’t grab me.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      I actually do try to promote KUs with a review. I forgot about them. I never had a clue what to get from KU until blogging and I think many people feel the same-ish so by posting a review about them, I’m saying “Hey, here’s a good read for your KU pile.”

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Literary Feline says:

    That makes a lot of sense! I review all the books I read in my leisure. I did that before I began blogging–just didn’t think of it as reviewing writing, just jotting down my thoughts in my journal. So it’s habit and it brings me a sense of closure. I don’t always review books I read with my daughter though. I’m trying this year, but it’s early yet so don’t hold me it. LOL

    Have a great weekend!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      You’re right. It does give a sense of closure. I know I feel compelled to write them even when I don’t have to. I think maybe that’s why.

      Like

  10. swordsandspectres says:

    I typically review everything I read, unless it’s something I picked up that isn’t the kind of subject matter I normally tend to go for. I think there’s only 2 or 3 books I haven’t reviewed since I started blogging

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      That’s awesome! I think if I really looked at it there may be only a few if any that I haven’t reviewed. A lot of times I find myself at least doing a paragraph or something.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Carla says:

    I pretty much review everything I read on Goodreads and might connect to some on my blog without doing a full post on the blog, but on Goodreads it is 100%, blog probably 95%.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      That’s great! I think I’m close to 100% on Goodreads. The only times I fudge, and that’s just been a couple of times, is when I’m reading two books in a series back to back then I do a consolidated review and post it on the second book.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Mae Clair says:

    As long as I can give a book 3 stars, I review 100% of what I read, and I’ve consistently posted all of those reviews on my blog, Amazon, GR and Bookbub (as long as the book is available on BB). If I can’t give at least three stars then I won’t post a review anywhere. Of course, if I can’t award at least 3 stars, odds are I gave the book a DNF.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      Three stars is where I draw the line too. Three stars means it’s well edited but just wasn’t for me content-wise.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      I never have done a formal review on a book I DNF though I do talk about why on my Wednesday discussion post and in what I send to the publisher.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Davida Chazan says:

        I actually started a new feature on my blog – #DNFFriday – where I can put up a post with my reasons why I didn’t finish reading a certain book.

        Liked by 1 person

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  15. D. Wallace Peach says:

    I review all books that I actually finish, Tessa, but I only post 4-5 star reviews on my blog. And because I have no obligatory reading, I pick books that I’m bound to enjoy. Even so, I probably DNF about 15% of the books I try. I’m glad you do some “just for fun” reading. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      Blogging becomes a casual business for sure – especially the way I do it – with a schedule and all – so I almost need to allow myself the chance to read just for me or at least allow myself the option.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. D. Wallace Peach says:

        Posting about books I love is easy. It’s the ones that I’m less enthusiastic about that can feel a bit like “work.” Definitely work a vacation. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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