Bookish Goals for 2022

I started this blog in March 2021, so a little late to officially declare any book goals for the year. So, 2022 will be the first full year for my little blog. I’m inspired by everyone else’s goals, so I decided to sit down and think about some of my own.

Read 52 books
For the past two years I’ve increased my reading goal. In 2020 I read 40 books. In 2021 I read 48 books. So in 2022 I hope to read 52 books, or one book per week. I feel this goal is fairly reasonable for me. If I really like a book, I end up flying through it; if I don’t, then I read it slower. In general I’d say my reading speed is average, though, so I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read 100 books in a year. I am in awe of those who do, though!

Increase Blog Followers
In 2022 I’d like to increase my blog following to 100 followers. I think this will be the hardest bookish goal for me. If you have any tips on how to achieve this goal, please let me know. There are some bloggers who’ve been book reviewing for as long as or shorter than me that have so many followers already. How do you do it?! Teach me your ways.

Increase NetGalley Review Percentage
My NetGalley review percentage…could be better. So say we all? My goal is to increase my NG percentage to 50%. I decided to make a concerted effort in January to read mostly NG approvals. So far I’m making decent progress with respect to my reading speed and daily life. I’m also holding off on requesting anything else from NG unless it’s something I’m really interested in.

#BeatTheBacklog
Lisa at Owl Be Sat Reading started the hashtag #BeatTheBacklog to rally those who want to make a dent in their TBR list. I think this is a great idea and joining a community with the same goal is a great motivator. This isn’t a hard goal for me, but ideally I’d like 50% of my books read this year to be from my backlog. Like many others, my backlog consists of both physical and digital books. In short, definitely join in this hashtag if you want to trim down your book backlog.

Join StoryGraph
After seeing so many 2021 book statistics posts, I’m wholly inspired to join StoryGraph. The statistics everyone shared from StoryGraph were so cool, and I want to be a cool kid, too. Just kidding, I don’t care about that part of it. But I do like statistics in a casual sort of way (I’m not mathematician) and sometimes I like to categorize things. How very human [nature] of me.

Post Negative Reviews
I started my book blog as a place where I would only post reviews of books I enjoyed. I wanted to be a positive place in the book community. And obviously I still do. But then I read a few books that, frankly, in my opinion, weren’t that great. They were all NetGalley approvals. As a new member, I wanted to increase my percentage, so I didn’t DNF them. At that point I’d already invested my personal time reading and then writing a review on NG. I wavered back and forth before deciding to go ahead and post them on my blog. Why? Because if I was interested in these books only as a reader, I would want to know someone’s honest opinion about a book.

I personally feel that self-censoring my opinions about a book I didn’t enjoy does a disservice to readers. Ultimately, if someone really wants to read a book, they will; no review will stop them. I also recognize that authors take a huge leap of faith putting their work out into the world. Presumably they expect both positive and negative reviews, and they know their book will be perfect for one person and not another. When sharing reviews about a book that I didn’t enjoy, it’s incredibly important to be respectful and professional in these reviews (i.e., don’t bash the author, find something you did like about the book and make sure to mention it). While I believe we should be cognizant of others’ feelings, I also believe in honesty.

I’m not finding fault in those who choose to post only positive reviews on their book blog. I understand that decision. Those who focus on posting only positive reviews are also sharing their honest opinions. But my philosophy for my space is to respectfully share my reviews, whether I feel it’s a 2 star or a 5 star read.

9 thoughts on “Bookish Goals for 2022

  1. Great list of goals! For increasing followers (though I’m no expert) I find that networking is really helpful. Find other book blogs and engage with them–the community is often really great about returning the favor!

    I also joined Storygraph this year! It’s interesting but I’m still learning the social aspect. 🙂

    1. Thanks for the suggestion, Amanda! What do you view as networking? I do try to interact on Twitter and I join book blog tours. Are there other methods of networking you’re thinking about?

  2. I feel you about negative reviews! There have been a couple that I had such STRONG feelings about that I didn’t mind posting negative reviews, but when I bounce off a book that’s super popular, I hesitate more to put my feelings out there. Usually I find people who share my feelings though, even if we’re in the minority! For that reason, sometimes negative reviews actually help me find bloggers whose reviews I trust a little more, because our thoughts align, or I can better understand how they approached a book and know what kinds of things they like and dislike.

    1. Yes, I saw your recent post about negative reviews! I agree with your reasonings wholeheartedly. I can understand why someone might not want to post a negative review, but I personally find it odd if there’s absolutely nothing that a book reviewer might have to critique. There are books I really enjoyed reading, but I recognize them for the flaws they have (A Court of Thorns and Roses, for one, ahem). On the other hand, I understand if someone might want to be a positivity only space. I get it, but that’s not my personal philosophy.

  3. Wonderful goals! I hope you meet them all this year!

    That darn 80% NetGalley ratio has been so elusive for me. Also, early congratulations for nearing your full year blogging. Doesn’t it feel like the initial one year has passed by so fast? If you figure out how to increase blog followers, let me know to! I’m the worst at this!

    1. Thank you very much! ^_^
      I’m almost up to 50% on my NetGalley ratio. Slow and steady wins the race, right??
      Thanks for the early congratulations! Just 2 more months and the first year will have flown by.
      If I figure out the secret to gaining blog followers, I’ll pass it on. The stats show my engagement increasing each month, but I’m not quite sure how to encourage them to subscribe. Short of posting tons more reviews per month (which, let’s be honest, is super unsustainable for me), I just don’t know!

  4. Pingback: 2023 Reading Goals

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