Q: How do you turn down a review request?
A: I typically offer to do something other than a review such as an interview or giveaway.
Q: What do you do if you can't finish a book? Do you DNF or power through?
A: When I first started blogging, I felt as though the author would somehow know if I didn't finish his/her book so I trudged through them even though I felt bad for the trees that they had to die to create the paper to make the book.
Nancy Pearl, a famous librarian, has a "50" rule where after 50 pages, if you don't like the book, don't finish it. It has been my motto ever since. There are too many great books out there to waste your life on trying to get through them. I find even though I may not like the book where I am now in the life, if I pick it up later, I might absolutely love it!!
I agree with you. Usually I will give a book 50-100 pages before I DNF if I'm not enjoying it. I used to power through but I no longer have the time and it turned reading into a chore. There are too many books on my tbr pile for me to feel guilty and I'm picky about what I read, so only have 1 DNF so far!
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Mia Hoddell
Gift card giveaway
I agree, I won't make myself finish it if I don't really like it. And yes, setting it aside sometimes helps cause later I may come back to it and it works. that's happened recently...
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Great idea about offering a giveaway or an interview. I would do that only if the book were in my genre, though. THANKS for the good idea.
ReplyDeleteDeclining is tricky, but it can be done graciously as I have seen from many answers today including mine. :)
Stop by for my full answer if you like.
Happy Hopping!!
Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Blog Hop Answer
I used to accept just about any book offered; now I've gotten more picky. Also, I've adopted the 50 page rule; as others have said, life is too short to slog through books I hate, and I'm not in school anymore nor am I being paid for reviews.
ReplyDeleteThat's such a great idea, offering to do something other than a review.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm so bad at putting a book down that I'm not enjoying. I have gotten a little better since my TBR pile got overwhelming, but I'll still power through a book if someone else I know enjoyed it.
Thanks for stopping by my BBH!
Ashling @ Reading, Writing, & Anything but Arithmetic
It's really nice that you're offering other alternatives. I prefer to deal with publishers or publicists, rather than directly with authors. So I've signed up with blog tour companies. That way, I won't be worried about hurting an author's feelings when I turn down their review request.
ReplyDeleteThat 50-page rule sounds good! I agree with you; why waste time on books that don't float your boat, when there are so many others out there that will? I'm going to start applying this rule myself!
Thanks for sharing, and Happy Reading!! : )
Thanks for wriiting
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