The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018: Rules and Sign-up

December 21, 2017 Challenges 35

The Backlist Reader Challenge is Back!

Are all your new books keeping you from reading the older titles on your want-to-read list? That’s what happens to me, so a few years ago, I came up with The Backlist Reader Challenge.

The Backlist Reader Challenge (#BacklistReader) is a year-long challenge for all those older books that have been piling up on your TBR pile and list—not just the ones you already own, but the ones you’ve been wanting to read for more than a year.

The rules are pretty basic, and I’ve tried to keep participation simple. There will be at least one giveaway, with the winner chosen at random from the review links at the end of the year. I might throw the occasional Twitter party as well, but you don’t have to attend. All you really need to participate are two things:  a to-read list, and a way to sign up and link your reviews.

The challenge runs from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018. It ends at midnight in whatever timezone you’re in.

You can find the review linky on the top menu bar, with a link from the sidebar as well. The review linky went “live” on January 1, 2018. It will stay open through January 3, 2018, to give you a couple of days to review any books you finished on the last day of the challenge.

 

The Rules

The rules are pretty simple. Only (1) and (2) are mandatory.

(1) To count for the challenge, books have to be published before 2017 AND already be on your TBR list or pile. In other words, you don’t have to own it. If it was on your list to read before you signed up for the challenge, and it came out before 2017, it counts. Library books, books you picked up at a yard sale, books you borrowed from a friend, ebooks, print books, audiobooks—any book counts as long as it fits those two criteria.

(2) Create a goals or sign-up post on your blog or wherever you post your reviews. If you can, please include a link to this post! Then link your sign-up post below, where you see the “Add your link” button. (Please link the actual goals/sign-up post, not your home page.)  You can set your own goal, and you can list the books you want to read this year, or leave it up to your mood at the time—as long as they are already on your TBR list when you sign up! You can sign up through December 1, 2018; after that, the sign-up link will be closed.

(3) Review the books you read, and post the links on the review linky (reachable through the menu bar.) Actually, you can do the challenge without writing reviews, but the review links are your entries for the year-end giveaway (a $10 gift certificate), so if you don’t review, you can’t win.  Reviews don’t have to be long; a few sentences is fine. You can post them on Goodreads or LibraryThing if you don’t have a blog.

(4) On or just after the end of the year, post a wrap-up post to let us know how you did! I’ll create a link-up post for the wrap-up posts, too. Again, this one isn’t absolutely necessary, but I hope you’ll do it anyway, just for the fun of looking back and seeing your accomplishment!

 

Social media: Please use #BacklistReader on Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else hashtags are useful!

 

Grab the Button! 

Copy and paste the code below into your blog post or sidebar.

 

Link-up

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35 Responses to “The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018: Rules and Sign-up”

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Generally no, unless it’s been so long since you read it that you’ve completely forgotten it. I do a lot of rereading, but I only count books I read more than a decade ago, and even then, only if I’ve forgotten it. I think there are some rereading challenges out there that you could use those audiobooks for, though!

  4. Jennifer

    I shared this post via Facebook. Should I sign up with that post or link to the Goodreads shelf I created for the challenge. (December 31st was the last day I blogged over at The Book Nympho.)

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Good question! I’m not sure which would be better. I think maybe use your Goodreads shelf link, since I assume that’s where you’ll be posting reviews. And let me know if you start another blog, or start blogging on someoneone else’s!

  7. Karen Grosz

    I don’t blog about books yet, but hope to. I plan to read 24 books that I already own and are waiting for me. I review on Goodreads at InnerSavvy.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Welcome to the challenge, and hopefully to the wonderful world of blogging! Since you haven’t started your blog yet, you could create a Goodreads shelf for the challenge, and use that link to sign up on the linky above. 🙂

  9. Lark_Bookwyrm

    Welcome, everybody! Best of luck and happy reading to all of you this year!

    NOTE: There was a glitch in the review linky in January. It was closed from Jan. 5-12. It’s open again now, so please go link up your reviews!