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Last year, I wanted to take an in-depth look at some of my reading stats. I looked at how many books I read in a month (and did a year to year comparison); I investigated where I get my books from (library, own, ARCs, etc); and I wrapped everything up with a look at what type (audio, eBook, etc) of books I read the most in a month. Lots of things change in a year, so I thought it would be interesting compare 2018 to my previous years to see what type of reading year 2018 actually was.
I already wrote my post on the number of books I read in a month — you can find it here.
For this post, I’ve decided to combine my Book Sources and Book Formats posts together since they pretty much go hand-in-hand.
What I Learned From Last Year’s Post — and What I Did About It:
- I requested more ARCs than I should have
- now have stricter limits on the # I can request a month
- Audibooks have a huge impact on my monthly reading
- I need to read more books that I own
- more readathon participation & reading challenges
But did I actually stick to those? Find out…
Comparing 2017 to 2018:
Instead of my crazy line graphs that I used last year, I simply tabulated my results:
| eARCs | Kindle | Kobo | Physical | Audio | eLibrary | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Jan | 4 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Feb | 3 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| Mar | 11 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| Apr | 8 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| May | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| Jun | 4 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Jul | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Aug | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Sep | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Oct | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| Nov | 10 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Dec | 11 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| SUM: | 76 | 86 | 22 | 15 | 39 | 26 | 5 | 5 | 43 | 66 | 52 | 31 |
The Highlights:
The one thing that stands out the most to me is the fact that I read less of the books I already owned in 2018 vs 2017. I truly thought I read more than that. Even if I add in the 9 titles I DNF’d from my personal collection, I still fell really short of my 2017 numbers.
The decrease in library books initially shocked me but then I thought about what happened last year. At the start of 2018, I had three library cards from 3 cities. My “big city” library card (my post-post-secondary school location) expired in March. I did a mad binge-read of a lot titles that were available from there in February and March (which explains the increases there). I also lost my second library card (where I did my placement for school) in September. My hometown library is great, but it shares its eBook collection with the entire province so it can make getting the more popular titles tricky. Having that second card from a town with a smaller pool of eBook users helped a lot. I have since renewed that card (since I moved) for 2019 so I’m excited to utilize it once again.
Things that didn’t shock me? I’m not at all surprised by my Audiobook numbers. Even though I was part-time for most of 2018, I worked a lot of hours so I was constantly driving to work (which is when I did most of my audio listening) in 2018. Nor was I surprised about my ARC numbers. I definitely read a lot of ARCs in 2018; so much so that I was getting a little bit of burn-out from it all near the end of the year.
Moving Forward:
I had set my reading goals and challenges for 2019 wayyy before I ever tabulated this all up but I had a general idea of what those numbers would be when I created them. My goal for 2019 is to read more of the books I already own and I’ve made that the focus of my reading challenges for the year. And although I say it every year, I’m really sticking to my ARC limits for the month. Learning to say “no” to great opportunities is hard but I’m starting to feel a lot lighter when it comes to “reading pressures” like deadlines etc. I’m really enjoying just going with the flow when it comes to my reading.
One thing that I know will change is my audiobook listening. I’ve moved closer to my job and have since reduced my commute time by 91%. I plan on listening to audiobooks on a regular basis, but I won’t be able to power through as many as I have in the past. What I’m hoping will happen is that I will see in increase in the other reading formats because I have more time now to read eBooks and physical novels.
When I did this breakdown last year, I was shocked to learn that less than half of the books I read came from the library. I had always had the firm belief that 80+% of my books came from there so it was a total surprise. I also learned that I read more standalone titles in a year than I thought I did; though series still made up the vast majority (obviously).
| Source: | 2018 # (%) | 2017 # (%) | 2016 # (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchased | 46 (20%) | 52 (21%) | 79 (34%) |
| Library | 97 (43%) | 114 (47%) | 85 (36%) |
| ARCs | 86 (37%) | 80 (32%) | 69 (30%) |
| Grand Total: | 229 (100%) | 240 (100%) | 233 (100%) |
Again, I’m not shocked by these results. I would have liked to have seen my Purchased percentage to be higher but I knew coming into 2019 that I needed to improve that value.
Another thing I looked at in last year’s post was the number of series, sequels and standalones I read in 2017.
| Type: | 2018 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standalone | 35 [16%] | 74 [33%] | |
| Series | 187 [84%] | 147 [66%] | |
| Book 1 | (71) [32%] | (53) [36%] | |
| Book 2 | (59) [26%] | (44) [30%] | |
| Book 3+ | (46) [20%] | (37) [25%] | |
| Novellas: | (13) [6%] | (11) [5%] | |
| Grand Total | 224 [100%] | 221 [100%] |
Overall, I was pretty consistent with what I read. I did decrease the number of standalones I read last year and that was something I was actively conscious of doing. Once I had enough Single Sunday Posts for the year, I made sure to rarely read standalones and instead focus on series. While I completed a lot of series, I wasn’t the best at reading sequels.
Moving Forward:
My main goals for 2019 are to increase the number of owned books I read in a year and to reduce the number of book series I have on the go. My reading challenges focus on reading owned titles unlike previous years where they were the minority of the challenges. To reduce sequels, I’ve dedicated 4 months of the year to read only sequels. Of course, I will read sequels in all months, but I find that having it a set focus really helps motivate me to grab that sequel I’ve been putting off for months.
What book formats do you read in a month? Where do they come from?
