I finished a book I absolutely loved this week… and I think I’ll probably hold off for another four to six weeks or so before I share a review.
Why?
Because it’s a new release scheduled for publication in early September. And while, I’d normally want to share my rave review immediately (because who doesn’t love shouting about how amazing a book is?), it also got me thinking about the timing of reviews and what might be the best approach.
The general rule of thumb for sharing reviews based on ARCs seems to be to hold reviews until close to the release date. Based on NetGalley confirmation emails, most publishers seem to request not posting far in advance, and some state that reviews should be posted no more than two weeks (or at most, a month) before the publication date.
And yet, when I go on Goodreads, I see reviews posted months in advance of publication (which Goodreads allows, although retail sites like Amazon do not).
There’s something to be said for pre-release buzz, and authors I’ve followed have explained more than once that all preorders add to their release weeks stats. The higher the sales that week, the more likely it is that they’ll continue to be promoted, or even that a sequel might be greenlit. Given that, it would seem like early reviews (especially super positive ones) can only help a book. On the other hand, if someone is hyping a book three months before anyone can even get it, will that actually make an impact on sales? Sure, other bloggers/reviewiers may go request the book on NetGalley as a result — but while that boosts exposure, it doesn’t necessarily translate into people making purchases.
From the blogger/reviewer perspective, I get wanting to share thoughts while they’re fresh, and I suppose some readers/reviewers like the idea of being first, even if that means reviewing a book that the general reader audience won’t be able to access for many months.
For me, my target review window is right on time, occasionally a little early (a week or maybe two in advance), and (accepting that life is not perfect) late when it can’t be helped.
In general, I try to time my reviews right around the week a book is released, or possibly a week ahead of time. It mostly comes down to simple logistics for me — no matter how hard I try to keep my ARC commitments within reasonable limits, I still always find myself with a pretty hefty schedule to keep up with, and it usually just isn’t possible for me to get out ahead of the publication dates — even if I wanted to.
Another reason I prefer “just on time” reviews is wanting to be able to talk about a book. Read too far in advance and share a review, and no one will be available to discuss it with. Sure, it’s nice to get reactions along the lines of “sounds great!” or “hey, I’ll check it out”, but it’s even better to find other readers’ reviews, share ideas, and bounce reactions back and forth.
Beyond that, I suppose I just see it as courteous to follow publisher guidelines whenever possible. Receiving access to ARCs is a privilege, after all, so I think it’s reasonable to be expected to stick to the publishers’ preferences when posting reviews.
As for late reviews… well, I try, but life gets in the way! With ARCs, I always aim to post by the week that a book comes out, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. A late review is better than no review! I’m much more forgiving of myself than I was when I first starting blogging and reviewing. Bottom line, I read for myself and my own enjoyment first and foremost. ARCs can be wonderful to have, but they’re not the only books I read, and if I need to delay reading or reviewing a book because I’m busy with other things or other books I want to read… that’s okay too.
I found myself in the unusual situation this summer of not having a ton of ARCs in June, so I got through a few of my July books early, and even read one of my August books. For the August book, I was so happy to have read it that I lost sight of the release date and went ahead and posted a review right away. Only after it was posted did I stop and realize how early it was, but at that point, there were already comments posted, so I decided to leave it as is.
Which brings me back to the book I just finished — the 17th book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire… which just happens to be my very favorite fantasy series. I would absolutely love to share some thoughts, but it’s just too soon — the book will be released in early September. I know if I hadn’t read it already and stumbled across someone’s review of it, I’d be pretty peeved at this point.
Friends, the book is SO good! And what’s more, there’s another installment coming in October — a first in this series, to have two new books released just one month apart. Will I read #18 right away? You betcha.
But as for the reviews, I think I’m going to hold off. I mean, I’ll go ahead and draft the reviews while my thoughts and feelings are fresh… but I’ll wait to post until the release date is much, much closer.
How do you approach early reviews? Do you time reviews to release dates, or post reviews whenever you finish a book, regardless of dates? Do you have some other approach entirely?
I’d love to know what other people do when it comes to the timing of ARC reviews — especially when you love a book and you’re dying to talk about it.
Please share your thoughts!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
I try my best to follow publisher guidelines. If they don’t specify, I try to post on or just before pub date. But I love it when bloggers post early because it gives me time to still request an ARC I might have overlooked! I also love early reviews on Goodreads because it helps me decide if I want to accept or request an ARC.
Good point — early reviews do give other bloggers the chance to request the ARC!
I have sneaked in under the wire a few times because of early reviews!
I usually post my reviews onto my blog close to the publication date and then post across to Amazon. I put them on Net Galley at the time that I write them though so that they disappear off my to be read shelf. That means they get posted to Goodreads early but if I don’t do it at the same time as NG, I would probably forget.
At the moment, I’ve managed to pick up so many ARCs for July and August that all of my reviews are going to be late!!!
I hear you about July and August! I got most of mine done relatively on time for July, but realize that I have more for August than I can reasonably expect to get through. Oops… I try usually to update my NG shelf as soon as I finish too, just to keep my shelf as current as possible. Thanks for sharing your approach!
I have one more for July but it’s huge! Then I have 8 for August!! I’m not at all sure how that happened 😀😀
I feel your pain 🙂 — I have 7 for August (I had 9 (!!), but read two early), and then 5 in September. I try to be careful with requests, but somehow my list gets out of control anyway.
There seem to be a lot of sequels to books that I have read coming out in August. So of course, I had to request them😀
If its for a publisher or a PR company then I’ll follow their instructions if they give any but otherwise I lost straight away hoping it helps for that early buzz!
I’m sure the authors must appreciate your early buzz!
I’ve never had this issue – I don’t really get to read ARCs. Being a mood reader and planning my scheduled book reviews around 6 months in advance, I don’t think my style of blogging would suit reviewing ARCs anyhow. I’m envious of all those readers getting access to upcoming releases. All my reviews come from books I’ve purchased or borrowed from a library – I am a member of Netgalley and other platforms like this, but because I tend to prefer physical books, rarely get around to reading ARCs. So I guess you’d say all my reviews are posted late. At the moment, the reviews being published on my blog are from books I read around a year ago (most published way before then too) and I’ve scheduled my reviews and loaded them into queue to the end of this year. Any new books I’m currently reading and review won’t get published until next year sometime.
Now I feel like I’m blogging all wrong. LOL
Haha, you do you!! There’s no “wrong” when it comes to blogging, IMHO. I’m actually admiring your organization skills — you must be super on task to be able to schedule like that!
I only started scheduling like that because I wanted to take holidays or simply take a break from blogging without it affecting my uploads. It relieves the pressure for when you’re having a few bad days. It’s great in that respect, but like I said, if I wanted to post book reviews on the latest releases close to their publishing date, I’d have to always make sure I have time and energy free every day/week to ensure that. With work deadlines and family commitments, it was always sporadic. I guess I found something that works for me… even if I am “late” 😀
Because I’m a slow reader, I’m not usually finished with a book until near the publication date. But when I do, I do try to schedule a review in advance so that it comes close. Mind you, that means if I rave about a book, other bloggers probably won’t have the time to try to get ARCs to read them as well. Plusses and minuses to posting reviews both early and after publication date. As well as publishing on the same day of publication. I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong way, unless the publisher gives strict guidelines.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Very true, posting on or right before may not give other bloggers the chance to request ARCs for the book. I hadn’t thought much about that aspect, but a few people have mentioned it.
I will never have to worry about posting reviews too early, lol. I’m terrible at keeping up with ARCs (totally my fault for requesting too much). But certain publishers encourage early reviews. For example, if you read Orbit books, they LOVE early reviews. I did recently post a review of a November book but only because the publisher asked for a blurb and said it was OK to post early.
Interesting about Orbit! I didn’t realize they like early reviews — guess I haven’t been paying enough attention (and it’s been a while since I’ve requested books from them, even though I’ve loved so many of theirs in the past).
I just recently got into getting ARCs through NetGalley. First I always follow what the approval email says. For one of my ARCs, though, the approval email didn’t state when to publish it. But the file had a page in the front stating to not post reviews before the publication date at all! So I’ve been diligent in checking the actual ARC for instructions since. If it doesn’t explicitly state any anywhere, I will post my reviews on publication day.
You did bring up some excellent points. Do early reviews really increase the likelyhood of preorders or sales for the book? I’m not sure. Hm. 🤔
Great comments! I feel a responsibility to check the publisher requirements like you do and to follow them when I can. I’m not sure about the impact of early reviews either. I have a feeling that early reviews mostly reach other bloggers, so while that may mean other people also read and review the book, is there a $$ impact? Hmmm ideed.
When I started with Netgalley I was always super stressed out about clearing my list, but now I space the books out so I read and review them closer to their publication dates. Ideally, I’d get that done a couple of days before the release date, but a lot of times I run a couple of days behind. It also gets difficult when an author asks for Amazon reviews, because you cannot do those early.
Your approach makes sense. I try to not over-request for any given months, but then all of a sudden there will be a lot of books I want all releasing at the same time, and then I start having scheduling challenges!
Haha! Ain’t that the truth. Those are difficult to manage time wise.
Speaking more as a reader of reviews than a blogger (since I suck at posting reviews early, on time, or even close after the publish date, lol), I prefer when reviews of new books are posted on the book’s release date or whenever after that. It sucks sometimes when I read a review for a book that’s not out yet and get excited for it but am unable to get it because I don’t preorder.
Great points. I get that frustration too. I only preorder books by favorite authors, since I know those will be keepers, so there’s not much to do with an early review (as a reader) except maybe mark it as “to read” on Goodreads.