Project Backlist Reading Challenge: Tackling the Owned TBR in 2023 discussion

Get to know your fellow challenge participants by sharing a bit about yourself and your Project Backlist goals!

I'll go first: I'm Kal and am a recovering book-buying addict. Due to a confluence of circumstances, least of which definitely not being inflation. I slowed down my purchases in 2022... and realized just how many books I've blindly bought "to support authors" that I will "definitely read one day." Now my interests have shifted and I have no room for books and am just annoyed lol

I'm going on a soft ARC ban for 2023 to focus on reading what I own and clean up my overdue arc list.

Hi, I’m Grace. I’m actually 3 years in to my own read my owned TBR list. In that time I have gone from 250+ unread physical books to a current number of 60 (including my Christmas haul). My ultimate goal is to have no more than 25 unread physical books at any time. I also plan to begin to tackle my unread audiobooks this year. With my physical books looking good I’m still left with about 500 unread audio and ebooks. I have loved the journey of reading my own books, it’s so satisfying. 😊

Hi everyone! I'm Aamna. I actually don't have a ton of unread physical books as I've just recently started growing my collection of books, but I'll be mainly using this group to get through all the ARCs I keep forgetting about.
Really excited about this!

Hi Kai, thanks for the invite, and hello everyone else! Happy New Year!
I'm glad to be part of this challenge because I've got a stack of unread ARCs from NetGalley, plus ebooks that I've downloaded and not read. I recently had to get a new tablet because the battery is knackered (and not replaceable) on my old one. It's tricky to read when you always have to be plugged in to the wall! So I'm going to go for the Slow Haul challenge to try and clear as many books off that old tablet as I can before it completely dies. Fingers crossed :-)

Hello Hello! I'm DB and I have a problem with buying way too many free ebooks. I think they just find me lol. So I'll be doing the Committed Reader challenge and the ARCrastinator one because those just pile up so quickly!

Hi! I'm Angie and I'm planning to read at least 100 books next year. OMG, I'm so ambitious, lol.🤣

I tend to actively look for free eBooks on the Kindle store so I ended up with at least 1,000 eBooks on my shelf. For next year, I want to read my unread Kindle eBooks and contribute about 50% on my goal. And the remaining 50% will be from my unread ARCs. So I guess I'll be doing the Committed Reader and ARCrastinator challenge.🤗

Hello! My name is Jamie and I am terrible about acquiring way more books than I can read. I've been blogging for almost 10 years and have had to seriously curb my ARC requesting and book buying habits. It's made worse by the fact that I literally live right behind a library, where I regularly pick up new releases or books I am not sure if I want to buy.

I made an honest attempt in 2022 to keep up with my ARCs that I acquired this year and I did pretty decent in the first half of the year. I hope to keep it up this year and focus heavily on ARCs and physical books that I've purchased over time and/or received as gifts. I'm already crying because I got a $50 Christmas gift card to my favorite (cheap) used book store and I'm going to be going with a work friend to spend it tomorrow. So for my challenge next year I'm going to make the books I purchase tomorrow some of my first reads next year. I'm already on an ARC ban and I'm trying to be stricter about it next year.

Hi everyone! I'm Alyssa. I own.. A LOT of books, in part thanks to the fact that I kept going to discount bookstores and buying at a pace that stayed high even as my reading pace slowed. I want to at least sort through my books and get through as many as possible. I want to also try breaking down my tbr on goodreads to a more manageable level, and I think there is some overlap. It'll also involve finishing series, because there are at least four longer series I own that I've read and loved the first few books but never actually finished... Plus a few that I own like one book in the series and would consider this to be reading the whole thing.

I really want to pick up my reading next year. Reading has been really hard since graduating even though I have the time now, so more of a Committed Reader approach with trying to purchase only a few books (I don't want to do a hard ban but have definitely been limiting myself). I look forward to getting through my shelves with all of you!

*waves* I'm Annemieke. I have way too many unread books but honestly, everything just sounds so interesting. I have been more picky about what I actually buy now (and read) so my tbr isn't growing as much as a few years ago.

Before Kal announced this post I committed to about 46 tbr books with another challenge so I'm going with that for here too. No 2023 releases will count for it and preferably something I also already owned BEFORE the start of 2023. That way it really comes from the backlog. But we'll see if I can keep that up haha.

Hi everyone!
I'm Lay, a book blogger and audiobook lover who also somehow keeps acquiring physical books despite having read like,,,less than 10 this year. While I am not setting any reading goals for myself in 2023 (I've failed almost all my goals in the past years and I wanna free myself from my own expectations and publicly "failing" goals lol), I'm excited to participate in some reading challenges like this one!

I have to recount, but my physical TBR sits somewhere at around 200+ which is too many books for my own comfort. I also have to move next year so yeah, some books have to go! My eARC and ALC backlog is also longer than I'd like so reading and reviewing those will be a priority.

Right now, my ideas/systems for tackling my (physical) TBR are the following:

- only buy books every other month and have a budget cap for those purchases. I'll need to get my finances in check anyway (moving, losing child support bc I turn 25, my uni cutting my student job hours to save money...) so that fits in quite nicely!
- add any books I want to buy onto a wishlist, so when my buying time comes around I'll get to re-evaluate my priorities and decide if I really need to add another physical book to my shelf!
- pick a physical book as my bedtime read. Bonus for keeping me off screens at night!
- get rid of books I have no real reason to keep.

In general, I want to try and not buy books out of hype and wanting to support an author, because if that book sits on my shelf for years, that's not helping anyone either. I hope I can retrain my brain to slow down a little. Books aren't running away, I don't have to buy every new release, my bookstagram will be fine if I don't own a whole shelf of physical books and the shiny new releases.

a notable exception to all of this is my collection of death and forensics books. Most of them are unread as well, but since I hope to grow that collection over my life and they're definitely moving with me no matter what, those books are not an area of concern for me. Also they're expensive so I can't accumulate them at the same rate as fiction anyway lol.

ok that's my very long intro ramble, I'm excited to be here with y'all! :)

Hello l'm Dominique. Thanks for the invite!

Was already planning on focusing on my extra long owned books in 2023. Not going on a book ban but trying to cut down or wait before jumping on a site to buy a new release and not reading it.

Planning on checking buddy reads to read more of my owned books.

Stephanie wrote: "Hi Kai, thanks for the invite, and hello everyone else! Happy New Year!
I'm glad to be part of this challenge because I've got a stack of unread ARCs from NetGalley, plus ebooks that I've downloade..."

I just had a countup of the books that will be eligible for this challenge and there's 55, which doesn't sound insurmountable, but that includes several bricks that I've been putting off for years because they intimidate me. One is the complete works of Ann Radcliffe!

Hi I’m Stefanie and not only do I collect ebooks, but I have a friend who gifts me physical books. As a Committed Reader I am going to read one of each all year to hopefully hit 24 books I can cross off my list. I like the idea of having the choice of which type in the hopes of keeping my options open. Good luck everyone!

HI,
I'm Charlotte and I have a few overdue ARC's from Netgalley (I am counting anything where the review will be published a couple of weeks or more after the books publication date). I also need to cull and/or read some of the second hand books bought from charity shops over the years. So a combination of these two goals for this year. I haven't figured out a number but at least 10, hopefully more.

Hi! I’m Mackenzie. Last year I focused on reading from libraries. While it was challenging and eye-opening to my book spending habits, I did not continue this for 2023. This year I want to focus on reading books I own, using the library, and become a more conscious book buyer. It is easy for me to get caught up in a good sale.

I mainly read ebooks on my kindle and listen to audiobooks. I do like a hardcopy or a book, but do not buy them often. I like to read fantasy, horror, and cozy reads.

Hello! Thanks for the invite! I have a pile of older books on my mental TBR. Some are actually on my shelf, but some are just older titles that I've been meaning to read for ages.

Hi everyone! Late to the party. I’m Issy, I have around 200 unread books in my room, so I just want to get through a few of them!

Hi all! I am Haley

Like Kal I was like 'gotta support this author and buy the book' for all the books. But also like Kal I'm thoroughly done and annoyed by the lack of space and over-buying I did. I slowed a lot over the past year, but I'm still improving and destashing. I'm hoping to get the books I really wanted to read actually read this year.

Hey everyone,

I have a lot of books. A lot, a lot. Earlier I started to read my own books challenge then found this group! I'm hoping it'll help kick my pants in gear a bit more.

Physical books: 426
Ebooks: 2,458
Arcs: 856(? Some pending ?)
Audiobooks: 0 (I'm extremely picky about audiobooks)
Library books: 86 (I have multiple libraries)

My Goals:
ARCcrastinator: I would like to get my percentage up from 14% to 25% by August
Committed Reader: Read a book a day (if possible, usually that's doable for me)
Cold Turkey: book buying ban

Extra goals:
Read a hundred books before the end of March, half being books you own 91/100

I very much need and want to thin down my ridiculous tbr. Thanks for accepting me into the group and if y'all want to friend me by all means I'm happy to accept friend requests!

Hi all! Excited to have found this group, this will definitely motivate me to buy less and read more, hehe :)

I'm a mix between committed reader and cold turkey, my local libraries are wonderful but I never take advantage of them - until now! (they even offer free seeds and bulbs to help start your own edible garden!)

Hoping to join the dedicated discord server, once I remember my password...happy reading, everyone!