State of the ARC is a monthly meme at Avalinah’s Books meant to motivate you to finish up all your long overdue ARCs (Advanced or Early Reader Copies).
This month was Moody May so I was expecting to not be reading many ARCs, which I was fine with, but it ended up being more of a disaster than I had anticipated as two of my ARCs ended up being archived. It’s the first time any ARCs I’ve requested through Netgalley have ended up being archived before and I was gutted as I didn’t discover this until I went on Netgalley to read them. They were both graphic novels that I had set aside as nice, easy reads so yes… I’m very sad about this.
Aside from my 2 archive losses, I read 1 book (Aurora Rising) and received one book on Netgalley (Don’t Touch my Hair). I know I promised not to request any more ARCs but I am a huge fan of Emma Dabiri’s work and couldn’t resist requesting Don’t Touch my Hair as it’s such an important book.
State of the ARC Bingo
I don’t have long to finish up my Bingo card for the first half of 2019 now and I’m not sure when it technically runs out, but I’m going to give myself until the end of June so that I might be in with a chance of actually finishing it. I’ll be able to use Don’t Touch my Hair for the nonfiction ARC, though I don’t know what I’ll be able to use for the graphic novel slot now as I lost both my graphic novel ARCs 😭
I’m sticking with my rule of taking a break from ARCs for the most part, with the exception of catching up on the last few ARCs that I have, especially given that these next few months are going to be very stressful for me as my deadlines are coming up in August and September.
How are you all coping now that we’re almost halfway through the year? Have you managed to keep up with your ARC goals or are they just a distant memory to you now?
Red Rocket Panda 
Sorry to hear that two of your titles got archived – this happened to me when I first joined Netgalley as I didn’t know what the archive date meant so just thought I could download the ARCs anytime…
Occasionally, if you e-mail the publisher and explain they may send you another copy, or you could try to get a copy from the library if it’s after release date?
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Thanks Christina. I WISH my library would get these but sadly my library isn’t great for graphic novels (thankfully its great with everything else). I might see if I can buy a copy online though
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Weirdly, my library seems to have put all their graphic novels into storage or got rid of them – there is just a notice in the graphic novel section telling us to look online as you can borrow them there…will need to ask about it because I much prefer physical copies, especially for graphic novels!
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That totally sucks about the two graphic novel ARCs being archived! I try to send them to my Kindle right away when I get approved. But sometimes there are times when there isn’t a Kindle option, so that is always a risk. I just got approved for an ARC yesterday that didn’t have that option and it’s also being archived on June 4th. That was a bit annoying as I had to download the PDF ASAP and now need to read it ASAP. But I can only read it on my computer or phone, so that’s a little annoying haha. It’s always so hard not requesting ARCs. I always say I am not going to request and ARC and then always find myself over on Netgalley checking out what is available, haha.
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Yeah 😦 that’s what happened to me – I needed to read it on my computer but it felt like a lot more effort to do that than be able to just send something to my kindle and then I kept forgetting I needed to download it D:
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It SUCKS when ARCs are archived! I hope you have a MUCH better June than May! And totally, don’t stress about the ARCs too much, and don’t be afraid to DNF them if you don’t like them!
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I’ve really been taking a break from requesting ARCs and it’s taken a huge load off. Now if only I can get caught up on my review requests, then I’ll be in good shape. Good luck!
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Good luck to you too! Fingers crossed for both of us.
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Thanks, Avery!
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