2019 ARCs, 2018 ARCs, 2017 ARCs, 2016 ARCs . . . .
Children, Middle Grade, Young Adult . . . .
Contemporary, Fantasy, Mystery/Crime, Science Fiction . . . .
On and on ran my e-reader categories, or shelves (as I like to call them), documenting my history as a book blogger. While this system of organization may have worked well in my early blogger years, I needed to define new shelves, and delete old shelves, if I wanted to find anything.
Following comprise my current e-reader shelves:
- 1 Unread ARCs
- 2 Read ARCs – Need Review
- 3 Unread ARCs – Backlist
- 4 Read ARCs – Reviewed
- Children Books
- Fantasy & Science Fiction ( Adult)
- Favorites
- Fiction
- Nonfiction
Why These Categories?
#1-4 THE ARC SHELVES
I placed the numbers 1–4 in front of my ARC shelves for easier access. (I set my e-reader to sort my books by categories.) Since I prefer to purchase hardcopy books, I primarily use my e-reader to read digital Advanced Reader Copies.
I asked myself, in creating these shelves, what I needed to know about my ARCs in order to find the e-galleys that I need. It came down to four shelves: (1) forthcoming books and recent releases that I have yet to read, (2) books that I’ve read and need to review, (3) older books (over a year old) that I have yet to read, and (4) ARCs that I’ve read and reviewed.
This system has streamlined my reviewing process and made it so much easier to find the books that I need! While this means that #4 is by far my largest ARC shelf, I hardly access it (and may, in fact, start removing some of the older books on it). Shelves #1 and #2 are my most frequently used shelves.
#5 Children Books
Shelves #5–9 are sorted in alpha order.
Shelf #5 covers juvenile books to young adult books. Picture books would also fall under this category if I had any in e-book format. I read more broadly with children books than adult books, so it didn’t make sense to create an additional level of shelves to categorize them by genre.
#6 Fantasy & Science Fiction ( Adult)
I created a whole shelf for SFF books because I love them so much, and I access these books the most (outside of my ARC shelves). Currently, I’ve only listed own-purchases on this shelf. If I have the time, I may start adding ARC favorites to this shelf.
#7 Favorites
I indulged in this shelf because I enjoy looking back at books that I read and loved. I’m not sure how much I’ll actually use this shelf, however. I may delete it one day.
#8 Fiction
All of my non-SFF adult books go on this shelf.
#9 Nonfiction
Since I own so few nonfiction e-books, I added them all to one shelf. I typically purchase these books if I plan to read them.
Chat with Me
How do you organize your e-reader? Do we have any shelves in common?
Malka @ Paper Procrastinators says
I’ve actually never organized my e-reader! Most of the books on there are either library dates or e-books, and I keep track of when they need to be read/reviewed by externally. In fact, most of my organization and labeling happens on Goodreads. I didn’t even know I could create shelves and categories on my e-reader until recently!
Crystal (Kester) says
Sounds like you have a system in place, Malka! Do you think you use the shelves/categories feature on your e-reader now that you know about it?
Lindsi says
My iPad has no organization whatsoever. The books in the Kindle App are just there! Haha. I mostly use it for ARCs, and don’t buy a lot of ebooks, so there aren’t too many to sift through. 🙂 I’m organized in almost every aspect of my life… expect electronic books.
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬
Crystal (Kester) says
Same here. I rarely purchase e-books. I’m only now organizing my e-reader because I started having trouble finding the books that I needed to access!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction says
I don’t organize my Kindle at all except with Read vs. Unread books. For some reason, it never even occurred to me to try. LOL!
Crystal (Kester) says
Read / Unread is the minimalist way to go! 🙂
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer says
Nope, my Oasis is not organized. I rely on my Google Caladar to keep track of ARCs. I should do something because I am forever embarrassing myself by attempting to buy a book I already own!
Crystal (Kester) says
I often pick up a book at a local bookstore and second guess whether I already own a copy.
Dani @ Perspective of a Writer says
I couldn’t get my reader to sort books the way I’d want so I don’t bother now. 🙈 I just do a search for whichever book I need and keep any book I haven’t read downloaded. I so admire that you have these shelves! I love the idea of a favorites shelf too because it’s so easy to forget books. 😅
Crystal (Kester) says
It’s too bad your reader couldn’t sort books the way you wanted! It sounds like you have a working system in place. I agree that it’s so easy to forget books we’ve read and loved. I look forward to filling my favorites shelf!
Sophia Rose says
You are so good. I don’t even organize my e-reader at all.
My eARCs are all in the documents folder and the ebooks are all on the shelf set to Recent so the last one added is at the top and then goes back to earlier ones at the end. I just use a search option if I need a particular one. I’ve thought about categorizing it, but I keep those sorts of shelves on GRs so I didn’t do both.
Enjoyed seeing your shelf categories and why you set them up that way.
Crystal (Kester) says
The search option sounds handy. I’m bad at remembering all the e-books I have, so I need shelves to organize them!