As many of you probably know, I started tracking my recommendation sources a couple years ago and using that information to pick better books. As often as possible, I’m choosing books that have already been read and recommended by trusted recommendation sources rather than from publishers’ catalogs or various “Most Anticipated” book lists. The key to success is the “already read” part because it provides an opinion beyond “does the premise sound good on paper?” and independent of publishers’ marketing machines.
Each quarter, I’m sharing my reading quality and my best recommendation sources.
My Q1 2020 Reading Quality
- % Successful Books ATTEMPTED (includes DNFs) = 59%
- % Successful Books FINISHED (does not include DNFs) = 77%
My Successful Books Attempted fell from 69% in Q4 2019 to 59%.
My Successful Books Finished also fell from 89% to 77%.
These numbers are kind of depressing, but not surprising given my 2020 reading hasn’t been nearly as good as 2019. Especially February (which included 4 DNF’s in a row). The good news is my reading has improved lately, so I’m hoping I can dig myself out of this hole.
How I Calculate My Best Book Recommendation Sources
- Each quarter, I’ll share my best recommendation sources for the entire year to date, rather than just that quarter. That way, I can see who’s moving up and down as the year progresses. Plus, it might be fun for y’all to watch!
- I picked the top 5 recommendation sources by # of successful recommendations.
- Then, I sorted them by % of total recommendations that are successful, which factors in unsuccessful recommendations.
The reason I don’t want to use % successful recommendations as my only metric is it could cause sources with 1 successful recommendation (100%) to beat out sources with, for example, 4 successful and 1 unsuccessful recommendation (75%).
My Best Book Recommendation Sources for Q1 2020
- TBR, etc. (100%)
4 Successful Recommendations
0 Unsuccessful Recommendations
- The Millions (67%)
4 Successful Recommendations
2 Unsuccessful Recommendations
- Novel Visits (57%)
4 Successful Recommendations
3 Unsuccessful Recommendations
- Book of the Month (100%)
3 Successful Recommendations
0 Unsuccessful Recommendations
- Happiest When Reading (100%)
3 Successful Recommendations
0 Unsuccessful Recommendations
- Katie Needs a Bigger Bookshelf (100%)
3 Successful Recommendations
0 Unsuccessful Recommendations
Key Takeaways
- Annie Jones is missing from this list…and she was my #1 recommendation source last year. I’ve actually had 3 unsuccessful books recommended by her this year. I think that’s an anomaly though, and she’ll creep up the charts as the year goes on. And, she wasn’t near the top during Q1 of 2019 either, yet ended up as #1.
- New Additions to my Top 5 (compared to Q4 2019): TBR, etc., The Millions, Book of the Month, Happiest When Reading, Katie Needs a Bigger Bookshelf.
- Sources that fell out of my Top 5 from Q4 2019: Read It Forward’s Best Books of the Month Lists and Anne Bogel.
Who have been your best and worst recommendation sources lately?
How I Keep Track of My Reading Quality and Best Recommendation Sources…and You Can Too!
Are you thinking it takes me hours to calculate my reading quality and keep track of my Best and Worst recommendation sources every month? Well, it totally could, but it doesn’t. I use my “Rock Your Reading” Tracker, which automatically calculates my reading quality for me and helps me easily keep track of my recommendation sources.
If you’re interested in tracking your own reading quality and recommendation sources, you can purchase my tracker for $14.99! Go here for more details or purchase below!
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