First, I'm going to avoid impulse purchases of books. No more of that 'I've never heard of this book before, but it sounds good and it's cheap. I'll buy it'. I'm putting a stop to that. I usually buy all my books online anyway, so it wouldn't be difficult to find out what the book's about. But, I think I'll try to wait at least a week before buying the book. That way I'll have a better feel if it's a book I actually want, or if it's just shiny.
Secondly, I've divided my 'want to read' shelf at Goodreads - which functions as a 'to buy' shelf for me (plus whatever's there from the library) - into tiers.
Tier 1 is the books I have to buy. The one's I know I want to read. Mostly what will be on here I'm guessing is authors I love, series continuations and books that I am beyond excited for.
Tier 2 is the books I really want. The books I'm a little less sure of, but am almost entirely certain I want to buy.
Tier 3 is the books that… Well, I'm not sure about. They sound good, or there is something about them that interests me. But I'm also holding back for some reason.
Now, my plan is that I'll buy all the books of tier 1 before I buy any off tier 2. Books can change tiers at any time, but they have to go to tier 3 before they can be removed from my list.
I'm really hoping that this helps me to read the books that I really want first - though, this might just be a by-product of my love of lists and organization and a desperate attempt to get organized. This should also help me prioritize series I've already started.
So, do you have a system for buying books? Does anyone really need a system for this? Am I totally over thinking things and making it all more complicated than it needs to be? Have you ever wound up with books that you really aren't interested in and never even start them?
