As readers a new year means new reading challenges, a fresh slate or maybe we should say fresh shelves! Going into 2025 we want to give you tips and tricks to help make your year of reading even better!
Clear Your Want to Read List
Make space in your preferred reading tracker by removing books you no longer want to read or only have on your reading tracker from entering giveaways, looking at you GoodReads! Removing the books you don't want to read makes room for the next suggestions we have and frees up the digital clutter you might feel overwhelmed by when looking at all the books it seems you want to read.
Clear Your Saved Posts List
If you're like me, and I hope at least a few of you are, I have too many saved posts and reels on my social media platforms with book recommendations I might want to read in the future. Gradually take some time to clear out and move those posts from being saved to in your reading tracker want to read list. Unsave after you know you added it to your list, so you don't lose a book you truly want. But unsave as you go, or this digital declutter move won't be effective! Plus this gives you a clean slate to save other new to you books to be saved until the next time you update your lists. While you're at it, remove posts you had to save for giveaways or old stuff your kindle days!
Clear Your TBR Pile
Many have a physical to be read, aka TBR, pile that keep track of, some also have an electronic version also. Take the much needed time to transition books from this pile back onto your normal shelves or otherwise organization method. Your TBR pile isn't meant to be daunting it's meant to be exciting, so there's no guilt or shame in moving things you need to. As you head into the new year, many of us take part in reading challenges, set goals for yourself that are between reasonable and ideal, you want to be realistic and it is always better to crush your goal than reach the end of the year and feel a sense of false guilt that you failed. Reading any book, even just one, is a win every year!
Organize Your Collection
A new year is the perfect time to organize your collection whether in a new way or the same way. Take the time to clean and dust your shelves, you won't regret it and your books lifespan will thank you. Organize your books give you a change to not just clean but also assess your collection. Ignore the pressure to do an organization method you don't like, do what works for you by sticking to the same way but just tidying up misplaced things, but don't be afraid to try new things if you love the idea of color or genre organized! As you organize set aside to donate or gift to someone else books you didn't like or no longer want to read because your tastes have changed.
Need tools to help you along?
Organizing your books you want to read, keep as a TBR pile, or have read can be done several ways! Some people prefer the traditional method, writing it down, and having a dedicated journal for this purpose is the perfect way to record all the books you can dream of!
More into digital methods? There are several quality reading trackers all with slightly different styles and user interfaces, but each brings benefits of their own. We won't get into specific details on each, we might save that for the new year, but several we have tried are: GoodReads, Fable, StoryGraph, and Bookly.
Depending on your organization method and the size of your collection you may find large gaps on your shelves. A great way to eliminate the concern of books falling over or being damaged are bookends. The Crafty Bookstore has two great options to help you succeed that both offer functionality and beauty! Check out our Arched Bookends or our Alphabet Genre Bookends.
How will you be getting ready for the new year? What are your reading goals?
Turning pages, Crafting dreams