Stats All, Folks!

Hannah & I are getting an early start on our posts for The Picky Pledge this year! This personal collaboration has been ongoing since 2015, and I'm pleased as punch that we're back at it for 2017. In case you didn't already know, The Picky Pledge is a vow we both make at the start of the year where we promise to be more intentional with the books we bring into our homes and choose to read. A lot has changed since the first time we did this, and I'm looking forward to sharing about all that tomorrow! For today, however, we're going to focus on the numbers.

You guessed it - it's time for my annual reading + book acquisition stats post! Before we did our first stats post in 2014, I never realized how conveniently these graphs and numbers would sum up my year in books. It's definitely the best way to figure out what's improved and what still needs some work.  (If you're interested, you can also check out my stats post for 2015.) Here are my stats for 2016! (And don't forget to go and check out Hannah's 2016 stats!)

SOURCE BREAKDOWN

Oops. I didn't realize that I'd read so many review books in 2016. I definitely did not intend to do this (though I can't say that I'm sorry, since I enjoyed a lot of them). I'm going to parrot what I said in 2016, and say that I hope to be more intentional about reading my own books versus review books this year. I really hope that I'm going to be able to finally make this happen!

FORMAT BREAKDOWN

I've said in my previous stats post that I'm generally not picky about what format I read a book in. It doesn't make a difference to me whether I read something from an actual print book or an electronic device, as I still count it all as contributions to my reading year. As usual, I read mostly print books, which I'm happy about. I love the feel of a book (hardcover, paperback or ARC) in my hands!

AGE BREAKDOWN

Well, apparently, my love for young adult has not waned. I definitely read a lot of YA in 2016! I'm being pretty ambitious about the major shift I'd like to make in 2017 when it comes to this particular set of stats though. I definitely plan on incorporating more non-fiction into my reading, as well as classics! It would be nice to see that YA percentage drop to 50%, so here's to hoping it happens!

SERIES VS. STAND-ALONES

This set of stats honestly does not surprise me because I do happen to invest a lot of time reading (and rereading) series that I love. But I'm still pretty pleased that I managed to read over a hundred stand-alone books! It's not a perfect balance, but hey, at least there's a good number of both.

GENRE BREAKDOWN

It pleases me that fantasy and contemporary have equal percentages this time around. I certainly felt like I read a good number of books in both these genres this year. I'm always hoping to diversify and read more genres, but I guess I just always gravitate towards my favorites. Only time will tell how I'll do in 2017!

RATING BREAKDOWN

My reading year was definitely pretty decent, considering that majority of my reads got a rating between 4 and 5 stars. As usual, I listened to my instincts when it came to picking what to read (most of the time), which is likely what made it a pretty damn decent reading year for me. (P.S. If you're curious, I use quarter star ratings in my personal rating system.) 

AVERAGE RATING BY SOURCE

I'm pretty pleased that I've consistently proven that I know my own reading tastes very well for another year in a row! Clearly, I only acquire books that I'm going to enjoy (for the most part) and this chart reflects that. I also have to give my friends a lot of credit - the books I borrowed from them or got as gifts were also really highly rated reads. 

AVERAGE RATING BY PUBLISHER

(Quick note: Any publisher who I read less than five books from was included in "others".) Pottermore, Scholastic, Viz Media, Bloomsbury and Random House were my clear favorites this year, with Random House being the only one that stayed in a top spot since last year. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out from new releases from these publishers, as well as attempting to read more of their backlist releases. 

REVIEW BOOK OVERVIEW

I acquired a total of 270 books for review in 2016. That is a very large number, I know, and it was extremely shocking to me to see it! However, more than half of what I received came in unsolicited (though I'm not any less grateful, of course), so I don't feel too terrible. Anyway, I'm glad that I managed to read a little under half of those books within the year! I'm also pleased that I managed to pass on some of these review copies to other readers who might enjoy them more than me. I've still got a pretty large amount on my TBR (both finished copies and review copies) to get through, but I'm definitely hoping to tackle that in 2017.

REVIEW BOOKS BY SOURCE

Majority of the books that I read for review came directly from the publishers. It's interesting to note that I mostly received ARCs or E-ARCs directly from the publisher (whether it's stuff I personally accepted or stuff that I received unsolicited), as opposed to going through sites like Edelweiss or NetGalley where I can request books. I still feel like I need to exercise more control in this area, so I'm counting on Hannah to hold me accountable in 2017!

PHYSICAL VS. KINDLE

Just like last year, majority of the books I bought were physical copies. I honestly just prefer holding a physical copy in my hands and there's the additional bonus of having the book to display on my shelves after reading! It didn't really stop me from purchasing e-books (since I like the portability of them at times) and audiobooks (since I enjoy listening to them at work).

BOUGHT BOOKS BREAKDOWN

In 2016, I acquired a total of 205 books. I'm pretty pleased with the way the numbers are grouped in this breakdown - I've read almost as many as I've got on my TBR, I let go of three I wasn't interested in and I acquired a good number for my collections. I definitely need to tone it down (especially witht the collections bit), but I'm still pretty happy with this. 

Whew! If you've managed to stick around until the end of this post, congratulations! You've gotten an overview of the stats of my 2016 reading year. Even though it's a lot of work, I always enjoy putting these posts together as they give me an idea of what my reading and book buying habits are like. It's a whole lot easier to pinpoint the areas where I'm doing well and where I need to work a little harder. But that is a post for another day, so for now, I hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to talk about your own stats in the comments!