Back in March, I decided that I wanted to start Project Shop My Shelves (known as PSMS going forward). The goal of PSMS is to read twice as many books per month than I buy, but there are a few sub-goals that are equally important:

• Don’t buy new books unless they are from marginalized authors (indie or trad)
• A 2:1 ratio of old books to newly bought books every month (or more if possible)
• Read through the older books to finally get them off the TBR pile
• Be realistic about my enjoyment of an author and what medium I prefer to read them
• Post quarterly about my progress with this project

I figured now was as good a time as any to update my progress with this self-imposed project. TL;DR: I did not hit the 2:1 read:bought ratio, not even close. Here are my stats for the second quarter of 2025.

Stats:

April: I bought 11 ebooks, 0 ARCs, 5 physical books, 0 audiobooks. I read 10 books, 5 of which were preexisting, 8:5 bought:read ratio

May: I bought 3 ebooks, 0 ARCs, 10 physical books, 0 audiobooks. I read 8 books, 3 of which were preexisting, 13:8 bought:read ratio

June: I bought 6 ebooks, 1 ARC, 8 physical books, 0 audiobooks. I read 8 books, 3 of which were preexisting, 7:4 bought:read ratio

As you can see, I epically failed trying to hit that 1:2 bought to read ratio. Part of my spectacular failure is due to Indie April sales (hence the 11 ebooks) and a lot of preorders coming available in May. Combine that with being in a governmental stress-induced reading slump, and my reading and buying habits have been on the hot mess express.

Buying Books: A Breakdown

Something I did stick to was buying marginalized authors of the *cough* many *cough* books I bought, only 2 were by white cis het Christian authors (aka non-marginalized authors). My reading habits tend to be pretty varied, so I’m not surprised that this was the part I was willing to stick to. The worst part about trying to stick to this ratio is that there are a lot of marginalized authors I want to support, especially since I know publishing requires early sales, and for indies, I want to give them monetary support. I’m okay with putting my money where my mouth is. I just need to read more without wrecking my mental health in the process.

One of the points mentioned above is paying attention to the format in which I enjoy authors. So far this quarter, I haven’t had any authors that I think I’ll be shifting to a different medium. There are a few, not ones I read this quarter, who I have decided I will no longer be reading after I finish the series I am working through. Susan Dennard is one of them. I don’t dislike her books, per se. I just don’t have any desire to read more of her work after finishing the Witchlands. My brain bounces off her writing style, and there are certain things in her books that annoy me long-term. I also plan on reading an Alexis Hall book in ebook form because so far I have only read them as audiobooks, which I really enjoyed. I just want to see if I have a form preference or not where their books are concerned.

Reading Books: A Breakdown

I completely forgot to read the oldest books on my list. Oops. I’m sort of torn on this bullet point because I tend to be a mood reader, and I don’t want to force myself to read books that I’m not jazzed about. The problem is that less than half of the books I read were preexisting books. That means that I’m not reading what I have. Part of this was due to starting a new manga series, which was five books long. I’m glad that I’m somewhat staying on top of what I have bought, but because I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump, I haven’t been reading as much as I would like and therefore, am not reading my older books. Treading the line between reading more and burning myself out has been a struggle lately, but I am going to try to read more next quarter.

Quarter 3 Goals/Outlook

Void staring has been a major issue for me in quarter 2. A lot of it is due to external stress and strife (aka the US government is stressing me the hell out 24/7). It makes it very hard to focus or get a whole lot done. I’ve also been struggling to write and rewrite the beginning of The Reanimator’s Fate (TRM #4). The good thing is that I think I have finally found my footing, so there’s a good chance that balance may actually be returning to my life in the near future. I’m also debating trying to listen to an audiobook while playing Coral Island. I haven’t tried to do so, but I know one of my friends often does this. This will help me get through some of the older books on my TBR while still doing something fun and relaxing. As of right now, I don’t have a lot of preorders set up from July to September, but my birthday is coming soon. I was debating whether to have my birthday haul count as books bought or not, but I ultimately think they should count since they are new books added to the TBR pile. I’ll make sure to specify that next quarter, so you all don’t think I just have a shopping addiction. I will keep the 2:1 read to bought ratio, but if I haven’t done this once by the end of the year, I might pull it back to a 1:1 ratio to make it more realistic.