How I Stay on Top of New Releases // Edelweiss Guide 2.0

If you’ve been around for awhile you know that each month I post a list of Anticipated Releases for the upcoming month, which are books that I have had my eye on and am hoping to read one day. A couple friends recently asked me how I keep up-to-date with upcoming releases and were excited to hear about my system for keeping track because it also helps me choose which ARCs to request from publishers as I limit myself to four per month. How do I do it? Edelweiss.

Edelweiss is a godsend and has honestly made my blogging life so much easier over the last several months! Long gone are the days of looking at upcoming releases by month on Goodreads based on number of adds (I missed so many books that didn’t generate top-200 buzz!) or looking through each publisher’s catalogs (very time consuming). Usher in the day of having a saved custom filter to easily check and save new releases of interest up to four months in advance!

How I Keep Track of Upcoming Releases (TL;DR)

1. On a monthly basis I look through my upcoming releases filter on Edelweiss Plus to see what is coming up that I am interested in.
2. I use tags on Edelweiss to keep track of what I think is interesting for each month so I don’t lose track.
3. I create my monthly Anticipated Reads posts 3-4 months out using the books on my monthly tags, and then prioritize which releases for that month I want to request ARCs of (I set a limit of four per month, which generally works really well for me).
4. I keep a running list of the books I want to pre-order on my 2019 Book Blogger Spreadsheet.
5. I recommend all of my anticipated releases that I can to my library, account limits permitting.

This system really has helped me be more focused in my ARC requests on NetGalley and Edelweiss because I am being strategic so I don’t over-request and have another month of reading nothing but ARCs. I ain’t about that anxiety life, fam.

If this system sounds like something you would like to try out yourself, be sure to keep reading because I will break it down for you and show you how to set it up for yourself!

📝 This is just one of the handful of guides here on Reader Voracious Blog geared at helping other readings be more efficient. Check out my list of all other guides here!

Set up a Custom New Release Filter on Edelweiss

The main part of the system that I’ve cultivated over the past several months is my New Releases Next 4 Months filter on Edelweiss. It was super easy to set up and using my tips on setting up your homepage on my other Edelweiss guide you are well on your way to efficient greatness!

1. Log in to your Edelweiss account and visit your Saved Filters page.
2. Click on the Add New Filter button on the left.
3. Under the Attributes dropdown, select ‘Publication Date’ and select what you want (mine is ‘Starting Today: Looking out 4 months).
4. Under the Attributes dropdown, select ‘Subject’ to get super specific about all your genres. It is worth noting that if you read both adult and young adult, you will need to select the subjects under both Fiction and Young Adult (hence why my screenshot below shows duplicates).

Once you’re finished, save and go back to your homepage. If you have your Saved Filters widget set up, you will be able to easily access this search list whenever you want! This is without having to add the filters or genres to it all over again!

📝 Related Post: Edelweiss 101: Tips & Tricks to Set Up Your Homepage

Searching New Releases & Saving for Later

The hard part is over once you have the custom filter set up, good job! Now you can reap the fruits of that labor to constantly be in the know about upcoming titles.

I decided to do my search monthly but you are welcome to look more frequently. I sort by publication date and go to where I last left off. When a book strikes my interest, I click ‘Content’ so I can read the book’s summary.

If the book is something that I am interested in reading, I click the ‘Tags’ button and add a tag. If it is a completely new month and I am adding the tag to Edelweiss & the title, be sure to put a comma after the tag title.

It’s worth it to note that you may see books you are familiar with in the search as new Trade Paperback publications also show up. This is especially fun for you if you prefer paperbacks for your own library.

Looking at All the Books on a Tag

On your homepage you can add a new widget on the top right and selecting ‘Your Tags’ under the Tags option.

Now that your Tags widget has been enabled, you can click on the appropriate tag to view all of the books that you added for that given month!

I check my tags quickly whenever I log into Edelweiss to see if any of the books I am excited about are available to download or request. For more information about getting ARCs from Edelweiss, be sure to check out my other guide for more info!

Keeping Track of it All

This last part really comes to personal preference. I am a heavy spreadsheet user, so I keep track of the books I plan on pre-ordering on my copy of the Book Blogger Spreadsheet Template but something else may work for you. I encourage you to find your own way to keep track of it all!

Many thanks to Sam @ Fictionally Sam for being my Guide Guinea Pig, test driving this post to ensure it was straightforward to someone new to using Edelweiss!

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I hope this guide on how I approach tracking new releases & how I use the list to prioritize my ARC requests, pre-orders, and library recommendations is helpful for you! Did you learn something new? Do you have your own system that you want to share? Please comment down below so we can learn from one another!

💖 If you like the work that I do here at Reader Voracious, consider fueling my pumpkin spice latte and black tie addiction by buying me a ko-fi! ☕

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