The time has come again to tackle your TBR!
The Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge is returning for its 6th year in 2022! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this challenge is flexible enough to work for all kinds of readers. The challenge is hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com
Why Join the Challenge?
- Do you have books on your to-read list that already released?
- Do you struggle to get to those backlist books with all the new releases each year?
- Do you enjoy relaxed reading challenges you can do at your own pace?
If you answered Yes to any of those questions, then Beat the Backlist might be for you. This challenge started as a personal challenge to tackle owned books and has grown as an annual event to help other readers prioritize the books they might otherwise put off reading.
Whether BTB is your primary reading challenge, or one you’re pairing with others, it’s suited for readers of all kinds and was designed to impose as few restrictions on your reading as possible.
The Guidelines Are Simple:
- The book must be published in the previous year or earlier (for the 2022 challenge, anything published in 2021 or earlier counts).
- You have to start and finish the book in 2022.
- And that’s it!
Any format, any genre. Re-reads count, and you don’t have to own the book. It’s open for the entire year so whenever you feel like jumping in, you can!
How Do I Join?
There is no formal sign-up for Beat the Backlist this year. Whether you want to make a Goodreads shelf, declare your participation on social media, make a blog post, share an instagram story, or say nothing at all, you’re welcome.
Our only request is that if you do post somewhere online about the challenge, please give us a link back so more readers can learn about BTB!
Are you on the StoryGraph website?
StoryGraph is a great alternative to using Goodreads and is only growing as a platform. One of the great functions is that you can track multiple Reading Challenges (both personal ones as well as public challenges). We wanted to make sure that Beat the Backlist was one of those so when you join the StoryGraph community, you can also join BTB on there and track your books! We’ve even included all the optional reading prompts in case you want to use them.
Click here to join Beat the Backlist 2022 on StoryGraph!
Some Fun Extras:
Austine Decker has even included a reading tracker spreadsheet, a prompt list, and bingo cards – these are all optional yet fun ways to keep track of your reads throughout the year, and you can download them all on Decker’s site. Check out a couple of the options available:
Doesn’t this sound fun? I don’t join many challenges, but this one doesn’t feel super restrictive, and I think it will give me incentive to tackle the books on my backlist that I want to read this year. Do you plan on doing this challenge? What other challenges interest you? Comment below!
This is so fun! Just added the bingo sheet to my photos, I love a creative way to keep track of what I’m reading but ALSO always looking for a way to find my new favourite book. Thanks for the inspo 😍
Oh yay! I’m glad you like it! I saw it on another blog and thought it looked fun too. 🙂
This sounds great, really! My challenges for this year are all rather low-key, since I failed quite dramatically last year! But since it allows so much freedom, I might join 😊
That’s why I thought I’d try this one. Not a lot of pressure and open ended enough that I wouldn’t feel restricted in what I read.
That looks like awesome fun! Enjoy the challenge!
Thank you! 🙂
I’m attempting this again this year! I’m hoping to do much better this year than last! Love how easy it is to keep up with it on Storygraph though!! I hope you beat the challenge! 🙂
Thanks, you too! This is my first year doing it, and it seemed fun and not too overwhelming. lol
Yeah, I think it’s pretty low key for being more involved with side quests!
I hope you have a great time! And get to some backlist books!
Thank you! 🙂
This sounds like so much fun! I am participating in a reading challenge too, it was created by two bookstagrammers I follow and so far it’s been fun!
That’s great! I don’t do a lot of challenges, but this one felt manageable. lol
I love reading bingo cards. I’ve always meant to do one but haven’t yet done so
This is one challenge I really need to do. It’s something I talk about but really I just need to do it, so that I can enjoy those books that I actually buy. ❤️
That’s my plan. I have a stack next to me that I need to get to at some point. I just need to stop requesting books on NetGalley! lol
I’m thinking I may need to join this challenge! I’m so behind on some books!
You so should!! 🙂
This sounds great, I have lots of backlist books to catch up on, so I’ll definitely have to look into this! Love that there’s lots of different trackers to make it fun, best of luck with the challenge! <3
Thanks so much! It seems manageable and not too restrictive, which I like. And I so need to catch up on my backlist. 🙂