Off The Shelf 2013

Following is information about, and sign-up for, BA’s Off the Shelf Reading Challenge. This is for the 2013 challenge only. If you have any questions or issues you can’t find the answer to on this page, please visit the Challenge F.A.Q.s.

Challenge Quick Links

BA’s 2013 Off the Shelf Reading Challenge

About: The Off the Shelf Reading Challenge is probably the most popular challenge there is on BA. The goal? To read books on your shelves that have gone unread for far too long. Selecting books from the year before (in this case, 2012 and before), read as many of the unread ones as you can. It’s up to you if you want to keep them or give them away afterwards, the main goal is to turn those unread books into read ones.

The Finer Deets

  • The Main Rule: Do not include books acquired during 2013, it defeats the purpose, read those books from before 2013 started.
  • Running dates for all 2013 challenges: 1st of January – 31st of December 2013
  • Sign-Ups are accepted until the 16th of December 2013.
  • Formats: All BA Challenges are eBook, audio, short story, and graphic novel friendly.
  • Crossovers: You’re welcome to crossover with BA’s challenges. Include as many books across all the challenges as you can, I always say.

How To Sign-Up and Join In

  1. Choose Your Level: Choose a challenge level listed below.
  2. Sign Up Post: Create a post on your blog, in a group, or on a forum (where possible) to let others see what you’re aiming for (a predefined list of books is optional).
  3. Grab The Badge: Download or grab the badge and place it in your sign up post. Then link back to BA's Off the Shelf Reading Challenge. Grab me!Bookish Ardour.
  4. Link Up: Grab the direct URL to your sign up post, not your blog, click the Mr Linky graphic and enter your link.
  5. Blogless? Don’t worry, you can sign up with your social network profile (YouTube, Twitter, GoodReads, Shelfari included), just make sure you link to your review list, shelf, tweet, or category. If you don’t have any of those feel free to comment.
  6. Your Reviews: Reviewing is optional! But if you do review it would be great for you to share them by submitting them on the review page.
  7. Finished: When you’re done it’s completion post time and you can share these on the completion/wrap-up page.

Challenge Levels

  1. Tempted– Choose 5 books to read
  2. Trying – Choose 15 books to read
  3. Making A Dint – Choose 30 books to read
  4. On A Roll – Choose 50 books to read
  5. Flying Off – Choose 75 books to read
  6. Hoarder – Choose between 76-135 books to read
  7. Buried – Choose between 136-200 books to read

Extra Challenges

If you feel like that extra kick to your reading challenges here’s a couple you can choose from.

  • World: Choose a country as your theme, reading only books from that country or where it’s the setting. For how high you go you can choose more than one country;
    • Level Tempted and Trying: Choose one country
    • Level Making a Dint and On A Roll: Choose two countries
    • Level Flying Off to end of Hoarder: Choose three countries
    • Level Buried: Choose four countries.
  • Gender Battle: Read books only by female or male authors. Another alternative is to read equal amounts of both.

Sign Up

Click the Mr Linky and away you go!

Who Has Joined So Far

1. Sam @ SIK Book Reviews
2. Kristin @ Kritters Ramblings
3. Jessie @ Jessie’s Book Place
4. BeatheNorway
5. Pia
6. Rose City Reader
7. lenes blogg
8. Bev@My Reader’s Block
9. Vyki @ On The Shelf
10. Angie @ Angels Are Kids and Furkids
11. Melusine (Norway)
12. Rachelle @ Rachelle 21 reviews
13. Rachelle Lerner
14. The Science of Romance
15. Fi @ Bookish Outsider
16. Lori @ Escape With Dollycas
17. YunaGena
18. Rachel
19. H Lynnea
20. Safina Lalani
21. Heather @ BookStacksOnDeck
22. Anja@The Witch of the North
23. Christina (Babbling Book Reviews)
24. Bonnie Sparks Writes (BA)
25. Psych Babbler at Over Cups of Coffee
26. Danielle Hearts Books
27. Lisa (When She Reads)
28. Alysia @My Little Pocketbooks
29. Elida @ My first, my last, my everything! (Norway)
30. Emily @ Exponential Growth
31. Views & Reviews
32. Diana@SoNotaRunner
33. millah @ Det rare
34. Jennifer @ Fountain Reflections
35. Oh Waily Waily
36. Melissa @ Jayne’s Books
37. Tara @ Tales of a Book Addict
38. Adrianne Narciso
39. Nikki @ Whitters Witters
40. Sanil @ Delphinian
41. Carrie @ wvredreads
42. Page (One Book At A Time)
43. Christina T @ Reading Extensively
44. Lili Lost in a Book
45. Kristin T @ Always With a Book
46. Margie @ Ope’s Opinions
47. Maura @ Servants of the Map
48. Edel @ Room 304
49. Melissa C. @ 4 a Happier Me
50. Jillian @ Writing on a Limb
51. Ilaeria
52. Maphead’s Book Blog
53. Annie @ Je Serai Etre
54. Carolyn @ RIEDEL Fascination
55. missRBit @ Legally Alien
56. Valentina@Peek-a-BooK!
57. Emily @ Emilysbooksforbreakfast
58. Heather @ Buried in Books
59. Logan E. Turner
60. The Introverted Reader
61. Katie @ Fräulein Leseratte
62. Kari @ knowitnotsomuch
63. Maria @ Reading is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
64. Kristine
65. Colleen @Books in the City
66. Catherine @ Book Club Librarian
67. MrsA
68. MrsA
69. CREATE WITH JOY
70. Rasiqra Revulva

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

200 thoughts on “Off The Shelf 2013

  1. Hi, So I have already signed up but I think I’ve put myself down twice in the Mister Linky thing – the first one #67 just has my full blog link and #68 has the direct post. Could #67 be removed? Also, is it possible for someone to check the blog post and see if I’ve linked everything correctly? New to this so unsure….

  2. Already finished my first book, Agatha Christie — Problem at Pollensa Bay, i bought this book about two years ago >_<… when i was about to read it, it still wrapped up from the shop, kekekekek. Yeah this challenge really entertaining. i already off the shelf one of my book \^0^/

  3. Is it really too late to sign up for this challenge? I just noticed the December 16th deadline and I usually don’t do my posts until the new year starts so I’m behind! If it’s not too late I’d love to sign up!

  4. I am so glad I saw this on Logan E. Turner’s blog post. I was going to go it alone on something like this but it’s much easier to do when you have someone else to urge you along! Thanks for doing this challenge!

    Heather

  5. Okay, I really need to pare down my shelf. So, I’m going to try Making a Dint this coming year. I think I’ll pull 30 books from my collection at the end of the year and make those my first to read books.

  6. ah,,,this challenge really interesting and i really want to join, but i have trouble here, since i’m new at blog area. i’m already sign up with that mister linky, and where can i find the badge and other?? thank before for anyone who will help me, Please..

  7. I am joining at the Trying level. I have lots of books I bought this year or obtained for free that I want to read. I am using my 2nd blog for this challenge. I decided I needed a 2nd one so I can separate some challenges.

    • Hi Riedel. As long as the books themselves were acquired before 2012 then go for it. You can include all the read ones for this year, pre-sign up, in any of the challenges :)

      • Great to hear from you Bonnie! I wonder if you can edit my last name to RIEDEL (I before E)? Humans can’t resist the opposite for some reason. LOL! Most of my reads haven’t been reviewed so they’ll be new for you and I’m reading plenty of new ones. Your theme looks fun!

        • Oops sorry Riedel! You’re right, just then as I was typing your name I automatically went ei… I’m usually very careful too because of how often my name gets spelled with a y. Lets blame it on not being awake yet.

          Excellent! I look forward to seeing what you’ve been reading and checking out your reviews. I hope you have fun with the challenge.

    • Not a problem Jenny, it happens ;)

      I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far. It gives me the warm and fuzzies knowing readers are reading and having fun. I’m updating your link now.

    • No problems Adrianne, I’ll update the link for you as soon as I can.
      I take it you can’t see the badge? I’ll email it to you, but this may take some time because I’m currently limited in my abilities due to health reasons and havne’t been able to email for awhile. You don’t need it to sign up or take part in the challenge for now, so carry on with it, and I’ll try and get the badge to you as soon as I can.

  8. I really would like to be sent the badge. I want Hoarder. I was told it would be sent to me! I’m going to put it up on my twitter pictures since I don’t have a blog and twitter is what I’m using as my linky.

  9. I’m going for hoarder, i know I should do buried, but I’m a bit of a slacker, so I’m leaving failure room LOL. Love this challenge, thanks for creating it.

    • That’s only for those who can’t see the image, sometimes it won’t show up for some reason, but copying the image and using it in your post is the way to go.

      There’s nothing else you have to do before you start, just sign up and away you go. Have fun!

  10. What a great challenge! I’ve had several books for years and just never gotten around to reading them because I keep buying more. What a good excuse to stop buying and start reading! Thanks for hosting. :)

  11. For some reason, no matter how many unread books I have on my shelves, the ones in the stores always look better. It’s time to clear up the backlog a bit. This is a good challenge for me. Thanks.

    • Hi Safina, I haven’t been able to send you any badges yet as I have limited internet access for the time being, but I noticed you signed up with your Twitter account. Is there a blog you’ll be using the badge on because if so you can also sign up with the blog before getting the badge. Otherwise, if there’s no where to put it there’s no need for it ;)

        • Fair enough and always a good idea. Thanks Safina, I’ll send it to you as soon as I can get to my emails again. It may be a couple of weeks till then, but I’ll definitely remember.

            • Hi Safina, I apologise for not being able to send the badge to you yet. I have been away due to health reasons and continue to be unavailable. I know you want to share the badge with your twitter followers, and appreciate that you do, but you’re able to start the challenge without the badge. More so seeing as you’re on Twitter.

              I encourage you to begin the challenge without the badge as I’m not sure when I’ll be able to catch up on everything, including emailing the badge out to participants. All you need to do is tweet about it, which you can do right from this page (at the end of the BA content), and then sign up with your twitter account if you haven’t already.

              And then get to reading of course ;) sorry for any inconvenience.

              • Oh, yes. I have definitely started my reading challenge. I just wanted to brag about it! I am very sad that you are away. I hope you feel better. I am sorry if I sounded mean.

                I am just very anxious to show off to my friends and followers. I have already signed up w/ my twitter as my linky.

                Thanks a ton Bonnie!

  12. This is great! I was just creating my list and then found this challenge. :) I only have 6 books on my list (Tempted), but I will feel accomplished when I finish with those titles.

    Thanks so much for organizing this!

  13. Just found this challenge thru Lynne’s Little Corner of the World blog. I more than qualify for this challenge. Starting out low, aiming high knowing I can change my level later.

  14. I’ve signed up for Making a Dent (here is my sign-up post), but I’m not-so-secretly hoping to add up being On a Roll. Nice to know there’s a lot of company to be had in this venture! Thanks very much for hosting!

  15. My blog is not really about books so I may not post much on there but I want to join the Challenge. I am on Librarything though. Now to select some books! I’ll start with level 2.

    • Hi Book Girl, sorry I’ve taken this time to get back to you (away from the computer). Have you clicked on the image? I’d like to know what you’ve done so we can fix it. For now, I don’t have enough internet access to check out Mr Linky, but when I do, if we can’t figure out what’s going on I can always add all your links ;)

      Go ahead and begin the challenges and we can go from there.

    • I’ve entered your link for you, it will just be further down then your last link. Sorry about the delay and I hope you’ve been reading those books already. Have fun!

    • Hi Crystal,

      Sorry about the delay. I currently have limited access to the internet, but will send the badge to you as soon as I can.

      For curiosities sake, are you not able to right click on the image to download it?

  16. Hi. came here from ‘A Novel Challenge’. Is this challenge open to anyone? I would like to sign up. Do let me know so that I can include it in my sign-up post for 2012 challenges.

    Thanks.

  17. I really am hoping to make a big dent in the books sitting on my bookshelves, but I also like going to the library and participating in book tours, so I am being conservative with the level I chose – 30 books.

    Thanks for hosting this challenge!

  18. I’m in. I ready plenty of books in 2011 – way more than I had challenged myself, but I didn’t get as many off my shelves as I’d hoped. I’m hoping this year I’ll do better.

    Booklady

  19. It’s 2012! Now we can all start reading! Good luck everyone and I hope you have plenty of fun.

    For those just signing up now, the limit to sign up is the end of this year so you can take your time. For those having trouble with badges and have let me know about them, I’ll be sending it out to you today.

    Enjoy!

  20. Hello – I just saw your challenge on another blog I follow and thought this one would be a good one for me too. I just linked my blog up and am going to putting your button on my blog. Thanks for doing this.

  21. I signed up in November – but I haven’t got the badge – can someone email me a link code?

    At the moment I just have a ‘picture ‘ of it on my blog, but no magic-linky-doodle-icon-thingy…..!

    Meanwhile I have just been drawing up my reading order (which will no doubt be deviated from…!) and am just off to hunt out the first book…… :-)

    I hope everyone succeeds with whatever goal they have set themselves and remember: it’s enjoyment, not a chore!

    • Hi SueH,

      That’s pretty much having the badge, usually you’d host and link it up yourself, but I can give you the proper code if that makes it easier. Give me some time and I’ll email it to you today.

  22. Yehey! 2011 is nearly done and I’m finish with my Off the Shelf! challenge a long time ago. But the, another Off the Shelf! challenge this year won’t bite me anyway. Joining another fun year with you guys, happy new year and wish you all the best!

  23. I participated in this challenge this year and failed miserably! I only read 3 of the 31 books that I had on the shelf. I’m certain that I acquired more than 31 books last year considering I read a total of 22. But I’m participating again! I received 6 books as gifts and I ordered several coming into the end of the year so I’m planning to read most of them in 2012. As for the 31 – sighs….. who know’s when I’ll get to them!

  24. This is my first official reading challenge since I was a kid so I’m so excited! I have a mountain of books to get me started – buy books faster than I read them (although I’m sure I’m not the only one!). I will start off with Making a Dint and see how I go from there; hopefully somewhere between 30-50.

  25. Two Challenges this year!!! What am I thinking?!! I am only six months into my blog!

    Thank you for having this Challenge, as my book shelves are filled with books crying to be read!

    For the badge I went the Photobucket route, uploading, downloading, and uploading like a crazy lady!! And here I am!

    I look forward to this Challenge!

    Patricia

    • Sorry about that Safina, we’ve been having disappearing issues with it.

      I’m away from the computer at the moment, but when I go on today I’ll send it to you. In the meantime, don’t worry, go ahead and put your post up

  26. I really want to do this, but I am new to blogging and could use a bit of help. I made my post about doing this. I get that. But how do I get the link badge onto my blog? I can’t seem to get that figured out. I’m sure it is something simple and when you say it I’ll go, “aaahhh”, but I just can’t figure it out. Help???

    • Hey Angie,

      Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out, and we all have those times with blogging. I hope you subscribed to the answers so you get this, but if not I’ll contact you personally about it after a few days.

      First things first, where do you have your blog hosted? Blogger, WordPress, somewhere else?
      And have you been able to download the badge yet?

      • I did subscribe to I got this right away. :) Thanks. I am slowly figuring it all out….I think.

        I have my blog hosted through Blogger. I have downloaded other “badges”, but can’t really figure out yours. The other ones had the link under the badge to copy and paste. That worked for me no problem. I just don’t know how to move the badge to my sidebar if there is not a copy and paste link. So if you could help me out with that step it would be great. :)

        • No worries Angie. The problem with WP is not being able to place that code into the post, it won’t come up, so the other alternative is the long way round.

          Instead I’ve gone and hosted it for you myself Off The Shelf Reading Challenge

          But if you come across this problem again in future I’ll give you an explanation of the longer version. Right click (or grab if you’re on Mac) the image you want to have and then click Save As.

          Once you’ve downloaded it you’ll want to upload it to a hosting site like Photobucket. When that’s uploaded you’ll see options underneath the image. Select the HTML option and you use that to place the image into your side panel or post.

          With the link back, copy the post you want the image to link back to, and then replace the url after the first <a href=" with the url you've copied.

          It can be a bit confusing at first, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. And I hope that's helped too. If you have any questions or need more help with it feel free to ask though.

  27. I’m in! It’s my first time trying it and I’m definitely excited. I’m going for the On A Roll Level. I’ve got the badge on my sidebar, my post is up and I signed up on Mr. Linky – just waiting for it to show up there. :)

  28. Hurrah! I needed an incentive to whittle down my TBR pile!

    I’m not being too ambitious – settled for ‘Trying’ status, without the extra challenges of countries, etc.; for me, the point of the exercise is for it to be fun and I have no intention of feeling under the cosh!

    As a former Library Assistant I may even get round to reading some of the titles I used to have to shelve! (or in this case – get them OFF THE SHELF! ;-p)

  29. Heard about this from Kaye at Pudge Penguin Perusals. I’m going for On a Roll, which is realistic although it will make only a small reduction in the books I own waiting to be read.

  30. Pretty excited for this. This will definitely give me an excuse to get started on my huge pile that is literally off the shelf. :) I’m just doing the first level though–5 books, to start at least!

  31. I really like this challenge. I’ve signed up to do this as part of the Reading Challenge Addict Challenge. I’ve decided to sign in at ‘Tempted’ level, and have also decided that all my books must be Russian (although I will read them in English!).

    • It is my pleasure Beverly and I think trying is a great number to start off with if you’re not sure how you’ll go. You can always change it too if you need to.

        • A bit later, after replying to you, I had another read of your comment and realised that’s probably what you meant (sorry, I probably shouldn’t play catch up just before bed!). I don’t know what was going on there. I had a look on different computers and browsers, but could see it each time. Maybe it was just having an off day.

          Oh well, at least it’s up there now for you and I hope that didn’t turn you off.

          • No, I knew it wasn’t your fault. I could see it on my nook but not on my laptop. It’s all good now. I got it and my post about this challenge is written and just waiting to be published.

  32. I will conquer that mountain of unread books in the coming year. I need to impose harsher restrictions on my book purchasing, even in regards to the series I am collecting.

  33. I came across the Off the Shelf Challenge in May this year. Although I knew that I could sign up after it had already started, I wanted to sign up for one of the larger challenges because my to-read list is so big.

    • I understand. I’ve come across challenges in the past, after it has started, and didn’t want to begin it at the later date because it didn’t fit in with my TBR anymore. You’ve got a head start now though :)

    • Great! Thanks for joining in Christina :)

      Not slow at all. It’s the above image in the post. I don’t have any code to go with it, that doesn’t seem to work with WP like it does on Blogger, but you’re welcome to grab or download the image.

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