The ever-growing stack of books a reader has acquired or bookmarked but has not read yet, often treated as both a source of joy and mild guilt.
TBR stands for 'to be read,' and the TBR pile is the collection of unread books a reader has accumulated, whether as physical stacks on nightstands, digital libraries on e-readers, or wishlists on platforms like Goodreads and StoryGraph. It is a universal experience among book lovers: you buy books faster than you read them, and the pile becomes a kind of aspirational portrait of the reader you want to be. In online book communities, the size of your TBR is a running joke, a point of pride, and occasionally a source of genuine overwhelm.
As a writer, understanding TBR culture helps you think about how readers actually decide what to read next. Your book is not just competing with new releases; it is competing with every unread book already sitting on a reader's shelf or Kindle. This means your cover, description, and opening pages need to make someone pull your book from a stack of fifty options. It also means that getting onto a TBR pile is only half the battle. The other half is making sure readers actually pick yours up.
TBR-related content is one of the most popular categories on BookTok, with creators filming 'TBR pile tours,' 'TBR jar' videos where they randomly select their next read, and monthly TBR announcements that drive pre-orders for featured titles.
A community challenge format where readers commit to reading only books they already own for a set period, attempting to shrink their physical TBR instead of buying new titles. These events highlight how reader purchasing habits outpace actual reading.
Getting added to a TBR list is a positive signal, but many books sit on wishlists for years without being purchased. Focus on creating urgency through launch events, limited promotions, or community buzz that moves your book from 'someday' to 'right now.'
A big TBR pile means you are curious and engaged with the literary world. That is a good quality in a writer. Do not stress about reading everything. Instead, be intentional about which books you pull from the pile and why.
Some of the best books for your development as a writer are backlist titles that have been quietly excellent for years. Mix older titles into your TBR alongside the buzzy new releases.
Look at your own TBR pile, whether physical, digital, or a Goodreads shelf, and pick the five books you are most excited about. For each one, write a single sentence explaining what drew you to it in the first place. Then examine those five sentences for patterns: are you drawn to certain genres, themes, tones, or cover styles? Use what you discover to think about what makes your own book the kind of thing a reader would be excited to pull from their pile.