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How to Plan and Organize Your TBR List

Let’s be real—deciding what to read next can feel like a whole mood. Whether you’re organizing your TBR list for the month, year, or a fun challenge, it helps to have a system in place. Let’s break down how to plan and organize your TBR list so you can stay inspired and on track with your reading goals. One minute you’re hyped for high stakes fantasy romance, the next you want cozy romances that feel like a warm hug. So, let’s talk about how to plan your TBR list in a way that works—whether you’re organizing your reads for the month, year, or a fun challenge.

What is a TBR List?

A TBR (To Be Read) list is a curated collection of books you plan to read. It can be organized by month, season, challenge or theme and helps you stay focused on your reading goals while keeping your bookish excitement alive.

How to Plan Your Monthly TBR List

Here are some ideas on ways you can plan a monthly TBR and get the most out of your reading experience. Also have some fun along the way.

1. Pick a Theme: Make your TBR feel like an aesthetic mood board—winter romances, road trip reads, or spicy booktok faves. I even suggest you make an actual mood board for the types of vibes you want in your books for the month. I gave some book vision board templates to download in our Substack Bookish Brunch on reading goals here.
2. Mood Reading: Some months, keeping things in too much structure can be detrimental and take you straight into a reading slump. Give yourself permission to pick books that match your vibe. But it does help if you have all your lists of what you’ve earmarked as books you’re interested in all in one place.
3. Make a TBR Jar: Write down the books you already own on slips of paper, toss them in a jar, and pick randomly. Instant fun + bookworm chaos. You’ll just need a cute jar (preferably with a lid to keep dust away)
4. Spin the Wheel: Create a spin-the-wheel game with your favorite tropes or genres and let it decide your next read. An easy way to create this digitally is use Google Sheets, write down all the tropes, genres or whatever you want as the prompt one under the other, and then use a number generator to pick a number between the cells that you have filled out. You can also pick up a Spin the Wheel board to keep on your bookshelf.
5. Always Mix It Up: Keep things spicy with a mix of genres—romance, fantasy, thriller…whatever keeps you turning pages. But the more you read a little bit of everything, the less boring or repetitive it’ll get. Easier to stave off a reading slump too.
6. Keep It Real: Set a goal you can actually hit. 5-7 books? Perfect. No guilt trips here.
7. No Buy Month: Shop your own shelves and finally read those books you swore you’d get to. Perfect way to use the TBR Jar and the Spin the Wheel
8. Author Deep Dive: Pick an author and binge their backlist—it’s the perfect way to get familiar with a writer you love or discover a new favorite. You could do an author deep dive each month, or if the backlist is intensive a yearly project.

How to Build Your Yearly TBR List

1. Set Big Goals: Want to finish that 10-book fantasy series or binge all the backlist from your fave author? Set a big goal! Check out our guide on setting reading goals for beginners and avid readers.
2. Start (or continue) an Epic Series: Try reading one book a month from a long and popular series that would otherwise intimidate you. If they’re chunky, aim to finish a certain number of books by the end of the year.
3. Seasonal TBRs: Break the year into cozy seasonal vibes—think ‘beach reads for summer’ or ‘swoony holiday romances.’
4. Track Your Series: Create a series tracker for all those binge-worthy reads you can’t put down. You can easily do this on Google Sheets, Airtable or Notion! If you want something already set up, then my own Bibliophile Notion template will help you track your series too.
5. Bucket List Books: Finally read that book everyone won’t stop talking about.
6. TBR Scratch-Off Cards: Write book titles on a piece of cardstock or even blank business cards, then cover the title with scratch-off stickers. Shuffle your cards, pick one and scratch to reveal your next read!

TBR List Ideas for a Reading Challenge

If you’re looking for a yearly reading challenge, check out our yearly Romanceopoly reading challenge!

1. Prompt Matching: Match books to challenge prompts like ‘snowbound romance’ or ‘book with a blue cover.’ This takes the stress of having to pick something to read next. As long as you find something that matches the prompt, you’re golden!
2. Mix New and Backlist: New releases? Backlist books? Mix both for a balanced stack.
3. Double Dip: Reading multiple challenges? Use one book to hit multiple prompts in different challenges.
4. Start Small: Build momentum with shorter books early in the challenge.
5. Accountability: Share your TBR on social media and tag your bookish friends.

How to Organize Your TBR List

• Kindle Collections for Each Month: Create a collection in your Kindle for each month of the year and add books as you decide when you want to read them. If you don’t finish a book, move it to the next month’s collection or create a ‘Yearly Graveyard’ collection for later browsing.
• Kindle Samples: If you don’t want to write the books down, send yourself a sample of the book to your Kindle and keep a ‘Interested’ collection that has all your samples. Delete the sample when you add the book to your TBR.
• Photo Album: Make an album in your phone and screenshot books that catch your eye.
• Book Tracking Apps: Save books to your ‘Want to Read’ list on websites like Goodreads or StoryGraph. You can even make lists or tags to categorize them further.
• Notes App: Use the notes app on your phone to jot down titles you’re interested in. Create a different note for each genre. Start new notes every year!
• Ultimate Notion Reading Tracker: Use a database like my own Bibliophile Notion template to save recommendations and categorize them by genre and tropes, making it easy to browse by mood. And then you can also build your TBR by month and by challenge using this template.

Planning your TBR list doesn’t have to be stressful—make them fun, flexible, and personal. Whether you’re keeping it chill with a monthly stack or going all in for a reading challenge, find what keeps you excited. Drop your TBR strategies in the comments—bonus points for creative tips! And if you’re up for a fun challenge, join our Romanceopoly challenge this year for even more inspiration.

Read more

• Tips for building a reading habit that brings you joy
• Set reading goals for beginners and avid readers
• 8 Tips for reading goals that you’ll stick to this year
• Track your reading with the ultimate Notion reading tracker

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