Introduction and Rules

Hello Everyone,

Congratulations on joining up for the 2008 - 100,000 Book Challenge.

Our goal this year is to read a total of 100,000 books thanks to our combined Community team and individual efforts. When the reading challenge ends on December 31, 2008, Harlequin will make an unprecedented donation of an equivalent number of books to the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) to assist them in their challenge to fight illiteracy.

At the end of the year, you will have have helped to find a solution to the literacy crisis, and not only will you be able to reflect back on the volume of books you've read, but you will have become a something of a connoisseur with your very own catalogue of favorites and a deeper appreciation for the choices you have made and will make in your future reading. You will have made new friends and compared notes on reading with people from around the planet, and become part of a greater experiment in reaching out and celebrating the love of reading with other book lovers like yourself on a worldwide scale.

As for the rules, we’ll keep them simple.

We ask that a minimum of 50% of the books you read come from one of our imprints: Harlequin, Silhouette, Spice Books, Mira, HQN, Kimani Press, Steeple Hill, Red Dress Ink, Luna, and Worldwide Library.

Any of the lines, from any of our imprints, are acceptable. If you have a question about something qualifying, please feel free to ask.

We'll accept reviews for any of the following formats.

Traditional mass market paperback
Hard cover format
Trade size format
ebook format
audio book format
MANGA format
Anthology of full length stories (counts as TWO books) If two full length books, an average of 200 pages apiece, are published in one volume you may count them as seperate books. To do so you may blog them as two seperate books. One idea is to use the anthology title in the title of both books. For example

review #1 Kiss That Cowboy! (Harlequin Duets, No. 60)

review #2 How The Sheriff Was Won (Harlequin Duets, No. 60)

Anthology of novellas (counts as ONE book)
Harlequin eBooks Bundles - If they are sold as individual titles, then count them as such, if they are an anthology, anthology rules apply.
Spice Briefs - You may count them, but you need enough to make a combined minimum of 50,000 words.
Harlequin Mini's - Again, must total a combined minimum of 50,000 words

To clarify... 50,000 words equals about 200 pages.

You have to be an active participant in order to continue to receive the discount. Which means you need to post on a regular basis.

Each book counts for each reader, once per year. Re-reads will only count if there has been at least a year since the last reading, the goal is to discover new books. Reading an abridged, and an unabridged version of the same book is considered re-reading. Only one will count.

Online reads - While we do encourage you to enjoy them they Do Not Count towards the challenge totals.

We had to designate a one book per book review rule in order to simplify and automate the counting process. All of the book challenge submissions are fed into ONE main challenge blog so that we have just one stop shopping to read all the daily reviews. When you add a book review it will also appear in your personal blog. There is no need to duplicate reviews.

There is no strict formula to follow for your messages, each online journal should be as individual as you are and reflect the journey and your thoughts just as you would note them in a traditional Book Lovers Journal. Although we do ask that you respect the authors and their work.

Now that's not to say you can't say, "I didn't like this book because..." No one likes every book they read, and we do expect you to share your real feelings, but book bashing will not be tolerated. Remember, there are real people behind those pages.

Teams: The team option is to give those who'd like to be part of a team the incentive to try. You are allowed to use your team name in the tag cloud. Beyond that, and the friendship and support it offers, there is no added advantage/disadvantage to being/not being on a team.

If you feel something could be added to this list please include it below and we'll consider it.

Thank You

Read, have fun, and support a worthy cause.
Join eHarlequin.com's 2008 100,000 Books Challenge

Add some SPICE to your life.