Header PromotionI asked this a couple of days ago, and the conversation kind of veered off. One person did answer. But I'm still curious . . .
So, if you are not participating in the reading/book challenge, can you tell me why? My best guesses are:
- You're not aware of it or only vaguely aware. If that's the case, let me tell you that we have a goal to read 100,000 books as a community between 1/1/08 and 12/31/08. We've only read about 16,000. BUT, if everyone clicks on "Book Review" under "Add Content" and does their reviews, we can get there. HOWEVER MANY WE READ (or don't) will be DONATED TO THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR FAMILY LITERACY! (It's a good cause!)
- You're not comfortable doing a "review". I can undestand that, esp. if you're a writer. You can keep them short -- "GREAT BOOK! NFM" or "Okay read. NFM" or "3.5 out of 5 stars NFM". Or, you can mail your list in to 100,000 Book Challenge / P.O. Box 9069 / Buffalo, NY 14269-9069 or 100,000 Book Challenge /
P.O. Box 637 / Fort Erie, Ontario / L2A 5X3 I don't think that the books/reviews will be tied to you at all if you mail them in, but you should check with Lorie and Jayne to be sure. - You're not reading or you're not reading many/any Harlequin books. Well, every book counts even text books or research books. They do ask that at least 50% of your reads be from one of their imprints or lines, but that's everything they publish, including MIRA or LUNA or Steeple Hill or Worldwide or Kimani or whatever. It doesn't have to say "Harlequin" to be a Harlequin book.
So, really, I am curious. If you're not participating, why?
Penn
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
Come find my teammates and me at The DFWPlus Blog!
Hey, Penn-- I've been
Hey, Penn--
I've been participating a little bit--when I have time to read, I do post. And I've been spreading the word to friends and loops.
But I have a question--what does the "NFM" mean on the reviews?
Thanks,
Julie Miller
KANSAS CITY CHRISTMAS (Edward's story)--Intrigue--Nov. 08
OUT OF CONTROL--Blaze--April 2009 www.juliemiller.org
The Intrigue authors 2nd annual Holiday Blog Blitz is on now at www.IntrigueAuthors.com
Penn...
I've been reading--not as much or as fast as I'd like--but I have been reading. As a writer, I'm not comfortable reviewing fellow writers' work. Just as if I were an actress, I wouldn't want to review the perfomances of a fellow perfomer.
When I first joined the community, I did post about one book, but then I read on other blogs that readers felt cheated by short blips about a book that basically just said-- I read, I liked. So I didn't post after that. If I'm reading your post correctly, you're saying a short blip is better than no blip.
If that's so, I'll start posting books I've read and enjoyed. Oh! And I didn't realize research books count. Bonus!
Happy Fourth!
www.bethciotta.com
"...enchanting, madcap romance..." Publisher Weekly
"...wry humor; sexy, multifaceted characters..." Booklist
Julie- NFM
no further message. it saves peple time not having to click the "more" button
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Challenge Blog
My Shelfari Page
The Book Challenge
I did mean to leave a comment last time you asked this question, Penn, but I got sidetracked.
Why am I not taking part in the challenge?
There are two reasons. Am feeling quite red-faced. And I really feel I should be involved because it is such a good cause, but...
1. I am so technologically challenged. I haven't even looked at how to set up my blog site (though, now that I've confessed to that I have a feeling it will be all so very easy that I will be REALLY red-faced now).
2. When I am working on a book - writing, writing, writing - there are days when I find it hard to type another single word, or to form another coherent thought. If I signed up to take part in the book challenge, I'd feel I was letting the side down if I went missing in action for long blocks of time.
I was going to make a concerted effort to join next year's challenge (I'm guessing there is one?). If you really think the odd book review here and there would make a difference, though... Then maybe I should sign up after all.
The Aristocrat And The Single Mum - Harlequin Romance March 09
Bachelor Dad On Her Doorstep - Harlequin Romance August 09
http://www.michelle-douglas.com
Michelle (and anyone else who feels the same way)
you can post in handwritten reviews to Jayne if you're technologically challenged or sick of a keyboard, you can tape them and send her the tape, if you just can't write, but please send the reviews because EVERY book counts
because yes I outread quite a few people (but not everybody) but I can't (just not possible) read a hundred thousand books all on my own. So all the rest of you are needed, even if you were only to read ONE book (and if you can only manage to make time to read one book, you can be sure I'm VERY interested in knowing which one!)
because you might think "oh everyone's read and reviewed that one already", but it might be YOUR review that makes ME want to read it, and that is SO important
(apologies to Penni for hijacking her blog
) which makes me LOL when I don't apologise for hijacking the space in her house 
Hugs
Sadhbh
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
No more excuses, just READ!
Julie, Beth and Michelle (and everyone else),
Julie and Beth, You've been participating. Even one book blogged means that you're participating. You have jobs to write and day jobs and so on. There are people around here who actively post comments in forums but haven't blogged a single book. So, I assume that they're reading at least a book here and there. I really want to know why they're not blogging them. I suspect that they don't know how much we need them over here.
Michelle, Beth and Julie,
I totally understand authors not wanting to review authors. Esp. those members who are unpublished and reading every book in the line that they're targeting -- some of those reads, they're not going to like. As "just" a reader, I have the luxury of putting a book down if it's not working for me, so you'll rarely see a bad review from me. For example, back in May, you'll see a gap in my book review dates. It's b/c I was reading a book by a local author and I gave her 5 chapters before I said, "Enough! I'm not finishing this book!" If she hadn't been local, I'd have stopped after two chapters. Anyway, no review on that book since I didn't finish it.
Beth,
Some of us long-time challenge participants are still complaining about the very short or non-existent reviews. I say two things. One, who has time to read 100,000 reviews? Two, we need the books. Take what we can get. We all learned last year whose reviews we skipped b/c they were just lists or too short for our tastes. We can learn again this year.
MIchelle,
I know you're in Oz (or is it NZ), so you'd have to mail your list internationally to either NY or Toronto. But, you can make a list of your books (include title and author -- that's required). If you want to include stars or a brief comment, great. If not, I assume that they'll still put your books in the system. People doing their own "reviews" here often leave all other fields blank, b/c all that is required is the title and author. If you keep track of what you've read, then just print the list out. If not, handwrite what you remember and mail it in. They need it by sometime in November, so maybe start your list now and mail it on Oct 1?
All three of you authors,
You can publicize the challenge on your WEB sites (well, Michelle can't since she doesn't have one LOL and it sounds like Julie has already done that) and/or your emails if you send those out to readers regularly (again, sounds like Julie has done this). Jayne can even email you logos to use (I think logos is the wrong word, but she can email you things to include). That might help. I've been rounding up everyone I can, even strangers in the bookstore. I'm not exactly shy . . .
Penn, hoping to hear from more non-participants b/c she really does want to know
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
Come find my teammates and me at The DFWPlus Blog!
Why not participating?
I don't have time to read. Too much work to do, two jobs (one self-employed so on-call 24/7), three kids, trying to finish writing a book for submission, and the garden/canning is no longer a hobby this year, it's a necessity. The sad part is that I've got boxes of books stacked under my desk in my TBR pile. The lounge chair on my back deck doesn't beckon me any more; it's flat out taunting me. Go ahead, be lazy. Find a good book to read and relax for a couple of hours. You can do it. You deserve it. Oh, wait. You have to host yet another huge family barbecue (the second in less than a month), bake several cheesecakes, go to the grocery store, finish two jobs for clients, and weed/mulch the gardens. Today. Before 6:00 p.m. So why am I on the Internet? Oh, yeah, break time.
Do nonfiction books count? LOL That's about all I've read this year.
EVERY BOOK COUNTS!!
So, yes, Micki, if you've read a book this year, you can "review" it!! Even if it's non-fiction, even if it's not a Harlequin Enterprises book. Books you've read for research, books you've read for class, audio books, ebooks, EVERY book that you read all the way through -- COUNTS. I use my mom's love of cookbooks as an example of the unexpected read. She LOVES cookbooks and DOES read them all the way through. That would count!
Busy is a good excuse -- family needs to come first. But if you read even one book this year, shouldn't you make it count toward the 100,000?
Audio books count, too, so if you listen while gardening or cleaning, that adds up. Just doing chores, I listen to an audio book about every 1-2 weeks. That adds up. I listen to children's books in the car with the kids (the library is a great source to get those). Those kids' audio books have upped my number of books blogged this year by 10. So at that rate, my numbers will be 20 books more by year-end just from listening with my kids.
You have 3 kids. Do you read to them? Listen to books with them? The trick with the kids' books is to combine the shorter ones into a single entry when they equal the length of a full-length book. You can look here and here ("Children's" and "Children's Book" are two different searches to the system) to see samples of children's book entries. So, yes, bedtime reads, naptime reads, audio in the car . . . all of that counts!
Okay, who else? Who else is an active community member but not participating in the challenge? Why aren't you? We've got don't like to be online, don't have time to read. What other reasons?
Penn
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
Come find my teammates and me at The DFWPlus Blog!
Convinced
Okay, Penn, you've convinced me. I'm joining in
The Aristocrat And The Single Mum - Harlequin Romance March 09
Bachelor Dad On Her Doorstep - Harlequin Romance August 09
http://www.michelle-douglas.com
great
great you guys are encouraging all these people to join to get numbers up but what's being done to keep them
Some days I sit back and think what's the point
Ronnie
TruckerMike/Ronnie
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your long and candid reply. That's the kind of thing that I've wondered about. Honestly, though, I'm still wondering about the members who are active in other parts of the community but not participating in the challenge. I clicked on a couple of names last week and they are VERY active but have not blogged a single book. So, I wonder about all the members like them.
But you made great and interesting points. I remember when you joined. I was very excited to see a new face around here (and we have lots of new faces).
Re the discount code each month. You're right, someone should have covered for her.
Re the kids contributing. I'm not so much encouraging the kids to participate as to have the parents (like me) include the books as part of their own reads (if indeed the parents also read the books). Most of the community is PG-13, but naturally the discussions about some of the steamier books have to be for older audiences. For kids to participate, I would have them just mail in their lists and know they did a good deed. (That's actually what the youth group at my church will be doing.)
Re customer service issues. Usually, the CS here is the best, but every now and then friends or I experience the lack of response that you have experienced and I'm sorry that it's happened to you.
And your last point: "I sometimes feel there's all this pressure to read and blog. I'm a
truck driver, When I'm home I don't have time to sit for hours in front
of the computer and blog. Usually I'm only home for 2-3 days and then
on the road for 1-2 weeks. So blogging might be really low on the list
of things to do during my 2-3 days off."
I totally understand not wanting to spend your precious free time online. Also re your last statement, I had dinner with a couple of community members last week and they expressed concern about the push for numbers. Then msrb blogged yesterday about the same thing. I agree with them to a point, although you wouldn't think so from all my blog entries pushing the challenge. The challenge is supposed to be fun, and from what several members have said, it isn't fun for them anymore.
I'm going to email Jayne and point her to your response. She might get the CSR (esp. the mailing thing) fixed up for you. Once we get the discount code and postal code things worked out for you, you need to blog "regularly" to keep getting the code. No one's ever defined "regularly", but I would guess a review or two per month, and then if I were you, I'd just keep a list of your books read and brief reviews on a piece of paper and mail them in (by sometime in November). Yeah, your profile page won't reflect the number you've contributed, but you can always put a note in your bio or interests section that you mailed in x number . . .
Penn, off to figure out how to stop being annoying and start making people enjoy the challenge again
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
Come find my teammates and me at The DFWPlus Blog!
Michelle,
Yea! Welcome to the challenge. Just make sure that you have fun with it! (Maybe you can invite yourself onto the team that has other HR authors on it?
) If it stops being fun for you, just email me your list of books and I'll mail them on to NYC for you.
Penn
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
Come find my teammates and me at The DFWPlus Blog!
Motivation...
I've spent more of my time commenting on blogs rather than focusing on getting the numbers up because that is what makes me and others I know WANT to blog their books.
My understanding when I started last year is that once per month counted enough as regular for the discount code.
As to the forums, I know that Katherine T has stated she feels those are the heart of the Harlequin community. However, I rarely go into those nor do I have the desire to do so as I'm already quite comfortable in a yahoo group where I discuss those sorts of things. I suspect that blogging and discussing in forums are two entirely different things as I know a couple members of the yahoo group I mentioned are REGULAR posters on that group but joined and quit posting here because it just wasn't what they were looking for in terms of enjoyment. Not sure I'm expressing it well but basically I just think the two things, blogging and talking in forums, are very different in terms of what one gets out of it so that may be the reason.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Coverage
I apologize for the lapse in the delivery of the challenge emails. I wasn't informed until recently that the June email wasn't delivered, and my understanding as of this morning, is that you haven't recieved July's either. What I can say, is I totally agree about it being covered off, but it seems there was a miscommunication- we don't all work in the same location. But, I know that's not an excuse. I think moving forward that I'll be posting the challenge coupon code for regulars in the main challenge forum area, and I'll check with the hosts as to the status of July.
But, for those of you who are wondering, here is the code for this month: JULYDEAL
Jayne
Ordering issues and postal code.
Can you please email me? I'm not sure what the issue is but I'm guessing that the customer service folks in Buffalo are stumped and didn't think to contact me. You SHOULD be able to switch from a US order to a Canadian order in the shopping process in the bookstore AND I wonder...are you trying to force a space between the first 3 digits and the last 3 digits of your Canadian postal code? You should be keying in the 6 digit code without spaces or you'll get an error. Let me check with the online bookstore manager, and if you send me your info in the meantime, I hope to get you sorted out by end of day, k?
Jayne
Hey Ronnie - I hear you on wanting to read and spend time
online having fun rather than just "blogging" but some of my best fun is in the discussions of such and such a book, and so I feel impelled to blog even though a lot of my reviews don't have a single comment made (but then i review a LOT of books) and I have no way of knowing which book (and which comment of mine) will generate a big discussion
What more can I say that Penn hasn't already said? Just that I'm interested in seeing what books you read and looking forward to discussing them or some of the books I've read if you feel like checking out my reviews (all 495 of them so far!
)
I would like to remind those of you who don't feel it's worthwhile posting their (less than ten) books that if you've only read (less than ten) books this year I'm VERY interested in knowing which ones, simply BECAUSE you have so much less reading time, and therefore the books you read must be great and maybe I shouldn't miss out on them - what can I say? It's patently obvious I'm an unapologetic readaholic
Hugs
Sadhbh
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
No more excuses, just READ!
Penn...
maybe a better question to find out what you are wanting to know is why folks participate in whatever aspect of the community and what is it that motivates them to do so. I think you'll find that the answers differ quite a bit as we each have our own reasons......and maybe that will help figure out what would encourage more participation.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Participation
I like the thread What Are You Reading Now because in a quick space of time I'm able to see what people are reading. A lot of those people also do blog their books, and will say for a better review check my blog...however that thread allows me "one click" access to see what is being read. On that thread we also tend to discuss non book topics in quick snippets...the sort of thing I think we were better able to do last year than we are this year.
Therefore....I would surmise that people who are participating in a forum/thread...whatever and not blogging are having their needs met quite well wherever they're visiting, and don't see the need to come here and perhaps repeat themselves? I'm not sure...how to phase what I'm thinking...so that might be wrong.
Again, I also think that if when we suggest people blog their books we don't push the need for numbers, but rather the need to grow our community, and thus perhaps as Sadhbh said...our ability to discover a great new author, or maybe an online friend we might get more people blogging.
Now if no one minds I'm going to post this word for word as a blog on my blog...so that people can see that I do agree we want to grow...not primarily to increase our number(albeit that is a nice effect) but to increase our spirit of community, and what brought us all here in the first place our love of reading.
Sandi
The Born Readers
Outside of a dog a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
I've posted six *G*
And I have this idea to try to make at least 25 by year's end, but we'll see.
Like other authors, time is an issue -- when I have it, frankly, I like to visit here and catch up with friends and chat. I write all day, and writing a review is more writing for me, and I already write reviews and blogs for other sites -- I know you don't have to post a review, but I prefer to. So, frankly, I only do it when I feel like it, about a book I really want to share.
I also only review books I like and would recommend, and I like if discussion emerges around a blog -- I hate posting something that gets zero response because I don't like going through that effort just for numbers. Again, I guess that's me thinking in terms of quality vs quantity, but that's my preference. I also try to post comments on blogs which mention my books, and books that I like or find interesting.
I don't list it on my personal website because my website will shortly be undergoing redesign, but I could list it on Cigars and will do that.
Sam
PS: edited to add I *really* like Sandi's comments about growing community and not just numbers -- that's my view, too...
July 2009: Sam's Blaze Texas Ranger is HARD TO RESIST!
Blog with Sam and friends at Love Is An Exploding Cigar
Guest Blog: Dec 4, Lucy Gordon!
Jayne- address worked
I kept trying the postal code for the apartment building I live in but it work when I tried the postal code for the other houses on the street. I did try with spaces no spaces everything.
Sadhbh- it's not even having time to have "fun" online, those days I am home, I have laundry to do, friends and family to see, trying to get dog in to see vet, doctor, dentist, car repair, truck repair, a house to clean(how it gets so messy when I'm not home I can't figure out
).
All I've been doing is copying back blurb and adding maybe one sentence about whether it was good, bad or ugly (and yes Penn I am using NFM
)
I have a friend in the challenge so sometimes what I will do is call her, give her details about the book(so she knows I read it)and she'll blog it.
Ronnie