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Time to Vote! Announcing the Nominees of the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards!
Vote now in the Opening Round! »
Bust out your black-tie finery, because we're unfurling the red carpet for the nominees of the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards! All year long, you've added your reviews to Goodreads, sharing the work of favorite authors and raving about newly discovered gems, and now we've funneled all that reading excitement into our list of Opening Round nominees!
We analyzed statistics from the hundreds of millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads this year to select 15 worthy nominees in 20 categories, including Best Fiction, Best Fantasy, Best Memoir, and Best Young Adult Fiction. And we also accept write-in votes during the Opening Round so you can vote for exactly the book you want!
A huge congratulations to all of our nominees! Who will you be rooting for? We've got some interesting match-ups to keep an eye on this year. Newcomer bestseller The Girl on the Train is up against books from perennial favorites like Stephen King and David Baldacci in Best Mystery & Thriller. E.L. James's Fifty Shades follow-up Grey is facing some heated competition in Best Romance from Sylvia Day and Colleen Hoover. Best Historical Fiction is packed with strong contenders, including Kristin Hannah, Kate Atkinson, Paula McLain, and Alice Hoffman. Can Internet darling Felicia Day take down TV darling Mindy Kaling in Best Humor? How will Aziz Ansari fare against Ta-Nehisi Coates in Best Nonfiction? And how on earth will readers pick a winner in Best Young Adult Fantasy, where the ranks are stacked with Sarah J. Maas, Victoria Aveyard, Leigh Bardugo, and more?
Our 300 Opening Round nominees have a combined average rating of 4.17 and have been added on Goodreads more than 6.2 million times. Fun fact: We have five different author nominees named Robert, but one of them is a nom de plume (guess who!). And the record-holding author name this year is Sara(h), with 10 nominations!
You have three chances to vote. The Opening Round lasts until November 8. Vote now to make sure your favorite books make it into the Semifinals (November 10 - 15) and Finals (November 17 - 23).
Finally, as a special bonus, this year you can tell the world you voted with our shiny new "I Voted" banner. Just click the Facebook or Twitter icons after you vote to share your pick and this image.
Vote for the best books of 2015! »Comments Showing 1-50 of 150 (150 new)
Why isn't there a category for GLBT? Romance is so broad.. I think they should have a separate category. Some people read only one or the other.. I read both but the majority is in GLBT and I doubt any of them are showing up to be in the running. That's disappointing
I've read 73 books so far in 2015 but not one of these. Should I pleased or concerned?
Vernice wrote: "Some people get ARC's before the actual publication date... I guess they can vote for those books if they wanted to?"Still, they are an exception. Not everyone gets advanced copies and I think the awards should be for general readers to vote.
Su wrote: "Still, they are an expection. Not everyone gets advanced copies and I think the awards should be for general readers to vote."Agreed. (Not very constructive, but what more is there to add?)
I type my choice Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty as best book but when I pressed the vote button nothing happened.Also I am down as having read one book this year when in fact I have read 60 - but be blessed if I can work out how to enter them on to this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
None of my favorite books on the list.. so sad..
This time of year reminds me of that there are so many books I didn't get to...
Can't believe that The Heart Goes Last didn't make the list. Maybe because it was published so recently that enough people haven't read it yet. Thank goodness for write-in nominations!
I can't believe that The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett didn't make the list! Come on guys, it's his last book ever, in a legendary series!
Hc wrote: "Why isn't there a category for GLBT? Romance is so broad.. I think they should have a separate category. Some people read only one or the other.. I read both but the majority is in GLBT and I doubt..."Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is GLBT but i do get where you are coming from, we need diverse books
Voting for a book without reading all/most of the books from the same category doesn't seem fair to me. What's the basis for comparison?
Voted! This is great, and something to look forward to...
Meghan wrote: "Hi Su! Books published in the United States in English, including works in translation and other significant rereleases, between November 16, 2014, and November 15, 2015, are eligible for the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards."I know that, I read the eligibility rules. When I said I didn't understand the dates I meant that I don't understand the logic behing such choice. Why would books that have not yet been released be eligible this year and not the next?
For example Winter. It will only be published next week, based on what do you expect voters to choose it in the opening round if no one has read it yet?
I'm so bummed that Paranormal Fantasy has been scrapped into the Fantasy category again. These genres are so different and wish they could each get separate recognition like in the past.
May I suggest that kids and teens read nonfiction as well as adults? You have a number of nonfiction categories for adults but none for below 18. Kids actually do read nonfiction outside of school assignments! Please add a nonfiction category for youth at least. Separate ones for teens and kids would be fantastic, but at least a category of nonfiction for youth!
Su wrote: "I think these awards are great but I don't undestand the choice for the eligible book dates.Why would books published between November 3 and 15 2015 be included on this year's awards if when the ..."
It does not say that books published between NOV 3 & 15 are to eligible to vote. The eligibility criteria is that the books must be published in the year 2015. Read it again.
Lauren wrote: "I can't believe that The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett didn't make the list! Come on guys, it's his last book ever, in a legendary series!
"
Completely agree, I voted for it in the children's category but without the picture showing a lot of fans may not think to vote.
"Completely agree, I voted for it in the children's category but without the picture showing a lot of fans may not think to vote.
Hc wrote: "Why isn't there a category for GLBT? Romance is so broad.. I think they should have a separate category. Some people read only one or the other.. I read both but the majority is in GLBT and I doubt..."
I wish there was too as there are some really great authors in this category that don't get enough recognition.
I wish there was too as there are some really great authors in this category that don't get enough recognition.
The awards are great and I've found lots of new favourite authors from here over the past years but I wish there were a few more categories. GLBT, as others have said but it's also really lacking an audio book section. Many audio books don't come out until some time after the kindle edition and with the restriction dates, there are some great books I never get to vote for so i'd like an audio book section with the audio book release date being the qualifying date.
Aman wrote: "It does not say that books published between NOV 3 & 15 are to eligible to vote. The eligibility criteria is that the books must be published in the year 2015. Read it again."Yes, it does say that in the "2015 Rules & Eligibility" and I quote: "Books published in the United States in English, including works in translation and other significant rereleases, between November 16, 2014, and November 15, 2015, are eligible for the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards. Books published between November 16, 2015, and December 31, 2015, will be eligible for the 2016 awards."
Anyway, 2015 is not over yet! If the eligibility criteria was books published in the year of 2015 like you said, which is NOT true, it would be even worse, because my point is that books that have not been released at the voting date should not be included in it.
Su, the books published after the November 16 deadline will appear in the 2016 Goodreads contest. They will still be eligible for recognition but next year. I'll agree that using a year to describe the contest is rather misleading.
Why is there not a category for Christian writers?I voted for Susie Finkbeiner's A Cup of Dust - and the only category I thought it fit was historical fiction. But this is one book that is a MUST READ.
Aman wrote: "It does not say that books published between NOV 3 & 15 are to eligible to vote. The eligibility criteria is that the books must be published in the year 2015. Read it again. "Not true. If you try to enter a book that is not a fit, it will tell you the requirements being from Nov 16, 2014 to Nov 15, 2015. So a few books in 2014 count since they cut off their 'year' in November for the awards.
Every year I'm one of those who want more subcategories for major areas like fantasy and romance. We get them for YA - and I swear we have at least one more YA than we did before, although I could be mistaken.
I'm not sure I understand the criteria for nominations. It seems the staff of Goodreads has the final say ... based on what exactly? And Su makes an excellent point. You include books that came out this week or haven't even come out yet in wide release in the eligibility for this year. That seems incredibly unfair.
Nicki wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I can't believe that The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett didn't make the list! Come on guys, it's his last book ever, in a legendary series
My only wish is that the Romance category could be broken up somehow. There are so many sub-categories that it's hard to choose!
Meghan wrote: "Su wrote: "Meghan wrote: "Hi Su! Books published in the United States in English, including works in translation and other significant rereleases, between November 16, 2014, and November 15, 2015, ..."Thank you for your reply!
From what I understood the final round will already have eliminated half of the nominees, so to be able to vote on a certain book in the final round, from November 17 to 23, this book will have first to get enough votes on the previous rounds, which finish on the exact same date as the books' eligible release date. So on the limit readers would have to able to read a book in a single day to vote on it for its merit instead of its hype.
That hardly seems a fair choice to me. Not only it incentives readers to vote based on hype rather than quality, which demotes the purpose of the voting, but also imposes a clearly unfair disadvantage to books that were recently released compared to books that had a long time to reach a much wider audience. Off course completely removing this difference is impossible but one week (which is not even the actual scenario currently) is an incredibly short period to provide recent releases with a minimally resonable chance to reach its public.
Joan wrote: "Su, the books published after the November 16 deadline will appear in the 2016 Goodreads contest. They will still be eligible for recognition but next year. I'll agree that using a year to describe..."Yes, but that was not my point. How does it make sense to vote now for books that have not yet been released, since the cut limit for this year's awards is books publised until November 15 and the voting started today, November 3?
It looks like
is also GLBT. It's listed in the Debut Author category.Camila wrote: "Hc wrote: "Why isn't there a category for GLBT? Romance is so broad.. I think they should have a separate category. Some people read only one or the other.. I read both but the majority is in GLBT ..."
Lauren wrote: "I can't believe that The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett didn't make the list! Come on guys, it's his last book ever, in a legendary series!"That was one of my write-ins!
Meghan wrote: "SAh, thanks for clarifying. Voting is open until November 23, so we cut off eligibility the week before that—that way there is time to read the books that are included here if you're so inclined to do so."You can only write in votes until the 8th. There's still a week of book publications that most of us don't have access to between nominations and eligibility timelines.
Also, why is Uprooted in YA instead of Fantasy? It was marketed as Fantasy, and the genre shelving lists it overwhelmingly as Fantasy.
Please post somewhere the names of the books. I cannot tell them very well from just pictures of the covers. I will not devote the time to clicking on every one of them. Thanks!
totally with you on this one. flummoxed, me. and no martian, either. no idea who's making initial lists, but methinks it might be a case of quantity over qualityLauren wrote: "I can't believe that The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett didn't make the list! Come on guys, it's his last book ever, in a legendary series!
"
Sorry I won't be participating, even though I read 26 action adventure thrillers in 2015, three of which were nominated as Best of 2015. I'm not sure how you determine the finalists (this is almost like being mystified at the Academy Award nominees), but Vince Flynn's 'THE SURVIVOR' by Kyle Mills is hands down the best book published in 2015. It's omission is totally unbelievable to me and every Mitch Rapp addict that didn't want the damn thing to end, it was that good! So, I can only say well done to John Sandford, Daniel Silva and JD Robb, but the crown goes to Kyle Mills as far as I'm concerned.
Where can we vote for LGBT fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards? The M/M romance genre ALONE is absolutely massive and has a vast readership, yet a lot of readers are saying they cannot vote for their favourite (and highly successful) authors. And I'm not talking just about erotica, but many sub-genres, with successful authors with large followings. Many other sub-genres in the LBGT rainbow are being similarly ignored - sci fi and fantasy being one of the biggest. Is this because these books are hidden in other categories and are getting lost in the plethora of mainstream fiction?
I haven't painstakingly gone through every category, hunting for LGBT work but I shouldn't have to. The LGBT category has broad enough shoulders that it deserves a visible category of its own.
Yet it doesn't look as if LGBT fiction is being adequately represented in the Goodreads Choice Awards. Why not?
I really wish that we could have separate categories for Fantasy and Paranormal Fantasy, as they are very different genres and it really limits the field for fantasy readers and writers. It would also be great if there was a category for short story collections next year.
The main complaints here have been repeated every year and GR never changes things, so I doubt complaints will lead to change this time around.
It bothers me that nominations are not released earlier so that I can vote based on having read all the books of a specific category. It's unfair to vote without having read and compared all nominees of a category in my opinion. Also I agree with another member, it is unfair and illogical to include books released this month as nominees because it doesn't give people enough time to read them.
I would like to advocate for a Short Stories category for next year! There are so many great short story collections, and they would benefit from their own category! P.S. Sometimes I think, reading the comments, we are all a bunch of complainers (who bring up a lot of great points). That's what you get with readers though --- we are passionate about our books and have to defend them! :)
A Short Stories category is a great idea! Short stories and novellas seem a bit overlooked.
Nigeyb wrote: "I've read 73 books so far in 2015 but not one of these. Should I pleased or concerned?"You're not the only one...
The vast majority of books listed in this year's voting are totally unknown to me, let alone having been read. And the ones that I want to nominate are naturally disqualified because they were published a little too early. It's frustrating but there it is. I am perplexed by some of the choices too but as someone already pointed out, it's very doubtful GR will take any notice of the complaints/suggestions we've posted here.
Tamsen wrote: "I would like to advocate for a Short Stories category for next year! There are so many great short story collections, and they would benefit from their own category!"Trisa wrote: "A Short Stories category is a great idea! Short stories and novellas seem a bit overlooked."
Thanks for the great feedback! There are many additional categories that we’ve considered for inclusion in the Choice Awards. For now, we decided not to let the number of categories grow too big – there will be a total of 400 books nominated this year, which is already quite large.
That said, we continue to look at the numbers as the site grows, so if in the future we determine the readership is deep enough for a short stories category, we’ll definitely consider it.
Su wrote: "I think these awards are great but I don't undestand the choice for the eligible book dates.Why would books published between November 3 and 15 2015 be included on this year's awards if when the ..."
Yes, I agree with you. I feel the same. Books like Career of Evil by J K Rowling which were published just before a month are being included.
Why would books published between November 3 and 15 2015 be included on this year's awards if when the voting starts they haven't even been published yet and therefore nobody has read them?
Is there any logical reason for this? Because it seems to me that either GR expects people to vote solely based on hype and not on the actual reading of the books or all the books that where just published (or not even yet published) are clearly in disadvantage since few people have actually read them.