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FoF Annual Series Challenge
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Series Challenge Q&A
I agree with that. Treat them as stand-alones.That was what I thought I'd do with these two review books, but then I started to feel like I was cheating by not penalizing myself. Though yes, the 25 review points would still put me in the positive.
Chris wrote: "I agree with that. Treat them as stand-alones.That was what I thought I'd do with these two review books, but then I started to feel like I was cheating by not penalizing myself. Though yes, the ..."
Sounds good! Plus, you have a point about "for review", Becks.
Its one thing to make Group Reads exempt, seeing as we want to foster participation, and they are on a time schedule. Everything else, however, is strictly by choice and should be treated accordingly. Besides this is a challenge we shouldn't make it too easy! :)
This conversation made me think about the whole "Abandoned Series" thing. We mentioned possibly earning 1/2 of the "Series Completed" points, but we very well could run into the same issue, in that not all of the books have been published. So maybe we should just earn the points for the books we read and add a notation in our post the the series has been abandoned.....
Becky wrote: "Well... I have no dog in this fight, because I have decided I'm no longer reading books for review, but if it were me, I would probably handle them the same as any other book, except that perhaps I..."I also am without dog, but I agree with Becky.
Also, I agree first in series shouldn't get series finishing points, but I'm not sure what you mean by considering them standalones. Does that mean you wouldn't get a new series penalty or have to use a credit?
A complete stand alone wouldn't get scored at all, as it isn't series or series related.
Well, that's just cheating. If you know it's going to be a series, then it should count as start of a series, but not completion of one.Or, anyway, that's what I would do if I were doing it. Which I'm not, so, whatevs. *grins*
Agree with Colleen. I've toyed with the idea of only giving myself completion points for the books I actually read this year (so, if I only read 1, only 10 points, even if the series itself is 20 books).
Colleen wrote: "Well, that's just cheating. If you know it's going to be a series, then it should count as start of a series, but not completion of one.Or, anyway, that's what I would do if I were doing it. Whic..."
Yeah, that's what I would think too.
Cheating mayhap. And this is part of what I was torn on. If I call it standalone and don't score it, I get zero points.
If I call it book #1 and knock off ten points in penalty, but review it, I'll end up with 15 points.
So cheating would hurt me.
Chris wrote: "If I call it book #1 and knock off ten points in penalty, but review it, I'll end up with 15 points. "But this is built into the rules, so it seems fair. Or you could just not count the review points since you accepted it for that reason. Just don't give yourself the bonus review points.
Em, we've tried counting series books like that and I considered it. But then you could open the publish order/ chronological order debate. Or scoring prequel questions. Not a bad idea, but these are potential questions that will spawn up.
Emily wrote: "Agree with Colleen. I've toyed with the idea of only giving myself completion points for the books I actually read this year (so, if I only read 1, only 10 points, even if the series itself is 20 b..."Do you mean the series that you complete?
Becky wrote: "Chris wrote: "If I call it book #1 and knock off ten points in penalty, but review it, I'll end up with 15 points. "But this is built into the rules, so it seems fair. Or you could just not count the review points since you accepted it for that reason. Just don't give yourself the bonus review points.
"
This! The "Review" points are there to encourage and remind us to write a review, but if we've accepted a book for the sole purpose of reviewing, then we neither need the reward nor the reminder. So as Becky says, in this case you can take the penalty points and not give yourself the review points, since you were going to write a review. anyway.
I could live with the 15 total and I wouldn't want to toss the review bonus. I struggle to review every single book. But I found that when I was doing a challenge that gave a bonus for reviews, I did every single one. It's a good motivator. And helps with a review resolution if you have one.
Yeah, I can see that. Well, it's your challenge, so you score it how you think it best motivates you.
LOL! Actually my reasoning behind calling them standalones and ignoring them was based on a similar assumption, Nyssa. So many angles on this.
Simple Mode, anyone?
Everyone can score how it fits for them. I wanted to start a thought dialogue on it, and we definitely got that.
Chris wrote: "So many angles on this. Simple Mode, anyone?"
Naww, I like the standard challenge..we're just working out the kinks, is all. Besides, as I said before, chances are we're going to want to continue this next year, so might as well get it all settled now. :)
Nyssa wrote: "Chris wrote: "So many angles on this. Simple Mode, anyone?"
Naww, I like the standard challenge..we're just working out the kinks, is all. Besides, as I said before, chances are we're going to ..."
Just remember to write everything down! :)
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colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!
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If I jump in - which I might since I didn't think I had that many series til I was going through them the other day and saw how many new series I have on my to-read lists - I'm gonna do the simple mode, that's for damn sure.My 'problem' is that I'm fairly current with most of my series - at least the ones I care about - so it's often a matter of waiting for books to be released and them waiting on the library.
I'm definitely wishing I'd come up with simple mode first.
I like the non-simple mode. But I'm also curtailing series I don't think I'd get to.Is that cheating?
My god. Reading through this made my eyes are bleed.I'm going super simple rules in my challenge. For every series book I read I get a credit. I can cash in 2 credits to start a new series. Group reads that are series books only require me to cash in 1 credit.
*dusts hands off* Done and done.
I think I'll stick with the original way points-wise. We will just see how it works out and can adjust for review requirements, etc., as needed next year. :)
MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "I like the non-simple mode. But I'm also curtailing series I don't think I'd get to.Is that cheating?"
You mean just not finishing them? I don't see how that would be cheating, unless you give yourself points for completing.
I'm using the rules as stated in the Scoring Rules thread, plus the following:Additional Rules:
-Completing a series of 3 or more earns 1 bonus "New Series" credit.
-Every 250 points equals one new book purchase/acquisition.
(Series challenge books are exempt, and can be purchased/acquired at any point in order to complete the series.)
The only thing I'm unsure of now, is how to deal with Abandoned Series.
Earlier in the thread we discussed this:
Abandoned series earn 1/2 of the normal "Finishing a Series" points.
But I'm not sure that will work.
1. It feels a bit cheaty.
2. How would we handle the series that aren't completely written?
Any thoughts?
I'm also without a dog in the fight because I'm not requesting any ARCs until I get the blog back into gear, but I'd agree with Becky. Ultimately we choose what to acquire, be it through NetGalley, FirstReads or Amazon, so the mode of acquisition wouldn't make a difference to me. But since the challenge is a personal thing you should go with what motivates you to accomplish your goals. :)
Also, I'm happy that you came up with the points-based/'complex' method. I'm looking forward to using it! :D What can I say, I like points...
Also, I'm happy that you came up with the points-based/'complex' method. I'm looking forward to using it! :D What can I say, I like points...
Reposting from my scoring thread: I've decided that (for me) short stories are too easy and shouldn't gain the same points/credits as novels. So I'm just taking 2 points for each story. If I read 10 of these in a month, I'll count that towards one of the two book credit goals. (If I haven't finished two novels by then)This is tailoring, not a required change for everyone.
Chris wrote: "Reposting from my scoring thread: I've decided that (for me) short stories are too easy and shouldn't gain the same points/credits as novels. So I'm just taking 2 points for each story. If I read 1..."That sounds reasonable.
Looking for some advice, please:Range of Ghosts was chosen as a monthly read for another group, of which I am a member, here at GR. It just so happens to be the first book in a series, as well.
Should I:
a) Treat it like a FoF Group Read, thereby making it (and other series reads from the group - Beyond Reality) exempt from both penalty points and spending credits in order to read it.
b) Make it exempt from penalty but still require 1 credit.
c) Apply half of the penalty points (-5 instead of -10) or still require 1 credit.
d) Treat it like any other "new to me" series, applying full penalty or still requiring 1 credit.
e) Consider another suggestion.
Oops..fixed "numbering".
I think it depends on your goal. For me, I'm trying to participate in more group reads this year, so I'd lean toward A, but then I don't want to start a ton of series (meaning I need to choose the ones I'm really interested in and make it worthy of being added), so I'd still want to apply some sort of 'cost' to it, so I'd probably go with B for that reason.
I'd probably go with C myself ('Treat it like any other "new to me" series, applying full penalty or still requiring 1 credit' that is, since you have two Cs ;)) since I think group reads are exactly why a lot of folk end up with large amounts of unfinished series, so if I treated them all differently then the penalty wouldn't really apply to much. I agree with Becky, though, it depends on your goal. If you're trying to raise your activity levels in group reads and most of your groups are series-based then it probably wouldn't work as well.
I would go for A, as well. If you afterwards continue with the series, then you can earn credits for books read.
I know there is no deduction for group reads, but are you guys allowing points for them? I feel weird getting reading points for starting a new series (Earth Sea) but wasn't sure how others were handling.
Becky wrote: "I think it depends on your goal. For me, I'm trying to participate in more group reads this year, so I'd lean toward A, but then I don't want to start a ton of series (meaning I need to choose the ..."Titania wrote: "I'd probably go with C myself ('Treat it like any other "new to me" series, applying full penalty or still requiring 1 credit' that is, since you have two Cs ;)) since I think group reads are exact..."
You both hit on a main concern. I have a good 80 something titles sitting on my "New to me" shelf..about 1/2 of them are book club group reads (past and present).
I do want to be more active in group reads (both here and at BR), however, my shelves are already overflowing with newly started or never started series.
Emily wrote: "I know there is no deduction for group reads, but are you guys allowing points for them? I feel weird getting reading points for starting a new series (Earth Sea) but wasn't sure how others were ha..."
Personally, I am awarding points for everything I read.
If it were me, I wouldn't remove costs or penalties for reads from other groups. I don't have a goal to increase activity in those, but to knock out series.Actually, I do have a challenge to read books in a particular group, but it's separate.
Emily, with what you're talking about I'm just letting the 10 points from reading and the 10 penalty from starting cancel out. So I'd earn the review points for that book.
Again, that's me...
So Chris, you are not requiring a credit but also taking the 10 point deduction despite the rules? Makes sense.
Oh wait. I answered that wrong. For the group read, I'd get the 10 for finishing and waive the penalty, coming out +10 (+35 with a review).
I've confused myself....
Nyssa wrote: "Looking for some advice, please:Range of Ghosts was chosen as a monthly read for another group, of which I am a member, here at GR. It just so happens to be the first book in a se..."
I think I'm leaning towards option (b). I agree with Becky about making sure its one I really want to read, and since the idea of monthly group reads is to read them within a specific time frame, I don't want to cost myself out of participating.
A worse case scenario, as far as Beyond Reality is concerned, is that I'll want to read both BotMs and therefore run a deficit of 1 point monthly until I've finished a series (or more), allowing me to earn points back.
Or I could put BR reads aside for now and just concentrate on reading what I have, especially since FoF will be offering the same genres plus a wider variety (Horror & MG/YA).
Decisions, decisions, decisions...
Nyssa wrote: "Nyssa wrote: "Looking for some advice, please:Range of Ghosts was chosen as a monthly read for another group, of which I am a member, here at GR. It just so happens to be the firs..."
I think I'll have to let Range of Ghosts (and the BR group reads) go for now. I don't think I can handle both groups, and all of the challenges. I will continue to keep an eye on them, however.
I just made it easy on myself with group reads of 1st of series. If it was a group read and I read it within the time period of the group read, it gets +10 points. Outside of the group read and it would count as a series started. I have new series as part of challenges at another board, but I can wait until I have the points to start.
That's a fair way to do it...
So.... Question. I'm trying to figure out how I should handle some things. Opinions welcome. :D1. Gardens of the Moon: I ended up abandoning this one mid-way through, and I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to continue on with the series if just making it to 300 pages made me twitchy.
So, my questions on this one are:
- Should I count it as "read" and give myself points for it?
- Should I give myself "this series is dead to me" (AKA "it's as complete as it's going to get") completion credit for it?
If it helps, I DO count DNF books as read on my shelves.
2. Non-FOF group reads that happen to start a series.
The last couple of group reads that I read in my HF group were, of course, series openers. I'm inclined to count these the same way as FOF group reads. Do you guys think that's unfair?
(Did I already talk about this? My memory is like a sieve these days.)
Becky wrote: "So, my questions on this one are: - Should I count it as "read" and give myself points for it?
- Should I give myself "this series is dead to me" (AKA "it's as complete as it's going to get") completion credit for it?
If it helps, I DO count DNF books as read on my shelves. "
Yes, you should count it as ead, seeing as its as read as its going to get (by you).
Yes, it does qualify for points... It was suggested that abandoned series get 1/2 of the series completed points, based on the number of books currently in the series. I believe this one has more than 10, right? So since the regular points for completion is 40, you would take 20.
Becky wrote: "2. Non-FOF group reads that happen to start a series.
The last couple of group reads that I read in my HF group were, of course, series openers. I'm inclined to count these the same way as FOF group reads. Do you guys think that's unfair?"
We did discuss this before, and there were people on both sides (Yays and Nays). I think we ended up leaving it to the individual person, and I personally decided to use series credits for them, but to waive the -10 penalty...meaning that, at worst, my new series credits run a deficit of one point until I catch up. I won't start multiple new series without credit.
If I read a book and do not intend to continue the series, I personally just have not been counting it toward or against the series challenge (basically treating it like a standalone, which for all intents and purposes it is since you do not plan to continue).I think we decided that non-FoF group reads should generally count against the challenge, meaning you either need a credit or need to take 10 points away. Then again, if you read it and do not intend to continue the series I think it would fall into the above.
That's just me, though!
I'm probably not the one to answer that. All these #1's in series are driving me batshit, even the FoF reads.They're taking up all of my reading time and bogging me down in a 0% completion rate. Then I move to another #1 and finishing it or not, I've not made a single dent in any series I'd already started. Nada.
I did pitch everything to the side and start a #2 today, but we'll see how it bucks the trend.
Chris wrote: "I'm probably not the one to answer that. All these #1's in series are driving me batshit, even the FoF reads.They're taking up all of my reading time and bogging me down in a 0% completion rate. ..."
EVERYTHING you just said.
Yes, yes... it's all coming back to me now. LOLHmm... I must think on this.
Just my opinions:1) I would give myself read credit for a book I DNF'd, but maybe only half credit.
2) I would not give myself series completion points for an abandoned series.
3) I probably would not count other group-reads as a penalty, being as I think I should get a reward just for actually reading a group read in the first place.
That's kind of what I went with, Colleen. I decided to count the books that I didn't finish with 1/2 credit, and no series completion unless I read at least half the books in the series. For the non-FOF group reads, I decided to treat them as normal non-group read, but with a 1/2 group read credit. (-5 instead of -10).
Flights of Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
The Fairy-Tale Detectives (other topics)Range of Ghosts (other topics)
Range of Ghosts (other topics)
Range of Ghosts (other topics)
Peacemaker (other topics)
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I'm with Nyssa - I think that we should only get series "completion" points for series that have multiple books published and available. The first book in a projected series shouldn't get the points.