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Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
2015 Challenge Archive
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2015 January Pick-it-for-Me Challenge
*INFORMATION NEEDED TO SIGN UP*Please sign up in this thread with the answer to the following question:
**Silver or Gold?**
***If you have a preferred shelf, please list it when you sign up!***
IMPORTANT DATES
Sign ups will remain open until December 23rd (1 pm EST).
For your convenience, a Time Zone Converter.
You’ll have until December 28th (1 pm EST) to make your recommendations.
Please do not start reading your book(s) until the first of the month. You then have the entire month to read your pick(s) and give some feedback.
If you’re new please read the PIFM Guidelines and FAQ. If you have any questions that are not addressed there, please feel free to ask!
***Please add a new comment rather than updating a previous post or your progress will likely be missed. It is also very helpful if you add more information like "I finished another pick" or "I finished my third book for this challenge" and mention if your pick was a buddy read. Thanks!***
*Please note that late sign ups will be included at the host's discretion and no one will be included after re-picks are assigned!*
Sign-ups
Silver:
Fran - PIFM Shelf
Laurla - tbr-owned
Kathy - Pick-it-for-me
Tammie - pifm
Dee - PIFM Books
Skandia
Nandar
Tania
Arielle Rae
Kristy - rrrc
Nancy H
Breann - 1-pifm-pick-me
Arena
Sadie - Pick-it-for-me
Carla_Collette
Amy - pifm
Irina
MountainKat - To-read-asap
Amanda - pifm
Tarsila - Shelf-at-home
Larissa - On-deck-tbr
Gold:
Zara - must-reads-2015
Joyce - Meet-and-greet-rrrc-challenge
Penney - PIFM Shelf
unusual child (aka beppy) - pifm
Diane ~Firefly~
Pamela Su
Layla
Elke - On deck 4 chlges
Shelby - Current Challenge Reads
Kristin
Repicks:
Karen
Katherine - need-in-challenge
Picking Rules
A new year is starting, a perfect time to jump into new books, new challenges, new authors, or maybe a new series. At the same time though, it's important not to forget the old standbys that we know and love. As the old camp song from my childhood said,
"Make new friends, but keep the old, One is silver and the other is gold".
In this month's PIFM you're going to embrace both the old and the new by picking some of each for your pickee.
Picking Rules:
Make New Friends
New to them author: Recommend a book by an author that your pickee has never read.
New to you author: Recommend a book by an author that you have just recently discovered, and is hopefully becoming a favorite.
New Release: Recommend a book that was released for the first time within the last six months.
New Series: Recommend a book that is the first in a series that is totally new to your pickee
Keep the Old
Their Favorite Author: Recommend a book by an author that your pickee seems to really enjoy.
Your Favorite Author: Recommend a book by one of your favorite authors.
Older Book: Recommend a book that was released prior to 2014.
Next Book in Series: Recommend the next book in a series that your pickee is currently reading.
Please remember to pick at least four new to them picks and at least four from their TBR or preferred shelf - Enjoy!!
Match-Ups
Within each group, each person group picks for the person below them. The last person in the group picks for the first. For example, Amy picks for Nandar.
✔=Picks Made
★=Challenge completed (at least one book read)
Silver:
★✔Nandar
★✔Nancy H
★✔Tammie - pifm
★✔Tarsila - Shelf-at-home
★✔Carla_Collette
★✔Larissa - On-deck-tbr
✔Sunshine - Pick For Me
★✔Laurla - tbr-owned
★✔Kathy - Pick-it-for-me
★✔~KarenH~ - cant-wait-to-read
★✔Dee - PIFM Books
★✔Fran - PIFM Shelf
★✔Breann - 1-pifm-pick-me
★✔MountainKat - To-read-asap
✔Kristy - rrrc
★✔Tania
★✔Skandia
Sadie - Pick-it-for-me
★✔Arielle Rae
Arena
Tana
★✔Irina
★✔Amanda - pifm
★✔Amy - pifm
Gold:
★✔Layla
★✔unusual child (aka beppy) - pifm
★✔Diane ~Firefly~
★✔Joyce - Meet-and-greet-rrrc-challenge
✔Penney - PIFM Shelf
✔Zara - must-reads-2015
★✔Kristin
★✔Elke - On deck 4 chlges
★✔Pamela Su
✔Shelby - Current Challenge Reads
Repicks:
✔Fran picks for Karen
★✔Karen picks for Katherine - need-in-challenge
✔Katherine picks for Irina
✔unusual child {aka beppy} picks for Arielle Rae
The Covers!
I'm in please! ETA...Silver for me (forgot to add that before!)tbr-owned... I know it's huge and I want to make a new challenge picking shelf, I just haven't had the chance with the holidays, so one more month with my behemoth TBR :-P
I'm in! Silver please!Please use: PIFM shelf. Can also use 'to read' if you can't find what you want there.
Me please - I'd love to say gold but I'm allergic - so silverWill post shelf soon
i'm in!!! Silver.Some of my picks can be from here need-in-challenge, but I will be okay if someone choose from my to-read.
I love both but I'll go for gold if you can pick one from my meet and greet challenge shelf or my to read would be fine as well
Silver.... I'm thinking white gold here XD
Nandar - i'm the same! i can't wear gold gold, but i can wear white gold
i'm in.gold for me.
please use my pifm shelf. just for the record, this is so much easier when using a computer as compared to a tablet as i have been doing for the past year. :)
Add me, too. I am a silver girl. Use my rrrc shelf.
I would like to join in but I wil not be able to post picks till the 29th morning or maybe late 28th night . Will that be acceptable?
Silver. Please pick romances this month, I'm backed up on other reading.
I am in! Normally it is silver but...got myself a new MK gold watch for my bday so GOLD it is!! :DPlease pick from my On deck 4 chlges
I'm in!Silver...
Please use PIFM
And I would really appreciate not getting contemporary romance or chick lit. But I am open to reading anything though.
I wish I could join in but I'm on vacation and while it's beautiful here, Wi-fi is sketchy so I don't think I'd be able to make picks. :(
Karen I want to ask. Could I make pick in December 23 on 1 pm. in my time line , because I will be leaving for Christmas big holiday weekend and I don't know when I can be on computer?
I'm going to say gold though I'm weird and like both. Some picks from my Current Challenge Reads shelf would be awesome. :D
Karen wrote: "I would like to join in but I wil not be able to post picks till the 29th morning or maybe late 28th night . Will that be acceptable?"Hi Karen, sorry for the delay in getting back to you! I really don't want to knowingly make people wait past the cutoff time for their picks, but what I can do is put you down for repicks, so after the picking deadline on the 28th, anyone who hasn't received picks will be assigned a new picker. That way you will still be able to give and receive picks without purposely making someone wait. Will that work for you?
Katherine wrote: "Karen I want to ask. Could I make pick in December 23 on 1 pm. in my time line , because I will be leaving for Christmas big holiday weekend and I don't know when I can be on computer?"I'm sorry Katherine, but the picks won't be assigned until evening on the 23rd your time, so there's no way to know who you will be picking for. When do you plan on being back home? If you will be back on the 28th or 29th, I can do the same thing for you that I'm doing for Karen, and you will be able to make your picks after you get back instead of before you go. Let me know if you would like to do that.
Yes that will work for me .
I choose silver .
Thanks :)
No m/m or dark picks for me please.
I choose silver .
Thanks :)
No m/m or dark picks for me please.
Well, I like both, but my most recent gifts/purchases have been white gold so I will go with silver. (And by recent I mean last several years...)Please use my to-read-asap shelf. Thanks!
~KarenH~ wrote: "Katherine wrote: "Karen I want to ask. Could I make pick in December 23 on 1 pm. in my time line , because I will be leaving for Christmas big holiday weekend and I don't know when I can be on comp..."I will be at home in 28. And maybe I could make picks at 23 or 24. I don't know, but i could try.
Katherine wrote: "I will be at home in 28. And maybe I could make picks at 23 or 24. I don't know, but i could try."I'd hate you to be worrying about it, so if it's ok with you I'll just plan on you being in the repicks also. That way you don't have to stress over it, and nobody is waiting for picks if you happen not to be able to do them until you get back home!
~KarenH~ wrote: "Katherine wrote: "I will be at home in 28. And maybe I could make picks at 23 or 24. I don't know, but i could try."I'd hate you to be worrying about it, so if it's ok with you I'll just plan on ..."
Okay. Thanks Karen.
Romance Readers Reading Challenges
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What is the Pick-It-For-Me Challenge?
The Pick-It-For-Me Challenge (PIFM) is a reading challenge where each participant gives and receives book recommendations based on a given a set of rules. The assignment method and book selection rules change each month so it’s always new and always different.
The idea of the PIFM challenge is that you will get new-to-you books and authors selected for you as well as a push to read some books that have been lingering on your shelves. The new books might not be books you are interested in, it happens sometimes, that is why you also get a minimum of four books from your shelf. But you never know, perhaps one of those books will turn out to be a new favorite if you give it a chance. You only have to read ONE book to complete this challenge! All of the books picked for you do not have to be something you are going to read.
After signups are closed, I'll put your names and any extra info I’ve requested into the super secret PIFM randomizer and select someone for you to choose for. This will get posted along with the rules for the month.
While you're doing your picks, someone else is doing picks for you. Once you receive them, you pick a book off the list and on the 1st of the month, get reading. To complete the challenge, you only have to read 1 (one) book but many of us end up reading more because we just can't resist a list of books to read.
In order to participate you need to either HAVE YOUR PROFILE SET TO PUBLIC (preferable), or make the person who will be giving you recommendations your friend. You will also need to have your profile set to accept Private Messages (PMs), occasionally there will be questions the host, a mod or your picker will want to ask you. On top of that, we strongly recommend keeping your bookshelves updated; otherwise you might end up with a recommendation that you have already read.
Everything gets done in this thread so be sure to come back often!!!
Some clarification on repicks: You can ask for repicks if the books picked for you are not yet released or if you have already read them and they are on your ‘read’ shelf. If you did not receive four picks from your ‘to-read’ shelf, with at least one from your preferred shelf if supplied, you may also ask for more picks. You may not ask for repicks because a book is not available at your library or is a genre or author you don’t enjoy. Your picker likely put a lot of time and thought into the books they selected for you and want you to enjoy them, by following the tips they tried to come up some new ideas for you so check them out and read some reviews before you discount them!
***TIPS TO MAKE THE CHALLENGE ENJOYABLE FOR EVERYONE!***
1. To help your picker understand the type of books you like or are currently reading, please make sure your ‘read’ shelf is up to date. You can create shelves for books you DNFed or authors that don’t work for you as well as favorites. Also, you might consider updating your profile info, many of us haven’t done so since we joined GR. You can include info there about your favorite books and authors. And in the ‘about me’ section you can add things you like or things you don’t - love friends to lovers, hate insta-love or burned out on billionaire bad boys for example.
2. Check the publishing date of the book before recommending it. To check the publishing date, from your pickee's to-read or similar shelf choose shelf settings, select "date pub" from the drop down selections and save/close the menu.
3. Check pickee's personalized shelves, especially their exclusive shelves - it could be very helpful in recommending something they want to read. A personalized shelf is one that a member has labeled themselves, for example, 'to read next', 'can't wait to read', 'favorites'.
4. Look at your pickee's 'read' shelf and see what genres they have recently read the most. That might help in choosing something they are interested in reading right now.
5. Please make sure the books you choose for your pickee are not on their 'read' shelf. Just because it isn't rated doesn't mean it wasn't read. Sometimes the reader may choose not to rate a book.
6. Although Buddy Reads are no longer going to be offered as a category, if there is a recommendation that you give your pickee that you would like to read with them, please feel free to suggest a Buddy Read with them. You can PM each other and discuss it.
7. If your pickee reads lots of books in a genre you are not familiar with (erotic romance, GLBT, YA, etc.), feel free to contact either Fran, Dee, Jane, Kat, Karen, Ty or the month's organizer and they can try to point you in the right direction for recommendations.
8. If possible, try to include a shorter book, a longer book, a new addition to their 'to-read' shelf, and and older book from their 'to-read' shelf. This gives them a variety of options to choose from. You can sort the shelves by many features - ratings, date read, date added, date published, #of pages and many other items from the shelf settings as described in tip #1. And they can be sorted by ascending or descending order as well.
9. Please choose at least 4 new titles for your pickee. These should be brand new to them books and not found on any of their shelves. It could also be a book found on their shelves if they've never read any of the author's work before. Part of the fun of this challenge is discovering new books to read, adding new titles to the ever-expanding tbr shelf. The remaining 4 titles should come from your pickee's tbr, with a minimum of one from their preferred shelves if provided.
10. Please remember this is a romance readers challenge, so unless you KNOW your pickee would prefer something else (something off their preferred shelf, for example) most, if not all, of your picks should be romance. There are many different sub genres and related types of books - Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Erotica, M/M, Urban Fantasy even. Take a look at your pickee's read shelf and see if they read non-romance genres before making your suggestions.