2020 BooktubeSFF Awards Feedback Thread

[Brianne]

Please feel free to let us know your thoughts! We know this year was long and had some bumps in the road. What can we do better, and what should we change?

[Heather]

I’d like to see books only be eligible in one category. It was disappointing this year to have two books make it into two categories.

[Ana]

To put relevant info about the state of the awards on the official site, so that we know what's going on. I don't use twitter and I often forget about the announcements there (which is my fault completely) but if there's an official site it'd be nice to have the news posted there.

I liked the Graphic Novels category from previous years, so I wouldn't mind having that back for the next year.

[Jess]

I agree that it'd be nice to have all of the info on an official site, if possible? I am following on Twitter, but I sometimes miss announcements thanks to Twitter's weird algorithm.

Thanks so much for all the hard work you all put into the awards! I wonder if it'd be possible for all of the judges to compile a list of 2020 book releases (perhaps just the books they read this year?) by non-white authors, either on Goodreads or on some other site, that people nominating books can look at so more diverse books can be nominated next year? Obviously I hope more and more readers read and nominate diversely, but considering that authors like Brandon Sanderson and Victoria Schwab are almost always on the shortlist, it's clearly not happening enough and I wonder if that might be an extra helping hand?

Also, just for a bit of extra fun, I wonder if the judges could pick an ultimate winner from the winners of all the categories for one Booktube SFF Book of the Year?

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange)]

First, thanks to the judges for all the hard work and time they invest in the awards.

If the objective of the awards is to nominate and award books that are underhyped and diverse, I think the judges need to compile an approved longlist from which the general public can select from when voting for the shortlist. Unfortunately just asking the general public to "read more diversely" next year is not going to be enough to curate the level of diversity that the judges are looking for.

[Jenna]

Maybe make authors that make the shortlist from previous years ineligible for nomination for a few years? That way we don’t see the same popular authors over and over.

[Reija]

The issue is the goal of the awards. Make a clear statement what the award is about.

If you are expecting nominations from the community based on what people have been reading, it is not surprising that the books most people have read continue to make the short list.

You either have to reinvent the whole structure and purpose of the award, or accept that it will continue to reflect the popular conscience of the community.

Therefore, maybe shape the attitudes of the community and the awards shortlist will start to shift to reflect that change in attitude. Much like we have seen with other awards.

[Kron]

The popular picks don't bother me (since usually I've read them and it means my reading list isn't as long) and when we have repeat authors that I dislike I just don't read them. It's the nature of the beast, the way this was set up. Same as Goodreads Awards - the most read, most popular will always get above.

However, to counter the issue of 'popular' and 'not diverse' and 'repeating authors' what if there was a separate "Judges Pick" category. It could fit any of the current categories - Science Fiction, Fantasy, or a debut. They would be the ones choosing. I would be excited for a "Judges Pick" category.

I really liked the judges this year. Thank you for all the work and time you've put in.

[Alistair]

if this is a 'most popular' list then the big-name fan favourites will rise to the top.
I have never read an entire Swab or a Sanderson and have no plans to start, although they are often 'most-popular'?
And as a grumpy old curmudgeon YA and Middle-grade are a mystery to me, almost a 'closed-book'?
On graphic novels, they do tend to be the big-name American publishers, DC imprints, Image etc. and although I'm reading, and am up to date, on Monstress there are not that many others that are grabbing me as 'Must Read'.

As for 'best of year' then the prize should go to Memory Called Empire, but I am more SF than the extra F.
The discussion on the short storey's was good, didn't change my mind or vote but Losing the Time War did raise in my estimation.

[Stephanie]

I like the idea of a judges pick category &/or doing a long list to help guide people away from just the "traditionally hyped" picks. Or maybe you have a long list "public" vote to get the public opinion but the judges narrow it down to the short list of make sure it is varied and diverse.

Or to have the public select only 1-2 of the books in a category but then have a judge or judges select the other 1-2 in that category.

Or to do just one public category but let the judges pick all the other ones.

I personally don't really care if I get to vote for what makes the shortlist. What I love about the SFF awards is seeing books on the shortlist that I HAVEN'T read/heard of.

So I say F it, just eliminate the public vote and have the judges help everyone to discover new authors and new books that don't get the hype they deserve. I think that would be a great direction for this award show IMO.

I also agree that a book should only be allowed to be on one shortlist category.

[Wendy]

I also like the idea of a judges pick category.

One way to diversify the picks could be to have a "works in translation" category - but in order for this to really work would be to announce this early on so people know the types of books y'all are looking for or perhaps this could be one category the judges make the selection for. Of course, while this will help with having a selection of books that aren't by white American/UK authors, it won't really help highlight English writing POC authors.

I think even a category highlighting older SFF would be fun or even new releases with less than a certain number of ratings/reviews on goodreads.

I agree that perhaps we need more specific goals for this award.

Btw, great livestream! I had a great time watching :)

[Lucinda]

The books that get shortlisted often seem to just be books I've seen loads of ads for which doesnt seem to be terribly diverse.