Expand scope of group?

[Sara W]

Would people be interested in discussions outside the scope of European Royalty? This idea was brought up in another thread, so I thought I would bring it up here for comments.

At the very least, we could create a main section or two (or three, whatever) that deal with broader topics that people could add threads to (such as an American History section, where you could discuss anything with american history, a European History section, where you could discuss anything with european history (not just royalty), etc.). We could keep the monthly group reads focused on European royalty, so nothing else would change except for some expanded topic sections.

OR, we could do the above, but also expand the monthly group reads to rotate through the different topics (one month American history, one month European history, etc. - we would have to work it out). Doing this would really expand the scope of the group outside the realm of European Royalty, so if we did this we might want to tweak the name of the group to reflect the change. I don't think the name needs to change if we just add threads dealing with other topics (like the first scenario above), but if we expand the monthly group read to include other topics beyond European Royalty, then we may need to do something about the name.

So, any thoughts or suggestions?

[Misfit]

I'd love to expand it out. There's lots of good reads on American History, as well as much European history that doesn't involve Royalty. I also love HF set in 19C India.

[Catherine]

I am all for it, Sara and Misfit. I believe this is already what we are doing with the Hemingses. American non-royalty.

[Donald]

I am open to all History.

[Jill]

I think you should go with the easier of the two options.

[Sara W]

We could create the topic sections (the first scenario above), keep the group name (which is nice for distinguishing this group from the other general history groups), but we could start doing a second monthly read that would be open to all history. That way people who are just interested in European Royalty can still focus on that group read and those related threads, but people who are interested in branching out and discussing other topics with people in this group could do so. We could either stagger the two group reads (currently we start discussions on the 15th, so the second book discussion could start on the 1st) or we could set them up at the same time and just figure people who are interested will just go with one or the other. It would kind of be a compromise between the two scenarios above. I don't think our original group read would suffer by adding an additional group read selection since there are so many people here. At least if we did something along these lines, those people here who are only interested in European Royalty won't feel like the entire group focus has changed, but it will give those who would like to branch out the opportunity to do so.

What do you think?

I don't think it would be too hard for me to set up the topic sections, and we could run the second group read like the first group read (only with an expanded scope). I figure I could set up the area for all these new topics under the European Royalty ones (and I'll tweak the current topic section names a little so they reflect the fact that they are European Royalty specific).

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

I like that idea, Sara - if you are sure it would not be too much work!

[Mandy]

I love the idea! I think the second read should be staggared, like you suggested above. That way I can read both, if I want :)

Sounds like fun - I'm excited to see the new categories and selections!

[Sera]

Sara, the expand approach sounds great! It's a great way in which we can continue to broaden our horizons.

[Emily]

I agree with everyone here. It would be nice to have two monthly choices, staggered, and lots of new historical fiction and nonfiction reads! This group has been great for expanding my horizons and I would love to learn even more!

[Sara W]

Alright then, let's give it a try! I'll post some new sections in the next couple of days. I can probably get the second read up and running pretty shortly too - the timing is good since we are just now nominating for the regular read. I'll make it staggered (I'm like Mandy - I'm definitely interested in having the time to read both without trying to read them at the same time).

[Laura]

Great idea Sara, that´s why this is my favorite group at GR.

[Sara W]

Aawww, I'm so glad to hear that Laura! I've pretty much abandoned the other groups here on goodreads that I belong to (well, ok, part of that is because I started this group, so it's kind of my baby, but mostly it's because I love the people in this group and the interactions I have here).

[Manuel]

It might be nice to expand a bit to include other areas of the world, but I still think the focus should be "Royalty".

I love history too, but there are plenty of other groups dealing with general history in GOODREADS already ( I belong to several of them)
I say keep your focus and maybe expand the margins a bit.

[Sara W]

Okay, new sections are up at the bottom! I think this should work well. People who are just interested in European Royalty can simply stick with the top sections/threads and ignore the new ones at the bottom. The name and the main focus will remain European Royalty, so I've made sure to keep those section/threads on the top, but I think the sections I created should satisfy the needs of people who would like to expand to other areas. Feel free to let me know what you think, and also add whatever topics you would like under the new section headings!