Back in January, I launched a reading challenge set to go for the totality of 2012. The challenge: read prose books that you haven’t read before, of (almost) any genre. Whoever has the highest page count wins a gift certificate to buy . . . what else? MOAR BOOKS.
Since the challenge is approaching its final weeks, I wanted to make sure that everyone who is participating is actually following the guidelines. Even if you have already read the guidelines, please read what I am going to say, especially the bit at the very end. You might have missed something, or I might have amended them, or you might have made an error somewhere along the way, etc.
Before the contest is up at 11:59pm on December 31st, PLEASE:
- Make sure that every book you plan to count has been reviewed in a space where I can access the reviews. If I can’t read your reviews, or if the books are NOT reviewed, then you will be disqualified.
- Make sure that if you’re reading ebook or audiobook versions of books that have print versions, or other special editions such as large print, that you use the standard hardback or trade paperback page counts. Anything that would unfairly conflate your page count will be looked at.
- You cannot include volumes of poetry, graphic novels, books that are mostly pictures, cookbooks that contain a large number of recipes (books about food count, books that are mostly recipes do not count), or any other books that aren’t mostly prose. The final judgment call as to whether a book counts will be up to me; books I feel that are not prose-dense enough will not count toward your final total, and could result in you being disqualified if I find too many in your list.
- Have a list ready of the titles that you are counting toward the challenge. You can do this by providing a typed list, or you can create a shelf on Goodreads or Shelfari (or other book cataloging service, as long as I can access the list) that contains all of the books that you intend to count. Please note the appropriate edition in your list. You do not have to have this list ready until January 6, but all of the books must be completed and reviewed before 11:59pm on December 31.
- If you’re trying to count an ebook that doesn’t have page numbers, but you do have a word count, please use this calculator with a setting of Times New Roman at 12 point font, single-spaced.
- You will notice an IB contributor or two posting their word counts. I decided to let them stay in because they’d already gone 2/3 of the year before joining the crew. I didn’t want to take away 2/3 of the year’s worth of work.
- Please give a thorough re-read of the original post and also the check-in post guidelines. Because . . .
I have decided that, since it’s going to take me awhile to vet the winner’s list (you guys know me, I’m going to be going over it pretty meticulously), if the winner wastes my time and has violated a significant amount of the rules, they’re going to be banned from all contests and giveaways here. Yep, banned. Don’t panic–if you have a mistake or two, I’m not going to ban you; a year is a long time to keep track and I do expect mistakes. But if I spend a long time combing over the winner’s list to find that they’ve been shady, deceptive, or negligent in following the guidelines, I’m going to be ticked off because I’ve done all I can to answer questions and be super clear about it. I’ll also have to spend time going through the next person’s list. So, make sure you are on top of the rules if you want to win the cash moneys.
The end of the world year approaches, book fans! WHO WILL WIN?
