Tagged: reading and reviewing challenge
The Mad Reviewer Reading and Reviewing Challenge 2015 Sign Up
Well, last year’s reading challenge is over so now it’s time for the 2015 Mad Reviewer Reading & Reviewing Challenge. A huge thank you goes to the amazing Diantha Jones for designing the lovely challenge button you see above for the third year in a row. If you’re participating in the challenge, you can grab the button above. Here is the HTML for it:
<a href=”//themadreviewer.com/2015/01/02/the-mad-reviewer-reading-and-reviewing-challenge-2015-sign-up/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q574/DianthaJones/MRRC2015Final.png” border=”0″ alt=” photo MRRC2015Final.png”/></a>
Once again, the challenge is the same as last year:
The Mad Reviewer Reading Challenge is to read and review (either on Goodreads, Amazon or your own blog) 104 books in one year starting January 1, 2014 and ending December 31, 2014.
I’m fully aware that not everyone has time to read 104 books which is why I’ve created different levels of the challenge that you can aspire to:
1. Mad Reviewer: 104 books in one year. (2 books a week all year.)
2. Crazy Reviewer: 52 books in one year. (1 book a week all year.)
3. Slightly Sane Reviewer: 26 books in one year. (1 book every fortnight all year.)
4. Sane Reviewer: 12 books in one year. (1 book every month all year.)
RULES
1. Self-published, independently published and traditionally published books are all completely acceptable. Whether you read print copies or ebook copies makes no difference at all.
2. No audiobooks. I’d prefer people to read the books themselves, not have someone reading to them. Audiobooks can absolutely be a valuable tool for busy readers but they’re not really in the spirit of this challenge.
3. I don’t have a sign up form but if you intend to do this challenge you must post a comment below so that you’re officially signed up.
4. You can review your books on any site. Your own blog, Goodreads, someone else’s blog, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. The point is just to review the books you read!
5. The last day you can sign up is July 31st of 2015. I’m not taking any more entries after that, sorry.
6. The draw for the 2015 prizes will take place in the first few days of January 2016. This will give everyone time to tell me they’ve finished their chosen level and I’ll have time to actually verify the reviews. I’m not chasing people around like I did in 2013; especially not now that my challenge includes 50+ people. So at the end of the year, in December, head on back to my blog and tell me through the Contact Page or my submissions post I’ll have up on December 30th.
If you have a blog it would be great if you could use the button at the top of the post designed by the lovely Diantha Jones for me. (She also designed the 2014 version and my banner.) If you would like to keep track of your progress using a side bar, I find that this one worked well for me in 2014:
<div id=”progressbar” style=”background-color:black;border-radius:13px;padding:3px;width:104px;”>
<div style=”background-color:orange;border-radius:10px;height:20px;width:0px;”>
</div>
</div>
0/104 books read
In order to use this sidebar, all you have to do is change the first bolded px length to however many books you’re reviewing that year (104, 52, 26 or 12) and when you review a book, you change the second bolded px length to indicate it. So if you’re amazing for 26 books and you’ve reviewed 13, your bar would look like this:
<div id=”progressbar” style=”background-color:black;border-radius:13px;padding:3px;width:26px;”>
<div style=”background-color:orange;border-radius:10px;height:20px;width:13px;”>
</div>
</div>
13/26 books read
If you need anymore help with the progress bar, let me know via my Contact page. I’m not the most tech savvy (which is why credit goes to Mark Lee of The Masquerade Crew for designing this bar) but I will try my best to help.
PRIZE SELECTION
Anyone who completes the level they stated as their goal will be entered into a draw. How many entries you get will be determined by what level you’ve achieved:
Mad Reviewer (104 books): 4 entries
Crazy Reviewer (52 books): 3 entries
Slightly Sane Reviewer (26 books): 2 entries
Sane Reviewer (12 books): 1 entry
I know life gets in the way of reading and reviewing frequently, so what I offer to people who don’t complete their goal is a second chance of a sort. Say you aimed for Crazy Reviewer and only reviewed 30 books. Since you reviewed a minimum of 26 books you can still enter the draw as a Slightly Sane Reviewer. That way you’ve at least achieved a level of the challenge as well as had your name entered in the grand prize draw where I’ll be choosing a winner and three runners up. (This second chance applies to any level.)
HOW TO SIGN UP
Just post your name, the link to where you’ll be reviewing your books and the level at which you want to participate in the comments below! I’ll be posting a separate list of all the challenge participants (and their goals) as the comments flow in. If you could also publicize the challenge using Twitter, Facebook, your own blogs, etc. that would be great. The more the merrier!
Calling all Authors!
In my first post about my Reading & Reviewing challenge I mentioned that I would be initiating an open call for writers to submit books. Well folks, here it is!
If you’re an author I would like you to provide the gift of 1 free ebook for my reading and reviewing challenge. It doesn’t matter if you’re traditionally published or self-published, a writer who stays in one genre or someone who writes in multiple genres. I want all types of books submitted because the people participating in my reviewing challenge are all unique in their reading tastes.
I know what you’re asking now: what do you stand to gain from providing a free book? There are two main things:
1. Publicity
I will be publicly listing and thanking all of the authors who provide free books for my challenge participants. The Mad Reviewer is not a big blog by any means, but I will promote the heck out of my thank you post. It’s a great chance for exposure because if your book sounds interesting to me, I might just request a copy for myself.
2. Reviews!
Reviews are a huge thing for authors. Although I can’t guarantee that if you submit a book you’ll get a review, you stand a much greater chance of getting a review than if you have a ‘free’ day on Amazon. Why? Because your book will be going into the hands of someone who has already proven they are an avid reviewer. Every single person in my reading challenge has to write a review for the books they’ve read to prove they have read them. Some people aimed for the top level of 104 books read and reviewed, others achieved the 12 books read and reviewed. Either way, your chances of getting a review are much higher because depending on how many submissions I get, the winners of my challenge will be picking the books they would like. If you’re interested in a book to start with, you’re probably going to enjoy it and in turn, review it. It’s a win-win for authors and reviewers.
If you would like to submit a book as a prize, please comment on this post with your name (or pen name), the title of the book you’d like to submit, a blurb and a link to Amazon and/or Goodreads. I’m keeping a spreadsheet of all of the authors who submit their books and I’ll be sending it to the winner and the three runners up. They can choose which books they like and I’ll let you know if your book has been chosen as well as what format the winner would prefer.
Thank you so much and I hope to be in contact soon.
One Month to go in The Mad Reviewer Reading Challenge!
Yes, it’s November 30th and almost the end of another year. My second blogging anniversary is coming up in January, but more importantly my reading and reviewing challenge will be coming to an end at 11:59pm on December 30th. I’m hoping to announce winners the very next day, but it may be a couple days afterward as I collect the names and enter them into my draw.
So I’m basically finished. I’m going to review a few long books (Cleopatra’s Memoirs, 11/22/63, etc.) and then add any of the long books I didn’t count from the rest of this year. I’ve read and reviewed far more than 104 books this year and although I won’t reach my 500 review goal I’m pretty happy with how this blog has been running.
My question for you guys now is: If you’re participating in the challenge, do you think you’re going to finish? What level are you finishing? Will you try again next year?
And if you’re not involved in the challenge, read all about it here and tell me this: would you like to participate in the 2014 version? Why or why not?