The 2013 Mad Reviewing Reading & Reviewing Challenge is still in progress of course but I’m liking it so much that I figured I may as well start people on the sign up sheet.  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.  That way I can contact you at the end of 2014 if you haven’t submitted your reviews to me for verification.

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 draw for the 2014 prizes will take place on January 3, 2015.  This will give everyone time to tell me they’ve finished their chosen level and I’ll have time to actually verify the reviews.  If you’ve completed your level and haven’t informed me by the evening of January 2 that’s just too bad.  The draw will happen regardless.

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 2013 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 2013:

Goal:  104 books read and reviewed<br>
Current:  0<br>
<div style=”height:15px;background:#A9D0F5;border:solid;”>
<div style=”background:#3366FF;color:white;width:0;”><b>0</b>
</div>
</div>

A huge thanks goes to Stacking Pennies for the initial format of the progress bar.  Of course you can use your own but I thought I’d provide a nice tool for those of you that, like me, aren’t very HTML-savvy.

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!

[UPDATE 03/01/14: PLEASE POST A LINK TO WHERE YOU’RE POSTING YOUR REVIEWS.  THIS MAKES IT EASIER FOR ME TO VERIFY EVERYTHING AT THE END OF THE YEAR!  If you don’t post a link for me, I ask for one and you don’t get back to me you’re not officially signed up.]