Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

Hey, everyone! I'm Pamela. Along with Yz the Whyz, I moderate Paranormal Romance. :) Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the group's rules before posting.

1. When you start a new topic, please choose the appropriate for it. So, if you're posting about a paranormal romance book or author, choose the Paranormal Romance folder, or if you're discussing tv shows or movies in the genre, pick TV/Movies/Music. See below for a description of each folder. Also, check the folders to see if someone's already created a topic for what you want to post about! You can search using the box on the right sidebar.

2. If you're looking to promote your own books, blogs, or groups, please put these topics in the Self-Promotion group only. Self-promotion topics posted in other folders will be deleted. For more detailed rules on Self-Promotion, please read the sticky post below this one, or in the Self-Promotions Folder.

3. Please be sure your topic is appropriate to the group before posting it. Email forwards, urban legends, and chain letters are emphatically NOT appropriate and will be deleted. It is also inappropriate to badmouth other groups or bring up other groups' problems anywhere in Paranormal Romance. If this happens, the offending posts will be deleted.

4. Please be polite and respectful to other members. Remember that not everyone shares the sames likes and dislikes. Differences in opinion will inevitably come up, but you should discuss them in a civil, respectful manner. Remember to criticize books, not the people who read them. Anyone who breaks this rule will be removed from the group at the moderators' discretion.

5. Please try to use proper grammar and spelling as often as possible. Some of us are curmudgeonly and get cranky when we have to try to read sTiCkY CaPs and netspeak. And for the love of pete, please don't post in ALL CAPS. It's considered shouting online and is very rude.

6. Sharing of illegal, pirated copies of copyrighted books is not allowed here. Basically, if you're wondering if you can share a PDF of a BDB book, you can't. Sharing links to legitimately free content is definitely welcome, but do not post links to pirated books here and do not set up email exchanges of pirated books here. Your post will be deleted. I can't stop you from sharing files elsewhere, as that's none of my business. But it will not be tolerated in Paranormal Romance.

Folder Descriptions
Admin Posts - This folder is for posts made by the moderators. They include rules, updates, and the like. Please don't post any new topics to this folder. If you have a question or concern, please post it in the Admin Posts / Questions & Concerns topic.

General Discussion - This folder is for any book-related discussion that's not specific to paranormal romances. Our introduction topic is here, as well as a topic to talk about what you're reading right now.

Paranormal Romance - This folder is for discussion that's specifically about paranormal romance. Threads for types of books, individual authors and series go here. Paranormal Romance as a genre is defined by supernatural creatures/concepts/setting with a Happy Ever After (HEA) at the end of each book. Examples of PNR series include Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward, Lords of the Underworld by Gena Showalter, the Demonica series by Larissa Ione, the Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian, and Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole.

Urban Fantasy - This folder is for discussion about urban fantasy books, series, and authors. Urban Fantasy is defined as a genre as having a modern or close-to-modern setting with supernatural creatures/concepts/powers included, and books do not necessarily have a Happy Ever After ending. Examples of UF series include Jeaniene Frost's Kat and Bones series, the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, the Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead, and the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.

SF/Futuristic Romance - This folder is for discussion about science fiction or futuristic romance, such as that written by Linnea Sinclair or Rowena Cherry.

Fantasy Romance - This folder is for discussion about fantasy romance, such as that written by C.L. Lewis.

TV/Movies/Music - This folder is for discussion about related television shows, movies, and music. Most of the discussion is about paranormal shows, but discussion about any show, movie, or music is welcome.

Totally Off Topic - Anything goes in this folder. What are you doing today? What's your favorite website? What are your musings on life, the universe, and everything? These topics go here.

Member Reviews - If you review books somewhere other than Goodreads, you're welcome to start a topic here and post updates as you post new reviews.

Self-Promotions - This folder is for authors to promote their books, blogs, and events, and for members to promote related Goodreads communities. Self-Promotion posts MUST be posted to this folder, or they will be deleted.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to make them here. :)

If you have other groups can you post them in the self-promo folder?

Hi, Kenjii. Yes, you can promote your other groups in the Self-Promotions folder. :)

I've got a question about hyperlinks and special formating (like italics) in posts. When they arrive in my mailbox as digests, anytime there's a hyperlink or html, it looks like gobbly gook and is extremely hard to read. I'm not sure if it's just me, or if everyone but the writers see it that way. An example of the gobbly gook effect was in Gina's 11/24 post of what she's reading now or mlady_rebecca's Kelly Armstrong post (same day). Anyone else having trouble with this?

Never noticed, Anita. I'll keep my eyes open. I know that when you see the half arrows with letters in between, that the html. As for when I post links for what I'm reading now, it's GoodReads own link when you click on add book/author. *shrug*

Anita, I've seen that too. Are you in the Goodreads Feedback group? If you are, I would recommend posting that in the "bugs" folder. I think they would definitely want to know about it. Then other people could chime in if they're having the same problem too.

I've seen that also, Anita. I'd definitely report it in the Goodreads Feedback group.

Hi! I started a January reading challenge in the general discussion folder and so far it has been well-received. I ran a poll whether to take next month challenge in another group or stay here, and the winning response is to stay here.

Would I be overstepping my bounds if I request a folder for Monthly Reading Challenges or do you think I should just launch the Feb one under General discussion folder?

Hi, Yz! I definitely don't mind setting up a folder for the challenge. I think it's a great idea, and I'm very glad that you're willing to run it. :)

Give me a few minutes and the folder will be ready!

Edit: Okay, I've created the folder. It's not showing up on the main discussions page yet simply because it doesn't have any topics yet. When you post a new topic, it should be in the drop-down menu. :)

The Discriminating Fangirl wrote: "Hi, Yz! I definitely don't mind setting up a folder for the challenge. I think it's a great idea, and I'm very glad that you're willing to run it. :)

Give me a few minutes and the folder will be..."

Thanks...Can you transfer the current January Challenge thread under it, too?

Done!

Hey, everyone! Just a heads-up that I've updated the rules a bit. I added a request to check for existing topics before starting a new one, and to try to limit the use of netspeak and StIcKy CaPs (because I'm a curmudgeon, heh). Thanks!

A special request to our dear Moderatrix.

Can you make the Monthly Challenges Leaderboard thread a sticky in the Monthly Challenges folder?

I would really appreciate it if you can.

Sure, Yz, I'll do that now. Sorry I missed this post!

No worries. Thanks!

hi i'm new here and i had a question on how to get to the folders cuz i'm really confused it's only my second day with goodreads and my frist with this group can anyone help me out plz

What's your question, Maggie? :)

i don't know to get lets say the paranormal romance folder how would i do tat im really confused

To access the discussions, you first click on the link in the right sidebar that says Discussions. That will bring up a page with links to all of the folders, including Paranormal Romance, and will show the first two posts in that folder. If you click on the folder name, that will show you all of the posts in that folder.

I hope that answers your question!

Yea, navigating Goodreads was tough for me at first, too. I'm still trying to figure out how to look for certain authors Goodreads page.

I have been trying to figure out how to leave a group I have joined (not this one). Any ideas?

Heather wrote: "I have been trying to figure out how to leave a group I have joined (not this one). Any ideas?"

Heather, if you go to the group's main/home page you should see on the right hand side a line saying "you are a member of this group" and a link to edit your membership. Click on that link and then you should see near the top a section about how long you have been a member of the group and a link saying "leave group".

Hope that helps.

Mel W wrote: "Heather wrote: "I have been trying to figure out how to leave a group I have joined (not this one). Any ideas?"

Heather, if you go to the group's main/home page you should see on the right hand ..."


Thanks a bunch. That did it!

Glad I could help :)

Just updated the rules. Posting links to illegally pirated books is not allowed in this group.

Can someone tell me how to change my settings so people can find me on Goodreads easier? I'm putting my info on my author page for my publisher and I'd like to make it simple. For instance, on Facebook I was able to customize the settings to facebook.com/my name rather than a long bunch of numbers.

On goodreads it shows all the info together without periods or forward slashes. It says customize your url but when I change it to http://www.goodreads.com/anitaclenney and save, it changes it back without the forward slashes and periods. Earlier today, when I tried, I was getting a message box asking if I wanted to save this or go online to find a program to open the file.I'd never seen that message before. It would always just save. Any ideas?

Anita, all you need to do to get a custom URL is enter anitaclenney in that field. It automatically adds the rest of the URL. :) I hope that helps!

If it doesn't, contact the Goodreads staff for help. They're super great about getting back to you promptly.

Thanks for the help! You guys have been so great. Someone emailed me last night and looked into it and saw that there was a duplication somehow, a glitch I guess, and that was why it wouldn't let me change it. I kept getting weird messages, but IT'S WORKING GREAT now! Thanks again. What a great group!

hi,im new, any tips or advice? what are the age limits for this group? beause i am pretty young but im addied to books majorly!!!

Hey Pam, I just wanted to let you know that if you go to group settings you can edit your group's tags, so that it's more searchable. New GR feature! :)

Ooh, thanks for the heads up!

ok, I have a stupid question regarding the folders. Well, more regarding the PNR/UF definitions. I don't understand why BDB is listed as UF, It doesn't seem different to me than Kresley Cole, Gena Showalter et al. The whole thing is so confusing to me, and it bugs me because when I try to get suggestions for good reads, I have to research and find out if it is about one person for 37 books, which I don't really care for. I gotta have a HEA.

I'm also confused about the presence of BDB on the UF list. They all end HEA...don't they? Is that the only difference between UF and PNR?

I haven't read the BDB books, but from what I have been told by several members of the group, the series started off with HEA endings in every book, but has since changed into a more UF style without that HEA. That is why it's in the UF folder.

TDF Pamela wrote: "I haven't read the BDB books, but from what I have been told by several members of the group, the series started off with HEA endings in every book, but has since changed into a more UF style witho..."

Each BDB book so far has an HEA at the end of each book. Sure, the romance might not be the main focus of the latter books, but by the last few pages a happily-ever-after for the main couple is always achieved.

Okay, if they have HEAs, I'll move them back to the PNR folder. Just by the discussions I'd seen on here, it sounded like the books had gone more UF. :)

I've always had trouble differentiating PNR from UF?

d'oh! I just read some of the other threads and got my question answered!

Jayded wrote: "ok, I have a stupid question regarding the folders. Well, more regarding the PNR/UF definitions. I don't understand why BDB is listed as UF, It doesn't seem different to me than Kresley Cole, Gen..."

Jayded, the point of the different labels is to help readers better find what they're looking for. So when you're looking for recs or someone else is they can specify PNR, not UF, please. :)

Yep, the labels are more for recommendations and for people who prefer one genre over the other. The lines are blurry between the two, but the best rule of thumb to use is to see whether a series has a Happy Ever After at the end of each book, or if the relationship/romance spans over multiple books. If it has the HEA each time, it's paranormal romance. It if doesn't, it's urban fantasy.

I've just updated the rules with these two additions:

-It is also inappropriate to badmouth other groups or bring up other groups' problems anywhere in Paranormal Romance. If this happens, the offending posts will be deleted.

-And for the love of pete, please don't post in ALL CAPS. It's considered shouting online and is very rude.


I've also started a new topic in the Admin Posts folder specifically for your questions and concerns. :)

Thanks!

I have a question about book promotions and would have put it under the self-promotion thread, but I can't tell if it's the author or someone else doing it.

One of our group members appears to be pretty much posting to promote a new book (7 of 8 posts to this group are promoting it). She hasn't really been spamming it, maybe two posts per month, but I noticed it when looking to recommend books in recent posts requesting them.

My biggest issue with it is because the book isn't even being released for several months so it kind of struck me as unrelated to the topic of "looking for a book recommendation". I take this to mean to be purchased, borrowed, etc. within the next week or so unless otherwise stated for something like a vacation or gift.

Amber, can you send me a private message with the member's name? Thanks very much.

Hi,

We have a blog tour next week with great prizes. We publish romantic sci-fiction, fantasy and paranormal. Can I share this give-away here with this group? Can I post on the general board?

Thanks~!


Permission to repost granted….

Crescent Moon Press
Memorial Day Weekend Bash~!

Three Day Blog Tour

May 24th, 25th & 26th

Prizes at every stop
Grand Prize Nook or Kindle, Your Choice
Every stop along the way will have a posted quest
Sign up for the newsletter or blog
Email your quest answer to the author to enter for great prizes.
Complete all blog tour stops to enter into the grand prize drawing
A Nook or Kindle, Your Choice
BONUS a dozen digital books

Full itinerary will be posted on the CMP blog.
All stops must be completed to qualify for the Grand Prize.
You can join the games late. All quests must be completed by May 26th end of day.

All Winners Posted on CMP blog by June 4th

Hi, midnightcandle. You can post about your giveaway in the Self-Promotion folder. Thanks for asking. :)

Quick reading challenge question. Is there a rule about how short a book can be that we read for the challenge? I have a couple that i got for free on my nook, but they ended up being less than 100 pages. Thank you bunches.

Mo, you might ask your question in this topic: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

That way Yz, who runs the reading challenges, will be more likely to see it, or another member might be able to answer it for you. :)

Read and Agreed. Thank you

Read thank you

Read and understood them (^.^)