The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Hi everyone,

I made this topic so you guys can give me advice and suggestions to make the group so much better.

Thanks in advance,
Laura

I messaged you earlier this week. My only suggestion is to include the full titles somewhere on the polls. The tiny images of the covers don't help much if your vision is kind of shot... haha.

I would suggest doing the poll a little earlier in the month. Maybe have it end a week before the current month is over so that people have time to plan their reading and get their books.

Or maybe the first week of the month you make suggestions, then the second week you vote. Then you would know two weeks earlier what the book of the month will be.

Does that make sense?

Kristie wrote: "I would suggest doing the poll a little earlier in the month. Maybe have it end a week before the current month is over so that people have time to plan their reading and get their books.

Or mayb..."

I agree! I usually get my books from the library. So getting more of a heads up helps. Especially if there's a lot of people waiting for the same book!

Agreed on both those suggestions actually. Was about to suggest as well to add the title to the poll (if possible).
And yes, having at least a week before the next month starts to get the books would be wonderful. From what I can see so far, it's fairly easy to tell after a few days which books are going to be voted top of the list but still :-)

Brodie wrote: "I messaged you earlier this week. My only suggestion is to include the full titles somewhere on the polls. The tiny images of the covers don't help much if your vision is kind of shot... haha."
I agree the with the cover art it is hard to tell what book I am voting on, plus it would be helpful if there was a link connected to the books that told us a little bit about the plot of the books. Just an idea.

I belive we should do some horror or paranormal books, and not the whimpy kind where nothing makes sense, like twilight (I am very into cryptozoology so it made no sense and I did not like it), so all my suggestion is, is to put more correct paranormal and horror books

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for the recommendations!! Right now, i am asking for anyone who wants to be a moderator of the group with me because i am really busy and to make this improvements i need some help. If anyone is interested, please send me a message.

A quick, easy read from a young girl's perspective. If you are trying to read a certain number of books this year and have been slacking (like me), this book is for you!
Pompeii: A Roman Girl's Diary, AD 78

What about a new place in the disscusion board to get some reading buddies? Like if I'm reading one book and want to get someone to read it with me, I publish it there and if someone is interested they can message me!

Hi everyone - This thread is for suggestions to make the group better. Please use the appropriate threads for author self promotion. Thank you!

Cari - That's a great idea. I will look into setting up a place for buddy reads.

I think there should be a classifieds page for people looking for work as writers, editors, proofreaders etc. on a voluntary basis (not sure if paying gigs would be a good idea in this platform). This is something to think about as a sub-category for the discussions page.

Cari wrote: "What about a new place in the disscusion board to get some reading buddies? Like if I'm reading one book and want to get someone to read it with me, I publish it there and if someone is interested ..."

Hi Cari! I just set up a folder for buddy reads and a thread for buddy read requests. :)

Kayla wrote: "I think there should be a classifieds page for people looking for work as writers, editors, proofreaders etc. on a voluntary basis (not sure if paying gigs would be a good idea in this platform). T..."

Hi Kayla - Feel free to set up a thread for that in the "Promote Anything" folder. I don't know about being paid (there may be other clubs set up for something like that already), but many of the authors here are looking for people to review their books and will send you a free copy (usually electronic). Some of them may be interested.

you could do a group book talking on something most people vote for like a book club but with more people and lots of oppions

Naomi wrote: "you could do a group book talking on something most people vote for like a book club but with more people and lots of oppions"

Hi Naomi - We have group books every month that all our members vote on. The current books for November are Allegiant and Eleanor & Park. Discussion threads are below.

Allegiant: https: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Eleanor & Park: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'm not sure if the group has this type of thread already, but games like trivia or a word game would be fun to add to group. they are a fun way to get people involve and would be something different then book discussions, not that there is anything wrong with that though!

Hi Janessa!

We have a file set up for all sorts of games and debates. Here is a link to the folder with all the different threads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Please add threads for any other trivia or word games you think of! They are always fun! Also, please feel free to comment on old threads. Sometimes, if there has been no activity on a thread for a long time, a new comment can bring it back to life.

By any chance can you move "debates" above the two giveaway tabs?

Gotobedmouse wrote: "By any chance can you move "debates" above the two giveaway tabs?"

Done!

Thank you so much and Happy New Years

Kiera wrote: "How about a bit of reorganisation. A section for YA, fantasy, thrillers etc. I don't know about you all but I'm tired of seeing multiple dicussions over the same topic on at the same time."

I agree Kiera! I would like to consolidate the give away sections. Much of this site is give aways and blog or book promotions. I would like to see more book discussion and less promotion of books.

Hi MB - This book club has only been around for 1 year (actually February is our anniversary!!), so we only have 12 months of books. We do not remove anything from the bookshelf.

I know there is a list of books we've read at the bottom of the home page and it only keeps 12 books out. That is some standard setting. If you'd like to see all the books we've read, you can just click on the "bookshelf" tab to the right under where it says "The Perks Of Being A Book Addict". That brings you to the complete list of books.

For faster reference, the link is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

Kiera & Jodi - I agree the site needs some cleaning up. I am planning to add more archive folders to sort through some of the old stuff. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to take on that project at the moment. I am a working mom, in grad school, with an internship. I can barely keep up with monthly maintenance at the moment. Once classes are out, I plan to take that on. So, hopefully you will see a much neater site sometime this summer.

MB wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Hi MB - This book club has only been around for 1 year (actually February is our anniversary!!), so we only have 12 months of books. We do not remove anything from the bookshelf.

..."

I just checked out their page. It is set up the same way as ours. They have 12 on the front page and all under the bookshelf tab. We just have less books because we are only 1 year old. Our club only began in 2013. The books listed on our bookshelf (26) are all the books we have read.

It is a big job to moderate a site! You are doing a great job Kristie!

Thank you, Jodi!

Ooops!! Good catch MB. Thank you. It should be all set now.

MB wrote: "Thanks Kirstie! You guys are doing a great job!"

Thank you!

Is it possible to somehow keep all self promotion/give aways to the bottom of the site. I find this group has SO much self promotion and I find it really frustrating. I come here to talk about books, see what people are reading and join some buddy reads. I am not interested in self promotion at all. We have two sections "Group Give Aways" and "Promote Anything" and people are still self promoting under general discussion.

Hi Jodi - I agree there is too much of it everywhere. I don't have a good opportunity right now to do a proper cleaning of the site (due to school, work, & family commitments), but I intend to go through it all after graduation in May. If it continues after that, we may have to ban self-promotion, which would be too bad. I don't mind helping out people that want to get their work noticed, but I feel some people are taking advantage of the opportunity and ruining it for others. Sorry that isn't more helpful for the immediate future.

I, for one, am not opposed to banning self promotion.
I feel like I'm missing threads I would actually enjoy because of the overwhelming amount of self promotion in this group.

Thank you for your response Kristie. I can appreciate how busy you are moderating this site and your life outside of goodreads. I too am all for a banning of it because like Ally, I am missing out on some discussions I would enjoy. If people just kept their promotions to the two promotion areas at the bottom of the site, I could easily avoid it. Thanks again for listening.

I've been trying to move them to the appropriate threads, but I can't always keep up with it. Thanks for your input. I'll have to chat with Laura and see what she wants to do as well. :) I would rather everyone be able to enjoy the site and not feel that they have to avoid certain discussions.

Hi! Just want to suggest, why don't we make Monthly Theme Reading Challenge? I see it in other group and I think it would be good too if we have it here.
The theme could be anything the mod. choose and we will vote later to decide what themes we'll have for this month. Then, the member can suggest books that related to that theme and vote it again, of course! (I don't know why I like voting so much! XD)
Well, that's my opinion. Thank you for consider it :)

Where's the books to read for the month of May? The April books are still up.

Sorry! The threads are available for discussion. I just forgot to switch the currently reading books on the home page (again! I did that last month too!) It is all set now. Thanks for the reminder.

~RininTa~ wrote: "Hi! Just want to suggest, why don't we make Monthly Theme Reading Challenge? I see it in other group and I think it would be good too if we have it here.
The theme could be anything the mod. choos..."

Hi ~RininTa~ - I've been thinking about adding some challenges. Let me see what I can work out. Thanks for the suggestion!

How about a thread where we can share our reviews? Like this.

Here's my latest book review for The Light Who Shines.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hi Mitsy - Great suggestion! People have been sharing in the currently reading & recommendations thread, but I suppose that doesn't help if you didn't like the book., so I created a new thread. Here's the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Kristie wrote: "Hi Mitsy - Great suggestion! People have been sharing in the currently reading & recommendations thread, but I suppose that doesn't help if you didn't like the book., so I created a new thread. Her..."

Thank you! :)

I have seen BOTMs done that way as well, but you need to have a designated folder for each book with the separate threads in it. I find that the group page gets very cluttered that way.

I have added questions from the publisher to some threads to see if it would increase discussion, but so far it has not. I will continue to add some to see if people are interested in discussing that way. If people start discussing the questions more, I'll add them more often.

The suggestion about sub categories/threads sounds good, but for me the only thing I would like to have is two different topic for the same book: comments from persons who are reading the book and other from persons who already finished the book, because sometimes I want to make comments about interpretations, small details, conclusions ... but I am always afraid to make spoilers.

Silvia - you can use spoiler tags to hide spoilers. That way people have to click on it to read your comments and it doesn't ruin anything for people that haven't read the book yet. To add a spoiler tag type the following with the spaces removed:

< spoiler > The text you want hidden here. < / spoiler >

Find people's birthdays so u can CELEBRATE!!!!

Hello Fellow Perkers (will this nickname for our group members catch on? Likely not, but I tried. lol)

Anywho, I actually support the notion of different members providing questions for parts of the BOTM. Also, we can set page deadlines to help people better organize their reading (if they choose to do so; if not, then feel free to read at one's own speed) and then provide the questions for those sections.
I think in this sense, it kind of creates a book club/English Lit classroom discussion sort of feel, which I, too, very much enjoy.

Just a suggestion! Yay, Perkers! (Insert Mean Girls meme of Regina George saying, "Stop trying to make 'Perkers' happen. It's never going to happen.")

Thanks Dana. BOMs are always tough to get participation, as it always comes down to the book and those reading it! I am a mod of a group that does BOMs the way you suggest, and it is quite a bit of work for the mods (even with volunteers), and I don't think we quite have the mod-power at the moment here with the Perkers (teehee). We'll continue to give some thought to how to make the BOMs more interactive though, thanks!

Thanks for the swift and informative reply, Karen!
I've only just recently joined the Goodreads universe and am attempting to wander within all of its book-dreamy realms. When I officially get a firm grasp on all of the site's functions, I'd certainly be more than happy to help in terms of volunteering as a Mod tribute or in any other way the club can thrive.

Thanks, Dana. I've tried posting questions before and people weren't answering them. Feel free to post questions for any book you're reading and see if others participate. Sometimes people are more interested in answering questions from someone reading the book than stock questions from the publisher.