Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

April 2014 PIFM Challenge

What is the Pick-It-For-Me Challenge?

The Pick-It-For-Me Challenge (PIFM) is a reading challenge where each participant gives and receives book recommendations based on a given a set of rules. The assignment method and book selection rules change each month so it’s always new and always different.

After signups are closed, I'll put your names and any extra info I’ve requested into the super secret PIFM randomizer and select someone for you to choose for. This will get posted along with the rules for the month.

While you're doing your picks, someone else is doing picks for you. Once you receive them, you pick a book off the list and get reading. To complete the challenge, you only have to read 1 (one) book but many of us end up reading more because we just can't resist a list of books to read.

In order to participate you need to either HAVE YOUR PROFILE SET TO PUBLIC (preferable), or make the person who will be giving you recommendations your friend. On top of that, I strongly recommend keeping your bookshelves updated; otherwise you might end up with a recommendation that you have already read.

Everything gets done in this thread so be sure to come back often!!!


***TIPS TO MAKE THE CHALLENGE ENJOYABLE FOR EVERYONE!***

1. Check the publishing date of the book before recommending it. To check the publishing date, from your pickee's to-read or similar shelf choose shelf settings, select "date pub" from the drop down selections and save/close the menu.

2. Check pickee's personalized shelves, especially their exclusive shelves - it could be very helpful in recommending something they want to read. A personalized shelf is one that a member has labeled themselves, for example, 'to read next', 'can't wait to read', 'favorites'.

3. Look at your pickee's 'read' shelf and see what genres they have recently read the most. That might help in choosing something they are interested in reading right now.

4. Please make sure the books you choose for your pickee are not on their 'read' shelf. Just because it isn't rated doesn't mean it wasn't read. Sometimes the reader may choose not to rate a book.

5. Although Buddy Reads are no longer going to be offered as a category, if there is a recommendation that you give your pickee that you would like to read with them, please feel free to suggest a Buddy Read with them. You can PM each other and discuss it.

6. If your pickee reads lots of books in a genre you are not familiar with (erotic romance, GLBT, YA, etc.), feel free to contact either Fran, Dee, Jane, Kat, Karen, Ty or the month's organizer and they can try to point you in the right direction for recommendations.

7. If possible, try to include a shorter book, a longer book, a new addition to their 'to-read' shelf, and and older book from their 'to-read' shelf. This gives them a variety of options to choose from. You can sort the shelves by many features - ratings, date read, date added, date published, #of pages and many other items from the shelf settings as described in tip #1. And they can be sorted by ascending or descending order as well.

8. Please choose at least 4 new titles for your pickee. These should be brand new to them and not found on any of their shelves. Part of the fun of this challenge is discovering new books to read, adding new titles to the ever-expanding tbr shelf. The remaining 4 titles should come from your pickee's tbr or preferred shelves.

9. Please remember this is a romance readers challenge, so unless you KNOW your pickee would prefer something else (something off their preferred shelf, for example) most, if not all, of your picks should be romance. There are many different sub genres and related types of books - Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Erotica, M/M, Urban Fantasy even. Take a look at your pickee's read shelf and see if they read non-romance genres before making your suggestions.

INFORMATION NEEDED TO SIGN UP
Please sign up in this thread with the answer to the following question:

**What is the average length of book you enjoy reading the most?**

A. Short (under 200 pages)
B. Medium (200 to 400 pages)
C. Long (over 400 pages)

***If you have a preferred shelf, please list it along with your pick!***

IMPORTANT DATES
Sign ups will remain open until March 23rd (8 pm EST).

You’ll have until March 26th (8 pm EST) to make your recommendations.

Please do not start reading your book(s) until the first of the month. You then have the entire month to read your pick(s) and give some feedback.

If you’re new please read the PIFM Guidelines and FAQ. If you have any questions that are not addressed there, please feel free to ask!

***Please add a new comment rather than updating a previous post or your progress will likely be missed. It is also very helpful if you add more information like "I finished another pick" or "I finished my third book for this challenge" and mention if your pick was a buddy read. Thanks!***

*Please note that late sign ups will be included at the host's discretion and no one will be included after re-picks are assigned!*

Sign-Ups

A: Under 200 pages
Fran
Gigi
Tiff
MountainKat
Angi
Ra-Luka
Laura
Crystal
~KarenH~





B: 200-400 pages
Lacy
Elizabeth
Suzanne
Sallie(Shuga)
Amy J.
Grace
Elke
Breann
AnniLuvs
Diane ~Firefly~
Arena
Skandia
Juana “Darkness”
Carla_Collette
Erin
Macwolf01 [Elise]
Pam
Nancy H
Amanda
~Leslie~
Shelby
Kaileigh
Ezinwanyi~still loves Spartacus
Randi
Runell
Ashley
Mary Ann
beppy





C: Over 400 pages
Ella
Dee
Vi
Joyce
Sandy
Penney
Zara
Ty
Nichole
Daffodil

PIFM Picking Rules

This month we're taking a break from some of the wonderful creativity that shows up in so many of our challenges, and going back to basics...no theme, no fancy categories, just simple rules that should be easy to pick.

Please remember to pick at least 4 books from your pickee's TBR or preferred shelf, and 4 books that are totally new to them.

Recommend a Long book - over 400 pages.

Recommend a Short book - under 200 pages.

Recommend an author your pickee has never read before. **Please note, this does not have to be totally new to them (although that's ok too) - it can be a book on their TBR, it just has to be an author that isn't on their "read" shelf.

Recommend a book by one of your pickee's favorite authors.

Recommend a book by one of your favorite authors.

Recommend a new release - a book with an original release date in 2014.

Recommend a book that has been on your pickee's TBR over a year. If they have nothing on their shelves that old, pick one of the 20 books that have been on their TBR the longest.

Recommend a book with a cover that grabbed your attention.

**FAVORITE AUTHOR TIP: on your pickee's homepage on the right hand side under friends, people following, and a promotional ad, there is a list of "(pickees name) Favorite Authors" - which is really a most read author list. You can use that as a guide. If you click on that list, it will tell you some of the last books read by your pickee by those particular authors. Very cool feature!

Please note however, that this is a list of the most read authors for the entire time your pickee has been a Goodreads member, and preferences do change over time. It's a good idea to check that at least some of the "read" dates of the books by the author(s) you're considering are within the last year or so to be sure what you're recommending is by an author your pickee is currently enjoying.

Thanks for this tip from last month's PIFM, Gigi!

Enjoy!

Match-Ups

Please pick for the person below you in your group. The last person on the list picks for the first, for example Jensine picks for Gigi.

Picks are due by Wednesday, March 26th at 8PM EDT.

Please make sure you pick at least four new picks and four picks from your pickee’s TBR or preferred shelf!

✔=Picks Made
★=At least one book read

A: Under 200 pages:
★✔ Gigi - rrrc-pick4me
✔ Angi - kindle-books-tbr
✔ Ra-Luka - to-read
★✔ Crystal
★✔ ~KarenH~ - cant-wait-to-read
✔ Laura - this shelf
★✔ Fran - PIFM shelf
★✔ MountainKat - to-read-asap or meet-n-greet-round 3
Tiff
✔ Jensine


B: 200-400 pages:
★✔ Amanda
✔ Suzanne
★✔ Pam
★✔ Mary Ann
★✔ Erin
★✔ Grace - M & G
✔ Randi - PIFM-April
✔ Breann - pifm-pick-me
★✔ Shelby - Gang Bang Shelf or Meet and Greet Shelf
✔ Macwolf01 [Elise]
★✔ beppy - pifm-2014
Arena
★✔ Sallie(Shuga)
✔ Amy J.
✔ Diane ~Firefly~
★✔ Elke - On Deck
★✔ Carla_Collette
✔Kaileigh
✔ Runell
★✔ Lacy
★✔Juana “Darkness” - books-i-own or kindle-books-i-own
★✔ Ezinwanyi~still loves Spartacus
★✔ Skandia
★✔AnniLuvs - Pick From This Shelf
★✔ Nancy H
★✔ Elizabeth
✔Ashley
★✔ ~Leslie~


C: Over 400 pages:
★✔ Ty
★✔ Penney - PIFM Shelf
★✔ Sandy
✔ Joyce
★✔ Daffodil
★✔ Ella - pifm-april
✔ Vi
✔ Zara - to-read
★✔ Nichole - PIFM Shelf
★✔ Dee - to-read-2014


Late Arrival:
Irina

Here are a few final statistics:

We had a fairly low turnout this month, only 49 participants, and of those only 30 (61%) reported finishing at least one book. Those 30, however, finished 92 books, so overall we averaged almost 2 books per person. The average was helped out a lot by a few overachievers, led by Ella who finished a whopping 14 books. Several others read between 5 and 10 books each.

There were no runaway winners in terms of which books and/or authors were the most popular. The most read book was The King which was read by 4 people, followed by Night Broken which was read 3 times. As far as authors go, J.R. Ward was read 5 times, and no other author was read more than 3 times.

All the Pretty Covers!

I'm in and I like all books, but seem to read mostly in the B category!

I'm in! I'd say B.

I'm in and I'm an 'A'.....I really enjoy a good shorter story these days :)

Please choose a few from my PIFM shelf.

PIFM shelf

I'm in. Can I go with both B & C? My preferred shelf is: pifm-april

I'm in and I'm a B Medium!

Ella wrote: "I'm in. Can I go with both B & C? My preferred shelf is: pifm-april"

Hi Ella,

This question doesn't have anything to do with what book(s) you'll actually be reading, it's just a way to randomly separate the group in to smaller, more manageable groups before the picking matchups are done. So, the answer is no, you can't have both! ;-) If you can't choose though, and don't want to flip a coin or something, I can just put you in whichever group seems to need people when the time comes...it's up to you.

C!!

please use my to-read-2014 shelf

I'm in. And I'm both A and B, but please put me down for B or where ever you'd prefer. Thank you! Preferred shelf: rrr-pick4me shelf

I would say it would be "B"...i will post my shelf shortly

I'm in with B.

I'm a B!

M & G

I am in! "B" for me.

Please also choose from my "On Deck"shelf. ( not sure how to make it a link)

I'm in & a B!

Please use my pifm-pick-me shelf

I'm a b) MEDIUM length reader. Prefer to read a book from my 'PICK FROM THIS SHELF' list.

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


I have to figure out how to insert a link so its cute

I'm in! If I had to choose I guess I'd be 'B', but you can put me wherever you need me :-)

PIFM Shelf

deal me in with medium

I'm in b

I read mostly B books.

I love reading Long (C) books.

I'm more of a B book person, but lately, I've been reading a lot of As.

I'm in.
I'm a B: 200- 400

Please use my: Books I Own or Kindle Books I Own.

I'm in. I enjoy reading books in each category (A, B & C) so put me wherever you need me.


Please use this shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

~KarenH~ wrote: "Ella wrote: "I'm in. Can I go with both B & C? My preferred shelf is: pifm-april"

Hi Ella,

This question doesn't have anything to do with what book(s) you'll actually be reading, it's just a way..."

You can put me wherever you need me.

I'm in, and definitely medium (b)--over 320 pages and I'm wanting the book to be done.

pretty sure you'll get lots of Bs, which is where I'm at, but put me wherever you need me.

I'm in and I'm mostly a B, but you can put me anywhere you need to.

I'm a B, but you can put me wherever. I like them all :)

PIFM Shelf

I'm in and I'm gonna go with B.

I'm in and I'm usually B

I am in and usually read B.

I'm in and a B.

I'd like to join in on this challenge. I'm mostly a B, though I do read some longer books. I don't have a designated shelf.

I'm in again! I'm a B though I do read longer, I hardly ever read shorter than 200.

I probably read mostly B's, though probably some of my favorites are C's. But I do love the A's, they are so great to get GR off your back with it is nagging you about being behind in your annual challenge! So put me with the A's - GR is nagging me right now...

Please use either my to-read-asap or my meet-n-greet-round-3 shelves. Thanks!

I'm in. I'm mostly a B reader. :D

If possible I'd love any picks from either my...

Gang Bang Shelf

or my...

Meet and Greet Shelf

But I'm game for anything really. :)

I'm in and I'm mostly a C reader but I'm game for a short one sometimes one just needs a light fluff book after reading an 800 page dense book (yes I'm talking about you The Passage LOL)

I'm a A

If possible please pick from my "Kindle-books-tbr" shelf

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

I'm in I read mainly in the B category x

I'mma B (LOL)

I'm a 'B' - this is my first PIFM challenge!

Please use my PIFM-April

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

Thanks!

I-m for A. Preferred shelf: to-read

I will say C. My very favorite books are usually doorstoppers!

I'm in!

And I'd say B.

I've never tried this challenge but I'd love to! I tend towards A books - love me a good, short story. Please pick from this shelf.