Small and Independent Press Books discussion

One of my other groups does multiple (voluntary) group common reads, chosen by group-wide polls, on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. That's not an approach I'd recommend here; but they also do something that might be a good idea for this group: they use the term "buddy reads" for what are in effect informal mini common reads, member-initiated, and open to anyone in the group who wants to take part. These usually have more than just two or three participants; they aren't featured at the top of the group page and there are no whole-group notifications or changes of shelf status for the book involved, but the discussions are carried on using a dedicated thread on the discussion board for each one, rather than by personal message.

So, I'd like to also open up this thread for any proposals along this line that any members might wish to suggest from time to time! Specifically, just now, we have a poll up gauging sentiments on the idea of doing a common reads of And The Wolf Shall Dwell by our own Joni Dee next month (and Joni has offered a free e-copy to anyone who wishes to take part). It's occurred to me that such a read might be ideally suited to this format. What do some of the rest of you think about this?

I like this concept better than Common Reads. We all have such diverse tastes. If "anybuddy" wants to read my work and critique/review it, I'm happy to send a free e-copy.

Shane, thanks for your feedback; that's helpful! And your offer is very generous; on behalf of the group, thanks.

(If any members of the group ever decide to do a buddy read of any of Shanes' books that I've read, I'll be glad to join in the discussion!)

Altogether, seven people voted on the poll. Four are interested in doing the read (and as I said earlier, I'm in as well!), three more are not opposed to common reads, though won't be taking part in this one, and none are opposed to the idea in principle. So, it's on!

As discussed above, we'll do this on the multi-person buddy read plan. I'll get a thread set up for it at the beginning of next month (probably in the "Action adventure" folder?), and we'll start then. Joni, do you have any instructions for folks who want a free copy of the e-book edition?

Joni, I received the file, and test forwarded it to my other e-mail account. The attached file seems to have transferred just fine!

Alicia, just now, I forwarded the same attachment to you. Just let me know whether or not you're able to access it satisfactorily! That will be the test case.

Everybody else, if you want an e-copy, just personal message me with your e-mail address (the Goodreads messaging system can't handle attachments). If Alicia's forward is successful, I'll forward yours the same way. If not, I'll save the e-version to my memory stick, and then send it as an attachment in a new e-mail to you. But one way or another, I'll see that you get it!

Not yet, Werner.

My publically available email address is abehrhardt [at] gmail.

I check all three several times a day, but that one should work. How big is the file?

Hmmm! It shows in my "Sent" file, so I did hit the "send" button; and it wasn't treated as "undeliverable." I'm not sure how long it takes an e-mail to transmit. Thanks, Alicia; keep us posted!

Alicia wrote: "My publically available email address is abehrhardt [at] gmail.

I check all three several times a day, but that one should work. How big is the file?"

Alicia, that's the e-mail address I used. According to my computer, the file size is 3MB.

Just as a note, in the future we'll plan to use this thread (or a dedicated thread for the particular book --or personal messages to members who might be interested) to arrange for buddy reads, rather than group-wide polls. That, I think, will allow those who are genuinely interested to respond, while avoiding confusion on the part of others.

Werner wrote: "Alicia, that's the e-mail add..."

It came through to my email address when you sent it last.

The spelling is tricky - didn't know when I married the man how many times I'd have to deal with that! But if I kept my name, I would be Dr. Butcher - didn't like that, either. Picky, picky.

Alicia wrote: "Werner wrote: "Alicia, that's the e-mail add..."

It came through to my email address when you sent it last.

The spelling is tricky - didn't know when I married the man how many times I'd have to ..."

Alicia, I'll bet anything that I left off the t the first time I typed in your e-mail address!

That would be a good reason why the email didn't make it, but I'm curious that your mail program didn't tell you the email was undeliverable. Sometimes they do.

I've been spelling it for over 43 years, and my fingers occasionally trip.

Alicia wrote: "That would be a good reason why the email didn't make it, but I'm curious that your mail program didn't tell you the email was undeliverable. Sometimes they do."

Normally my program would have done exactly that, Alicia, which is why I didn't consider this explanation at first. But for me, pretty much anything whatever that computers do, or don't do, is an inexplicable mystery! :-)

Note: This comment is being cross-posted in both the "Common read?" and "Buddy reads?' threads.

By now, we've finished our discussion of Joni's book. This was the first time we've ever done anything of this sort, so it was an experiment, and a learning experience. (Everyone involved has approached it that way, including Joni, and myself as moderator; and have acted in an honest and above-board fashion throughout the process!) By now, some conclusions can be drawn from the group's experience, and from feedback I've gotten. I've come to two conclusions, and am setting them as policy for the future.

First, formal common reads, voted on through a poll, are not well suited to this group's focus on independent or small press books, nor to the very broad diversity of reading interests and tastes in our membership. It's fine for members to use the "Buddy reads?" thread to arrange for groups of interested members to read a particular book together, and to discuss their reading experience on the thread for that book. But my decision as moderator is that for the future, we won't try to do any more group-wide reads, even though participation is (was) voluntary.

Second, it's fine for authors to offer free electronic (or print) copies to members of this group. However, in the future those offers should be made on the thread for the book or series in question, by the author himself or herself; and the author should be the one to handle the distribution of the free copies. When group moderators serve as middlemen, and/or when group announcements are made using the "broadcast message" function, there's an inevitable --even if mistaken-- perception that the group is advertising or endorsing the book. So that won't be done in the future.

Like individuals, groups grow in understanding through experiences, and that's a positive thing! I appreciate the contributions of everyone who took part in this particular experience.