Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Please read through the rules first and ask for clarifications/questions in this thread. :)

1. 10 month season, starting on January 1st and ending on October 31st.

2. Books started in the previous year may be counted if you finish them after January 1st. We will trust that you will not take advantage of this and start a bunch of books in December just so you can add them right on January 1st.

3. When adding the page count, you may use any of the top 5 English versions* unless you're actually reading the non-English version. The rationale is there were some 300K word count books counting less than a third of that size. It's imperfect, but unless we had a word count for every book out there, there isn't a better way.

*For books listed on Goodreads with only Audio format (no page count available) - 30 pages/hr, or a page every 2 minutes is the average book narration rate at 1x speed
Example: 8-hour book - 240 pages

4. Point system:

Audio: 1:1
Read: 1.25/1 = 5/4
Graphic 1/4

For example, an audiobook with 300 pages will be worth 3.0 points. A 300-page e/print book will be 3.8 points. A 300-page graphic novel will be 0.8 points.

BR: 1/3 bonus
For Buddy Reads points to count, you can start reading the book one week before the BR start date or join in within 2 weeks after the start date. These bonus points are to encourage discussion, so you may only get the BR bonus if you participate in the discussion, not just simply reading at the same time.

Challenge: 1/10 bonus
For challenge points to count, you can use any challenge that you have a tracker set up in this group.

A spreadsheet to input and track points will be posted after teams are announced.

5. New people joining need to have a 100 post minimum in this group. This is to ensure you will not disappear shortly after signing up.

6. For people signing up later than the initial draft, once you are added to the challenge, you may include points starting from the day you signed up for the challenge. If you started a book a few days before signing up for the challenge and are still reading when you sign up, you may also include those books.

Announcements will be posted whenever necessary.

The asterisk for audio-only should probably be up with point 3, page counts... not point 4, point system...

:D

Timelord Iain wrote: "The asterisk for audio-only should probably be up with point 3, page counts... not point 4, point system...

:D"

updated :)

Not to be a stickler, but the accompanying paragraph that explains it should then also probably be moved up, above 4. Point System...

Altho, at least they'll be looking for an asterisk to read, having the actual asterisk up there...

I have a question/suggestion--maybe for future years...?

We have a lot of folks in the group who read in languages that aren't their first language... it's so awesome to be able to chat books with people from around the world!!

I was wondering if there was some way to recognize that extra effort in the points system... though come to think of it, it'd be easy to make a "2nd language plus!" challenge and just put it in challenges...

Just sharing thoughts, not sure where I'm going with this...

Nirkatze wrote: "I have a question/suggestion--maybe for future years...?

We have a lot of folks in the group who read in languages that aren't their first language... it's so awesome to be able to chat books with..."

You're allowed the page count of the language you read if that helps? Sometimes they're a lot longer. Maybe not always though 😅

^_^ I think I might make a 2nd Language Challenge--and definitely put the correct pages for the book I'm reading--but I'm also thinking of all the folks reading in English for whom it's their second language--I wish they could get a little extra too...

I think we mostly just try to not make anyone feel like they have to read the book in English, with the page count rules... the page count rules went through a few iterations, and we tried to settle on the one that felt like the least work, and didn't penalize unlucky books too much... some books, especially longer high fantasy, vary widely in page count across book types (mass market paperback, hardcover, regular paperback with larger pages)...

In the original iteration, you could check all editions, and it seemed so cumbersome I started building a list of BR page counts to save people time... became a group project, and kinda showed the mods the amount of work involved and they cut it to 5 English editions, or the page count in the actual book you have in whatever language you're reading in... later adjustments were made for books only available on Audible with no page count or Big Finish productions, etc... and later came the ebook/paperback bonus, when it was determined high speed audiobook listeners had a bit of an unfair advantage...

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of the historical details... just giving some context, and how we ended up with the rules we have...

I'm pretty sure, a large amount of people started reading in English, because not all books get translated, or there are delays... from the stories I've heard, anyway...

So, just to be sure: if you read an English version, you take the highest page count of the first 5 English editions?

Saar The Book owl wrote: "So, just to be sure: if you read an English version, you take the highest page count of the first 5 English editions?"

Yes... in 90% of cases that's the top 5 editions listed on the book page... there's a slight margin for error/breaking the rules, when most editions don't have a page count... it's also hard to say the top edition is the top edition based on ratings, since it's the edition you enter the page from... I THINK Goodreads usually sends you to the top edition of a book, but it doesn't always seem to be the case... and alot of my personal book page links are hyperlinks from book titles in the spreadsheet, which relies on the pages from google search results...

But yea, the general rule is top 5 English edition page counts... it's mostly run on an honor system, that you aren't looking through 20/50/100 editions (of super popular books) for that Large Print Edition with double the page count...

And to save people time... back in year 1, I kinda demonstrated how time-consuming searching all editions of popular books could/would be, when I created a thread to try and find the best page counts for all scheduled Buddy Reads... turned it into a team effort...

Thanks, Iain, just what I needed to know :)