Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous discussion

Well I can't figure out how to share the survey results w/out upgrading (and paying) for a 'pro' account with survey monkey so I will try to just summarize for you all.

Thank you so much to all of you who participated! It gave me a good idea of what is working and what I would like to try to improve.

1. How do you feel about the following group discussions/activities?
Looks like our biggest draw is the monthly book discussion and the book chit chat folder! The 'challenges/reading goals' folder got the most 'I could take it or leave it' responses. None of the categories got more than 1 "waist of time if you ask me' responses.

2. How often do you check in with the group?
11 answered Daily!, 4 answered couple time a week, 3 answered once a week, 1 answered once a month
Some comments regarding: When you do check in, why? What draws you to the group? What would bring you to check in/participate more often?
"New books. If other members talk about new books they are reading, I want to know and check them out myself."
"I like this group. I don't always read the books, but it's interesting to chat with other readers, and talk romance books. I guess I'm spread kind of thin, because I'm in a lot of groups, so I'm not sure what would make me participate more."
"This is my favorite group. Part of that reason is that there isn't so much going on that you are just overwhelmed. But lately is has just been the opposite. Not much at all going on."


3. Please rate your comfort level in the group (scale of 1-5)
Looks like everyone who responded to this survey feels very comfortable to participate in existing discussion with an average of 4.36.
To create a new discussion thread or buddy read was a bit lower at 3.75

4. Any suggestions for changes to the group? (group read nominations format, length of time group read poll is listed etc...) Some of the comments received:
"Maybe we should do like you did with this months poll and also read the book that came in second. The second place book could maybe even be the read for the second half of the month."
"I think you are doing a great job and you manage to keep the group active and interesting. Lots of other GR groups fall by the way side with no activity so this one is pretty cool."
"I like how it's been evolving naturally as members most interested/active in the genre are getting others to join in. Enthusiasm's infectious, I hope. I know I've been doing my best. :)"

5. Any suggestions for additions to the group? (new event, new discussion folder etc...) Some of the comments received:
"Even though I suck at challenges and abandon them have way through most of the time - it would be kind of cool to have maybe a quarterly BR group challenge."
"Is there a thread where people can post a book they read that others might like...maybe give a synopsis and reasons why it should be read?"

6. Is there something that other groups you participate in provide that this one does not? How does this group measure up? Some of the comments received:
"Your group is the one I mostly hang out in. :)"
"a section for a certain author/s discuss their books only? discuss older authors..where are they now section?"
"We do a pick it for me challenge on the Male Male Romance group, where members sign up and are then paired up and then ou pick a book for your partner to read for that month. Plus I LOVE the swap so we can continue that, lol. I love the group as it is this is the only suggestion I have."

Some of the comments:
"I really love this group. I have found out about book I would have otherwise never heard of. I love the bookshelf, I can skim through the books, see what types of themes are in them,read member reviews and make pretty good choices on what books would be a hit with me.The members are funny, nice and helpfull.It's a fun group."
"This seems to be a friendly group with a passion for romances and I like being part of this group. I read other genres and I feel that other groups sometimes excessively intellectualized things and come off sounding a bit snooty about literature, which drives me away. The discussion here is not only intellectual but fun!"

This is great information for me and has me thinking! Just so you all know what I am thinking about possibly working on for our group....

Thinking about adding a second monthly read. I was thinking the second group read would be not necessarily a specific book but maybe a featured author sort of thing or read a book by theme or setting. Group members could pick any book they like that applies and we could all discuss the authors style and differences between books or variations of the theme, that sort of thing.

I think the 'swap it with me' is going well and I want to keep that up, but I do think it would be fun to add a 'pick it for me' as well. So look for that in August!

I think the big thing I want to try to work on is encouraging participation! I only received 19 responses to this survey and that right there tells me something. I know not everyone is going to want to participate and some just like to lurk, no problem. But I do want this group to be as welcoming to participation as possible! I think maybe some 'games' and more 'getting to know you' type threads might help with that. I also think I will work on a 'frequently asked questions' type thread for questions about the genre and also about GoodReads in general (how do I post pictures?) and hopefully that would help encourage participation as well.

I also liked the idea of the quarterly challenge (check out this quarters challenge here) so I am going to work on some more ideas for that going forward!

I kinda like the idea of doing a monthly 'where are they now' type of thing for favorite BR authors. Maybe that could be working into a featured author monthly read... not sure on that one yet



The survey is still open for responses! I would love all the info and ideas I can get! Take the survey here!


Please feel free to post here with any thoughts and ideas you might have!

Love this thread! It's great to see some of the responses to the survey and where you are thinking of going with that. I really like the idea of doing a second monthy read that is a featured author or theme sort of thing. That sounds fun to all be reading something different but discussing a particular aspect of the book like the authors writing style of the theme. Fun idea! Keep up the good work Jennefer! Thanks for working so hard for the group :)

I definitely like the idea of more general monthly read by author/setting/theme rather than title-specific!

Jennefer wrote: "I only received 19 responses to this survey and that right there tells me something."

Thanks for sending out the survey. I love them and I'd like more, lol.

What I can't figure out is why people join this group but never post a thing. The whole reason for joining is so that you can post on the forum. There are over 100 members but only a tiny amount actually post. I'd like more people to participate in the monthly book club nominations. That's the one thing I'd like to see more participation in.

I do think people with terrible typing skills should be banned, seriously.

Thanks Jeanine :) My thoughts exactly!

I would like to make this group as comfortable as possible for all members and encourage participation, but there is nothing wrong with lurking at all! That is just fine :)