Crime Detective Mystery Thriller Group discussion

Since my last announcement, I have had people come to me and said that they don't like the voting process. I can see that because even when your book wins, the other people may not want to participate. Just wondering if there is a way to bring more people together for a group reading.

No

What voting process? What is the problem? Though, in a different group I'm in, they select a book at random from the list of nominees. I have no problem with voting on a book.

Kirsten wrote: "What voting process? What is the problem? Though, in a different group I'm in, they select a book at random from the list of nominees. I have no problem with voting on a book."

I'm just looking for other ideas. That seems like a good one.

To give you an idea of why some of us have a problem with voting for the GR group reads, here are the results of a monthly vote in another group I belong too.
Book #1 13 votes 33.3%
Book #2 7 votes 17.9%
Book #3 6 votes 15.4%
Book #4 6 votes 15.4%
Book #5 5 votes 12.8%
Book #6 2 votes 5.1%
I've omitted the book titles, the name of the group, & the month of the poll, but the figures are real. Of course we'll be reading book #1 even tho' only 1/3 of the members who voted (it's a bigger group BTW but that's a different problem) chose it & 2/3 of us wanted something else. It seems obvious that there were too many nominees (& I seconded #5). I think we should nominate only books that we think a lot of members want to read, & require our choice to get an absolute majority.

This is an excellent example. Let's take a look at this because this probably happens all the time in other groups as well.
The point here is that 39 people participated. You probably won't have half the group reading that book now even though you have 39 people who want to read a book. So, this being a great example says, how do we get all 39 people together to read one book.
Bill, I think I know which group this is but we don't have to say it here. Were six books nominated at the start or were more books nominated?

The moderator opens nominations & then as many as want to can submit their choices. Some of us like to signal our support with a second but it's not required.

The simplest solution is to have three books being read. You can have a run off for the third book by having another vote. But do we want three books being read?

I know of another group where you're supposed to second the nomination. I think that's good because it may narrow down the vote. Will everyone stay in though?

A bigger point here is this whole process takes at least 2-3 weeks. You start out with 39 people and you finish with less than half.
I had a thought earlier today. We determine who wants to be involved in a group read each month, have a virtual meeting and determine what book we can all agree on. Just a thought.

I moderate a group on another site and when we put nominations up for a vote, I'm sensitive to the range of voting. It's now commonplace for us to select multiple books for discussion when a large number of members have voted for more than one book. The point is to discuss books so if we have an audience willing to participate AND lead discussions, I facilitate that. So far, it's working well after more than two years. We haven't had a situation where there's been more than two selected but it's not off the table.

Just offering info for what's working elsewhere.

Excellent point. I think that we have to consider doing that also. I know that you can't please everyone but in Bill's example, you had 39 people who wanted to be part of a group reading. If we have to select multiple books, then I would do that.
I'm thinking of putting out a folder for people to sign up so they can let me know that they want to be part of a group read. This should organize things better for October and the future.

I must confess that I don't like the voting process because it is complicated to actually vote from my iPad, which is how I access Goodreads. The interface is just too clunky.

I dislike using the GoodReads app for most things. It's just a pain.

Interesting points. I wouldn't think this would happen with an ipad or an app.