Fantasy Aficionados discussion

Looking for ideas and suggestions for the group, activities, threads, ways to generate interest, and so on.

Group reads seem pretty dead most months. Maybe instead of splitting members between two books we should concentrate on one? Or maybe add a member's choice like other clubs have? It's a funner experience when the group read leader has read and liked the book. Maybe take books from our top 100 to read? Another thought, that could be ugly to implement, is to have an independent writer group read. That each writer could contribute to the discussion. Maybe have it work as a sort of "lottery" system.
Anyway. I obviously don't suggest all of these at the same time!! Lol. Just a few ideas that came to mind while I'm supposed to be working.

We're thinking of a way to incorporate GR Author books but we need to find a way to do it without authors starting to spam the group.


But keep the ideas coming! I likey ;-)

Great thoughts, Traci! MrsJ and I are kicking some ideas around and she brought up the idea of a writer-led read replacing one of the reads every three to four months.
Member's choice is a little more problematic I feel, but in some ways, the nominations are a "member's choice," so we're kicking around the idea of having the member that makes the book nomination lead the discussion.

The top 100 is a great idea too!

I'm glad to hear your thoughts, especially because it seems like we are on the right track.

Just a thought, but a problem for me is that by the time we get the BotM picked out, it's usually too late to get the book if we dont have it on hand. Moving the voting up a week or two would be helpful in this regard....

Request/Suggestion Summary:

GR Author Reads
Have only 1 book per month
Members Choice
FA's Top 100 List
Make Voting Earlier
Series Read
Create more "Top 100" lists

Top 100 Female MCs
Top 100 Male MC
Top 100 dogs...etc

Stand Alone Reads

Regarding GR Author Reads, maybe have it that a book isn't eligible unless the author has been a member for a set number of months? Three?

I like that, Traci. Eliminates fly-by-night members. Unless invited should be a caveat--like Katherine Kerr and Faith Hunter are fairly internet active and might have contributed if asked.

Carol wrote: "I like that, Traci. Eliminates fly-by-night members. Unless invited should be a caveat--like Katherine Kerr and Faith Hunter are fairly internet active and might have contributed if asked."

Agreed. Plus a post requirement, maybe? We have tons of inactive author members who've been here for awhile. Maybe a minimum of 80-100 posts of non-spam material?

Unless invited, of course.

I think that we should definitely have the voting a little bit earlier, especially since some people usually rent the books from the library. I think that the suggestions that everyone has posted are great by the way=]

I'm cool with the voting being a bit earlier, but not insanely earlier like 3 months or anything. ;)

And I'm down with the GR Author Read with the caveats of active participation, aside from invites.

As for the limiting it to one book a month thing - may I offer the suggestion of maybe alternating between, say, epic and others if you decided to go that way.

My concern is that I find epics and classics tend to win polls over everything else, unless that something else is well known - like Dresden or something by Gaiman.

As I have little interest in most epics and/or classics, and I imagine I can't be the only one, I fear making it a free for all might lessen participation, not increase it.

An alternate idea would be themes - but I'd avoid them, to be honest. Things never seem to go well...

Instead of themes, what about monthly genres?

Something like this?


Jan - Epic
Feb - Urban
Mar - Featured Author & Epic or Urban
Apr - Epic
May - Urban
June - Featured Author & Epic or Urban

Something like that might work. :>

Also, how early is early for voting for a BotM?

Maggie and I think Traci were saying about a week earlier. This month's got off to a late start, but my timing was planned so the winner was a week before the start date. I don't want to lose enthusiasm for the book--what if we nominate at the end of the month, poll the first week, run-offs the second week?

I understand Colleen's concern and honestly I didn't think of it when I suggested the one book thing. So I have an alternative thought. How about instead of starting both books on the same date, the first of the month, the botm alternates. One can start on the first and the other the fifteenth? With each still lasting a full month.

Another question--does number of folders or thread length make a difference in accessing GR with smartphones? Does it make a difference with email digest? Should threads over a certain length be restarted? I've seen some groups do "What are you reading--May" organization instead of a general folder with 800 posts.

It just occurred to me that the time I had interacted more with the group was when we were reading the codex Alera series as a buddy read,it's probably because I'm the kind of person who likes to finish one series before starting another, so my suggestion is, every time we read a first book in a series, we can have a buddy read for the rest of the series maybe.

Carol wrote: "Another question--does number of folders or thread length make a difference in accessing GR with smartphones? Does it make a difference with email digest? Should threads over a certain length be re..."

You know, I only access via smart phone if I get an email. THe email directs me to the correct post(s). Not sure about people using the app.

But, it's possible to rearrange the order of the posts...Becks has hers backwards.

Scarlet wrote: "It just occurred to me that the time I had interacted more with the group was when we were reading the codex Alera series as a buddy read,it's probably because I'm the kind of person who likes to f..."

Series reads sound fun. But, maybe instead of "finish out the series from a BotM" how about picking a series to read as a group?


Does that make any sense? lol

^ I really like this idea.

Would you do the series reads in addition to other BotMs or in place of?

I have yet to participate in a series read that I've seen in groups - mostly because I've yet to be interested in the one that ends up winning - but, from what I've seen, they tend to have less participation as it goes along.

What I mean is that you might get 30 people reading book 1, but by the time you get to book 5 there are only 12 people still going strong.

Do you think it might help to include more stand alone titles? Or add sequels to the voting mix if we've read the first one? With the first, I know there's hesitation sometimes to start new series so if someone sees a BOTM that is the first book out of a ten book series they mightn't want to read it. And with the second, like Scarlet pointed out some readers want to continue.
Btw, I would consider most stand alones books you can read with little or no back knowledge not necessarily where there's only one book. I'd count Disc World and Dresden here.

My suggestion is to have more interactive elements. Maybe a top Urban Fantasy list, voted on by members, top female characters, etc. That always seems to generate a lot of conversation. Unless y'all think it's too much like listopia, that is.

Traci - My concern with that is it could start a whole different issue of which series have stand-alones.

For instance, I would agree with Discworld, though there are some who don't (and rather vehemently so), but I would not include Dresden.

Then again - disagreement certainly leads to discussion, so maybe that would be a good thing? :D

Chelsea wrote: "My suggestion is to have more interactive elements. Maybe a top Urban Fantasy list, voted on by members, top female characters, etc. That always seems to generate a lot of conversation. Unless y'al..."

I think that's a great suggestion--our "top 100" generated a lot of interest.

Regarding book of the month--I kind of like MrsJ's layout of one selection and one more theme oriented, but I'm very open to relaxing the rules regarding series and the like--i think the fact that we have a run-off poll helps get the most palatable choice.

Running through old FA threads, I'm kind of surprised at how many threads we have devoted to specific books or authors-we have a lot, but the fact that they are grouped under so many different headings (BotM, Authors, Novels, Buddy Reads, Epic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy) etc., may make them harder to find and interact on. I'm kind of stumped on what to do with them--rename? Group everything under "books?" Also looking for ideas there.

Scarlet, I surely understand your point about series and wanting to finish what you start, but I also agree with Colleen and think there is a diminishing interest. We all love books so much, we have hundreds on our "to read" list, and if there isn't a passionate interest, I think that's part of the reason for that 'diminishing returns' Colleen mentioned. The 'author' and 'book' threads could help provide an avenue for people that want to complete a series.

Loving these ideas.

Carol wrote: "I think that's a great suggestion--our "top 100" generated a lot of interest.

Regarding book of the month--I kind of like MrsJ's layout of one selection and one more theme oriented, but I'm very open to relaxing the rules regarding series and the like--i think the fact that we have a run-off poll helps get the most palatable choice.

Running through old FA threads, I'm kind of surprised at how many threads we have devoted to specific books or authors-we have a lot, but the fact that they are grouped under so many different headings (BotM, Authors, Novels, Buddy Reads, Epic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy) etc., may make them harder to find and interact on. I'm kind of stumped on what to do with them--rename? Group everything under "books?" Also looking for ideas there.

Scarlet, I surely understand your point about series and wanting to finish what you start, but I also agree with Colleen and think there is a diminishing interest. We all love books so much, we have hundreds on our "to read" list, and if there isn't a passionate interest, I think that's part of the reason for that 'diminishing returns' Colleen mentioned. The 'author' and 'book' threads could help provide an avenue for people that want to complete a series.

Loving these ideas. "

I think we should delete some of the old threads, archive some others...

...is there a way to merge threads? I think any thread that's about a specific author should only be in the author folder, etc.

± Colleen (of the Crawling Chaos) ± wrote: "Traci - My concern with that is it could start a whole different issue of which series have stand-alones.

For instance, I would agree with Discworld, though there are some who don't (and rather ..."

In my defense I've only read the first three Dresdens. :)

I guess I like the idea of your nomination wins you lead the discussion thought. The most active and fun reads I've experienced have been the ones lead by members who loved the book. But again like every other idea it has a downside. Members seem to have such a reluctance to do this in other groups it would probably just cut down on nominations. Truthfully I haven't done as many group reads as I should. There are numerous reasons. Disinterest in book. Already read it. Too many books to read. But if the discussions were more lively I probably would. Have no idea how to go get that though.

I like having two books a month. Every month so far, one book has appealed to me, but not the other. But since there are two choices, I've been able to participate in at least one discussion. (Even though I was late one month. :) )

MrsJ--can't merge but i can "re-file" then delete the folder that held the thread. Basically looking for ideas on what makes sense. For instance, right now if you wanted to talk Jim Butcher, you could find topics under "monthly reads urban fantasy," "authors," "buddy reads--codex alera," "urban fantasy detectives" and "epic fantasy" and possibly under "novels."

1) Should we delete sub folders of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and just put those topics under 'authors,' 'novels' and 'food for thought?'

2) should we delete buddy reads and just shelve under 'novels'?

Another question--
to me, smaller more active groups feel more intimate and more likely to spawn interaction. we have 1500 members, some of whom haven't updated "currently reading" or posted since 2010. Also, GR won't let me email more than 1000 people a day (for instance if I wanted to announce a poll). We thought about whittling down the membership list. One problem--if the person wants to rejoin, they have to be reinvited, even if the group is public (i guess GR assumes kicked for behavior). Thoughts?

Carol wrote: "MrsJ--can't merge but i can "re-file" then delete the folder that held the thread. Basically looking for ideas on what makes sense. For instance, right now if you wanted to talk Jim Butcher, you co..."

Hmmm, that's a good thought.

I'm in favor of keeping the buddy reads seperate as they are specific to one particular activity.

I think I would be ok with having a author folder with all the author's books discussed in that folder...but not sure why would then have a "novel" folder.

But I kinda like the idea of having the book threads under the genre, too. That also makes an easy search.

Carol, I think it would probably be fine to delete some members who are probably not even on GR anymore but I don't think it should go farther than that. I'm okay with private clubs giving the boot to inactive members, it's expected, but there shouldn't be any expectations in a public club. I'm assuming you want to get the number around 1000 so that you can email everyone once? But really the same amount of members will be participating. Percentage would change but not the actual numbers.
It's totally a moderator call though.

Carol wrote: "Scarlet, I surely understand your point about series and wanting to finish what you start, but I also agree with Colleen and think there is a diminishing interest. We all love books so much, we have hundreds on our "to read" list, and if there isn't a passionate interest, I think that's part of the reason for that 'diminishing returns' Colleen mentioned. The 'author' and 'book' threads could help provide an avenue for people that want to complete a series.
"
It's ok, I can allways invite readers to a buddy read when I feel like it, in fact I'm considering it right now..

Carol wrote: "1) Should we delete sub folders of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and just put those topics under 'authors,' 'novels' and 'food for thought?'

2) should we delete buddy reads and just shelve under 'novels'?"

I agree with both suggestion, though I think the sub folders must have been created for a reason

I have a suggestion. There are a bunch of speculative fiction magazines on the web, many for free. Maybe we could sometimes read a current issue and discuss some of the stories? It would widen our reading pool. Besides, a short story is much faster to read than a novel. Perhaps, if a writer in the group has a story published in the issue, he could offer that issue for reading and lead the discussion of all the stories except his own?

Another suggestion. We all tell each other: if you like Mercedes Lackey (or whoever) you will like this author. Maybe that should could lead to a different system. If you like Dresden Files, try this novel/author/series. Some people might participate more if they know what to expect. Urban fantasy or epic fantasy are too wide definitions. I like some epic fantasy and dislike others.

Olga, how about opening up a thread. Maybe under games? Books? Not sure. But one person could leave one book or author and ask for other recommendations. But how would that work? One book, one recommendation each? It's unclear in my mind right now but maybe someone else can come up with a better system.

I've seen in other clubs members setting up single "dares". I'll read x, if you read y. Sort of a one on one group read kind of thing. Usually it's to read something you normally wouldn't pick for yourself. But maybe this can be tailored to fit something like you mean.

I think people should try and 'sell' their nominations--I want to know why someone has suggested a book, not just that it is on their "to be read list."

Carol wrote: "I think people should try and 'sell' their nominations--I want to know why someone has suggested a book, not just that it is on their "to be read list.""
Is this only for Monthly reads?

If so, I have a draft manifesto about why Cast in Shadow should be the July's Urban Fantasy read. I was only half serious about actually using it, but it if will become part of FA Nomination Policy, I'm all for it.

Mayhaps a set of questions can be provided that a Nominator can answer to drum up interest?

My personal tactics so far have involved a random page quote & cover porn.

I like Carol's idea about 'selling' the suggestions. On the other hand, I like spoilers, like to know what to expect, while many others don't. They want to be surprised, so I'm not sure the system would work for everyone.

I've seen this done in another group, and it helped encourage discussion in Book of the Months. What about voting on a theme, topic, or whatever, that we want to see in the next book, like:

Female magic users
Non-Western fantasy
Anti-hero as protagonist
Dragon/unicorn romance
Coming of age

and then people can suggest books that meet the theme.

Chelsea, great idea!

Carol wrote: "I think people should try and 'sell' their nominations--I want to know why someone has suggested a book, not just that it is on their "to be read list.""

Yes! This could make things more interesting.

What about doing a challenge or something? I see them a lot in other groups, and they seem to get good participation. One of the ones where there's a task list and a scoring system, and people read books and fit them into tasks and get points.. It would last a few months at a time, and then start over with new tasks.. There could be bonus points for group read books, and for participating in the discussion, so that could help with participation on that end. Just a thought I had upon seeing another group I'm in setting up their next challenge.

Chelsea wrote: "I've seen this done in another group, and it helped encourage discussion in Book of the Months. What about voting on a theme, topic, or whatever, that we want to see in the next book, like:

Female..."

While I do love the idea of themes...it happens in a different group that I'm in and there's always a lot of arguing with them - that can be concerning.

Dawn wrote: "What about doing a challenge or something? I see them a lot in other groups, and they seem to get good participation. One of the ones where there's a task list and a scoring system, and people read..."

I do love challenges. :)

Hmm Top 100s with categories might be interesting, and the voting idea might move things along as well, since it would make the group read more likely to be something most of us would read.

Not sure on scoring systems, though... maybe a few scoring categories that are compiled into an overall score as well?

Hi William.

Posting about your book - especially implying that you would give away copies - is considered self-promotion. The only place self-promotion is allowed is in the self-promotion folder. Any other place is considered SPAM.

Your comment will be deleted but feel free to create a thread in the self-promotion folder.

I like the idea of monthly 'sub genres', however MrsJoseph has a good point that it can cause arguments. What about looking at any particular month and picking a theme from it e.g. October = Halloween - so maybe a horror element to the chosen book, or in the UK for November = Guy Fawkes Night, could be bringing down the rulers / thing get set alight alot?!?

can we have an rp?