FAQ

[jennem]

SCOPE & TOPIC OF THE COMMUNITY:

Books! Other than that, anything goes. Young adult, chick-lit, non-fiction, biographies, true crime, fantasy, and the classics are all welcome. I want people to post about what they read. I read the literary classics, but I also read a ton of chick-lit, young adult, and fantasy books. I want to know what you like and what you dislike. I want to know what chick-lit books have an interesting plot, and I want to know which ones I should avoid because they author can't write to save his or her life.

Book recommendations, book reviews, and book critiques are all welcome. If someone recommends a book that you absolutely hated, let us know. People like different things. Different strokes for different folks. No two people are ever going to agree on everything, and dissenting opinions are more than welcome—just don't be an asshat. If you happen to be the person that gets dissent, remember. It’s not personal. The world is not ending because someone on Dreamwidth didn't like a book. Act accordingly.

MEMBERSHIP & COMMENTS:

Membership is open—anyone with a Dreamwidth account may join the community. Anonymous comments are turned on (which obviously means that you do not have to be a member of the community in order to comment). If this feature gets abused, I will contemplate changing the comment policy.

POSTING:

Posting will start out moderated.

Posts re: other community recommendations, website recommendations, announcements about book signings, etc., will be approved on a case-by-case basis.

SPOILERS:

All posts that substantively discuss a book should have a spoiler cut. A "book-jacket" synopsis can be included in the post, outside of the cut, but details about the book should be behind a cut so people can decide for themselves whether or not they want to be spoiled for the content.

You should assume that the "Guilty Pleasures" and/or "Book Club" admin posts (see below) will include spoilers in the comments, even if there are no spoilers in the main part of the post.

TAGS:

Tag creation will be controlled by the admin/moderator, but members can (and are encouraged) to mark their posts with pre-made tags. Tag creation is limited in order to facilitate and optimize their search functionality. I believe that tags are only as useful as the system that manages them, and I want people to be able to find past-posts with regards to a particular genre easily.

Tags will be made on a post-by-post basis.

ADMIN POSTINGS:

Guilty Pleasures: Once a month, I will make a "Guilty Pleasures" post. Anonymous comments will be turned on (even if they are later turned off for the regular posts), and the IP function will be turned off. I'm hoping that people will jump in the water without being embarrassed or shy about their book recommendations, but even if you are embarrassed, I still want to know what you're reading. This let's us have the best of both worlds.

Suggested Reading List: A suggested reading list will be maintained by the benevolent dictator admin, listing, in alphabetical order, all of the books that have been suggested by members of the community. The list will provide links to popular websites where books can be purchased or found for free (if they are in the public domain).

Book Club: If I can garner enough interest, we'll start a monthly book club. Members will select the month's book from a poll post, and at the end of the month, we'll discuss the book in a post created by the admin.



The FAQ and the Suggested Reading List will be linked in the profile of the community.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Bueller?

Comments

[shopfront]

I think a spoiler cut policy will be far more useful if it's applied to all books, not just recent releases. I know for myself that there's a very small number of books/authors I'm likely to have the chance to seek out so soon after their release date, and I'd hate to be spoiled for something just because it was the middle of semester when it was released/I don't have the money for book purchases this month/I had to wait for it to be available at the library. I think a wider application of spoiler cuts will also be helpful for international readers and those who live outside major cities, who might not have access to a book in their country/area in the first month after it's released elsewhere.

Definitely interested in a monthly book club!

[jennem]

That sounds reasonable, and its easy enough to use a cut. I'll switch the policy now so that it permits a "book jacket" quote outside of the cut, but requires review / discussion of the book inside a cut.

I'm really interested in starting up a monthly book club. Unfortunately, I'm also going to be starting finals in the next three weeks, and then I have to study for the bar exam. /woe. So, any book club (if I'm the one that has to run it), is going to have to wait until August, when the bar is over, and I get back from my honeymoon. :D

I'm going to play it by ear. If there's enough interest and the community starts to do really well, then maybe someone (other than me) can run the June / July book club.

[shopfront]

Ooh, honeymoon, congrats! I think a book jacket quote outside a cut sounds like a good policy.

I'm also busy with studies through until the end of May, but I'm on holidays for most of June and all of July, so should you decide to look for someone to run those in your absence I'd more than likely be available. My livejournal profile (shopfront) lists some of the fandom projects I co-run and work for, to offer a fannish CV of sorts.

[jennem]

I'll keep that in mind. It really just depends on how the flow of the community is going. If I'm the only person making posts, we might hold off on it. LOL. If there is a lot of activity generated by more members, etc., then I'll consider passing that buck. I'll have time for the day-to-day management, but I just won't have time to read anything during that time frame (except the bar study materials, that is).

[falena]

I have a question for the mod, I hope this is the right place to ask.

Is it possible for me to post an entry to this community linking to a review in my personal journal, instead of simply posting the review to the community? I'm asking just because I usually post my reviews to my own journal as well and I'd rather have all comments in one place.

[jennem]

Hi. This is a great place to ask questions. :D

I understand why you might want to redirect comments and centralize them in your personal journal, but in order to keep the community as interactive as possible, I would prefer to leave comments open on the community (and, of course, if you wanted to link to your personal journal and tell people that there might be comments there as well, feel free).

[falena]

Yay. Good to know.

Thanks for the reply. I'll crosspost my reviews here and to my journal, then (I was not going to turn off comments on the comm entry anyway, FYI).

[jennem]

Oh, okay. Great!

Sorry it took me so long to respond! ><

[falena]

No worries, mods have a life too. :D
Besides, I haven't actually written down a new review yet, so it's not like I'm in a hurry.

[alexseanchai]

So does that mean linking to the book review is discouraged, even if comments on the comm post are left open, and putting the entire review on the comm is preferred?

[writerlibrarian]

I do book reviews on both my dreamwidth and LJ. I'm a librarian by trade so when you want to start the book club I would be willing to help out.

There could also be challenges like : May is for M either a book by an author who's name starts by M or a title that starts by M.

I read both in English and French. When I do read a French edition I do put a link to the translated or original book, the reviews are in English. Would that be a problem? Books reviewed that aren't in English?

[jennem]

Books reviewed that aren't in English are totally welcome. (AND, AWESOME!)

I like the idea of challenges, too. Like I said in my most recent post, I'm going to be relatively swamped (at least until finals are over). I'll have a little bit more time in late-May and June to work on community things, and then in July its back to crazy-time until after the bar. :D

I will definitely keep you in mind for the book club! Thanks for the offer of help!

[writerlibrarian]

Good to know. I'll post here my next reviews.

[packbat]

What of graphic novels?

[jennem]

Posts about graphic novels are welcome.

[shanaqui]

I have a semi-related community I'm trying to encourage people to join, readheightetc. It stems out of me and my flatmate deciding to read our height in books by February (although other challenges are allowed too -- my girlfriend is watching her height in movies). Can I post about it in this comm and see if other people are interested?

[phoebesmum]

I'm a member of, and subscribed to, the comm, but can't post. Am I missing something obvious?

[the_siobhan]

Somebody on my F-list just pointed me at this community.

I keep a list of all the books I've read on my own DW page - are you OK with me re-posting some of the older ones here? I'll try to curate as much as possible so I'm only posting ones where I had something of substance to say about it, and I promise not to flood you with a kilogillion entries all at the same time.

[marycatelli]

I don't think the administrator is following this any longer.

But I've certainly reposted reviews

[abstract]

I don't know the appropriate place to ask this, but would any of the mods please update the picture in the community's layout? It's difficult to navigate and I think turns people away from here. Thanks!

[honigfrosch]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me butting in - the admin doesn't seem to follow this comm anymore and hasn't updated their journal in years. You could ask the remaining mod writerlibrarian in a PM or comment, although I don't know if mods can edit a community's layout (I didn't find anything about that in Dreamwidth's FAQ).

[starfleetbrat]

hey, not sure if you're still around, but just a heads up that the background image seems to be broken on this community and it makes the community hard to read with the photobucket "image is unavailable" message.