Gigi's Company discussion

Please see below for administrative announcements concerning Gigi's Company. Thanks, Gina and Kathleen

At the very top of our home page, the first section of Gigi's Company is labeled, "currently reading." This section shows the two BotM for March 2009, Sizzle and Burn and [image error] Pleasure Unbound. Since reading is one of my hobbies, I am good at noticing things in print and I noticed sometime around April 1st or so that we were in a new month. I even flipped the page on the my wall calendars--home and work.

Ever since that time I have been working deligently to change the "currently reading" to our BotM for April 2009, Hotter After Midnight and
The Trouble with Demons. Either I am a complete computer klutz or this is not a feature that an assistant moderator can perform. Anywho, after a month of valiantly trying, I have thrown in the towel on me updating the "currently reading" section.

Gina is not able to spend much time with us currently, but hopes to soon restart actively posting. In the meantime, I have emailed her and desperately requested assistance with this task. Until then, our featured books will remain the March 2009 BotM. At the rate we are going, the next set of books to be posted will be the winners of the May 2009 BotM poll.

Again, apologies, all will be straighten out soon,

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

On a couple of my GR groups, the BotM is listed as "Currently Reading" and can be changed by anyone. Of course, not sure if you want to do that either, because then people would be changing it when they felt like it. lol

I have tried everything to delete them and they are still posted.

Because Gina added them I think she has to move them to show read. Are you able to add the new titles on yourself to replace the current two books showing by added currently reading? I don't see the April books added in the shelf. So maybe if you add them they will replace current two. Just a thought.

I have finally stopped being a computer klutz and successfully updated the current books.

My apologies to everyone. Current computer problems are severely limiting not only my online time but on my computer, period. This 'thing' has a habit of kicking us off then freezing, only to take hours of restarting and rebooting the computer to unfreeze the darn thing. I will try my darndest to keep you all informed, but at this rate, I get enough time to check and see who emailed me, send messages back and get on one group before being kicked off. It's frustrating, and until we have enough funds, we can't do anything about it. Please, bare with me.

Just a reminder:

June 2009 suggestions will be open until mid-month, about May 15th. Polls will be posted by May 16/17th. Thanks,

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

Thanks so much for taking care of this for me, Kathleen! And kudos to you; you are doing one hell of a good job.

Thanks and it was no problem.

I have closed the two original polls and am posting a run-off poll for our June 2009 books of the month. Because there were so many books nominated, most books only received one vote. I have taken the four books that received more than one vote to create the run-off polls. It just didn't seem fair to have a book win by two or three votes when so many of you voted.

THERE WAS A GLITCH WITH THE SECOND RUN-OFF POLL AND I HAD TO REPOST IT. I HAD ALREADY SENT THE BROADCAST TO ALL MEMBERS. PLEASE CHECK IF YOU ONLY VOTED ON ONE POLL, AND CAST YOUR VOTE ON THE OTHER RUN-OFF POLL. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

I have closed the Author of the Month Poll for June 2009. The winner is Lisa Shearin. Gina has emailed Lisa with questions on the Raine Benares series. As soon as Gina receives a response, she will post an article for our June 2009 winner.

Halfway there, LOL!

I have closed the Author of the Month Poll for July 2009. The winner is Jim Butcher.

Gina has been very busy lately, but writing the author summary for June 2009 AotM winner, Lisa Shearin, is still on Gina's to do list. Gina has added writing an author summary on July 2009 AotM, Jim Butcher, to her list. She hopes to have both author summaries up in future weeks. We will feature both summaries so that they at the top of the stack for a while. Thanks for your patience.

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

Several people have asked for directions on posting a bookcover. Please see below:

Directly above the dialog box where you type your message are the words, "add book/author." Click on that link.

You'll get a small screen that says, "add a reference." Go to the bottom of the small screen and highlight the button that says, "cover."

Type in the name of the title. Press search. If nothing comes up try adding the word "by" and the author's name.

For example, first try: war and peace (it is not cap sensitive)

second try: war and peace by leo tolstoy

Most titles will come on the first try, but if several books have the same title you may have to add the name of the author.

Once you have the name of the book, press add.

Within your dialog box, will appear brackets, the word bookcover, the name of the book, and a number with several digits.

After you finish typing your message and hit "post," those brackets and rest will cause the bookcover to apprear.

Thank You Kathleen!

I have closed the Author of the Month Poll for August 2009. The winner is J.R. Ward. Gina will write a summary on Ward soon.

Thanks, Kathleen! I'll have it posted in the next day or two.

First, a reminder to not vote for the same book twice on our first and second choice Books of the Month polls. Gina and I are not trying to be mean, but we will throw our the votes of anyone who votes for the same book twice.

If you only like one book, only vote on one poll. Then we can figure out what second book the rest of the members would like. Try to figure out which poll your book is most likely going to win and vote on that poll. For example, it may be further ahead on the poll for second choice rather than first choice.

Also, if you know you don't like any of the books on the poll, consider making a suggestion of a book that you would like next month. In the meantime, please don't pick a book that you don't intend to read, just to pick a book. Those of us who do read the Books of the Month, will end up reading your random selection, rather than our choice.

Lastly, dates when I put up and take down polls are always on or about. I put up polls on or about the 15th of each month. If there isn't a book with more than 50% of the vote, 6 out of 10, 7 out of 12, etc, I will try to have a runoff poll about a week before the end of the month. I close the polls on or about the last day of the month. These days are on or about depending on when I have time. If the last day of the month is a Monday, I will probably close the poll on the weekend.

I hope this announcement answers all the questions I have gotten lately. If you are still confused, please email me or post your question here.

Thanks and happy reading,

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

Several of you have asked for ideas that would help your suggestion be selected as a book of the month. Here are some general guidelines that may be helpful. You CAN nominate any book you want, but books following these guidelines are more likely to be chosen as a book of the month selection by most of our members.

1. Gina and I have never seen a hardcover book win a book of the month poll on any loop to which we have belonged when voting was opened to the general membership. Wait until the book is in mass market paperback (mmp) and then nominate it.

2. Trade won't win two months in a row. A book in trade size may win if the author is hot, but don't nominate your author's book in trade if the loop has selected a trade size book the month before. People are less likely to assume the cost of a trade size book two months in a row. Wait a few months to nominate another trade size book or even better, wait until the book is available in mmp. This is especially true if the author is unknown to most people.

3. If the book is part of a series, it should never be beyond book 3. Book 1 of the series is usually the best book to nominate.

4. Write a short summary of the book when you post it. If the book is by an author such as J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) or Sherrilyn Kenyon, a one liner such as Eve Dallas story or Acheron's book is probably sufficient. These authors and their series are extremely well-known. Reminding people what the story is about is usually enough to elicit sufficient votes to have a winning book.

Otherwise, write a short summary. Let me rephrase: write a short summary. Or perhaps I should say: write a short summary. If you don't tell people a little about the story, you may make the runoff poll (based on author name recognition), but you are less likely to be a final selection.

5. Keep your summaries short. Lengthy summaries will backfire. People will find something that they don't like in the summary or will stop reading half way down before you make your brillant point that your book is fascinating.

6. If the book has been nominated or won an award, state it. If a movie is being developed or it was a movie, state that also. People who would never read that genre, may have seen the movie and loved it. You'll pick up the extra votes needed to win.

7. If the author is unknown and a well-known author has recommended the book on his/her web site, in a newsletter, or in a short quote on the front/back of the book, include that information in your short summary.

8. Read the online reviews (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, Fantastic Fiction, etc.) for your book. We had one book nominated recently that Publishers Weekly (quoted on Amazon) called "an average read for an average day" and I believed that Gina told me that Fantastic Fiction called it author x's "worst book." Author x is very well-known, but this book was a turkey (most reviewers gave it 1 to 3 stars). Gina and I had a long debate whether we should pull it, we finally decided it would probably lose because so many of us (such as Gina and I), read the reviews before voting. It loss for the record. This may be your favorite author, but make sure he or she hit one out of the ballpark with the book that you have nominated.

9. Be truthful with what you have written, I research all facts before posting the poll. It takes me a week to complete the creation of these polls (see the part about research). We may go to one nominee per member because we are getting so many books nominated. For October 2009, it will still be two books per member.

10. If you nominate more than two books, I will randomly (or not so randomly if one of your books is consistently referred to as an average read for an average day), throw out one of your nominees.

That' it folks, Suggestions threads for Author and Books of the Month for October 2009 have been posted. Good luck!! May the best choices win!!!

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

To answer a question that has come up more than once, use the following steps to change your vote on a poll:

Click polls (upper right hand corner of group home page).

Scroll to the bottom of each poll (after all the books are listed).

Click the "change your vote" button.

Then you can make a new selection if you accidently clicked the wrong book or author, changed your mind, or whatever.

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

We are having a problem with people selecting the same book on the first and second choice polls. See the example below to understand the problem:

First choice poll:

Cat Book ------ 4 votes
Dog Book ------ 1 vote
Bird Book ----- 1 vote
Fish Book ----- 5 votes (2 people voted for Fish Book on both first and second choice polls)

Second choice poll:

Cat Book ------ 1 votes
Dog Book ------ 4 vote
Bird Book ----- 1 vote
Fish Book ----- 5 votes (2 people voted for Fish Book on both first and second choice polls)

Which poll we toss out those two votes on will make a difference on which book is selected as the other Book of the Month. Therefore we told everyone repeatedly that we are not trying to be mean, but to stop voting for the same book twice or we would toss out their votes on both polls. This happened this month and has affected the final selection. Please see the next post.

The post is continued from the entry above. Three people voted for the same book twice creating a similar problem to that described. We sent a message to each person and asked her to change her vote on one of the polls to a different book. Two people complied. The third person made no changes. (We know this person was on our site after the message with the request was sent.) This person voted for Outer Banks on both polls. Therefore, Gina and I are tossing both of her votes for Outer Banks, which means there is a tie in the second choice poll. Final results are shown below.

First Choice:

Angels All Over Town by Luanne Rice ---- 4 votes
If You Dare by Kresley Cole ------------ 5 votes

Second Choice:

My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne - 4 votes
Outer Banks by Anne Rivers Siddons ----- 5 votes, adjusted tally 4 votes

Because of the tie, your moderators will select a book as our second choice for September 2009 Book of the Month. Gina will post the winner on this thread.

Just FYI, I am declaring If You Dare by Kresley Cole the winner of our first choice poll. Author of the Month for September 2009 is Carla Neggers. Gina will post a summary on her in future days.

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

Sounds good guys! :D

That sounds fair to me.

Sounds good to me too.

Alright. And just to make it more fair, I didn't even bother my daughter with this one (she pulls 2 book titles from the bag each month for another group). This time, I used www.random.org. I assigned a number to each book: 1-Angels All Over Town, 2-My Lord and Spymaster, and 3-Outer Banks. Random.org spit out number 2. This means that:

My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne is the second Book of the Month for September.

Please, members, remember to not select the same books on each poll.

We've hit 50 members!! That has to be a milestone of some sort. Thanks to everyone who told their friends about us.

Woohoo! 50 and growing! Love it! Thank you all for being members!

Polls are closed for October 2009 selections.

Author of the Month:

L.J. Smith

See thread October 2009 BotMs for book selections.

In early December, after we have selected our Author of the Month, Gina and I have decided to run a Gigi's Company Author of the Year contest from the 12 monthly winners for 2009. Please do not nominate anyone. If your author has won a monthly contest, he or she will be listed in the poll.

Around March 2010, we will select two books as Gigi's Company's Books of the Year for 2009. We are waiting that long to give everyone a chance to read the November 2009 and December 2009 Books of the Month. If a book has been selected as a Book of the Month, then it will be include 2009 Books of the Year contest poll. We will not be nominating new books for this poll.

Polls are closed for November 2009 selections.

Author of the Month:

Yasmine Galenorn

See thread November 2009 BotMs for book selections.

In the past I have received several questions on how the run-off polls work. We have not had to have run-off polls in several months. With so many books nominated this month, it is likely that a runoff poll will be needed. If a book receives a plurality rather than the majority vote, we will have a run-off poll. A plurality is when the candidate receives the most votes, but not more than 50% of the total.

Example:

Book A: 4 votes
Book B: 3 votes
Book C: 3 votes
Book D: 2 Votes
Book E: 1 Vote
Book F: 1 Vote
Book G: 1 Vote
Book H: 1 Vote
Book I: 0 Votes
Book J: 0 Votes

In the election described above 16 people voted. Book A received 4 votes or 25% of the total. There is no way that Gina and I will post a book as the Book of the Month selection with only 25% of the vote. In the example above, the run-off poll would be between Books A, B, and C. If there were 12 or more books in the original poll and very low numbers for the top books or a four-way tie in the initial polls, I may set up the run-off polls with Books A, B, C, and D.

Second question I have received in the past is “but doesn’t Book A always win the runoff poll.” Sometimes, yes, and sometimes, no. In some past polls, we have had several popular authors competing. The leader in the initial polling dominated in the run-off. Other times, three people liked a title in the initial poll, but that title didn’t pick up any additional votes in the run-off and ended up in third or fourth place.

Hope the previous information helps explain why we have runoff polls, and how they work. If it looks like run-off polls will be needed, I will post them no later than five calendar days before the end of the month.

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

I have to post a Oopies!!

I was in the middle of writing a broadcast to our members announcing that I had posted the runoff poll and the message sent itself. I was not ready, demons attacked my laptop. My apologies if this message did not make sense. Here is what I wanted to post:

Playing With Fire (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl, Book 1) by Gena Showalter (MMP) is our first selection as December 2009 Book of the Month with 8 out of 14 votes or 57% of the vote.

Please go to our site and select one title listed below for our second Book of the Month for this coming December.

Runoff titles are Finding the Lost (Sentinel Wars, Book 2) by Shannon K. Butcher, Megan's Way by Melissa Foster, and Ice by Linda Howard.

Thanks,

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

Polls are closed for December 2009 selections.

Author of the Month:

Jes Battis

See thread December 2009 BotMs for book selections.

As I'm sure you've noticed, I started cleaning up the boards in anticipation for the new year. All of 2009 will be moved to archives, with links posted so that they'll be easier to find. I think we'll do the same with the games as well and begin them anew. I'd like your feedback on that. Should the games start fresh in the new year, or should we continue on the threads that are there?

Also, if there's something you'd like to see in the group, please don't hesitate to say so. Please head over to the Suggestion Box to let Kathleen and me know what you think. Thank you, everyone!

Polls are closed for January 2010 Author and Books of the Month. Sherrilyn Kenyon is our first author for the new year. Please see January 2010 BotMs under Books of the Month for our book winners.

And I'll be posting that info shortly, please be patient with me, LOL!

I sent out a broadcast to all members some time ago. Since it hasn't popped up in my inbox, it probably hasn't popped up in your inbox either. In brief, polls are posted, please click on the word polls in the list in the upper right hand corner of the group home page in order to vote.

Thanks,

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

I voted today, because I saw the post you left under new members. I never got the e-mail.

I know. I keep posting everywhere that the broadcast function is not working. I have sent individual messages to many people, but that got tiring. Regrettably I quit before I got to you. I have asked Gina to send a broadcast out -- I'm hoping it works better for her as moderator. I placed an announcement on this thread to go and vote and repeatedly mention it in new members. Less than 10% of the regulars who vote have not stopped by and voted and I am not sure what to do.

Colleen, I never got it either. Funny enough though, I received four broadcast messages in the last 18 hours. I haven't a clue as to why. I will be contacting Goodreads to see if they had a problem ~ cause obviously Kathleen, the poor woman, was frustrated to no end. When something doesn't work, it's a PITA!

I also received all 4 of Kathleen broadcasts sometime today. Maybe they have fixed the problem.

I received all four broadcasts during the last 18 hours as well. I sent those four out over a 2 week period -- which was the reason for my frustration. I posted the February 2010 polls mid-month on schedule and no one knew about it.

Isn't that rather frustrating... Hmm... Kathleen, if it happens again, please let me know, via email. I'll get a message out to Otis or someone to figure out what's going on. As head honcho, he should be able to figure it out, I'd think.

Kathleen, Gina they have been mention this on the daily goodreads feedback. There seem to be a problem, but I think the problem has been corrected in last few days.

Nora Roberts is our Author of the Month for February 2010. Gina will post her info in coming weeks.

Because of the problems with the broadcast function on Goodreads, the February 2010 Books of the Month will not be posted for at least another week so that our members have a chance to vote on our runoff polls.

The runoff poll for Author of the Year for 2009 has also been posted. There were 18 total votes cast. Our finalists are

J. R. Ward -- 7 votes -- 38.8%
Jodi Picoult -- 5 votes -- 27%

Kathleen
Assistant Moderator

Thanks for the 411, Wendy. Let's keep our fingers cross, LOL!

You know, I'm glad I have no ability to create software or programs of any kind. Not only do I not understand the technical stuff, I'd be completely dumbfounded whenever something went wrong. Kudos to Otis and his team for sure!

Polling has closed for Author of the Year for 2009. Our winner with 76.9% of the vote is J.R. Ward. A new thread with even more information about this fabulous author will be added to our site soon by Gina.

In the meantime, Lover Mine (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 8, John Matthew and Xhex's story) will be available April 27, 2010, and Crave (Fallen Angels, Book 2) will be available September 2010.

What sucks is Lover Mine is only coming out in Hardcover. Darn it, I've waited too long for John Matthew's story, and now I'll have to wait longer. So not a happy camper here!