2013 RITA Reader Challenge UPDATE!

Gold Statue holding a gold starI'm caught up on all the RITA® Reader Challenge reviews that have been submitted. 

As of right now (July 5 2013), there are more than 25 books that don't have reviews posted. Have a look at the spreadsheet – any title in red does not have a review on file.

  • If you signed up to review one of these books, no harm, no foul – just let me know if you're still planning to send in a review, or if you have to bow out this year. No worries if you do – life happens. But we want to make sure each book gets a review. 
     
  • If you submitted a review for a book and I missed it, please email me the review again. 
     

If you think you could review one of the titles in red by 14 July 2013, please sign up in the spreadsheet in the column “Last Two Weeks Review” and send me the review as soon as possible. The same requirements for review length and type apply: 

  • You can skip the plot summary – that's often the hardest part. You can make it silly or serious, but please make sure to explain the ways in which the book worked for you, or didn't work for you, keeping in mind that the book you're reading has been nominated as one of the best of the past year.
     
  • Unlike previous years, I'm not limited the length of the reviews, though I reserve the right to edit if absolutely necessary (and I will contact you to ask permission). You want to get wild with gifs and silliness, squee and excitement? Bring it on. 
     
  • If you'd like to submit a review for a book you've read and reviewed elsewhere, please make sure that what you submit is original content, and not a copy of what you've published elsewhere. You can quote yourself, but please make sure the majority of the review is original content. You can absolutely include a link to the review you've already written.
     
  • Please send the review and your grade for the book to me via email with “RITA® Reader Challenge” in the subject line so I can prioritize it. 

Thank you! I love the community review project and hope we can pull off another successful RITA® Reader Challenge this year! 

If you'd like to see the reviews so far, here they are: 

And now – about the RITA® ceremony itself! 

Usually I sit in the back with my laptop, praying that I can hold on to my signal, and live tweet the results and update the site as each winner is announced. The thing is, RWA also live tweets the winners, and updating the site with each category means a pile of new entries are created with each additional update.

This year, I'm going to host a live chat of the RITA® ceremony like we do with the Sizzling Book Club Chat. There will be a window here on the site that will go live when the RITA® ceremony begins, and I'll be posting the winners, chatting with everyone who attends, and sharing pieces of the ceremony in the chat window. I'll also try to tweet the winners as well, but since the RITA® Reader Challenge is a project of our Bitchery community, I want to share the ceremony with all of you who won't be at the RITA® awards.

So! On 20 July 2013 at 8:00 pm ET (or slightly before that) I will be revealing the RITA® winners in a live chat here on the site. I hope you'll join us! Heck, if you're at the RITAs® I hope you join us in the chat! Want to add that to your calendar? Here you go: 

 

Thank you to everyone who has participated in the RITA® Reader Challenge. I love doing this, and I love how much more fun the ceremony is when we know a little about each book that was nominated. 

Comments are Closed

  1. Kelly S. says:

    I am planning on sending you a review of Forever and a Day this weekend.  Of course, I’ve been intending on typing up & sending the review since May…

  2. Mina Lobo says:

    I owe a review for Anatomist’s Wife, should have it in by Bastille Day. 🙂

  3. Emily A. says:

    Very upset by this post!

    The RITA nominees were announced in March and you waited until MID-May to announce this challenge, giving people less time than usual for reading and writing reviews. Also I noticed this year SB Sarah didn’t sign up for a single review. So now you’re mad other people didn’t write reviews.

    The good news is I don’t have to waste my time on the other two reviews since apparently other people signed up for them as well.(One of them I thought I was the lone reviewer on, but apparently…)
    I’m very hurt by this post, and I think if you want people to review for you than you should treat them better than this!

  4. BellaBetty says:

    Did we read the same post Emily A.? No where did I feel SBS was mad or upset with anyone. In fact I think the exact words were “no worries” if life got in the way.  I think it’s fun that SBS gives readers a chance to review the RITA books, and I personally love when 2 people do the same book- and the grades vary hugely. May to July is not a short deadline. I’m sure it takes time to set up the spreadsheets and format everything. It doesn’t even bother me if SBS doesn’t review for this challenge, since she reviews all year. ( Plus hasn’t she been doing a bit of traveling lately herself, and she has 2 youngish children-Hello Life).

    I have had several message boards close this year ( bye ADWOFF) and I appreciate ANY board that stays around, and I appreciate all the work that goes into being the head person that has to keep the content flowing. I don’t find FB nearly as satisfying for discussion, conversations and information. Let’s keep things positive and upbeat with what is the “fun” part of life.  I really don’t think feelings were supposed to be hurt. If you feel it would be a waste of time to share your reviews in this forum that has been offered to you, then just chose not to.

  5. library addict says:

    I’m looking forward to the live chat.

    I sent my one review in early on and was planning to also review one of the novellas. But when I checked the spreadsheet a week or so ago it was already crossed off, so I knew the review was coming. Since I had the book on reserve at the library and it had yet to become available for checkout, I didn’t bother buying it just to do a second review. 

    I’ve enjoyed the RITA challenge reviews here. I always ending up buying books I might otherwise never have given a look at.

    Emily I hope you’ll reconsider and send in your reviews since it sounds like you’ve already read the books. I’m with BellaBetty in that I enjoy the differing viewpoints readers can have on books. And I miss ADWOFF, too.

  6. CarrieS says:

    Emily A., sorry you are feeling hurt – am having trouble understanding your point of view, though.  Sarah doesn’t seem mad to me – just making sure she has reviews in by the RITAs.  I’m sure no offense was intended.

    When I submit reviews, I have to keep to a deadline and I have to be willing to face criticism from the readers (happily, the Bitches are a courteous lot, but they don’t always agree with me, nor should they).  I hope you submit your reviews, but if deadlines and feedback are not your thing, maybe it’s OK to do something that doesn’t leave you feeling pressured.

    On a happier note, I can’t WAIT for the live chat!

  7. SB Sarah says:

    @EmilyA: I’m sorry you were hurt – I didn’t meant to come across as angry at all!

    I don’t sign up for books until the very last few days because I want everyone else to have a chance to review before I do. As I see it, my job is to format and organize, and then review the last few books that don’t have a review yet if any). I don’t want to take review opportunities away from anyone else, since this is our community project.

    I also waited until May to start the review challenge because the nominees are announced in March, and I want the reviews to gather excitement the closer that we get to the announcements in July. If a reviews go up in March, I don’t know if that many people will remember the review itself (I won’t unfortunately. My memory is a sad thing sometimes!).

    That said, I’m really sorry you were hurt. That was not my intention at all, and I’m not mad in the least! Life happens, stuff comes up, and I’m not upset with anyone at ALL if they couldn’t review a book this year. No worries in the least.

    @Y’all:

    I’m so glad you’re all excited about the live chat! I hope it’s a fun gathering online! I’ll do my best to transcribe bits of the speeches and the ceremony. The ceremony itself is kind of amazing-  lights, drumrolls, gowns, sparkliness, and a lot of, well, ceremony. It’s fun! I can’t wait to share it.

    And I’m sorry for the ADWOFF folks. I understand why it’s closed, but it’s a crappy feeling to lose your community online. I’m sorry.

  8. Melanie C says:

    I’ve been reading RITAs all over the shop, all excited about going to the ceremony this year! I sent a couple of reviews in today for you.

  9. Melanie C says:

    On the off chance anyone tries to click on my name (on post 8) – don’t, sorry, not my website. 🙂 (This one is.)

  10. Kelly S. says:

    I sent my review in for Forever and A Day.  I probably won’t get the one for Ruthie Knox’s Room at the Inn done, but at least someone else has.  I did buy the book and it is a novella, so there’s always hope.

  11. Phyllis says:

    I just noticed I had signed up for another novella that I haven’t sent a review for! Luckily, someone else already has. But I read it, I just have to write out my thoughts a bit.

  12. Eliza L. says:

    Hi! Just sent my review in. Sorry for it getting sent a bit under the wire.

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