Announcing the 4 Rs Challenge!

Over the holidays, I participated in LibraryThing‘s Secret Santa book swap.  I had fun playing elf for my fellow LTer and really enjoyed getting my presents in the mail.  Around the same time, Nicki from Fyrefly’s Book Blog posted about modifying that concept into a giveaway.  I added my two cents about it making for a good challenge and the next thing you know, the 4 Rs Challenge was born.

Now 4 Rs was a little colicky at first, so Nicki and I weren’t able to get much sleep, let alone get her organized and on a decent schedule until now.  Now we finally feel like she is presentable enough to take out into public.  We’ve cleaned up most of her messes, but please forgive us if we’ve missed a few things.  

Believe it or not, but 4 Rs is very flexible.  If you wanted to spend time with her to find out about some great books in genres you already enjoy, you can do that.  If you want to expand your horizons and try something new, who better to help you out than your fellow readers?

Here’s what we’d like to share about our new litle challenge of joy:

The 4 Rs stand for Recommend, Read, Review, and Repeat. We see this four-part challenge happening over a three month cycle.  The only obligati0ns are to sign up, provide a little information about yourself, be open to other’s suggestions, read one book, review it (on a blog, in LibraryThing, etc.), and join us again for the fall installment.  What could be easier than that?

• Recommend ~ (this is where the Secret Santa part got us started)  We’ve created a forum for all 4 Rs participants.  On the forum, you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself as a reader, and let us know why you’re joining the challenge.  If you are a member of LibraryThing or another similar site, include a link so that we can look through your electronic library.  Also let us know if you have a blog.  Provide any information you think would be important to someone wanting to recommend a book to you. Once you’ve introduced yourself, others can stop by and give you suggestions on books they think you’ll enjoy.
• Read ~ After your fellows 4 Rers provide recommendations for you, select one of those books to read.  You can of course read more than one, but this challenge only requires that you select one.  You don’t have to buy this book.  Feel free to bookmooch, paperback swap, or visit your local library.
• Review ~ Once you’ve read your book, let us know what you think.  Post your review on your blog, on Amazon, on LibraryThing, or even within the forum.  For those of you who do not have blogs, we’d be happy to post your review on the 4 Rs website if you’d like.
• Repeat ~ If this challenge is as much fun for you as we’re hoping it will be, stick around for the next round in the fall.  We’re planning to hold one each spring, summer, and fall.  We think the holidays are hectic enough on their own, so we’ll break from December through Feburary.

Actual prize similar to these

The 4 Rs challenge officially begins on June 1st.  As a small incentive for those of you early adopters who join and intoduce yourself on the forum within the first two weeks, I have a small incentive for you.  I have a pair of purpley-pink flip flop window clings from Window Whimsies, a one of a kind bookmark, and a book from my collection that I think you will like based upon your introduction.  The bookmark will match the book and/or the window clings.  It all depends on how the planets align themselves. LOL!

There will be more prizes along the way, too.  I hope that you join.  Click here to access the challenge’s blog. There is a great FAQ on the site that Nicki put together.  If you have any questions, be sure to check that out.  You should also sign up for the RSS feed so that you don’t miss a thing.  Here is a link to the forum, too. 

Nicki and I hope that you enjoy this challenge as much as we’ve had fun imagining it! If you do sign up, please let as many people know as you can.  The more people that join, the more successful this experience will be for everyone.