"This is an UNMODERATED challenge. Unmoderated means that no Games Mods are supervising this challenge, and gamers are playing at their own risk. If something should happen (no prize recevied), the gamers will not have the assistance of the Games Moderators or the PBS Team to resolve the problem."

In this challenge, you will gain points by reading print and ebooks. There will also be opportunities to obtain bonus points for various other activities. ANY AND ALL GENRES ARE ALLOWED.

Here is the last challenge I hosted in case you would like to check it out.

Just a heads up, the majority of this group started out as an ebook hot & steamy (erotica) vb. We took a break for the holidays so I started the challenge to keep people occupied. Because of this, the core group at this time, are mainly erotica and a smattering of paranormal readers. This is an all genre challenge, so everyone is welcome, but I wanted to give fair warning for when we discuss books we've read. :)

1 credit to me will be required to sign up. Once the challenge has started, credits will be non-refundable.

I'll be having 2 contests while we wait for the 1st to get here. One will be a guess what number I'm thinking of and the other will be one of my lovely rebus puzzles. It's been a while. ;)

CHALLENGE START: TUESDAY, JANUARY 1ST (12:01 AM)

CHALLENGE END: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH (11:59 PM)

ALL TIMES LISTED ARE EST. MEANING YOU START, STOP AND SUBMIT AT THE TIMES LISTED FOR EASTERN STANDARD TIME ZONE.

Need some help with time zones?

Central - Add 1 Hour for EST

Mountain - Add 2 Hours for EST

Pacific - Add 3 Hours for EST

Alaska - Add 4 Hours for EST

Quick Links

• Players, TBRs and Buddy Bonus Book Selections
• Week 1 Results
• Week 2 Results
• Week 3 Results
• Week 4 Results
• Week 5 Results
• Week 6 Results
• Final Results
• Credit Distribution
• Contests & Puzzles

You must check-in on each date to be eligible for the prizes. HERE IS THE FORM FOR SUBMISSIONS. If you read 0 ebooks for that week, submit a form anyways and put your name and "none" for where text is required, select the "short story" option and choose "no" for the bonuses.

TO VIEW SPREADSHEET WITH SUBMISSIONS, GO HERE.

CHECK-IN DATES (by 11:59 PM):

WEEK 1: SUNDAY, JANUARY 6TH (for books read during JANUARY 1 - JANUARY 5)

WEEK 2: SUNDAY, JANUARY 13TH (for books read during JANUARY 6 - JANUARY 12)

WEEK 3: SUNDAY, JANUARY 20TH (for books read during JANUARY 13 - JANUARY 19)

WEEK 4: SUNDAY, JANUARY 27TH (for books read during JANUARY 20 - JANUARY 26)

WEEK 5: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD (for books read during JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2)

WEEK 6: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH (for books read during FEBRUARY 3 - FEBRUARY 9)

Point Breakdown:

Short Story - 0 to 50 pages: 25 points

Novella - 51 to 110 pages: 50 points

Novel - 111 to 250 pages: 100 points

Super Novel - 251 to 360 pages: 150 points

Super Plus Novel - 361 pages to 450 pages: 200 points

Neverending Novel - 451 pages and greater: 250 points

FOR EBOOKS - If there is a print version of your ebook, use that number for your page count. If your book does not have a print version OR the equivalent page number on a reputable site, we will use the following formula - WORD COUNT/280. This number will equal your page count. If you can not find either a page count or a word count, the book cannot be used for the challenge. Word counts can be found at a variety of sites: All Romance, Google Books, BookStrand, etc.

I am figuring this out by pulling the word count that Total-e-Bound uses to distinguish their types of books and using the formula (rounding to something sensible). The number 280 came from pulling 20 random books that were available in print and ebook, dividing their word count by the number of pages in the book. Then I averaged all of them to get an average words per page. Since we don't have WL info or stuff like that that most challenges use, I am having to use the page count for points.

If a book has mulitple types of bindings (like hardcover and MMPB), use the MMPB version. If there isn't a MMPB version, use the trade size.

If you submit a book in one week and the following week another player submits the same book with a different page count, I will research and find out which one is correct. Prior weeks will not be corrected once the results have been posted and the time has passed that I give for players to make corrections. PLEASE CHECK ALL SUBMISSIONS CAREFULLY. I will provide a link before the challenge starts that will allow you to enter your submission and then check on the spreadsheet side to make sure it came through properly. PLEASE DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR SUBMISSIONS.

Bonus Points:

Buddy Bonus: 50 points - Before we begin, I will buddy up participants and have each pick and post 10 novella or novel sized TBR books for their buddy to read. In addition to the regular base points, 50 bonus points will be added for each book read.

eBook Bonus: 25 points - for every ebook that is read, you will receive these bonus points. An extra incentive to get through that stash!

Review Bonus: 10 points - For every book that is reviewed, whether it's here on PBS's description page, Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc, you will receive 10 bonus points. These do not have to be large reviews. Why did you like the book, what did you dislike? How many stars?

Total standing will be determined each week (and for the final) by:

Totaling up your points standing (person with the most points at the end of the week will get 1, second gets 2, etc) and adding it to your page standing (determined by totaling up number of pages read - rank again, person with most pages read will get a 1 and so on). The person with the lowest total number (both page and points added together) will be the winner. In the case of a tie for points, the ranking will be determined by the highest number of pages read. In the case of a tie for page ranking, standing will be determined by highest number of points. In the case of a total points tie, pages read will be the tie breaker. 

If a player has not submitting anything for the week, the will automatically get the last ranking available and tie for that spot with any other player who does not submit.

Credit prize distribution will be dependent on the number of sign ups.

CHALLENGE RULES:

Please submit information on ALL books you read during the challenge. You CANNOT pick and choose the books you read, it can screw up the ranking. Library books, books borrowed from a friend, ebooks that are on loan to you are all okay. Audio books, magazines, poetry, graphic novels, comics, etc, will not be allowed for this challenge. No partial books can be submited (meaning you read 1/2 of a book). The only exception to this rule is for anthologies. If you choose to read one or a select few stories from an anthology, you may submit that book using the page number count of only the stories you actually read.

Points will not be deducted for gaining new books.

If you would like to participate in the buddy, please post a link to your TBR. Due to some of these being ebooks, you probably want to create one offsite (away from PBS). When making your TBR list for your buddy, please make sure to have at least 10 novella or novel sized books on it OR post that you are okay with reading any size book as a buddy book.

To make a TBR on Goodreads, just mark your books with the "to read" option. I had created a separate shelf called "to read books" or "to read ebooks" so that I could find those quicker.

You can also go on Amazon and create a Wish List and just add the books that you already have to it. Login to Amazon and click the Wish List button at the top right. This will bring up your Wish Lists. To the left, under your name, there will be a button that says "create another wish list" or something like that. Click that. Name it whatever you want. I would name it something like - Books To Be Read. Then, make sure to either mark it as public or shared. Shared means that it wil be private and only those with a link can view it. If you mark it private, only you will be able to see the list. Public means everyone out in the world can see it.

There is also Library Thing and Shelfari. Though I am not on there and have no idea how they work. I'm not sure of others.

PLAYERS, TBR LINKS & Buddy Bonus Book Selections

1. Anne (booklover6) (RICHARD PICKED) - goodreads
2. Courtney (JAMIE PICKED) - okay with any book - Courtney's TBR
3. Darlene (depper1) (MARGARET PICKED) - Books 4 Challenge
4. Ellen (gremlin) (KIRSTEN PICKED) - okay with any book - gremlin's challenge list
5. Gina (bibliobuff) (LAI PICKED)
6. Jamie B. (vampobsessed) (RENEE PICKED) - okay with any book - All Genre Challenge
7. Kirsten (kpbunny) (ELLEN PICKED) - okay with any book - kpbunny Challenge List
8. Lai M. (lai-brary) (GINA PICKED) - Lai Reading Challenge
9. Lisa G. (garrity) (MANDA PICKED) - Lisa's TBR for challenge
10. Manda G. (chickpicks) (LISA PICKED) - MANDA 2013 TBR - MANDA Buddy List
11. Margaret G. (tiger-in-berlin) (DARLENE PICKED) - Kindle TBR
12. Melissa H. (missyh) (S. Y. PICKED) - Missy's Challenge TBR
13. Ming (wildroses) (RACHEL PICKED) - okay with any book - Courtneyfries
14. Rachel M. (miz-rachel) (MING PICKED) - okay with any book - Challenge book list
15. Renee C. (4ukcats) (JAMIE PICKED) - Renee's Challenge TBR - Renee's Buddy TBR
16. Richard C. (Richard-luvs-Reading) (ANNE PICKED)
17. S. Y. (SYborg) (MISSY PICKED) - Challenge Reads
18. Susan P. (sneyers11) (TONYA PICKED) - okay with any book - Reading Challenge
19. Theresa C. (massreader) (VALERIE PICKED) - challenge tbr
20. Tonya B. (sasfras72) (SUSAN PICKED) - Tonya's Reading List
21. Valerie (IDOLFAN) (THERESA PICKED) - e-book - mixed tbr

WEEK 3 RESULTS

FINAL RESULTS

CREDIT DISTRIBUTION

CONTEST #1 - Here is the spreadsheet I'm going to be using to track the numbers picked.

I'm thinking of a number between...... 1 and 1000

Big, I know. You can make guesses for each time a clue is released, but only two guesses for each clue. After the time has run out for that clue, I'll provide another one and then you will get another two guesses.

Right now, you can have four free guesses while we wait for sign ups.

The winner of this contest will receive a $10 GC to Amazon. If no one guesses the correct number by the time Final Results are posted, I will give the prize to the closest winner. This winner is allowed to go over.

RICHARD IS THE WINNER OF CONTEST #1!

Contest #2 - Rebus Puzzles

If you have played in my erotica swaps before, you have probably come across these already.

Pictures represent words and phrases. Each line will represent a different word unless otherwise specified. Please hold all answers until I have requested them. Each correct answer will be one point. The person with the most points will win a $10 Amazon GC. In the event of a tie, Random.org will select our winner.

I sometimes use pop culture. If you are having problems with these, try to do an internet search for words you have already figured out, or words that are in the actual pictures. The first puzzle is a good example.

1.

PUZZLE #2 - is a book title that has been mentioned as a fave read as of right now, 12/30 11:45 AM PST

  MINUS 

3. Also a book from a favorites list as of 12/30, 9 PM PST

4. President

5. Book (puzzle represents 3 words and it was recently mentioned.

  MINUS PLUS 

#6 - Book (puzzle represents 3 words and it was recently mentioned.

#7 - Animal

Yes thank you I have been waiting for this..lol I am in!!

i'm in!

LOL!  i was scanning this line "Audio books, magazines, poetry, graphic novels, comics, etc," and i thought it said 'magnetic poetry', and i started to think about who'd want to submit *that* before i realized i'd read it wrong.  :)

I'm in!  Just sent you a credit Courtney!

Had so much fun with the last one!  I'm in.  

I'm in, just for the fun of it. 

Me too.

Here is a list for my buddy to choose from goodreads

I've been really slacking on my reading, so hopefully this will get me back into it in the new year. I'm in.

Totally in. I'm sending my credit and will send my Goodreads link as soon as I clean it up a bit. 

I'm in, i'll start making a list soon. 

Im in too. Will work on lists.

I'm SO in!  I've got a ton of ebooks I want to read!  Sending credit...  Will work on my TBR later

One thing I thought I'd mention, with the advent of self-published e-books that aren't available in print, I've been noticing that quite a few of them don't have word OR page counts on Amazon or Goodreads. I haven't checked those particular e-books on Smashwords or other sites that might have at least a word count.  I just know that I'm going to have to pay attention before I start reading a self-published e-book to make sure there's a word and/or page count at least somewhere!

Renee, you're right! I just looked over some of my TBR and a lot are self published. I'm going to have to weed out some books. 

Goodreads often has word count available.