That Didn't Take Long!

Re: worst book category: I guess it <i>is</i> a mind block, but here's the thing, at least for me. If I've gone through the trouble and expense of actually shipping a new book to Uruguay in time for it to be read in 2006, or if I paid full price for an electronic copy, it was probably one by a favourite author or one that got very positive buzz and feedback from people I trusted. I do buy a couple on impulse, but that's about it, a couple. Not very daring, but there it is (FWIW, I do take more risks with older books, which I can buy very cheap used and then get shipped here in a very cheap m-bag).

The result is that current year books tend to be at least average, usually better than that. Obviously, there *was* one book which was the worst among the 2006 books I've read, but that was a C+ book this year, Sex Lies and Online Dating, by Rachel Gibson. It just wasn't bad enough for me to be comfortable voting it for worst book of the year. I think my block comes from me thinking if I'm voting for a book in a certain category, I should feel that the book deserves to win that category. If SLAOD "won" the Worst book category, would I think "Yes! That was well-deserved!"? The answer is definitely NO.

Rosario -

I think everyone would agree that if you live in a country where access is limited, you get a "buy" in that category. Most of those who have voted, so far, are living in the U.S. and have no such excuse. It's weird...people have no trouble talking about a book they hated on a message board, a discussion list, or a blog, but god forbid they are asked to "carve it in stone" on a ballot. ;)

TTFN, LLB

Laurie,

I'm a bit concerned that my ballot might be considered voting a "straight ticket"! 2006 was a fairly lacklustre reading year for me, and most of the romances I enjoyed were not 2006 releases. That said, there were a couple of 06 books which really impressed me, with one definitely standing out from the crowd. As a result, I voted for this particular book in several categories. I don't know the author in question and I had no agenda in voting as I did. I simply thought her book was the best newly-published romance I'd read in ages.

I know that you've had problems with ballot stuffers in the past but I'd be curious to know how you decide which votes are bogus and which ones are genuine. Are ballots only eliminated if several are sent from the same computer, or are all "straight ticket" ballots disqualified?

Just curious!

Sarah

You know - I really can't understand the mentality behind "stuffing the ballots". Of course I really don't understand the mentality of rabid fan girls and either they or relatives/friends of said author are the ones who do it. But still - it's just so 'high school'. While there are certainly some books I like more than others and would probably vote for them in more than one category, on the whole, I try and spread my votes out to include as many authors as I think deserve my votes. And I certainly DO plan on voting. Normally I vote rather early - but this time because of a much lower number of books I read, I'll be tring to get as many in the the next couple of weeks as I can. Of course in order to do that - I need to stay off the internet and READ! *g*

Sarah -

First of all, I just looked at your ballot, and you did NOT vote a straight ticket. You had seven different authors/books out of the ten categories you voted in.

The ballots I discounted today were clearly all from family and friends for one author. In most cases, they only voted in one category (which disqualified them anyway), the votes all came in sort of clumped, and the family names were also clumped. An initial ballot, though, had seven categories filled out - all for this new and little known author. I counted that first ballot, but reluctantly, and it has a red flag next to it in my head. Shortly before that ballot came in, though, I received a straight-ticket ballot for a very well-known author, one of whose books from 2006 appeared on my ballot. The author did not send out a mailing to her newsletter, though (I'm on it). But since I let her ballot stand, I let the other one stand too. Both, though now have red flags.

I look for trends, keep my ears open, check names to see if I recognize the voter, etc. After all these years, I'm pretty well in tune w/what's valid and what isn't. Here's a cut and paste of one of the big stuffing incidents I wrote about last year:

...most of the ballots were sent within the same hour, and in each case, the same "wrong book" was submitted for Best Regency Romance (not a trad Regency at all, but the same European Historical Romance). And after going through all the ballots, I was able to identify nine authors whose names will be mentally (at least) flagged as I look at all future ballots. At least three received strong grades at AAR, but this may explain why so many of the names of ballot submitters are not known to me...I'll bet they are family, friends, and "real" names for some of the nine authors, none of whom, btw, were the egregious "wrong book" balloteers. Interestingly enough, all nine of these authors got their start with the same publisher. That last I know because when I googled the names of two of them in tandem, I discovered a blog common to all nine of them (and more).

Kristie -

I filled out my ballot this afternoon. It took me over an hour! My main problem, which I wrote about in a previous ATBF, is that I read no 2006 DIKs.

TTFN, LLB

My problem this year is I wasn't keeping track of the copyrights and then I only read 21 books! When I went to fill in my ballot I realized that I didn't really have as many titles for the different categories as I thought. Also, I read mostly paranormal so they don't fit in any other category. Ooops.

I spent an hour on the ballot the other night and finally put it away - I was having a hard time because I don't want to fill the ballot with the same book over and over again. Even still, I do know that I have enough (six categories filled) to enter and will continue to go over my list of books. (I swear I read more than I thought but I can't find the proof ;)) Also, I didn't read any book this year that I would consider 'the worst' because I didn't finish anything that was heading in that direction. The farthest I got was 60 pages into Hunting the Hunter before I just couldn't care anymore so I may have to leave it blank only because I didn't force myself to read anything this year that I wanted to throw against the wall when I finished!

Cindys

I tend to leave it a while before I vote, I want to see how the voting is going, because sometimes I forget which books I've read and reading other people's selections helps to jog my memory.

Normally I wait a long time before I vote. This time, I downloaded the ballot categories at the same time I submitted my 2005 ballot. So, as I read throughout 2006, I would enter my choice for each category. Of course there was lots of switching over the course of the year, but I ended up voting on the first day this year....a record for me.