MobileRead November 2013's *Category* Nominations

[sun surfer]

I'll nominate

-21st Century
-Foreign (Books originally written in a language other than English)
-Normally Priced (Books that aren't generally free or very cheap)

The last one is meant as a category where for one month free or almost-free books aren't allowed so the winner won't be decided by cost. I am open to suggestions for its title because "Normally Priced" was the best I could come up with ("Not Free"? "Books Worth Something"? etc.).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I'll nominate

-21st Century
-Foreign (Books originally written in a language other than English)
-Normally Priced (Books that aren't generally free or very cheap)

The last one is meant as a category where for one month free or almost-free books aren't allowed so the winner won't be decided by cost. I am open to suggestions for its title because "Normally Priced" was the best I could come up with ("Not Free"? "Books Worth Something"? etc.).

Paid For is a good name for the category and I'll 2nd it.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Paid For is a good name for the category and I'll 2nd it.

I'll add that to his "Normally Priced" nomination.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

The last one is meant as a category where for one month free or almost-free books aren't allowed so the winner won't be decided by cost. I am open to suggestions for its title because "Normally Priced" was the best I could come up with ("Not Free"? "Books Worth Something"? etc.).

So will it be decided on library availability instead?

It's all pretty murky really. You can still pay a reasonable recommended retail price for books that are in the public domain.

Maybe call it something catchy but have a description. Eg. RRP (no public domain/creative commons, RRP Threshold > $5.00)

I'm guessing the price itself is not an issue, rather that you feel the lean towards free and cheap actually blocks out a large percentage of works which could be equally worthwhile to read and discuss.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by caleb72

I'm guessing the price itself is not an issue, rather that you feel the lean towards free and cheap actually blocks out a large percentage of works which could be equally worthwhile to read and discuss.

I have to agree with this. We've had too many good books not voted for because of cheap/free eBooks and we've ended up with a read that was not as good. for example, October's Horror has been a month that's been spoiled in the past by free/cheap eBooks instead of ones that are actually good.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Well, I've got one nomination left.

I'll second 21st Century.

[Asawi]

I've used up my votes, but I'm sort of in support of a "non-free" category. I doubt it would actually be choosen though, but I have been disappointed many months when I have seen books being choosen mainly because they are free. But really, who am I to tell people what to do and how to think and how to vote?! I'm humble enough to realize my opinions are only that: Opinions, not The Truth!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Asawi

I've used up my votes, but I'm sort of in support of a "non-free" category. I doubt it would actually be choosen though, but I have been disappointed many months when I have seen books being choosen mainly because they are free. But really, who am I to tell people what to do and how to think and how to vote?! I'm humble enough to realize my opinions are only that: Opinions, not The Truth!

I too have been disappointed when books have been chosen based on being free instead of being the best for the month.

[JSWolf]

I'll 3rd 21st Century.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Paid For is a good name for the category and I'll 2nd it.

That's a good option for the name too.

Originally Posted by caleb72

...Maybe call it something catchy but have a description. Eg. RRP (no public domain/creative commons, RRP Threshold > $5.00)...

RRP is another good one. I was thinking something like generally above a certain price point too ($5.00, like you) but with different countries participating here I just went with adding in "generally not very cheap". But if all of you think it's better, we could add in that the book should generally be above a certain price point. Though they're not exactly equal, I think it could work to say it should be above $5/£5/€5, and that could cover the U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia and Euro countries. The dollar(/peso) sign is also used in other countries with different conversion rates, but we could just specify that we mean U.S./Canada/Australia dollars. Even if there's any confusion, $5 in the other countries I've seen would be cheaper and not more expensive so not a problem really, though there could be exceptions.

Whatever works though.

Originally Posted by caleb72

So will it be decided on library availability instead?

It's all pretty murky really. You can still pay a reasonable recommended retail price for books that are in the public domain...

I don't really see it as murky. You could say a free category could be murky too since you could decide to pay for a better edition of a classic.

I'm guessing the price itself is not an issue, rather that you feel the lean towards free and cheap actually blocks out a large percentage of works which could be equally worthwhile to read and discuss.

Well, firstly, I thought of it as sort of the opposite of a MR Library category since all those are free. That's sort of like a free free-for-all category, so this is a paid free-for-all category.

But yes, I also don't think it's a bad idea to exclude free at least one month a year so that hopefully price won't be a deciding factor for voters at least once a year.

Originally Posted by Asawi

I've used up my votes, but I'm sort of in support of a "non-free" category. I doubt it would actually be choosen though, but I have been disappointed many months when I have seen books being choosen mainly because they are free. But really, who am I to tell people what to do and how to think and how to vote?! I'm humble enough to realize my opinions are only that: Opinions, not The Truth!

Well, that's true, people are free to vote how they want and I've never complained about a book being chosen because it's the cheaper option. But on the same token, people are free to vote how they want, so if a non-free category is voted in, then that's what the people want. I don't see anything wrong with having one month a year where the idea is not to have "costs a normal amount" be a big detriment to a book's chances.

[JSWolf]

Sometimes we do not always get the best choice because someone gets a free/cheap eBook in the vote and it gets chosen not because it's the best book in the list, but because it's the cheapest book in the list.

Take a look at the eBook we had for last October. Dreadful book that was not scarey at all. But it was chosen because it was free. Price is definitely a factor and when that happens, how good a book is goes right out the window.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Take a look at the eBook we had for last October. Dreadful book that was not scarey at all. But it was chosen because it was free. Price is definitely a factor and when that happens, how good a book is goes right out the window.

You keep using this book as an example, but, when I went back to the discussion thread, over half the people in there said they enjoyed the book. The fact that you really didn't like it doesn't make it a dreadful selection. Overall people thought it was a good selection.

[Synamon]

It seems that books JSWolf hates are good selections, I wonder if we could craft a category around that?

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I don't really see it as murky. You could say a free category could be murky too since you could decide to pay for a better edition of a classic.

Actually, I think it was covered pretty well in the description:

Books that aren't generally free or very cheap

I think it's pretty sensible to assume that public domain/creative commons works are excluded, while at the same time, if you managed to scoop up a temporary bargain on something usually priced higher you could nominate that. Seems like pretty good wording to me.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

You keep using this book as an example, but, when I went back to the discussion thread, over half the people in there said they enjoyed the book.

I'm one of them.

I think Jon uses the criteria Horror = Scary as he keeps mentioning this over and over. Personally, I don't think that's the only way to classify Horror.

Having said that - I wouldn't mind going non-public domain for Horror. Rosemary's Baby came up in nominations in 2011 and that would probably be a great Horror book to read with the group. Another great group read would be The Exorcist or even a classic King novel like Salem's Lot. If we ever get another Horror category I'll probably nominate and vote for books like this.