It’s time for another year of the Prequel & Sequel Challenge! Last year I was happy to adopt Melissa @ Writer Grrl Reads as a wonderful co-host, and we’re giving it another go in 2016! Last year we slacked quite a bit on putting fun things together. We’re hoping to do a lot more with the challenge this year!
Welcome to the 2016 Sequel & Prequel Challenge, hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Writer Grrl Reads! The goal: To read as many prequels and sequels as you can. You set your goal at whatever number works for you.
Guidelines
- The challenge runs from January 1st to December 31st.
- Any books started before Jan. 1 will not count.
- All books in a series count for points (see below)
- Novellas count, either prequels or sequels (i.e. #0.5, #1.5, #2.5, etc).
- Books can be of any publication date. They don’t have to be released in 2016.
- In order to get 10 points for a completed series, there must be at least 3 full-length books in the series.
- You can still get sequel points for a duology, you just can’t get the 10 bonus points for finishing it.
- Sign-ups will be open until December 1st, 2016.
- To join, add the URL of your challenge post to the linky widget. (If you’d like to wait, it’s ok to use your blog URL and send us your link as soon you get the post up)
- At the end of each quarter (every three months), we will post a linky for you to add your sequel reviews to. The linky will rotate between our blogs on alternate quarters, so you can link up at Novel Heartbeat at the end of March and September, and over at Writer Grrl Reads at the end of June and December. If you have a ton of reviews for the quarter, you can always link to wherever you’re keeping track of your progress. This will make it much easier for us – not only is it less posting, but it will be easier to keep track of how many points everyone has.
- We will try to do some giveaways throughout the year for participants (as long as we can afford it), as well as some mini-challenges and read-alongs … so stay tuned for further details!
- There will be a giveaway at the end of the year for all participants who completed the challenge!
The Point System
For each prequel and sequel read this year, points will be awarded as follows:
- 1 point for each prequel or sequel novella read and reviewed
- 2 points for each full-length sequel read and reviewed
- 10 points for completing and reviewing a full series (doesn’t require novellas)*†
- **You do not get points for the first book in a series
To get points, you must review the book/novella somewhere. If you want to earn points, please link up your reviews at the end of each month, and enter the number of points earned (we will give examples in the linky). Each point earned is an entry into the giveaway at the end of the year for all participants who completed the challenge. So, the more sequels you read, the better your chances of winning the giveaway! Plus, we are also considering one prize for the “overacheiver award” — the person who gets the most points!
*The 10 bonus points is for finishing a FULL series. That means that all books must be published (unless you got an advance reader copy early). i.e. If you are completely caught up on a series, and the next book is not releasing until 2017 (and you do not have an advance reader copy), that does not count toward the 10 bonus points.
†If you started the series before 2016, you can still get the bonus points for finishing it if you reviewed the other books in the series at some point. For example: You read The Hunger Games in 2015, but read Catching Fire and Mockingjay in 2016 – you would get 2 points for both sequels and 10 bonus points for finishing the series (14 points total). You don’t have to start the series in 2016 to get the bonus points.
So let this year be the year that we stop whining about how many sequels are sitting on our TBRs or cluttering up our shelves! Take control of your reading destinies and sign up to read with us!
Grab a button:
Link up!
I really enjoyed this reading challenge; thanks so much for hosting again!
I never found the quarterly linkys for 2015 on either site despite looking through archives. Are they hiding somewhere? And is there a wrap-up linky? Thanks.
Hi Sue, there weren’t any link ups. We let things slip away from us this year! You can find the final wrap up coming soon.
Perfect-Glad to know I wasn’t going crazy! Will link up when I see the final! Thanks for hosting!
[…] Prequel & Sequel Reading Challenge hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Writer Grrl Reads (sign up by 01 Dec 2016) […]
I read numerous books in 2015 that would have qualified, but was was crap for keeping track of them. I’m trying to do better this year.
[…] Prequel and Sequel Reading Challenge 2016 […]
i would like to ask some question before knowing if i can enter and at which level:
a) do book in another language ( and review in those) count as well
b) can a book read and reviewed can count for this challenge and another we would have already entered
c) can we start at a lower level and goes up if we see that we are doing great along teh year
Hi Miki!
a) Yes, you can read and review in any language!
b) Yes, you can use books in other challenges
c) Of course! You can change your goal however many times you want to :)
great!!
thank you a lot for answering me so quickly i will definitively join them
just need to write the post
oups one littel question would it be possible to have the button in jpg so i can put it in my sidebar
thanks
[…] 2016 Prequel & Sequel Challenge – GR Shelf […]
oki ‘ve joined as Newbie to start
sadly the png button doesn’t work for me so it’s a blank in my sidebar but if you send em a jpg version i will update that assoon as i can
thank you for hosting this challenge
If you google “convert png to jpg” there’s a few free converters that should work well for you. Thanks for joining!
[…] from Novel Heartbeat and Melissa from Writer Grrl Reads. To find out more, view the sign-up post here. This challenge is to read as many prequels and sequels as you can. My own goal is going to be […]
two little questions: was teh linky for january already up somewhere i think i missed it
and then how do i count an anthology: one point per novella read and reviewed or only 2points for the whole anthology? ( i plan to read teh novellas in order and i can’t read them all at tjhis time so i prefer to ask before i start reading)
There isn’t a January link up. They will be done quarterly (please see #10 under ‘guidelines’)
For anthologies you can count one point per separate novella, since they’re all different stories :)
thank you!
Thanks so much for hosting. This is my first time doing a challenge like this and I am super excited. Have a great year reading!!
Charlie
Fur Earwig
good luck Charlie!
Thanks for joining! Good luck :)
[…] Click here to sign up! […]
[…] Click here to sign up! […]
I have a question on Novella series? Like Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher’s Never Never series. The first 2 are about 160 pages long and the last one is about 100 pages long. Yet there are no other books in that series. Does the 10 points count towards that or no? And are the first 2 really considered Novellas if they are over 150 pages? I’ve never really understood that or not. haha.
Hmm, that’s a tough one! It looks like it’s three parts to the same book, but since it was published at different times it could be considered sequels. I don’t really know how to handle that, so I would say just use your own judgement, whichever way you feel works better :)
right?! Maybe I will just do 1 point for the “sequel” portions and 5 points for finishing it since they aren’t “full length novels”? That way it’s more fair for other people who have read full length novels?
That sounds good to me! That was a really good question!
[…] It’s time for a report on my reading challenges and the progress I made in the past three months. I must say I’m pleased with my overall results but I’m seeing some challenges I should focus more on in the future, namely Banned Books Reading Challenge and 1001-books Reading Challenge. I’m way ahead with Bralnica Reading Challenge (Slovene reader’s forum), Flights of Fantasy , and the Prequel and Sequel Reading Challenge. […]
I’m wondering.. does re-reading a series count? I did a few re-reads before sequels came out this year and I wasn’t sure. Thanks! Excited to try this!
Yes, it counts! As long as you read the book all the way through it still counts :) Thanks for joining!
Thanks for hosting! I love this challenge and have particpated for around 3 years now. I think it is a wonderful way to work on finishing series.
I’ve read the article with terrific satisfaction and even could know something brand new I will use
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