It’s time for the annual AAR Reader Poll!
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year may be a song about the Christmas season and, in the last many years, that day when kids finally go back to school after summer break, but it is just as relevant to January and the opening of the Annual Reader Poll for many of us at AAR. The year 2013 may be over on the calendar but we are asking you to look back and reminisce about your favorite books from 2013.
We have recorded AAR readers’ favorite books for the past 17 years and each year we open the poll hoping to help new readers and old, find a great read or a new and promising author that they may have missed. Some AAR readers keep spreadsheets, Goodreads/Librarything shelves, or charts in some form or another and hopefully those will help you in filling out the poll. If you haven’t kept a spreadsheet or reading chart (and there are just as many readers who don’t), you can always use the Power Search function at AAR to search for reviews from the 2013 reading year. In Power Search you can search by genre, reviewer, year published, grade, and other categories which should help you in filling out your ballot.
The poll will be open for just two weeks starting today, Monday January 13th and will close at 12:00 midnight U.S. Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, January 26th, 2014. We encourage all our AAR readers to participate in this poll. The poll has a slightly different look this year than in the past. As a result of some unexpected technical difficulties at AAR in the past week, this year’s Annual Reader Poll is being hosted offsite. Instead of going to a form directly at AAR you will complete the survey at a commercial vendor, surveymonkey.com (see the end of this post for the actual link).
There are now 23 different categories listed on the ballot but remember, for your ballot to be valid, you only have to vote in a minimum of six (6) categories. The average AAR reader votes in about 10 categories but some readers vote in all categories.
We have five new categories this year, as suggested by many readers. And we blogged about it here: Heads Up! The Annual AAR Reader Poll is Coming. The new categories are Best Paranormal/Time Travel Romance; Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Romance; Best Young Adult Romance; Best New Adult Romance; and Best Novel (non-romance) with Strong Romantic Elements.
For Best Chick Lit/Women’s Fiction suggestions, we published a blog here recently that you may find helpful: Chick Lit/Women’s Fiction Recommendations for Best of 2013?
Also, for “Best Category Romance Book” (which refers to series books from publishers like Harlequin, Entangled and Mills & Boon), we published this blog: Looking for 2013 Category Romance Recommendations .
Those two blogs offer several suggestions from AAR staff and AAR readers but there are definitely many more books we may not know about it. So vote for your favorites. Don’t forget to check the boards, too (Forums/Discussion Lists), as many AAR readers have lots to say about favorite books, authors, their 2013 reading year, etc.
Look for the results to be posted at AAR in February. Ready to vote? Click here.
CindyS, LeeB, and LinnieGayl
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Just double checking, Entangled- Brazen line is considered category? They are a relatively new publisher. What makes them a category romance line? Just curious.
Well, looking at Entangled’s website, they have several different imprints, as does Harlequin, so I would say the Brazen line is considered category.
Yes, Entangled actively markets its lines such as Bliss, Brazen, etc.. as category romance. They have a single title division as well.