2019 Book March Madness

It’s that time again! Once again The Reader’s Room will be hosting our own version of a bookish March Madness, slated to begin with the start of the NCAA tournament (March 21st). Reading will begin March 21. We hope you join us for this challenge!

Here’s an overview of what you will need to do:

1. Let us know if you want to participate. Simply post a reply to this email saying you want to play. This doesn’t commit you to anything but will help us get a sense of general numbers.  You can sign up later too, but those who sign up early will have a chance to impact which books make the official cut.
2. Submit one March 2018 – March 2019 book nomination that you think stands a good chance of beating other books (either because others have rated them highly or because you think others will want to read those books). Books be published in the last year to qualify (2018 to current day). Books can be of any genre. Think strategically.
3. Submit title by end of day today. You can post them as replies here or email Jen thereadersroomblog[at]gmail[dot]com so no one else steals your ideas.

Over next few days:

1. We (Book Worm and I) will create a final list consisting of 68 books.
2. I will rank books according to metric we’ve used in the past.
3. Participants will then get to create and submit their own personal brackets with books they think will win.
4. To get points, you need to read and review WINNING books. This challenge is NOT about who can read the fastest or who can read the greatest number of books. It’s about strategy and luck. The winner could conceivably be a person who reads only 1 or 2 books.
5. Scoring will approximate the way points are calculated for NCAA brackets (1 point for round 1 winners, 2, for round two, etc.) Full instructions and details on scoring will be posted before you are required to pick your brackets (likely early March).

One grand prize winner will be selected to win awesome bookish prizes (worth $100-$150)!

*NOTE: If you are a non-US reader and are unfamiliar with march madness tournaments, you can read more about what that is, here. It may sound complicated but it should be easy to figure out.