Since 2010, I've been awarding the Dead End Follies Awards to my favorite readings of the year. It's a way for my to put my blogging in perspective and for my readers to get a quick look at what's really worth their hard earned dollars. It has become quick the extravaganza over the last two years and it has lead me to take strange decisions with my readings. It's one of the numerous things I wanted to rethink about Dead End Follies. Here are the few decisions I came up with:
1) I'll extend this reading season until December 24th. None of this November 1st to October 31st crap anymore. The number of business reviews has drastically increased over the last year, so it's unfair to whoever has to wait several months to get reviewed, to potentially wait a over a year to get an award. So the new reading season will be 51 weeks long and will go from January 1st to December24th. During the last week of the year, I'll probably treat myself to some best-seller I'll deem ineligible for the awards, so don't worry, nobody's going to fall in the gap.
2) The Dead End Follies Awards are going to be held during the last week of the year, over two, maybe three publications. This month-long extravaganza thing is over. It wasn't fuel efficient and didn't really encourage you to participate (don't pretend the opposite, my numbers told me so). So one post for the nominees. One post for the winners and maybe one post for the novel of the year. I haven't determined that yet, but it seems appropriate to the exceptional nature of the award.
3) There were twelve categories last year and they were not all pertinent. Expect a dramatic cutback. Eight is the number I'm aiming for. Maybe ten is in order, but really, I think it should be eight. Categories I'm thinking about blowing up : best male character, best female character, best non-fiction (I don't read enough) and funniest book. That would bring the Dead End Follies Awards to a more fuel-efficient and more user-friendly format for you guys.
So that's it. Expect a book review tomorrow morning. I am going slightly bonkers about what I'm reading right now.