Announcement: Sci-Fi Month 2017

Yes, you read that right – Sci-Fi Month is happening again this year! I think people were a little uncertain because I’ve not been so active in the blogosphere, but I definitely want to continue with this tradition! 🙂 Once again, Lisa will be co-hosting with me for the third year running.

So here’s the important stuff…

What is Sci-Fi Month?

Sci-Fi Month is a month-long blog event during November, that I hosted for the first time in 2013, created to celebrate everything amazing about science fiction. From TV shows to movies, books to comics, and everything else in between, it was intended to help us share our love and passion for this genre and its many, many fandoms. It was such a success – and I honestly wasn’t expecting that many people to join in – that people were already asking in December whether it would be held again the next year! It happened again in 2014, co-hosted by Oh, the Books!, and again in 2015 & 2016, when Lisacame on board.

Sci-Fi Month has a schedule that all participants can add to, meaning everyone can clearly see what is being posted each day. This also encourages participants to comment on and visit other blogs. More information on adding to the schedule below.

When is Sci-Fi Month?

Sci-Fi Month happens all November long, and takes place online – through each participant’s blog, Twitter feed, and other social media websites.

Who can participate?

Anyone! Bloggers, authors, readers, publishers – the first year saw over fifty bloggers, twenty-five authors and three publishers taking part regularly, as well as plenty more commenting, Tweeting, discussing and sharing the love for sci-fi, and this has only increased each year since. Even if you’re not a blogger, you’re taking part just by reading, commenting and Tweeting!

How can I sign up?

• Fill in the sign up form
• Follow the official Twitter account, @SciFiMonth, for regular updates
• Get to know your fellow sci-fi fans by viewing the participant list
• Start preparing for Sci-Fi Month 2017, and add your posts to the schedule. There are different tabs for each post tab, so please try to put your posts in the correct categories!

As with previous years, there is no deadline for signing up – if you only learn about the event halfway through November, you’re more than welcome to join!

What sorts of things should I post for the event?

Let your imagination run wild! If it involves science fiction, then post about it! In previous years, we’ve had all kinds of activity, including:

• reviews
• interviews
• discussions
• quizzes and puzzles
• bingo cards
• top ten/favorite lists
• giveaways

And it doesn’t have to be books. We had so many posts on TV shows, films, video games and all different kinds of things last year.

How do I add my posts to the schedule?

We are continuing to use the Google Docs spreadsheet. Everyone adds their own details, which makes it much easier. There are tabs for different post types, and details entered include post date, title, author, link to post etc – and these can be added at any time, even before the post has gone up, or several days after if you forget. Please try to add your posts to the appropriate category, although me and Lisa can move them if you’re unsure.

You can find the schedule spreadsheet here.

Is there a hashtag I can use to promote the event?

Yes! Please use the #RRSciFiMonth hashtag on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and everywhere else! We also have an official twitter account: @SciFiMonth.

Are there any official Sci-Fi Month graphics I can use on my blog?

Yes, please feel free to use the ones I have created, graphics from previous years, or make your own.

Who can I contact if I have more questions?

You can email me at rinnreads(at)gmail.com, tweet me at @RinnReads or @SciFiMonth. You can also contact Lisa through Twitter at @EffingRainbow. Or alternatively, you can comment on this post.

Participants

The participant list can be viewed here.

I will be sharing more information in the run up to November, so stay tuned!

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Announcement: Graphics for Sci-Fi Month 2015

As many of you know, Sci-Fi Month is returning for another year. At the time of the announcement, I had no prepared any graphics for the event, but I’ve since had time to put a few together, so here they are. Please make sure to save them to your own server. You are more than welcome to make your own graphics of course, and if you’d like them shared on this page (with credit, naturally) so that other participants can use them, please let me know!

Banners

Badges

I hope you’re excited for Sci-Fi Month! 🙂

Announcement: Sci-Fi Month 2015

Yes, Sci-Fi Month is returning for its third year! This year, with my studies over, I hope to be a much better hostess – I really cannot thank Kelley and Asti @ Oh, the Books! enough for their help last year.

The announcement is coming a little later than I hoped, but what with moving back to the UK, then to a new city and starting a new job, and being internetless for an ENTIRE MONTH, it was kind of tricky to sit down and get blog stuff done. But here we are!

This year, Sci-Fi Month will be hosted by myself along with Lisa @ Over the Effing Rainbow.

Now onto the finer details…

What is Sci-Fi Month?

Sci-Fi Month is a month-long blog event, that I hosted for the first time in 2013, created to celebrate everything amazing about science fiction. From TV shows to movies, books to comics, and everything else in between, it was intended to help us share our love and passion for this genre and its many, many fandoms. It was such a success – and I honestly wasn’t expecting that many people to join in – that people were already asking in December whether it would be held again the next year! It happened again in 2014, co-hosted by Oh, the Books!, but I was a very poor co-host due to my studies seriously affecting my available time. This year however, I’m in a similar situation to the first year, so I feel more prepared!

Sci-Fi Month has a schedule that all participants can add to, meaning everyone can clearly see what is being posted each day. This also encourages participants to comment on and visit other blogs. More information on adding to the schedule below.

When is Sci-Fi Month?

Sci-Fi Month happens all November long, and takes place online – through each participant’s blog, Twitter feed, and other social media websites.

Who can participate?

Anyone! Bloggers, authors, readers, publishers – the first year saw over fifty bloggers, twenty-five authors and three publishers taking part regularly, as well as plenty more commenting, Tweeting, discussing and sharing the love for sci-fi, and this only increased in 2014. Even if you’re not a blogger, you’re taking part just by reading, commenting and Tweeting!

How can I sign up?

1. Fill in the Google form
2. Add your details to the Linky at the bottom of the page
3. Follow the official Twitter account, @SciFiMonth, for regular updates
4. Start preparing for Sci-Fi Month 2015!

As with last year, there is no deadline for signing up – if you only learn about the event halfway through November, you’re more than welcome to join!

What sorts of things should I post for the event?

Let your imagination run wild! If it involves science fiction, then post about it! Last year, we had all kinds of activity, including:

• reviews
• interviews
• discussions
• quizzes and puzzles
• bingo cards
• top ten/favorite lists
• giveaways

And it doesn’t have to be books. We had so many posts on TV shows, films, video games and all different kinds of things last year. You can see more information on post types etc here.

How do I add my posts to the schedule?

Last year we used a Google Docs spreadsheet and asked everyone to add their own details, which worked really well. There are tabs for different post types, and details entered include post date, title, author, link to post etc – and these can be added at any time, even before the post has gone up, or several days after if you forget.

You can find the schedule spreadsheet here.

Is there a hashtag I can use to promote the event?

Yes! Please use the #RRSciFiMonth hashtag on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and everywhere else! We also have an official twitter account: @SciFiMonth.

Are there any official Sci-Fi Month graphics I can use on my blog?

Yes, they are available here. You are also more than welcome to create your own.

Who can I contact if I have more questions?

You can email me at rinnreads(at)gmail.com, tweet me at @RinnReads or @SciFiMonth. You can also contact Lisa through Twitter at @EffingRainbow. Or alternatively, you can comment on this post.

Linky

http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=90881d22-6fda-4f50-b34b-e433ad47c264

Announcement: A Few Changes…

With my thesis nearly finished and my Masters degree nearly over, my enthusiasm for blogging is returning. And with it, I’ve decided to make a few changes to the blog.

Here’s what is happening:

• I have retired a few regular features, as they weren’t exactly ‘regular’ any more. Weekly Roundup and Turning Off The TV are now under Misc. features, although they might crop up now and again.
• Once I start posting Fantasy Friday again, it will probably only be once a month. It’s quite a demanding theme and right now my inspiration is gone…
• New post headers to fit in more with the theme! I was getting pretty sick of the old ones, and these feel more professional.
• I’m planning on involving video games, films, music and television more heavily, not just in relation to books. Books will, of course, remain the main focus, but I’d like to discuss other things too. Series I’m currently watching, film and video game reviews, recommendations, etc. This is the most major change!
• Some general tidying/cleaning up, so if things look a bit funny at times then that’s why!

I’ve already got quite a few posts planned out and some ideas, so let’s hope this enthusiasm remains!

Hiatus?

Or actually, I don’t know. I just wanted to post to let you all know that posts might be a bit sporadic for a little bit. As of right now, I don’t have anything planned out – and all through January and February I had the month planned ahead! I have plenty of ideas, I just need to find the time and motivation to sit down and write them out.

I need to make sure I focus on my thesis because OH MY GOD THERE’S ONLY THREE MONTHS LEFT TO WRITE IT WHAT. I really have no idea where the time has gone here… the two years I spent working and saving to come here dragged by so slowly, and time has just FLOWN by since August, when I moved to the Netherlands.

Pretty much what I want to do right now.

I’ve also spent a lot of my time here just feeling like I shouldn’t be. I don’t feel smart enough to be here, I swear when everyone else talks in class they sound really intelligent, and I’m just sat there trying to think of something, anything to say without sounding stupid. So I think I need to work a lot harder than I am… I’ve pretty much spent this week finishing an essay that was due on Friday, and as soon as that was done letting myself have the rest of the week off – playing video games and binge watching TV shows. Oops.

So yeah, I will post when I feel like it, and keep the reviews coming as I’m trying to read as many of my review copies as possible. I got my Netgalley ratio up to 62%, which is the highest it’s ever been!

I’m not going anywhere, I just wanted to let people know what was going on, especially as I’m REALLY behind on comments – my own and those on other blogs! Sorry!

Also this.

Sci-Fi Month 2014: Approaching At Warp Speed

Okay, well maybe time isn’t going by quite that quickly, but it really is getting close now! This post is really just to remind participants that November is fast approaching, as well as provide some schedule guidelines, and let even more people know about the event.

If you’re sat there wondering “What is this?”, then let me tell you! Sci-Fi Month is a month long event (as the name suggests…) where bloggers, authors, publishers, readers, pretty much just about anyone can get together to share their love for science fiction. We currently have over sixty people signed up to take part. Through reviews, discussions, author interviews, various exciting games, top tens and so many more types of posts, as well as a multitude of social media platforms, us science fiction lovers can get to know each other and share the love! If you want to know more about the event, such as how you can sign up to take part or any other questions, then let me direct you to the Information Hub.

Before we move onto the scheduling guidelines, I just wanted to talk about a recent conversation on Twitter. It was asked whether participants could work together for the event, for example running your own panels or perhaps interviewing another blogger – of course this is fine! It would be wonderful to see some blogger interaction, and maybe some beautiful friendships blooming from it! 😉

And now for some scheduling guidelines, which the wonderful Kelley has put together – please make sure you read and follow these carefully, as it makes everything easier for all of us, both hosts and participants!

Post Schedule Guidelines

Just like last year, we’ve got a master spreadsheet to keep track of the posts that each participant will be posting for the event! This time, we’ve organized the spreadsheet into a few different tabs, categorized to help you find the kind of content you’re looking for, and to make the entire schedule feel a little less HUGE.

These categories should be pretty self explanatory, but if you’re not sure which one your post might fall under, hopefully these descriptions will answer that for you. (Still trying to think of what you want to post? Check out our list of things to look forward to and post ideas!)

• Intro Posts: If you’re planning on writing an intro post, then put it here. This will be a great way to check out all of the other blogs that are participating, and see what they’re planning for the month!
• Fun & Games: Last year we had quizzes, crossword puzzles, BINGO cards, and more. If your post includes a game or other activity, it should go in this category. Making some sort of chart? Those could go here, too!
  Discussions: This will likely be the bulk of the content. Discussions of your favorite sci-fi topics, books, shows, games, etc. go here.
• Lists: Love making lists? Anything like topical book recs or top ten lists should be placed here!
• Reviews: Any sci-fi reviews should go here, whether it’s a book, TV show, movie, video game, or whatever!
• Interviews: If you’re participating in sci-fi author interviews, or have a guest post planned, please list yours here.
• Misc: Have a post that you don’t feel fits in any of the above categories? Throw it in here!

So, how do you add your posts to the schedule?

If you’ve already signed up as a participant, you should have gotten an email from your contact person, which includes a link to the schedule spreadsheet in Google Docs. You should be able to edit the document, which means you can add your posts to the appropriate tabs.

A few things to keep in mind when adding your posts:

• Add your post(s) to the bottom of the list. You won’t need worry about putting them in a specific order. We will make sure the spreadsheet is sorted by date.
• Please fill in all appropriate information. This will make it easier for everyone to understand what your post is about.
• For the Post Title & Link: type in the name of the post, and when it goes live, come back and use the Insert Link button to add a link to your post.
• If your post includes a giveaway, please type YES in the Giveaway column, or put a description of what is being given away.
• Please don’t modify anybody else’s rows in the table. This is just common courtesy!
• If you need to remove one of your posts, you can delete the row completely.
• If you have any questions that were not answered here, please feel free to ask your contact person for help!

How are you plans for the event going? Do you have any further questions? Please feel free to leave comments on this post, tweet @SciFiMonth or use our official hashtag, #RRSciFiMonth.

Announcement: Sci-Fi Month 2014

Due to the amazing success of Sci-Fi Month last November, I am incredibly happy to announce that it will be taking place again this year! And… well, let this badge do all the talking…

Yes, the lovely ladies from Oh, the Books! will be co-hosting it with me!

Yes, that’s right, this year Sci-Fi Month will be hosted by myself, along with Asti, Leanne and Kelley. We’re announcing it a little earlier this year because I will most likely be very busy in August, which is when it was announced last year. In fact we all have pretty schedules for the summer onwards, but we really want to make sure this happens. And now, onto the important stuff…

What is Sci-Fi Month?

Sci-Fi Month is a month-long blog event, that I hosted for the first time last year, created to celebrate everything amazing about science fiction! From TV shows to movies, books to comics, and everything else in between, it was intended to help us share our love and passion for this genre and its many, many fandoms. It was such a success – and I honestly wasn’t expecting that many people to join in – that people were already asking in December whether it would be held again next year!

When is Sci-Fi Month?

Sci-Fi Month happens all November long, and takes place online – through each participant’s blog, Twitter feed, and other social media websites.

Who can participate?

Anyone! Bloggers, authors, readers, publishers – last year saw over fifty bloggers, twenty-five authors and three publishers taking part regularly, as well as plenty more commenting, Tweeting, discussing and sharing the love for sci-fi! Even if you’re not a blogger, you’re taking part just by reading, commenting and Tweeting!

How do I sign up?

Through this sign up form. When you sign up, you will be assigned a contact person (they will email you) and you will also be added to our mailing list. This is so we can easily keep everyone taking part in the event easily updated. As with last year, there is no deadline for signing up – if you only learn about the event halfway through November, you’re more than welcome to join!

What kinds of things should I post for the event?

We encourage you to let your imagination run wild! If it involves science fiction, then post about it! Last year, we had all kinds of activity, including:

• reviews
• interviews
• discussions
• quizzes and puzzles
• bingo cards
• top ten/favorite lists
• giveaways
• and more!

And it doesn’t have to be books. We had so many posts on TV shows, films, video games and all different kinds of things last year. You can see more information on post types etc here.

How do I add my posts to the schedule?

As with last year, we will be using a Google Docs spreadsheet – but this time, it will be embedded on our blogs, which means less updating for us! It does also mean that we ask that you follow our ‘guidelines’ when adding your post, just so it all looks neat! More information on this to come.

Is there a deadline for adding to the schedule?

Not strictly as you can edit the schedule yourself, but it’s easier for us if we know what will be going up each day!

Is there a hashtag I should use to promote this event?

Yes! Please use the #RRSciFiMonth hashtag on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and everywhere else! We also have an official twitter account: @SciFiMonth, which is being managed by the lovely Asti this year!

How do I get involved in the author/publisher interviews?

Last year, I did a lot of intermediary work between authors and bloggers, but unfortunately I just won’t have the time this year. It is therefore up to you to contact authors or publishers if you wish – although I’m more than happy to share some tips on how to approach authors or publishers!

Are there any official Sci-Fi Month graphics I can use on my blog?

Yes, and this year they’ve been created by the wonderful Kelley! I’ve made a separate page to display them, as she’s made quite a variety!

Who can I contact if I have more questions?

When you sign up, you will be assigned a contact person (Rinn, Kelley, Leanne, or Asti). Please get in touch with her first, either via email or Twitter. If you don’t get a response from her within three days, please contact another of us! Or if you haven’t yet signed up and want to ask a question first, feel free to leave a comment on this post.

I can’t wait for Sci-Fi Month 2014! Whether you joined in last year, or this is your first time – I’m excited to discuss and fangirl over science fiction with you! ❤