ErsatzCulture

Noticed an interesting (?) pattern in user activity on Goodreads for some of the higher-profile SFF novellas from last year: activity ramps up at the end of October, and then drops exactly at the end of the year. Granted, this is more noticeable on some books than others.

All four of those examples are published by TorDotCom, and I didn't see this pattern in any of the other novellas I looked at (sourced from this GR list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/226505.Hugo_2026_Eligible_Novellas )

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Mar 20 at 11:53amWeb
Show threadErsatzCultureMar 20

However, the pattern didn't recur on TorDotCom nth-in-a-series novellas, nor on one from Nightfire.

This makes me think there's nothing nefarious here; rather my current working theory is that some GR users are wanting to maximize the number of books they've read to meet a end-of-year reading challenge target, and are picking titles that are high-profile and short to help reach that goal.

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Show threadErsatzCultureMar 20

I haven't looked (yet), but I'd not be surprised if there was a GR blog post promoting these titles and others for exactly those reasons.

The GR Choice Awards would also have an impact on activity, although only 2 of these 4 books were finalists.

I know there have been a few admirable initiatives to push people to read novellas outside of those from TorDotCom, maybe this is another angle to try?

Apologies in advance if this is indeed already being done, and I've forgotten about it.

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Show threadEspaña SheriffMar 20
@ErsatzCulture NYCC boost?