Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?
- The IHS Reading Challenge runs January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. (New categories will be shared weekly from January 8 through December 16, but you have all calendar year to read.)
- A book must fit one of the 100 categories that have been chosen for this year’s challenge and will only be counted once, even if it fits several categories. If it’s an age gap, grumpy sunshine romance with a touch of suspense, choose one category, and then find different books to check off the others.
- A book must be started and finished during the calendar year to count.
- The format can be ebook, Kindle Vella, print, or audio.
- Size doesn’t matter. Graphic novels, Kindle Vella episodes, short stories, novellas, novelettes, fanfic, and anthologies count the same as novels for fulfilling a category.
- Rereading a favorite book counts as long as you read it in full during the 2024 calendar year.
- Different books in a multi-book series can be counted toward different categories, but remember, each individual title can only be counted once.
- If you initially put a book down for age-gap that can also count as ice queen but then read another age-gap, you can move the first to ice queen. Again, we want to stress, a book only counts once, but it can be moved around as needed before you turn in your final sheet at the end of the year.
- Each book must have one character with a woman who loves/is attracted to a woman, though it is not necessary for the book to have a romance or romantic subplot. This includes those who identify as lesbian, queer, bisexual, pansexual, and homoromantic asexual women. This also includes nonbinary, trans, and intersex individuals who identify as sapphic in some manner. We welcome the very broadest interpretation of this definition as long as it keeps to the spirit of the challenge.
- The level you reach for is up to you and can be changed throughout the year. For example, if you start off aiming for Garnet but blast by it, you’re more than welcome to keep aiming higher. Or, if you aim for Emerald but don’t hit it, no one will judge you. The goal is to read for pleasure, not drive yourself crazy. Whichever levels you have reached (and recorded) by December 31, 2024 are the ones you will get credit for when it comes time for the final drawings.
- Even though we’ll be showcasing two categories per week, that doesn’t mean you have to read according to the category schedule or choose only from books we suggest. Read what you want and when you want. Just keep track of it and keep us updated on our socials or by email if you want to have a shot at the monthly prizes.
- You may record your new levels as they are achieved throughout the year by submitting a Level-up form.
- Forms may be submitted until 11:59pm (EST) on January 15, 2025
- The drawing will be held on January 16, 2024 and winners will be notified via the email provided on your submission form.
- In the event the same person is chosen for more than one drawing, they will receive the prize for the higher level and a new winner will be drawn for the lower level.
- We do not require verification of your books and categories to submit your entry form, but we will require documentation of book titles and categories from winners before prizes are dispersed.
- Prize amounts are listed in US dollars. If you are not in the US Amazon store, we will provide a gift card for a comparable amount in the currency of your local Amazon marketplace.
More on how to enter the monthly giveaways:
Each Wednesday, look for our What Are You Reading post on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Instagram. Tell us the title of the book you’re reading and what category it’s in. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a book from that week’s categories as long as it fits one of the 100 categories for the year.
You can enter ONCE PER WEEK, every week of the month.
If you’re not a fast reader, and it takes you more than a week to read a book, that’s fine, too. As long as you reply to the new post the following week (or weeks) to say you are still reading that book, we will count it as a new entry toward the monthly drawing.
If you don’t use social media, no problem. You’re more than welcome to email us your info. Please send an email to [email protected], put “Monthly IHS Reading Challenge Giveaway” in the subject line, and tell us the name of the book and the category. Just like the social media peeps, you can enter once per week. All entries for the drawing will need to be received by midnight Eastern Standard Time on the last day of the month to qualify. Entries received after that will roll over to the next month’s drawing.
You cannot enter on social media and via email to double your chances. Let’s keep this fair, peeps! We’ll assign a number to every entry we receive, and then we’ll use a random number selector to choose the winner.
