This year we finished our regularly scheduled COYER Winter and then << BAM!! >> the world got hit with the COVID-19 pandemic and we felt we needed the support of our incredible community more than ever. So we had our first ever Facebook live to announce that we were going to make COYER go all year starting pretty much immediately. And we’ve gradually added elements to the COYER Facebook group through the year… meanwhile the core reading challenge has kind of fallen to the background. Well we’re bringing it back to the forefront – while also keeping all the community elements we’ve enjoyed. Are you ready to see what we have in store for you in 2021?
COYER 2021 – Are You Ready?!
In 2021 COYER will become 2 separate but connected challenges: COYER Seasons and COYER Community. You can participate in both or only one, whatever suits you.
What follows below is very long and detailed. Perhaps a bit much to take in at once, as it’s an entire year worth of plans for 2 challenges. It took a 3 hour phone call to plan out, after we’d already come up with the skeleton in previous conversations – so trust us, we know, it’s a lot. Bookmark it and come back to it as the year progresses. We’ll be re-posting specific pieces as applicable throughout the year. We’ve also decided to do a Facebook Live Event on Sunday, December 6th at 1pm EST / 12 pm CST to go over the details and answer questions. We hope you can join us!
We’ll both be running COYER, but Michelle is taking primary ownership of COYER Seasons and Berls is taking primary ownership of COYER Community.
COYER Seasons – Run by Michelle
COYER – Clean Out Your E-Reads – was initially about reading free (or nearly free) e-books and writing reviews for them. We’re going back to that as the basis, with some seasonal twists. We will have all for seasons (see below for the seasons and their respective rules). You can do all 4 seasons or 3, or 2, or just 1 (or none and just do COYER Community).
At the end of each season, reviews entered in the review linky will be eligible for a $5 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The last Thursday of each season (except December, where she’ll finish out the year), Michelle will randomly select and announce the winner for the season and share the sign up for the next season (including a reminder of the rules). This means that all reviews for the season must be in the linky by 12 noon EST on the last Wednesday of the month. Any reviews entered after 12 noon EST will go towards the next season. But keep following the current rules for the remainder of the month.
COYER Winter: January & February
In traditional COYER Winter fashion, COYER Winter is going to be strict rules:
Every book you read MUST be in an electronic format – meaning eBook or Audiobook. It’s okay to start a book before January 1st, you must be less than half way for it to count then review it during COYER.The books must be FREE or NEARLY FREE! This includes review books, tour books, NetGalley, Edelweiss, etc. What’s nearly free? No more than $2 for eBooks and no more than $5 for Audiobooks (or the equivalent in your currency). Library books, borrowed books, or Kindle Unlimited, Amazon Prime books, and Audible Plus Catalog books do not qualify for COYER Winter.Announce your participation! This can be a blog post (or if you don’t have a blog – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, etc.) If you want to list books you would like to read, that’s great, but not necessary. The point is to let everyone know you’re committed to COYER Winter, maybe share some goals, and help spread the word. Not sure how to do your post? Check out this example from a previous COYER.Link up! Link that post (not just your blog homepage) to the linky below.Review & Link Reviews! Your review may be on your blog, Goodreads, etc. Link the review to the Review Linky (which will open up January 1). When you post your review to the linky use the following format: Your Name @ Blog (if applicable): Book Title (e.g., “Michelle @ Because Reading: Twilight”).Follow & share reviews on Twitter. We’re going to try and use twitter a lot more this year (like we used to). Use #COYER on your posts and look for tweets with the hashtag.Visit Each Other, Chat & Have Fun!
Michelle will post the Winter winner on February 25th. Be sure to have your reviews on the linky by 12 noon EST February 24th for them to be included in the Winter drawing. Any reviews entered after 12 noon February 24th will go to the Spring drawing. Keep following Winter rules through the end of February. Spring Rules will begin March 1.
COYER Spring: March – June
We’ve never had a COYER Spring exactly before. But, much like the seasons, we’re going to thaw out a bit. The rules will get a little looser, without completing melting away. Your rules for the spring (beginning March 1) will be:
Format doesn’t matter anymore. You can still read your eBooks and audiobooks, but now you can also read physical books.The books must be free or nearly free… This includes review books, tour books, NetGalley, Edelweiss, etc. What’s nearly free? No more than $2 for eBooks and no more than $5 for Audiobooks and physical books(or the equivalent in your currency). This time library books (including Amazon Prime books) and borrowed books count… but still no Kindle Unlimited/Audible Plus or books higher than $2.Announce your participation! This can be a blog post (or if you don’t have a blog – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, etc.) If you want to list books you would like to read, that’s great, but not necessary. The point is to let everyone know you’re committed to COYER Spring, maybe share some goals, and help spread the word. Not sure how to do your post? Check out this example from a previous COYER.Link up! Link that post (not just your blog homepage) to the linky Michelle will share February 25th.Review & Link Reviews! Your review may be on your blog, Goodreads, etc. Link the review to the Review Linky (the same linky as Winter, but Michelle will start pulling winners after Winter reviews). When you post your review to the linky use the following format: Your Name @ Blog (if applicable): Book Title (e.g., “Michelle @ Because Reading: Twilight”).Follow & share reviews on Twitter. We’re going to try and use twitter a lot more this year (like we used to). Use #COYER on your posts and look for tweets with the hashtag.Visit Each Other, Chat & Have Fun!
Michelle will post the Spring winner on June 24th. Be sure to have your reviews on the linky by 12 noon EST June 23rd for them to be included in the Spring drawing. Any reviews entered after 12 noon June 23rd will go to the Summer drawing. Keep following Spring rules through the end of June. Summer Rules will begin July 1.
COYER Summer: July – October
Like traditional COYER Summer it’s time to relax the rules all the way. Your rules for the Summer (beginning July 1) will be:
Format doesn’t matter anymore. You can still read your eBooks and Audiobooks, but now you can also read physical books.Price doesn’t matter anymore. They can be free, they can be $50. They can be Kindle Unlimited, borrowed, etc.Announce your participation! This can be a blog post (or if you don’t have a blog – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, etc.) If you want to list books you would like to read, that’s great, but not necessary. The point is to let everyone know you’re committed to COYER Summer, maybe share some goals, and help spread the word. Not sure how to do your post? Check out this example from a previous COYER.Link up! Link that post (not just your blog homepage) to the linky Michelle will share June 24th.Review & Link Reviews! Your review may be on your blog, Goodreads, etc. Link the review to the Review Linky (the same linky as Winter and Spring, but Michelle will start pulling winners after Spring reviews). When you post your review to the linky use the following format: Your Name @ Blog (if applicable): Book Title (e.g., “Michelle @ Because Reading: Twilight”).Follow & share reviews on Twitter. We’re going to try and use twitter a lot more this year (like we used to). Use #COYER on your posts and look for tweets with the hashtag.Visit Each Other, Chat & Have Fun!
Michelle will post the Summer winner on October 28th. Be sure to have your reviews on the linky by 12 noon EST October 27th for them to be included in the Summer drawing. Any reviews entered after 12 noon October 27th will go to the Fall drawing. Keep following Summer rules through the end of October. Fall Rules will begin November 1.
COYER Fall: November – December
We’ve also never had a COYER Fall exactly before. But, much like the seasons, we’re going to start getting colder. The rules will get a little tighter, without completing icing you out. Your rules for the Fall (beginning November 1) will be:
- Format & price don’t matter anymore. You can still read your eBooks and Audiobooks, but now you can also read physical books. They can be free, they can be $50. They can be Kindle Unlimited, borrowed, etc.
- Your books have to show up on the scavenger hunt list. We will be releasing a scavenger hunt list of 50 items on September 23rd, so that you can plan. You can read an unlimited number of books per scavenger hunt item.
- Announce your participation! This can be a blog post (or if you don’t have a blog – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, etc.) If you want to list books you would like to read, that’s great, but not necessary. The point is to let everyone know you’re committed to COYER Fall, maybe share some goals, and help spread the word. Not sure how to do your post? Check out this example from a previous COYER.
- Link up! Link that post (not just your blog homepage) to the linky Michelle will share October 28th.
- Review & Link Reviews! Your review may be on your blog, Goodreads, etc. Link the review to the Review Linky (the same linky as Winter, Spring, and Summer but Michelle will start pulling winners after Summer reviews). When you post your review to the linky, identify which number it is from the scavenger hunt list. So use the normal format but add the item number at the end: Your Name @ Blog (if applicable): Book Title Scavenger Hunt item # (e.g., “Michelle @ Because Reading: Twilight #2).
- Follow & share reviews on Twitter. We’re going to try and use twitter a lot more this year (like we used to). Use #COYER on your posts and look for tweets with the hashtag.
- Visit Each Other, Chat & Have Fun!
Michelle will post the Fall winner on January 1st. Be sure to have your reviews on the linky by 12 noon EST December 31st for them to be included in the Fall drawing.
COYER Community – Run by Berls
COYER has grown to be so much more than a reading challenge and become an incredibly supportive community, complete with lots of mini-challenges. We want to keep that going, but we also recognize it’s grown into its own thing so we’re making it a challenge of its own. There are lots of elements to COYER Community. You can do as many or as few of the pieces as you would like (or none and just do COYER Seasons).
Like seasons, COYER Community will have “seasons” but they will fall every 4 months. Everything for the community will be points on a Rafflecopter (opening January 1st). At the end of each season, a winner will be randomly selected on the Rafflecopter for a $5 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The first day of each season, Berls will announce the winner for the previous season and share the Rafflecopter for the next season. This means that all entries for the season must be in the Rafflecopter by 11:59 PM EST on the last day of the month. Each season will have a new Rafflecopter which will be announced in the Facebook group and will also always be available at Because Challenges.
The Community Semesters
We will have 3, four month long, “semesters” in COYER Community:
- January – April: Berls will announce the winner and new Rafflecopter on May 1 in the Facebook Group.
- May – August: Berls will announce the winner and new Rafflecopter on September 1 in the Facebook Group.
- September – December: Berls will announce the winner (and possibly a new Rafflecopter?) on January 1, 2022 in the Facebook group.
*Bonus opportunity: In July we’ll have an Instagram Challenge and a winner of that $5 gift card will be announced August 1st. We will post the challenge prompts Sunday, June 20th in the Facebook group.
Sign up
To sign up for COYER Community, all you have to do is join the COYER Facebook Group. If you’re in the group, you’re eligible to participate. It’s also where all announcements and activities will be posted.
What’s on the Rafflecopter?
Every semester the same items will be on the Rafflecopter. Watch for posts from Berls, Michelle and our two super helpful moderators Lillian (Mom with a Reading Problem) and Stephanie (Once Upon a Chapter) Participate in as many of the following items as you’d like to rack up your points:
- Buddy Reading. When you read a book with a COYER buddy, you can link the review to the Rafflecopter and earn a point. It also meets the COYER seasonal rules, go ahead and link the review to that linky as well. Just be sure to mention your buddy and their rating in your review.
- DEAR Participation. DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) with us 4 times in a month to earn a point. DEAR takes place multiple times a week – look for time announcements in the Facebook group.
- Read-a-thons. Each book you read for each read-a-thon will count as a point on the Rafflecopter. As always, Michelle will post a sign-up and closing post in the Facebook group. For those that like to plan, here’s when you’ll get the list of each semester’s read-a-thons:
- Sunday December 20th look for a Facebook post with a list of read-a-thons for January – April
- Sunday April 11th look for a Facebook post with a list of read-a-thons for May – August
- Sunday August 15th look for a Facebook post with a list of read-a-thons for September – December
- Book Club. If you come to book club each month, you will receive a code word to report your attendance on the Rafflecopter for a point. You do not have to read the books to come and chat. Book clubs will be on the final Sunday of the month, the start time will rotate between 2pm EST, 3pm EST and 4 pm EST to try to accommodate our friends in Europe and in the Pacific Time Zone equally. We will read 2 books a month and announce the genres for each month at the end of December. We will have polls to select books.
- Read Along Chats. Anne @ Books of My Heart is hosting a Read Along of the Psych-Changling series in 2022 (see all the details for the readalong here). The Sunday following each book’s review, we will have a 1 hour chat about the book at 3pm EST. If you come to that chat, you’ll get a point. Here’s the chat schedule (mark your calendars):
- January 3: Slave to Sensation
- January 31: Vision of Heat
- February 21: Caressed by Ice
- March 21: Mine to Posses
- April 18: Hostage to Pleasure
- May 9: Branded by Fire
- May 30: Blaze of Memory
- June 20: Bonds of Justice
- July 18: Play of Passion
- August 8: Kiss of Snow
- August 29: Tangle of Need
- September 19: Heart of Obsidian
- October 17: Shield of Winter
- November 7: Shards of Hope
- December 5: Allegiance of Honor
- Be a Pen-Pal. Each community semester, we will post a sign up in Facebook to get paired with a pen-pal to write letters (yes, the snail mail variety). If you sign up on the Facebook post, you’re committing to sending at least 4 letters to your assigned pen-pal (1 a month basically) and giving them your address. You’ll have 3 weeks to sign up and the last week of the month we’ll assign pen pals. (For example, you’ll be able to put your name on the list between December 3 and 24. Starting December 25 we’ll work on pairing assignments, so that you can exchange addresses and be ready to write letters by January 1. We won’t be monitoring address exchanges or letter mailing – that’s up to each pen pal. But if you send 4 letters (to be confirmed by your pen pal), you get a point in the Rafflecopter
- Post 5 review links to the COYER Seasons Linky. Each community semester, if you post 5 review links to the COYER Seasons linky, you’ll get a point for supporting the community by reviewing books.You can complete this 1 time per semester.
- Visit and comment on 10 reviews from the COYER Seasons Linky. Each community semester, if you comment on 10 reviews from the COYER Seasons linky, you’ll get a point for supporting the community by visiting reviews.You can complete this daily.
- Top 10 group contributors. Every month, Berls will announce the top 10 contributors in the Facebook group (aggregated by Facebook based on number of comments in a 28 day period). If you’re in the top 10 for that month, you’ll get a point for that month. So commenting on posts and replying to other community members pays off.
For all these items, you only get the point if you log in it in Rafflecopter, so be sure to log it by the end of each semester!
It’s time to sign up for COYER Seasons: Winter
If you’re going to be joining in for COYER Seasons Winter, follow the instructions above and link up your sign up post below!
Remember, if you have questions you can pose them in the comments below, in the Facebook Group, or on our Facebook Live Event this Sunday. at 1pm EST.
Would you mind explaining why only ebooks $2 or under can be counted? Thanks!
Hi Jinjer! Just a note – that will only be for the winter and seasons, but yes, I’m happy to explain 😁
This challenge began as a 1 month challenge in November 2013 with the focus of cleaning out ereads that you 1 clicked because they were SO CHEAP (or free) but then they just sat on your eReader, never read, never reviewed. The challenge has grown and morphed so much since then, but we like to periodically go back to the origins, like we’re doing for the winter and spring seasons. I hope that answers your question without being too long winded lol! And we’d love to have you join us of course!
I am SO excited to participate in COYER this year!! I’m really enjoying all the planning aspects of it. Now, my follow through game will be tested. 🙂
This will be my first year doing this!
Welcome! Be sure to stop by the fb group – it’s a great place to get questions answered and connect with everyone.
This’ll be my first year doing this challenge! I can’t wait to participate, ladies! Thanks for all the hard work on this!
Yay! So excited to have you join us!
I think I’m in! I have a question but don’t think I’ll make the chat today (it’s right in the middle of dinner time 😉 ) but if I do COYER Winter can I still read other books that are out with the rules? They just don’t count towards the challenge?
Absolutely! You can read anything you want – just only the books that meet the qualifications will count. Great question!
We’re definitely in again, and it’s so exciting that you’re doing both a reading and community challenge wrapped up in one. I look forward to sharing 2021 with you 🙂
Miss your faces SO much!
Miss your faces!!! I’m SO EXCITED for COYER 2021, it’s going to be great. Hugs!
Definitely need COYER Seasons for as many freebies and cheapies I have and I’ll be doing much of COYER Community, too.
Wow! You ladies are treasures for putting all this together. I can’t thank you enough for all the time, effort, and monies to make this all happen.
I’m so thrilled we have such a great community that’s as excited about it as we are. So glad to have you joining us again!
Wow so much going on! But I am definitely in for COYER Seasons (I don’t really use Facebook, but I may pop in from time to time). I’m looking forward to that scavenger hunt! 😀
Yay! It will be good to have you! I really only consistently use Facebook for COYER. We considered moving to Goodreads, but too many people said that FB worked better for them. I hope you can pop in, even if just for the readathons.