Sunflower Reading Group - A Book Club

FAQ

Welcome to our Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ chapter, where we try to answer the questions you may have missed or we didn't fully address in our intro chapters. We understand it's easy to miss certain things when the bulk of our info is in one chapter, which is why we've created this. We might add to this at any time.

If you do ask us a question that is already answered here or it's clearly in the 'How It Works' chapter, it is a little embarrassing for you since it lets us know you didn't read over the rules that well.

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FAQs

1. Are there any book requirements to join?

- At the moment, no. If we get more popular, we may change this rule, but we won't screen your book prior to accepting you. All that matters is your reviewing skill for now.

2. How are groups split up?

- By book and genre preferences. If you have a lot of book similarities, you may be in the same group. If you have a lot of genre similarities, you may be in the same group. That's why we ask for LGBTQ+ content, mature content, and genre when you join. We're not ostracizing any group, just figuring out which books are the most similar to yours and making your group from there. We may also read your blurb to double check which group is best for you.

- If you're a reader only, it's solely based on what you said you want to read most in your form. If that's steamy romances, you'll be in that group. If that's edge-of-your-seat thrillers, you'll be in that group. It's all based on you!

3. I'm not 18 yet, but I really want to join. Is there a way to join without being 18?

- Sorry, no. This is our only book club that requires you to be okay with mature material, and as such, this is our only book club that requires you to be 18. We aren't comfortable forcing that rule onto younger people, so please wait to apply until you're 18.

4. Can I join if I'm in other book clubs?

- Of course! So long as you can manage it all, we have nothing against that.

5. Do I have to do the BotW if I'm a seedling?

- Another great question! No, only do the seedling trial you've been assigned. Don't worry about the Book of the Week.

6. How do you fail your seedling trial and how long do you have to wait before reapplying?

- You fail if you don't complete your assignment in time, forget to comment done, and/or don't complete the feedback guidelines of leaving five sentences of constructive criticism at the end of each chapter.

- If you do fail, please wait to reapply in the next term, however long that may be. Take that time to work on your reviewing skill, work on your book, or just clear up your schedule to have more time to be in our reading group. If you reapply before then, you will be denied.

7. Is there any way to fast-track the process of making my book the Spotlighted Book?

- Not really, no. It's done in a random order, but we try to make sure everyone has had their book spotlighted once before we do it again. Just take your time to work on your feedback for the other Spotlighted Books, and who knows, you could become the BotW!

- If you want to be gone for a week, we might make your book the Spotlighted Book that week so you don't have to take an actual break. But that is our decision to make, not yours.

8. How do I change groups and how often can I change groups?

- This depends, honestly. When we're starting out, you'll probably change groups a bit as we get more members and figure out group sizes, how to split up each group, etc. We may also change your group if we think you're better suited elsewhere or if you change your book.

- However, we'd rather not have you change your own group more than once. The purpose of smaller groups is to get to know your group members in and out of this book club, which is hard to do if you're with a new person every week. You should be with around four or five other people, getting pretty deep into each other's works, which is really hard to do if you're changing constantly. If you really want to change, PM us about it and explain why. We'll try to figure out a solution, but please don't do it more than once.

9. Will I have to read the Spotlighted Book or BotW if I have an extension or a missing assignment that week?

- I believe this is answered in 'How It Works', but no, you are not responsible for any new BotWs or Spotlighted Books if you have an extension or missing assignment.

10. What's the difference between a warning and a strike?

- A warning is when you do something wrong that won't get you a strike, basically anything other than missing an assignment completely. A strike is only when you miss an assignment, when you don't do the BotW and/or the Spotlighted Book.

- The consequences are different as well. You might be asked to sit out of the reading group if you have too many warnings, though you can come back the following term. For strikes, you are never allowed to return if you get three strikes in one term. They both reset between terms.

11. How do I know how many strikes or warnings I have?

- We will message you each time you get one, so it's mainly your responsibility to keep track of how many times we message you about that. However, if you forget and/or accidentally delete your messages, just ask us and we'll be able to tell you.

12. Let's say I want to sit out a term. How do I go about doing that?

- Great question! If you decide you don't want to continue onto the next term but want to be in the term after, you tell us you're leaving when the term ends and fill out the form again when you want to rejoin. But please tell us in your form that you're rejoining! Whoever is checking forms may not remember you as a member, which will result in giving you another trial for no reason. Telling us in your form that you used to be a member will help us out immensely.

- There will be a prompt in the last bloom of each term to tell us if you plan on leaving, by either commenting in that chapter or PMing us. That will be your opportunity to leave. You can always come back—by filling out the form again—in the middle of the next term if you've realized you didn't actually want to stay out the entire term. You can always rejoin in the middle of a term as well as at the beginning of a term, but we'll only let you leave (except for emergent cases) at the end of a term.