Not the Booker prize 2016: vote for your favourite book of the year

Welcome to the eighth Not the Booker prize. Yes – the eighth. I’m as surprised as everyone else that we’ve actually outlasted meaningful British democracy! Once upon a time, we were the crazy ones ... But even if voting has lost a little of its sheen, good things can still come of it. Really. They can. Or at least, in the case of the Not the Booker prize, good books can come of it. Art can come of it. Literature. Things that help make life that bit more endurable.

The only challenge is to find those valuable treasures – but that too is part of the fun. Voting, taking part and nominating your favourite books are all easy things to do. And you can get straight to it in the comments below this article. Or almost straight to it. First, a brief recap on the all-important rules and regulations.

True to our newfound status as a pillar of stability, we haven’t changed the system at all this year. So here goes:

First (in fact right here, right now) comes the great longlist free-for-all. Here you can nominate your favourite book from all those eligible for this year’s Man Booker prize. (Remember that now includes novels originally written in English, by writers of any nationality, published in the UK between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2016 – which means US authors are allowed.)
Next comes the shortlist, where we ask you to vote for not one, but two books you’d like to champion, which must be written by different people and published by two separate publishing companies.
Once we have that shortlist, we’ll read each book in turn, at the rate of roughly one a week, and post reviews inviting further discussion, debate, and ideally a bit of praise and a lot of love.
Then we’ll have the final vote, in combination with a panel of judges, once again chosen from those who contribute most to the shortlist read-through.
The winner receives a shiny, shiny Guardian mug.

Anyone has the potential to become a judge. If you’re reading this article, in fact, you’re on the way. All we ask is that you contribute thoughts and opinions on a healthy proportion of the books that make it on to our shortlist over the next few months. The wit and wisdom of our last three panels have been one of the great successes of the Not the Booker prize so far and we hope to continue this fine tradition.

And don’t worry if you just want to vote. You can do that, too, and the votes will count. You can find out more about that, and all the other information that you need about dates, whys and wherefores in our rules and regulations. I’d urge you to read them. For pleasure as well as enlightenment – they’re always a treat.

All clear? Then the fun can start. Please nominate one book that you’d like to be considered for the prize in the comments below. If you can supply a publication date and the publisher, that would be very helpful. Nominations will remain open until until 23.59 on bank holiday Monday, 1 August. The following morning – that’s Tuesday 2 August – I’ll post a list of all the eligible books put forward for selection. We’ll then start whittling it down to a shortlist of six.

Let’s go!