Wednesday 16 March 2011

Join the Book Chain...

OK, so I’ve had this idea. It was inspired by the wonderful World Book Night that took place a couple of weeks ago, where people gave away stacks of books. It was also inspired by a conversation with fellow author Tracy Alexander at a writers’ weekend. My plan is to give away my own books! You get the book, read it, rate it and pass it on. A bit like a chain letter – only much more fun!

I’ve called it a 'book chain'. (See what I did there? Kind of like ‘chain letter’, except it’s a book. Clever, huh?)

So here’s what happens. We start with me giving away a few books. Luckily, my lovely publishers are providing a few proofs of my new book, A Year Without Autumn, so I can do this. Here's the book...



And here's where you can read a bit more about it if you want to see if you think it sounds like your kind of thing...

A Year Without Autumn

So – I give away a copy of my book to, say, you. Your job is to read it, put your name and age in the back. (The age bit is for me to see who’s enjoying my books and who isn’t, so when people ask what age group my book is aimed at, I can answer much more confidently than I have been up to now!)

Then you give it a star rating, 1 – 5.

Then the exciting bit. You GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE!

Now, I know that this bit will be hard, because obviously you’ll have loved the book SO much, you won’t want to part with it. But hopefully you’ll get an even greater sense of satisfaction from knowing that you took part in the early stages of this ground-breaking experiment. So go on, uncurl your fingertips from the edge of the page, and give it away!

But you have to think carefully about who to give it to. Try to think of someone who you think will enjoy it. Explain to them what they have to do (the instructions will also be written in the book) and point out that when they’ve done all this, they’ll have to pass it on and explain it all to the next person too!

Two things to note!

Thing one: If you liked the book so much that you gave it a top star rating, I would be enormously and forever grateful if you would then go to Amazon and put a review on there too.

Thing two: If you are person number ten to read the book, you have a special task. You have to send the book back to me! After you’ve read the book, email me via my website (the email address will be in the book) to find out how to do this.

So, only one thing remains…

Picking the first person to chain-book!

Would you like it to be you? Well, here’s how to do it! First, you have to have a think and a chat with your friends. Are you confident you could get the book around ten people? Are they people who you trust not to break the chain? Do you think they’ll all love my books so much that every single one will rush to Amazon and give it a five star review?

If you answered yes to all of these (particularly the last one!) (Only joking. Kind of.) simply write a comment at the end of this blog, telling me why I should choose you! (Also tell me which country you’re in as this will affect which book you get. I’m hoping I can send this book out in the US too, but if they haven’t got it yet, I might send you Emily Windsnap and the Siren’s Secret instead, as that’s the latest book out in the states.) I’ll give you a week to do this, and then I will pick THREE winners.

Each winner will have to email me (lizkesslerweb@hotmail.co.uk) with an address to send the book to, and we’ll get the ball rolling. Or the book book-chaining. Or something.

Just to make it even more fun, how about we try to keep tabs on what’s happening with each book? Once I’ve sent the books out, as well as all the millions of instructions I’ve given so far, how about each time you pass it on, you post a comment on my facebook page saying which number person you’re up to. (Can you tell I’m making this up as I go along?) You can find my facebook page here:


So, this all sounds like a complicated nightmare like fun, eh?

One last thing! If you're a writer, why not start a book chain with your books too? If you do, come back and let us know how it goes!

Let's see how far we can spread the chain...

43 comments:

AetharaGirl said...

Ooh this sounds brilliant! I took part in World Book Night and loved passing out books but was really sad I never got a chance to see where they ended up. I know lots of people who'd love to take part (I ran out of books on WBN for them) as does my sister so it would really travel! I might even send it to family in Australia! I think a book deserves to be well-travelled if it's a good a read as yours.

@AetharaGirl on Twitter

Book-Shelf said...

Love this idea...should be voted most original this year and would love to be involved. Have commented on you FB page xx

Mrs. LaDuke said...

I am a fourth grade teacher, and my students would LOVE this challenge! I would make sure that the book gets passed around not only to my class, but to the other classes as well!

I love this idea! I wonder if I can incorporate this into my class library (which by the way does NOT include your last Emily book--hint, hint) as way to encourage kids to read books I would like to see them try!

Unknown said...

Hi Liz,
My name is Lis too, but with an "S". I have 4 girls, and you are their favorite author. We live in Macon, Georgia, and we would love a copy of your new book. We home school, so reading is a very enjoyable part of every day for us. We have several friends that also love your books. We would have no problem passing the book around to ten people, and we would enjoy every minute of it. That sounds like a great family project, and it would be fun sharing a good book with good friends!

Abby said...

Hi liz. My name is Abby. I am the one who sent you that email saying I love you, and your books, and that you ispired me to be an author. I just finished Emily Windsnap #4 and loved it. When I heard about this new book, I was jumping for joy. I would fell blessed to be apart of your book chain. I would get it around to all my 7th grade friends. We all love your Emily Windsnap books, so this would be a treat for us. Please consider choosing me.
P.S.(I live in the US. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)

Emily Beaver said...

Oh my gosh, this sounds fantastic!
My friends and I just adore you and your books. I can't stop reading them. When ever my friends see me, they yank the book away. When we found out about this book chain, we were bouncing off the walls. My friends and I all think that this is a GREAT idea to get you book more readers. I love you Liz!

Kenzie R said...

Great idea! I know that if I was able to recieve it the book would be returned in the same condition. I treat my books very nice (Sometimes you can't even tell if iv'e read them):) I have several of friends who would love to read it and then could send it across the states to friends in other states, and yes I do live in the states :)

Aoife Simm said...

I love the idea and i would love to have the hounor of being able to be one of the first to read the new book. i have read a reveiw of the book and now i'm dying to buy it. My friends would love to be able to read the book aswell. i have all ready gathered a group of about nine people who would read your book a give a reveiw. The ages in the group range from somebody whose just ten and to somebody whose almost 13.(And Possably a 9 year old girl)

from Aoife (12)

BZ said...

Hi Liz, You should pick me and my girls because we love your stories! I already give your books to our friends after we read them, so I already have a chain ready to go for the new title. We haven't gotten the 4th Emily Windsnap yet either. Send us whatever you want, we love them all!
Beth, Katelyn and Sarah from Keene NH USA

Pamela Kramer said...

Hi Liz-
Of course I would love an advance copy. I promise not only to pass it on so that at least 10 others will join the chain, but also to review it for my Examiner.com book review site, http://www.examiner.com/book-in-national/pamela-kramer.

Double exposure! My best, Pamela

Averi said...

I would love to do this I actualy have tons of friends and family members who know how big a fan I am of yours and who would love to do this with me for you! This would be so exciting and it's something that I think would bring my family closer together as well! I actually modeled my bathroom after the Emily Windsnap series and my brother who I share it with thinks it's funny! This would be great and I hope that you choose me and my family for this! We live in the USA in Olympia Washington so I hope that we can participate. Can't wait till A Year Without Autumn comes out!

Bramblemoon Farm said...

My daughter Emily and I have read all three of the Emily books--actually she's read them out loud to me. She's already passed along the 1st and 2nd one to her friend. We'd love to participate in the book chain and I'm sure we could find ten people from school to read them. She's in 5th grade this year, and we loved all three books!

brenda (at) standbesideher.com

Elen C said...

Hi Liz,
You should probably give the books to a child, you know, as they're your target audience and everything.
This is just to say that I think it sounds like a fabulous idea and good luck with it!

Elen C said...

Oops!
I read my comment back and it sounds nippy! What I meant was, I am not leaving a competitive-style comment coz its nicer if the books go to kids, and not just us adults!
Right...backing away now...

Unknown said...

Hello Liz,
I would love to get the copy of "A year Without Autumn" because I could give it to my best friends and and I can have my family members read it. The book also sounds GREAT! I have read all the philippa Fishers and Emily Windsnaps, so I cant wait all of your other books. I have also e-mailed you asking some questions about it.
Thank you so much!

Liz Kessler said...

Elen - thank you for not leaving a competitive-style comment! :) And yes I agree. I do lots of giveaways and they pretty much always go to my readers! Or occasionally parents or teachers who plan to get the books into kids of the right age anyway! :)

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say (with the whole age thing) that I am a 15yr old girl who started reading your Emily Windsnap books a LONG time ago and I have recently re-red them. They have yet to loose their excitement, thrill, and splendor for me. I love them as much as I did when I was just a young kid.

Anonymous said...

Surely "Thing one" and "Thing B"?

As I'm not at all competitive, I won't leave a comment begging for a book. It is a bit sad to leave us big kids out though!! :o(

Take care and hopefully see you before too long! 6 hr drive not withstanding!

p.s. fun blog. :o)

Liz Kessler said...

Thank you so much for all the lovely replies. I'm cheating a bit and giving books out to FIVE people instead of three. I have picked AetharaGirl, Aoife Simm and Mrs LaDuke as the winners of the three proof copies. But I'm also going to send copies to Book-Shelf and Pamela Kramer, because my publisher says I can count these ones as 'official' giveaways and has sent me a couple more!! If you all email me at lizkesslerweb@hotmail.co.uk with your address, I'll tell you what to do next and get the books out to you! Thanks again to everyone who entered :)

Anonymous said...

hi my name is katie halvorsen and i have a few things to say
1. i love emily windsnap and phillipa fisher i have all of there books
2. i love emily windsnap so much that i wish ud write another one
3. its the same with philippa fisher
well thanks for listening to me i hope u condcider the book thing bye

Unknown said...

wow! That sounds really cool. I would really like to be a part of this, because I really like your books and I'm really excited to read this one.

-Keagan

zeynep said...

love this idea should be voted most original this year.and please could you read my blog if you do the address is : www.zeynepbgergin.blog.com. please look at it

Mme Marylee's 5/6 Class said...

That's so cool! My English teacher would love to help me with that, since she got me hooked...:D I live in Canada if that might be a problem...

Anonymous said...

hi Liz!! I hope emily will continue to have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with aaron in your fifth book!! xx

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