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:

My Facebook Page

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...