World Book Night Sign-Up Deadline February 1

Created 01/24/2012 - 1:34pm

On April 23, 2012, thousands of people across the U.S., the U.K., and Germany, will spread the love of reading by going out into their communities to hand out free, special edition paperbacks to light or non-readers during the annual celebration of World Book Night [1]. The inaugural event, held last year in the U.K., was an amazing success.

Now booksellers and librarians can join in the first U.S. celebration by signing up to become book givers themselves and to designate their stores or libraries as book pick-up locations for the book givers in their communities. However, help is also needed now to encourage customers and patrons to become book givers, too.

The sign-up deadline for both book givers and pick-up locations is next Wednesday, February 1. Details and sign-up forms for both are available at www.worldbooknight.org [1], as is the list of the 30 titles [2] to be given away.

Over the next weeks, Bookselling This Week will be writing about World Book Night parties, special events, and other marketing ideas, but ABA members’ help is needed in reaching out to recruit more book givers before February 1.

Here are some tools to help recruit book givers:

Download and print the “Book Lovers Needed” poster [3]. Display it in your store window, at the cash wrap, and throughout the store.
Post a banner to your website. Choose either a “sign up to be a book giver [4]” (280 x 79 pixels) banner, or the Countdown Clock [4], which automatically shows how many days are left for givers to sign up.
Send an e-mail to your customers about becoming a giver. Below is sample language from WBN Executive Director Carl Lennertz that can be tweaked as stores see fit.

Booksellers with questions about any of these tools can e-mail ABA’s Meg Smith [5] or Greg Galloway [6]. Questions about any aspect of World Book Night can be sent directly to Lennertz [7], or visit www.worldbooknight.org [1] for more details.

Dear customer of {your store name},

Want to be part of a million-book giveaway? To volunteer to change a life? You can, as part of World Book Night, on April 23, 2012.

The deadline for signing up is imminent – February 1 – but give us a moment to explain what this is all about.

World Book Night is a campaign to find light or non-readers in the community and hand them each a book.

Person-to-person.

It was started in the U.K. last year, and it is coming to our shores on April 23, 2012 – Shakespeare’s birthday, not coincidentally – as well!

The World Book Night organization is printing hundreds of thousands of special free paperback editions, and they are looking for thousands of volunteers to go out on April 23 and give books out across America. To get more people reading.

You pick the place: hospital or diner, school or ... well, lots of possibilities. Be creative.

Sign up by February 1 to be a book giver on World Book Night! Please go the website to read up on its mission, the books you can choose from to give away, and some rules and regulations. All you need to become a giver is a little time, a love of books, and the desire to give something to your community.

Think about where you’d like to give away the books before you go online to apply. And thank you! We love this idea, and we will be your community center for World Book Night support.

www.worldbooknight.org [1]

{Store Name}

Links:
[1] https://members.bookweb.org/abassa/ecmssamsganalytics.click_through?p_mail_id=E9770A1805082B1C48586
[2] https://members.bookweb.org/abassa/ecmssamsganalytics.click_through?p_mail_id=E9770A1805082B1C48587
[3] http://www.bookweb.org/files/wbn2012/
[4] https://members.bookweb.org/abassa/ecmssamsganalytics.click_through?p_mail_id=E9770A1805082B1C48588
[5] mailto:meg@bookweb.org
[6] mailto:greg@bookweb.org
[7] mailto:carl@worldbooknight.org