Plans Underway for World Book Night 2013

The second annual celebration of World Book Night in the U.S. [1]  is set for Tuesday, April 23, 2013, and plans are in motion on several fronts to match and exceed the successes of the campaign’s first year.

Voting is underway now by a panel of independent booksellers, Barnes & Noble buyers, and librarians to choose the 2013 WBN titles from a long list of books drawn from the Indie Next List Picks, B&N Discover Picks, bookseller and librarian suggestions, ReadingGroupGuides.com’s Most Requested Book Group Guides, GoodReads Top 100s, and the top 300 paperback bestsellers for the past year as compiled by Above the Treeline.

In addition, all of WBN’s first-year volunteer book givers were asked to send in book recommendations. “Our enthusiastic army of book givers submitted 20,000 lines of suggestions, and the top 50 titles were folded into the long list to be voted on by the panel,” said World Book Night U.S. Executive Director Carl Lennertz.

The 2013 title picks, the giver application process, and bookstore pick-up location sign-up will be announced this fall.

Also starting are regular meetings of a new World Book Night Steering Committee and the establishment of sub-committees, including Media Strategy, Author Events, Fundraising and Sponsorship, Friends of WBN, and Book Production and Logistics.  Committee members’ names are set to be announced in August.

During the first WBN celebration in the U.S., 25,000 volunteer book givers gave a total of a half million paperbacks in 5,800 towns and cities across America. Many of the recipients were without means or access to printed books.