There are three weeks left until World Book Night 2013 - and things are shaping up nicely.

Over the next ten days, givers should be hearing from their pick-up locations with information about when they'll be able to pick up their boxes of books. All box pick-ups will be during the week prior to April 23rd (from Monday, April 15 through Monday, April 22).
 
In the meantime, don't forget to check out all of the downloadable items in the Resources section on our website.  We have templates there for everything from bookmarks to stickers to our logo, for those folks who are especially crafty and want to make a t-shirt.  We also have brief descriptions of every book, some giver tips, and a recipient feedback letter to print off and put in the books before handing them out. 
 
As always, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates and other information.  This week, we're posting regional maps of givers across the country--four new ones each day!

All best,

Carl

While World Book Night is completely focused on the 25,000 volunteers and getting you the books and materials, supporting the bookstore and library host locations, and the 500,000 future book recipients, we DO want to get publicity for World Book Night, of course. We want to support your efforts as you go out on April 23, and we want to increase awareness of the value of reading and community.

To that end, we’ll have news of confirmed national and local media coverage soon, but one thing we can control is the planning for official Kick Off events around the country with the authors whose books were chosen as WBN picks.

We are holding over a dozen open-to-the-public events around the country on Monday, April 22. Why the night before? With WBN on Tuesday, we have Monday eve to properly hold events, vs. last year, when WBN on Monday left us with Sunday for kick-off, which is difficult. Also, events the night of WBN are kinda anticlimactic. AND, we want givers to attend, so events the night of might conflict with your giving time. With a kick off the night before, givers can come by, meet some authors, and even come up the mic and talk about where they are going. (Of note: There aren’t any free WBN editions available at April 22 events, of course.)

These are not normal readings, but looser, more fun events, so we hope you can make it if you live near one. If not, there will be, of course, hundreds and hundreds of Giver-only Receptions being held the week of April 15 at bookstores and libraries across the country! Come, share, enjoy.

We’ll continue posting news of the April 22 Kick Off events as the times get set. AND follow us on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates about a few Poetry Nights, a Theater Night in Chicago, and Book & Rose events.

Lots to come!

Carl

With only four weeks left until World Book Night 2013, we're still working to make sure everything is coordinated between over 2,000 bookstores and libraries, and for the thousands of passionate volunteer givers.
 
We've uploaded a LOT of downloadable items to the Resources section on our website, everything from our logo to signs to bookmark templates. This year we've also added, by giver request, short and printable descriptions of all of this year's picks. You can find all of those items here.
 
In the upcoming weeks, we'll be sending out additional information to everyone participating in this year's World Book Night. This will include reminders about givers' selected pick-up locations and important dates, as well as events and publicity news. 

In the meantime, there's nothing you need to do other than read your book, check out our online Resources, and--if you haven't already--follow us on Facebook or Twitter for updates and other information.
 
All best,

Carl

We’ve had several requests for mixed cartons, whether 1’s of 20 titles, or 10s each of a book in English and Spanish.

I truly wish we could mix books in cartons, but on our budget and time schedule: printing 500,000 books at 10 different binders and getting them packed and shipped in boxes of 20 to our distributor, who has to reship 25,000 boxes with the giver’s name on it and for the right book….and well, we just physically can’t time- or work-wise.

As for why we originally decided philosophically that each giver would get 20 of the same book, it was integral to your passion as you hand out the book. We would much, much rather the interaction be: “I love this book and hope you do, too.” vs. “Here’s a book for you.”

We don’t require that you’ve read your book, but it would help…and you will have time in March to read it if you haven’t already! Most of our books choices are readily available at bookstores and libraries.

So, we did debate 1’s of 20 titles in the early days of WBN planning, but the logistics and cost were just too much.

One thing: If you attend a pre-WBN reception at your local store or library, yes, you can trade some books with each other before going out on April 23.