Writers Blog about the Book Buzz!
Writers love to create buzz about their books, and BookCrossing is the perfect tool to do so!
by jmprinceApril 2, 2007
I blogged recently about a hot topic in the children's writing community. Here's my post:
The Book Buzz
So, where do writers get their books?
This has been a big subject lately. It's been discussed on blogging polls, message boards, email lists, and at http://www.brotherhood2.com/. Some writers think that other writers should only purchase new books, to help along sales for other writers. Some writers think it's perfectly fine to buy books used and to check them out of the library. I'm in the latter camp. I'm a library and yard sale queen.
But, that's not what I wanted to talk about.
Where do writers store their books?
There has been an equal amount of discussion about that subject lately on all of the forums listed above.
The general consensus has been that writers store their books in every possible nook and cranny. In, on, and around bookshelves, desks, tables, and every available surface.
But, that's not what I wanted to talk about either.
What do writers DO with their books when they're finished with them? That's what I wanted to talk about!
I personally used to horde my books. They sat, untouched and dusty for years at a time. I just knew that I'd want to re-read this book or that one, so I kept it around, where it inevitably became buried further and further under my "To Be Read" pile. Until... My grandmother told me about circulating her personal library. She, a world traveler, would finish a book and then leave it laying in an airport terminal. She just left it there! For whomever came along and picked it up to read. I asked her how she knew it would be picked up at all...ever. She responded that people do this all the time...how did I think she got all of her books?! Wow. I went home and did a little research, and you know--she was right! I found a whole bunch of people who do this sort of thing. So many, in fact, that there's a whole website dedicated to the tracking of books left behind for random readers to pick up, read, comment on, and pass along to someone else. Nifty!
So, I registered and began participating in this new phenomenon known as BookCrossing. At first, it was kind of scary...letting my books go. They were family. Many were even friends, which as you know, can share a stronger bond than family at times. I remember the first book I left behind. It was one that my grandmother had brought from Florida to my home in Arizona. She finished it during her stay and passed it on to me. I figured it would be the perfect book to register on BookCrossing. My little book was assigned a special BookCrossing ID number, and I wrote a brief journal entry explaining what the book was about and where I'd gotten it. I then put all of this on a little note inside the book's front cover to explain to the finder how they could find and continue the book's traveling. I left my book in a nice warm, dry coffee shop, with a sticky note on the cover proclaiming, "I'm not lost!" Over the past few years, that first little book has traveled from Florida to Arizona to Michigan to Kansas. No one has updated the journal this year, but I have faith that my little book will travel on its way to some other worthy reader very soon.
As a writer, my primary objective is to get my book out there to readers around the world. Sales are a nice thing, and for a full-time writer, they're a necessity for survival. However, I suspect that very few serious writers went into this business for the sole purpose of making money. I suspect that the majority, like me, want to leave something behind in the world, along with their children and descendants.
In order to do that, we must get our book babies out into the world. What better way to do so than through www.bookcrossing.com?
I, for one, like the idea of knowing where my book has gone, who has read it, and how much they have enjoyed it! So, start a buzz about your book today!
Julie M. Prince
www.juliemprince.com
The Book Buzz
So, where do writers get their books?
This has been a big subject lately. It's been discussed on blogging polls, message boards, email lists, and at http://www.brotherhood2.com/. Some writers think that other writers should only purchase new books, to help along sales for other writers. Some writers think it's perfectly fine to buy books used and to check them out of the library. I'm in the latter camp. I'm a library and yard sale queen.
But, that's not what I wanted to talk about.
Where do writers store their books?
There has been an equal amount of discussion about that subject lately on all of the forums listed above.
The general consensus has been that writers store their books in every possible nook and cranny. In, on, and around bookshelves, desks, tables, and every available surface.
But, that's not what I wanted to talk about either.
What do writers DO with their books when they're finished with them? That's what I wanted to talk about!
I personally used to horde my books. They sat, untouched and dusty for years at a time. I just knew that I'd want to re-read this book or that one, so I kept it around, where it inevitably became buried further and further under my "To Be Read" pile. Until... My grandmother told me about circulating her personal library. She, a world traveler, would finish a book and then leave it laying in an airport terminal. She just left it there! For whomever came along and picked it up to read. I asked her how she knew it would be picked up at all...ever. She responded that people do this all the time...how did I think she got all of her books?! Wow. I went home and did a little research, and you know--she was right! I found a whole bunch of people who do this sort of thing. So many, in fact, that there's a whole website dedicated to the tracking of books left behind for random readers to pick up, read, comment on, and pass along to someone else. Nifty!
So, I registered and began participating in this new phenomenon known as BookCrossing. At first, it was kind of scary...letting my books go. They were family. Many were even friends, which as you know, can share a stronger bond than family at times. I remember the first book I left behind. It was one that my grandmother had brought from Florida to my home in Arizona. She finished it during her stay and passed it on to me. I figured it would be the perfect book to register on BookCrossing. My little book was assigned a special BookCrossing ID number, and I wrote a brief journal entry explaining what the book was about and where I'd gotten it. I then put all of this on a little note inside the book's front cover to explain to the finder how they could find and continue the book's traveling. I left my book in a nice warm, dry coffee shop, with a sticky note on the cover proclaiming, "I'm not lost!" Over the past few years, that first little book has traveled from Florida to Arizona to Michigan to Kansas. No one has updated the journal this year, but I have faith that my little book will travel on its way to some other worthy reader very soon.
As a writer, my primary objective is to get my book out there to readers around the world. Sales are a nice thing, and for a full-time writer, they're a necessity for survival. However, I suspect that very few serious writers went into this business for the sole purpose of making money. I suspect that the majority, like me, want to leave something behind in the world, along with their children and descendants.
In order to do that, we must get our book babies out into the world. What better way to do so than through www.bookcrossing.com?
I, for one, like the idea of knowing where my book has gone, who has read it, and how much they have enjoyed it! So, start a buzz about your book today!
Julie M. Prince
www.juliemprince.com
