Remember two weeks ago, when thousands of you voted for BookCrossing.com at the Cool Site of the Day website (CSOTD)? Well, your efforts proved sufficient to get us nominated for Cool Site of the Month in January. If we win the January
CSOTM, we'll be in the running for the Cool Site of the Year for 2004. We're up against five other websites in this contest.
So how do we win the Monthly contest? Simple — take 15 seconds and go vote, right now:
SATURDAY IS MEETUP TIME IN PARTS OF GERMANY Nordrhein-Westfalen BookCrossers organize meetings to fit geography
by Jens Meyer (Herrundmeyer)
Saturday afternoon. 3 p.m. It's Meetup time in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. What? asks the average BookCrosser. Meetups on Saturdays? In the afternoon? Well, yes. This is not a monthly Meetup which is organized through
meetup.com. It has been organized in the German forum, the German Yahoo! Group and by some industrious BookCrossers who found the active members of the region and invited them to the meeting, sending PMs to each and every one of them....
HOW DO I LABEL A BOOK FOR RELEASE? A few tips for decorating your book before releasing it
by Vysion
Why label a book? Well, do you want the books you choose to release through Bookcrossing to be found and journaled?
That's the main point of labeling a book: to get enough information across so someone can understand BookCrossing and participate in our global adventure....
A SNAZZY BOOKSHELF CAN BE YOURS! Learn to jazz up your bookshelf with some simple HTML
by Yvonne (yvi-1)
Most of us want our BookCrossing bookshelves to be a reflection of ourselves. Plain text just doesn't do that! So here is a short tutorial on how to use HTML within BookCrossing.com to snazz up your extended profile.
...
HIGH DIAMONDS TO BURNING DESERT Battling forest fires in San Diego to release a book
by Glenn Wilson (BMac)
A relative of mine, Margaret Castle, is a novelist. She published High Diamonds a couple of years ago, and like most first-time fiction writers was truly frustrated by the response of the major bookstores and other booksellers in getting her book out there so the public would learn of it and read it. She had years and years of writing experience,
had dozens of non-interested parties read the book before publishing for input, feedback and criticism. She had taken all the 'right and recommended' steps to ensure her book got the best exposure to the marketplace. She had been to book signings, special events, non-profit fund raisers, speeches... you name it, she'd tried it....
THE BOOKCROSSERS OF TOMORROW BookCrossing an ideal activity to teach children the joys of reading
by Holly (kz4ufo)
Once a person discovers BookCrossing, a life is changed forever. He or she is drawn into an amazing global community devoted to one goal - �Making the Entire World a Library.� To accomplish this, books are released everywhere imaginable
throughout the world. Yet, believe it or not, there can be more to BookCrossing!...
Want to write for BookCrossing? If your article is accepted, you could see it featured here in the next newsletter. What topics do we need? Anything about books, reading, or BookCrossing — tutorials, release and catch stories, well-traveled book stories, funny BookCrossing experience stories — you name it. Write it up, then submit it here:
The new T-shirts and the new 7th-edition BookPlate labels are selling well, and some sizes are already gone, so if you haven't got yours yet, please help support BookCrossing by making a purchase from our secure online store today:
Our 7th-edition bookplate labels, featuring a reproduction of the charming Reading Dr. Seuss, an original pastel by artist Karen Barton, are still available in limited quantities:
Are you an artist? If you'd like your art to be featured on a future Bookplate series, please contact us at http://www.bookcrossing.com/contact. In exchange for the
considerable exposure you'll get here and in the future on those 50,000 traveling books, we ask for only the original artwork, which we'll auction to further help support BookCrossing.
CHAMPION REFERRER SINCE LAST NEWSLETTER
Since the last newsletter on February 4, our champion new member referrer was 22-year-old sunisunny, a Hungarian BookCrosser currently residing in
France. A member since April 2003, sunisunny has referred 25 new members, 22 of whom joined BookCrossing.com since our last newsletter. Sunisunny's profile gives us a clue how these referrals happened:
I've finally started referring members, especially in my home country, Hungary. I've just sent a tell-a-friend to all the teachers of the department where I am finishing my studies... hope they won't take it badly
saying that I spammed the whole fac... LOL... but i see it as a good way of spreading the word... We'll see about the results. :) Also, I told some of my friends at a party to try it, they seemed eager and some of them already joined!
As a token of appreciation for helping us grow, we'll be sending sunisunny a $50 gift certificate from our BookCrossing Supply Store. Want to win the $50 prize next newsletter?
Get busy referring people! The best tactic: release lots of books so new members will find them and join. The next-best tactic: use our Tell-a-Friend form to quickly send an email invitation to everyone you know:
This week's SSM16 celebrates St. Valentine's Day, which according to some sources started in third century Rome. What better way to show your affection for someone than to give them a book you love? If you'd like to include a personal note, here's a guide to saying "I love you" in a long list of languages:
Label the books properly. At the minimum, this means a sticky-note on the outside making it clear that the book is FREE and NOT LOST (don't write anything on the outside to cause others alarm!), and a good, descriptive label inside the cover explaining BookCrossing and including the BCID for the book.
If possible, choose a book with content appropriate to the release location.
If possible, print out one of the press articles from http://www.bookcrossing.com/press and include it with the book (the Utne Reader or Reader's Digest articles work well).
Take pictures! Those of you with digital cameras, try to take a picture of the release zone with books, upload it with your journal entry, and make a post with the journal entry link in the SSM forum at http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/21.
Be safe! Use your common sense, and don't do anything to endanger persons or property.
Pay attention to the media the following day or two, try to note any mention of the SSM, and post such mentions to the SSM forum.
And finally, have fun!
As always, Happy 'Crossing!
Ron Hornbaker
Founder and Editor, BookCrossing.com
All of our newsletters, including this one, are archived on the web at http://www.bookcrossing.com/newsletterarchive.
This newsletter is sent only to members of BookCrossing.com. If you would prefer to not receive this newsletter in the future, you can change your newsletter preference anytime by visiting:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/newsletterpref/.
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Did you know BookCrossers are meeting-up together in cities all over the world, the second Tuesday of each month? Go to Meetup.com and find out where your meeting will be!
IN THIS ISSUE...
110,437 (52%)
