Crowdfunder - Update.

Some of you may know that a few weeks ago, Melissa Harrison and I started a Crowdfunder to raise money to get 10 copies of Greta Thunberg's book of speeches into 100 different schools across the UK.
1,000 copies was an ambitious target, we thought.  

The Crowdfunder "ended" two or so weeks ago, and, thanks to your incredible generosity, we raised over £12,000!

(you can still donate money though, as the lovely people at Crowdfunder have decided to keep the option open for the forseeable future)

Not only was over £12,000 raised, but the publishers, Penguin, agreed to match however many copies we raised money for. So effectively, over £24,000 was raised!

We asked schools to get in touch with us to request copies for their schools. This was really important, as we didn't just want to send copies to random schools. We wanted the schools to be engaged in the project. 

So far we've had over 900 UK schools request copies!

The great news is that, because of all the money raised, we're able to send copies to the majority of schools who requested them. 

So what started off as an ambitious project to get copies to 100 schools has now turned into a phenomenon, and we're able to supply well over 800 schools with copies. 

That's over 8,000 copies of Greta's book, getting into the hands of school kids all over the UK!

Trying to organise the distribution has been a right laugh and i've spent MANY, MANY hours going through all the emails we got, deleting all the spam, contacting some of the schools asking for their full addresses, getting details of the right teacher to send the books to, and then adding all this information onto a huge spreadsheet!

I am now the king of copy and paste. 

The good news is that today, on the day of the Global Climate Strike, after midday, the first 400+ packages are being packed up to be sent to schools next week!

This is the most exciting bit of the whole project for me, because it means that very soon, what we've set out to do, is actually going to HAPPEN. 

We're so grateful to everyone who donated, shared and supported the project, and I hope that it will inspire a few young people to realise that they can make a difference. 

Another 400+ parcels are going out next week and then, as and when anyone else donates, I'll carry on supplying schools. 

YOU LOT ARE ACE.

#buyastrangerabook,

Each week I do this thing on Twitter called #buyastrangerabook. 

People buy strangers books. It's great. 

If you want a bit more info, here it is.

Anyway, a few months ago, when it was announced that David Cameron was going to be bringing out his autobiography "Look, it Wasn't My Fault" "For The Record", I wasn't that keen on the idea of selling it.

It was suggested that I did a special "#buyastrangerabookButNotCameron

Sounded good.

People suggested certain books to buy instead. A lot of people suggested, "James O'Brien's, How to Be Right...in a world gone wrong" and there were many other suggestions too

HOWEVER...

David Cameron got an £800k advance for this book, but profits from the sales of the book will be going to certain charities.

One of these is the Alzheimer's Society



I wouldn't want charities to miss out, so instead of selecting a certain book, I will donate £1 for every £10 I take today (that's about 38% of MY profit, I reckon) through #buyastrangerabook to The Alzheimer's Society.

Of course, you can simply donate money to them HERE.

That's it really.
Ta.

September's Book Club

I started a Twitter Book Club in June. 

So far, we've read and discussed Circe by Madeline Miller and Normal People by Sally Rooney.

This month the book chosen (via Twitter Poll), was Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie Mcknight Hardy.

Here's the blurb:

The heatwave of 1976. Following the accidental drowning of her sister, sixteen-year-old Nif and her family move to a small village on the Welsh borders to escape their grief. But rural seclusion doesnt bring any relief. As her family unravels, Nif begins to put together her own form of witchcraft collecting talismans from the sun-starved land. That is, until she meets Mally, a teen boy who takes a keen interest in her, and has his own secret rites to divulge.

What's so great about a Book Club, is that you can discover things you didn't see when you first read it. People read books differently and the insights that can come from another person's perspective can add to the reading experience.

Anyway, 22 people read the book this month and scored it out of 10.

Overall, the writing throughout was praised and the majority of the group agreed that the author smashed it describing the heatwave and the atmosphere in the village.

The main character wasn't particularly likeable and some of the group struggled to feel empathy with any of the characters in the book.

The writing has been compared to Shirley Jackson, in a sense that there was this undercurrent of dread and discomfort throughout, which a couple of people agreed with, but a number of people said that they saw the "ending" before it finally happened.

In fact, the ending was the thing that frustrated most people (and the animal cruelty...). So whilst most people thought the writing was great, this was a bit of a downer.

Having said that, there were mixed feelings and the scores out of 10 reflected this, as marks ranged between 4 and 8.

The overall average was 6.1

So, if a bit of dark fiction is your thing, check it out.

NEXT month's book choice is When We Were Orphans, by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Here's the blurb;

England, the 1930s. Christopher Banks has become the country's most celebrated detective, his cases the talk of London society. Yet one unsolved crime has always haunted him: the mysterious disappearance of his parents, in old Shanghai, when he was a small boy. Moving between inter-war London and Shanghai, When We Were Orphans is a remarkable story of memory, intrigue and the need to return

The discussion will start on Tuesday October 15th from Midday. 

There's a special Twitter DM group where the discussion is held, so as not to clog up everyone's timeline with the chat, so if you want to be a part of Book Club, please tweet me @biggreenbooks with the hashtag #BGBookClub and i'll join you to the group. 

If you want to buy the book from me, you can paypal £8.99 to biggreenbookshop@hotmail.com, (using family and friends please) and then DM me your name, address and the word ORPHAN. 

I shall post it out to you asap. 

There are now over 80 people in the Book Club, and there's no pressure to read the book, so if you want to get involved, let me know. 

Crowdfunder

I'll make this as short as possible, as I know you're busy. 

About five weeks ago, Melissa Harrison and I started a Crowdfunder, to raise money in order to get copies of No One is Too Small To Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg into schools around the UK. 

There's a link HERE

The original goal was to raise enough to get 10 copies of the book into 100 different schools in 35 days.

So this is what happened;

1) We reached this target in less than two days

2) We added a very ambitious new "stretch target" which was more than three times our original.

3) Penguin UK agreed to match the number of copies we raised money for and send those out on our behalf.

4) We reached our new stretch target of £10,000 (which was essentially £20,000, with Penguin's kind offer), with ten days to go.

5) We were encouraged by the lovely people at Crowdfunder to try and stretch it a little more.

6) On Saturday, with two days to go, we hit this target of £12,500.

All these books (I reckon about 9,000) will be going to schools in the UK who have asked for copies. (we're not just randomly sending copies out to schools). 

We've had over 1,100 emails sent to our dedicated "Great for Schools" email address. If I cut out the duplicated requests from schools and the spam, I think we may be able to send copies to EVERY school in the UK who's asked for copies. 

As we wrote on the crowdfunder description, "the title of the book sums up why we think this book is so important. Not only is it a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, but it’s also an inspirational book with the potential to empower future generations by showing them that no matter who you are, you really can make a difference".

The Crowdfunder is about to end, and so now the next part of the project will begin. Getting the books to the schools. 

I'm in the process of going through the 1,100 emails and adding the contact details of all the schools onto a spreadsheet. I'm hoping that once we've fixed a date with one of the suppliers, I can visit their warehouse to "help" with the packing. 

This whole process has been incredible. There's been so much support from so many people and we're overwhelmed by how much you've got behind it. 

THANK YOU!!