Hello and welcome to the second annual Booksgiving Day! What is “Booksgiving Day?” It’s day to celebrate the joy of reading and giving and llamas, but without any actual llamas unless you’ve brought your own.
Basically, last February I wanted to thank you guys for all of your support by giving out 30 copies of Furiously Happy, which I did, but then everyone else was like, “I WANT TO GIVE BOOKS TO PEOPLE TOO” so we set up a day where you could ask for one book from a stranger using an Amazon wishlist and if someone wanted to give it to you they would. And they did. Some people asked for a book for their child. Some asked for a book to escape life for a bit. Some asked just to have a reminder that they exist and matter, and then they went back in and bought a book for someone else. And people found friends (and really good book recommendations) by looking at the particular book that each person really wanted. And it was lovely.
So today we’re doing it again and if you want to ask for a book (or give a book) the details are all here. I’m giving out 30 of my own books for those of you who are part of the community but haven’t been able to buy one, but you can pick any book at all and leave it in the comments and I’ll probably give out others once I hit my 30. Furiously Happy is out in paperback today, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is still in print and YOU ARE HERE: An Owner’s Manual for Dangerous Minds comes out in a few weeks (tour info coming soon!) so those are the 30 books I’m giving out first.
Here are the rules:
- If you’re in a rough place and need a book to transport you somewhere else make A BRAND NEW wish list with nothing on it but the book you want. (Exception: If you have a kid who needs a book you can add that too.)
- Here’s how you make a wish list: Under “Accounts and Lists” on the right, top side of Amazon select “Create a list”. Choose “Wish list” and name it something like “The book I really need right now” and choose “Public”. Then click “Create list”. Now add a book to your list by going to the book and clicking the “add to list” button on the bottom right of that page. Make sure you assign it to the new wishlist. Now here’s the most important thing that everyone forgets to do. You have to assign a shipping address to that specific wish list or it won’t go to you. EVERY new wishlist has to be assigned an address or you won’t get your stuff. So click on your wish list and click on “public” and it’ll take you to “List settings”. Click “view details” and where it says “shipping address” add yours. (Your city will be shown to others, but not your full address.) Then save changes. Now leave a comment with a link to your wish list. Click here for my sample wish list so you’ll know what one looks like. I have about 20 books listed on it for inspiration if you don’t know exactly what you want. In your comment say which book you want in case someone specifically wants to buy you that book. Also, if you’re not in America put that in the comment so we can match people better by location and not have crazy shipping fees. Feel happy.
- Here’s how you buy a book for a stranger. Click on their link. Choose a book. Select their name so it goes to their address. If it doesn’t give you the option of picking their name it means they didn’t add a shipping address so delete what’s in your cart and go to the next person. Send a story to someone in need. Feel happy.
The only rule is that this is just for books. No gift cards or clothes or anything else because it gets out of hand really quickly. Just a simple book to take you away from the world and help you find new ones.
And as always, thank you. Thank you for supporting my words and listening and passing them on to others. I’m in the middle of writing book 4 right now and you’re giving me strength to keep writing even when I doubt myself. I owe you one. Or 30.
UPDATED: Here are screen shots of what you should see while making a wishlist and add a shipping destination because it’s less complicated if you have pictures to walk you through:
Create a list under “Your lists”.
Make it a wish list, name it and make it public.
After you click “create list” click on the “public” button below:
Click “view details” to add your shipping address to this wish list:
Choose a shipping address and save changes.
Now you’re ready to add something to your list. Pick a book and choose the “add to list” button on bottom right side:
If you have another wish list set as your default (like I always do) then you’ll need to click “move to another list.”
Just click the list you’re going to share here.
Now go to the wish list and copy the link and then paste it into the comments. Done! There might be a better way of doing it but that’s how I do it.
PS. If you click on a wish list that says it’s empty that’s because the book has already been bought for them. 🙂 That is a very good thing.
PPS. I love you guys. Now I’m off to buy books.