Hello and welcome to the third annual Booksgiving Day!
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What is “Booksgiving Day?” It’s a day to celebrate the magic of reading and to collectively give the stink-eye to people who don’t understand that no, you don’t actually want to just wait for the movie to come out.
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Basically, two years ago 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 ridiculously good book recommendations) by looking at the particular book that each person really wanted. And it was lovely.
Then last year people were like “LET’S DO IT AGAIN” and we did. And it was awesome. And this week we’re doing it again so 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 less than $6 today, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is still in print and YOU ARE HERE: An Owner’s Manual for Dangerous Minds is on sale too. WHOOP!
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 one 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 & Lists” choose “Create a list”:
Select “Wish List”. Name it something like “A book I need”. Select “Public” and make sure that “keep purchased items on your list” is NOT checked.
Now go find the book you want. When you have it, click on the “Add to List” dropdown arrow and choose the wishlist you just made.
It will give you a confirmation screen where you should choose “View Your List”.
Here’s the most important part that people forget to do. You have to add a shipping address to this wishlist even if you’ve already added it to other wish lists. (Your address isn’t shared. Just your name and city.) Click on “Edit this list”…
…and where it says “Shipping Address” change it from “None” to your address. Then click “Save Changes”.
Leave a link to your wishlist in the comments and say which book you’re asking for. Pick things that are “Prime” whenever possible because it’s free shipping for a lot of us and lots of non-prime places won’t send to wishlist addresses. 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. Thank you for being amazing. Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. Thank you for llamas if you had anything to do with inventing llamas.
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.
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