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More than 3,000 titles suggested for WBN 2012
01.01.70 | Graeme Neill
More than 1,500 people have nominated titles for World Book Night 2012, with over 3,000 titles put forward just over a week after the ballot opened.
At the moment, titles such as To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Lord of Rings by J R R Tolkien are among the most popular in the top 100, having all gained a "large number of nominations" in just over a week.
WBN c.e.o. Julia Kingsford said: "Whilst there are some obvious popular favourites already coming to the fore it is a mark of the diverse tastes of readers that the amount of titles nominated so far is so large and so broad. Seeing the passionate comments left by readers and watching the list change and evolve as more and more people contribute is fantastic and cuts to the core of what World Book Night is about—sharing a love of reading."
The ballot will be open until 31st August, when a WBN panel will start whittling down the top 100 choices to the final 25 titles. The final list will be announced in mid-October.
WBN will next be held on 23rd April 2012.
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I gave books out to all sorts of people and i was really gratified to know that the majority of the people that i gave books to went on to go out and buy books .
I gave "Fingersmith" out to a diverse group of people : some who hadn't read a book for ages, others who'd seen the TV adaptation, people who'd heard of WBN & others who hadn't but thought it was a brilliant idea. The only thing I would ask for WBN 2012 is : can us givers have a badge or some kind of ID where WBN is prominently displayed -- so many people sidle away when they see you giving books out, thinking you're some kind of religious fanatic who's going to give them a earful!
'The Princess Bride' is a perfect book for this - it hits so many genres, and appeals to so many people, it'll be a hit to whoever it is given to...
Tell you what.....
Open your doors and let people take what they want for a day.
That's real giving... Yes / no?
Wow, I am sure that there are many who will excited to see the winners out of all 3000 titles in October.
I cannot wait for you to keep us updated on what is happening with this contest.
Hannah
casino: When gamblers choose an online casino they are not only looking for ease of wagering but the highest payout percentages on the web.
I am always keen to hear and respond to direct feedback on all aspects of World Book Night. If you (or anyone) else would like to you can email 2012 @worldbooknight.org
Titles nominated now well over 3500.
Thank you
Here we go again, giving books away to existing book readers resulting in them not buying a book for weeks after.
Then we have the devaluation of books as by giving them away people will think all books should be free.
Again... Utter madness... Stop this stupid idea now (Please)
I too gave books out to people who wouldn't normally read. I can tell you that they went down very well and the majority of those people have come back to me for more recommendations. I gave Case Histories to someone who went on to buy the whole Jackson Brodie series at once because he enjoyed the first book so much.
I think as long as the author is happy for their book to be given, it is nice to have something that everyone can enjoy for free. There isn't much left of that in this life after all.
Your comments would suggest you weren't involved in WBN 2011, as I know a lot of the books went to people and places where there's not the money to buy books but there is the desire to read. I personally gave a chunk to a mental health inpatient facility-the people there aren't able to wander into town and buy stuff, or use the internet as and when they want, so for them a pile of new books was a godsend. WBN did not stop people buying books (although those particular titles may have suffered a little), in fact I'm sure I read that there was an increase in sales in the month afterwards as people bought more titles by the same author or even copies of titles on the list that they didn't receive free.
What about books?
And what beats a book of Rum'spoetry......?
His death as his wedding day to god?.....
I loved giving the books and everyone was happy to receive them as far as I could tell. I tried to give to people whom I thought might not be avid readers, but how can you really tell? I asked everyone to pass the book on whether they read it or not. World Book Night/Day was a celebration of books and reading and I can't understand the odd churlish remark about the events.
Bookish and Shopshaped have hit the nail on the head. If WBN can be turned into something beyond a glorified chattering classes book group, then I would fully support it. As it is, we have Pippa passing on a copy of Life of Pi to Georgina over a "lartay", telling her she absolutely must read it. Bore off.
Also, this year's selection of books was just mind-numbing.
I'm all for promoting books and reading, but this surely needs to have more direction rather than letting any old Toby hand books out to all their chums to save them a few quid on their next read (and give Toby a warm fuzzy feeling that he's "y'know, doing something worthwhile").
I can see where you are coming from, however on the other foot, I was a giver last year. The people I chose to give my books too ranged, however the majority was to people that wouldn't normally read. I know for a fact that most then went out and bought further books from that author. So for my people giving them books has opened up a new world and experience for them and also meant that more books were sold to people that wouldnt normally bother.
If the aim of WBN/D was to encourage people who wouldn't normally read to do so (and this was my understanding)then in my neck of the woods WBN/D failed spectacularly. I had some 26 "givers" collecting their books from my shop. They were all middle class white and affluent and all bar two of them were "giving" the books to their friends of similar ilk. Perhaps givers intentions should be part of the selection criteria? I applaud those givers who made the effort to distribute books outside of their own cosy circle and to give them to people who REALLY would not have thought to buy it for themselves.
Umm no. I'm sure you and many other givers gave books to well chosen recipients, but the fact is in March sales across the industry fell by 8.7% to their worst for six years. Thats while overall retail sales rose by 1.3%. I'm sure the free books were great for both givers and recievers, for booksellers on the other hand they were a curse taking up valuable stock/backroom space and losing them sales. There is no arguing that from a comercial perspective WBN spectacularly failed booksellers.
You can't blame WBN for all of the poor sales in March. A lack of (decent) new titles, the winter gas bill arriving, people saving for summer hols all had an effect too!
It's up to the givers to make a better choice of who to give the books to (they need to be prompted by WBN to give them to people who don't read)
Some of my givers didn't even bother collecting their books...so I gave the spares to a local hotel who put them in all of their rooms.
I would like to see publishers supporting primary schools a bit more - after all we need the KIDS to be reading to keep all of us in business in the future.
Here we go again, giving books away to existing book readers resulting in them not buying a book for weeks after.
Then we have the devaluation of books as by giving them away people will think all books should be free.
Again... Utter madness... Stop this stupid idea now (Please)
I can see where you are coming from, however on the other foot, I was a giver last year. The people I chose to give my books too ranged, however the majority was to people that wouldn't normally read. I know for a fact that most then went out and bought further books from that author. So for my people giving them books has opened up a new world and experience for them and also meant that more books were sold to people that wouldnt normally bother.
Your comments would suggest you weren't involved in WBN 2011, as I know a lot of the books went to people and places where there's not the money to buy books but there is the desire to read. I personally gave a chunk to a mental health inpatient facility-the people there aren't able to wander into town and buy stuff, or use the internet as and when they want, so for them a pile of new books was a godsend. WBN did not stop people buying books (although those particular titles may have suffered a little), in fact I'm sure I read that there was an increase in sales in the month afterwards as people bought more titles by the same author or even copies of titles on the list that they didn't receive free.
Umm no. I'm sure you and many other givers gave books to well chosen recipients, but the fact is in March sales across the industry fell by 8.7% to their worst for six years. Thats while overall retail sales rose by 1.3%. I'm sure the free books were great for both givers and recievers, for booksellers on the other hand they were a curse taking up valuable stock/backroom space and losing them sales. There is no arguing that from a comercial perspective WBN spectacularly failed booksellers.
I am always keen to hear and respond to direct feedback on all aspects of World Book Night. If you (or anyone) else would like to you can email 2012 @worldbooknight.org
Titles nominated now well over 3500.
Thank you
I gave books out to all sorts of people and i was really gratified to know that the majority of the people that i gave books to went on to go out and buy books .
I too gave books out to people who wouldn't normally read. I can tell you that they went down very well and the majority of those people have come back to me for more recommendations. I gave Case Histories to someone who went on to buy the whole Jackson Brodie series at once because he enjoyed the first book so much.
I think as long as the author is happy for their book to be given, it is nice to have something that everyone can enjoy for free. There isn't much left of that in this life after all.
What about books?
And what beats a book of Rum'spoetry......?
His death as his wedding day to god?.....
I gave "Fingersmith" out to a diverse group of people : some who hadn't read a book for ages, others who'd seen the TV adaptation, people who'd heard of WBN & others who hadn't but thought it was a brilliant idea. The only thing I would ask for WBN 2012 is : can us givers have a badge or some kind of ID where WBN is prominently displayed -- so many people sidle away when they see you giving books out, thinking you're some kind of religious fanatic who's going to give them a earful!
'The Princess Bride' is a perfect book for this - it hits so many genres, and appeals to so many people, it'll be a hit to whoever it is given to...
Tell you what.....
Open your doors and let people take what they want for a day.
That's real giving... Yes / no?
I loved giving the books and everyone was happy to receive them as far as I could tell. I tried to give to people whom I thought might not be avid readers, but how can you really tell? I asked everyone to pass the book on whether they read it or not. World Book Night/Day was a celebration of books and reading and I can't understand the odd churlish remark about the events.
Wow, I am sure that there are many who will excited to see the winners out of all 3000 titles in October.
I cannot wait for you to keep us updated on what is happening with this contest.
Hannah
casino: When gamblers choose an online casino they are not only looking for ease of wagering but the highest payout percentages on the web.
You can't blame WBN for all of the poor sales in March. A lack of (decent) new titles, the winter gas bill arriving, people saving for summer hols all had an effect too!
It's up to the givers to make a better choice of who to give the books to (they need to be prompted by WBN to give them to people who don't read)
Some of my givers didn't even bother collecting their books...so I gave the spares to a local hotel who put them in all of their rooms.
I would like to see publishers supporting primary schools a bit more - after all we need the KIDS to be reading to keep all of us in business in the future.
If the aim of WBN/D was to encourage people who wouldn't normally read to do so (and this was my understanding)then in my neck of the woods WBN/D failed spectacularly. I had some 26 "givers" collecting their books from my shop. They were all middle class white and affluent and all bar two of them were "giving" the books to their friends of similar ilk. Perhaps givers intentions should be part of the selection criteria? I applaud those givers who made the effort to distribute books outside of their own cosy circle and to give them to people who REALLY would not have thought to buy it for themselves.
Bookish and Shopshaped have hit the nail on the head. If WBN can be turned into something beyond a glorified chattering classes book group, then I would fully support it. As it is, we have Pippa passing on a copy of Life of Pi to Georgina over a "lartay", telling her she absolutely must read it. Bore off.
Also, this year's selection of books was just mind-numbing.
I'm all for promoting books and reading, but this surely needs to have more direction rather than letting any old Toby hand books out to all their chums to save them a few quid on their next read (and give Toby a warm fuzzy feeling that he's "y'know, doing something worthwhile").