Question/Idea for Reviewers and Authors

Posted August 7, 2008 by shooting in Uncategorized / 12 Comments

Okay, if you’ve ever read my blog then you know about our Mark It Up contests, where the book you could win has been “marked up” by the author, which just means they write little comments in the margins and whatnot.

The idea was from something that some friends of mine and I had done. We marked up books that we were reading and sent them to each other. It was a lot of fun and one particular book I recieved was Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. I ended up loving the book, but it was a lot of fun to see what my friend had to say through the book as she read it.

Anyway, the point is…it doesn’t has to just be authors marking up their own book. That idea came to me later because I figured it would be so much fun to read a book marked up by THE author, you know?

So…moving on…my idea is to see if any Book Reviewers and/or Authors would be interested in this new idea I had. You can make a post or email a list to whoever you like (doesn’t matter) on what books you have that you wouldn’t mind letting someone borrow…then, a reviewer or an author can get in touch…ask to borrow a certain book, you send it, they read it, and send it back. Now, it’s kind of like utilizing your library and all anyone pays for is the shipping (not to say that you shouldn’t buy a book you want, it’s just hard too sometimes and you might really really want to read a book!)

Now, what does this have to do with marking books up? If you let someone borrow a book…and you don’t mind them writing in it (it’s good to state if you want people too or not) then while they read, if they so wish, they can mark up the book so when they send it back…you have a book you’ve read before, but is now filled with comments from someone else.

Another form of this idea is to simply mark up a book that you love and send it to someone for them to keep (because I know some authors/reviewers, reviewers/reviewers, authors/authors, have gotten close and maybe you want to do something special for someone specific.)

It’s all up to you. And you can send one book out at a time, two, three, it doesn’t matter. Again, your choice!

Anyway, I wanted to know what everyone thought…so please state your opinion in the comments and if anyone wants to try the idea, we can all start posting the list of books we don’t mind allowing others to borrow.

Any questions? Let me know!

12 responses to “Question/Idea for Reviewers and Authors

  1. Personally I think this is a fabulous idea! I won’t be able to participate cos of the abroad thing *rolls eyes*, but if I were in the US, I’d be all for it. This actually gave me a great idea for a gift! Thanks, Lauren! 🙂 Have I ever told you how awesome you are?

    Steph

  2. Steph: Thanks Steph, I’m glad you like the idea. And you may be abroad, but some people might still be willing to send YOU a book.

    Oh did it? Yay!! I’m very happy about that!!! No problem at all.

    Why thanks..I do try. LOL And you know you’re pretty awesome yourself. OF COURSE! 😛

    -Lauren

  3. I love, love, love this idea. I think it’d be fun to mark up a favorite book and send it to someone and get their marked up copy of their favorite book in return. Or you could read a book and mark it up and then pass it to the next person to mark up and so on like a round robin.

  4. Brenna: I’m glad you like the idea! What you say is definitely true. It’s a lot of fun to mark up a book and send it to someone, and get a marked up book in return. A few of my friends even did a round robin…they took a book and marked it up one by one so as people read it, more and more had made comments. 🙂

    -Lauren

  5. This is such a great idea! It sounds like so much fun, because I usually mark up books that I really like… it’d be interesting to see what people would have to say about a book that I like.

    It’d only be a borrowing thing though, right? Because I’d love to send a book of mine out and get other people’s marks, and then get it back and read it again =D

  6. Chelsie: Exactly, I love knowing what people think about a book that I enjoy.

    Yep, it’s just borrowing. If you lend a book out, the person marks it up, and sends it back.

    The only way it is NOT borrowing is if YOU mark up one of your OWN books and send it to someone…then they just keep it. 🙂

    So you’re in?

    -Lauren

  7. Chelsie: Sweet Deal!! Right, because if you haven’t read the book…it still works because you’ll be able to read a marked up book, w/o having read the book before. More fun sometimes. 🙂

    Who else likes the idea? Wants to participate? Comment comment!

    -Lauren

  8. I really like the idea. It’s just I’m one of those who despises one speck of dirty on a book.
    I would do this, but instead of just writing in my book, I can put posts its on it, still marking up but not marking on.

    Is it a bad idea? I’d really like to take part in this but I’m just too obsessive over my books
    What do you think?

  9. whatvanessareads: no, that’s completely fine. I should have mentioned that as well..but no, definitely alright if that’s the way you want to mark up a book.

    Right now we are still seeing who wants to do this…get some more people. So spread the word if you like!

    lauren

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