Friday 31 December 2010

The Year of Readers - Sticky Post


If you've found this blog after January 1st 2009 you can still sign up and become a part of 'The Year of Readers'. Just start your charitable reading year from when you sign up, using the Mr Linky below, and end it on December 31st.

I love to read. Countries and people open up when I start a book and a story begins. It’s easy for me to pull a new book out of my crowded bookshelves every time I want one but not everyone can just grab books by the handful and choose their next read. For someone who hates to have to wait for books it’s sad to think of someone unable to get a novel when they want to. I feel even worse when I think of people who can’t read or have never had the opportunity to learn how much fun reading can be. Books are one of the simplest luxuries in the world and should be accessible to everyone.

In 2009 I want to spread my love of reading throughout the world. The Year of Readers aims to bring people who enjoy books together to have fun bringing literature into the lives of others. From the 1st January 2009 until 31st of December 2009 I will be running an international read-a-thon that will be open to anyone who reads. It doesn’t matter what kind of books you read or how many you read as long as you’ve got your nose in a book in 2009 you can join in.

The Year of Readers

It’s an easy concept (which is probably why I thought of it). You pick a literary charity that you want to support in 2009. You sign up to be part of The Year of Readers, get people to sponsor you and just start reading whatever you like. If you’re going to read next year why not join and help a bookish charity at the same time?

How to Join

Sign up to The Year of Readers using the link device below. Remember to leave your website (if you want it to be linked to in the right sidebar). Once you’re signed up leave a comment with your e-mail address and I’ll send you your sponsorship form and an invite allowing you to post at this community blog so you can tell everyone about what you’re reading throughout the year. You don’t have to post here to qualify for the read-a-thon but you can if you want to.

After you sign up I'd love if you would also comment on this post to let me know which charity you’ll be reading for. I’ve put a list of suggested charities in the left sidebar but you can pick any charity you like as long as it has a link to reading. If you tell me which charity you'll be raising funds for I'll add them to that list.

I’ll also send each participant an e-mail with a sponsorship form and some helpful information. You can get people to sponsor you per book read or get them to give you a big lump sum for reading in 2009, you can even make up your own system for being sponsored. If you're taking part in any reading challenges this year you could get people to sponsor you per challenge completed. If you're looking for your next challenge visit A Novel Challenge.



How to Sponsor

Simply click on the links in the right sidebar to go to the sites of readers taking part. There you'll be able to contact them about making a donation.

Donating Online

If you want people to be able to sponsor you online the easiest way seems to be using JustGiving (or if you want to give to a Candian charity CanadaHelps). I'll be sending out sponsorship forms to every one who signs up but these guys might give you an extra way to raise funds. Many of the charities listed on the left have accounts set up so that you can link up with them.

Some Quick Rules

You can sign up at any time but only books read from 1st January to 31st December 2009 can be counted towards your sponsored read-a-thon.

You must sign up via the linking device at the bottom of this post to take part.

Books of any genre or type count (including graphic novels and poetry anthologies) but magazines and newspapers do not. If you're taking part in any reading challenges next year all those books can be counted towards your sponsored read-a-thon.

We have some great buttons for you to display on your blogs. These were designed by Mandi and you can find them at this post . Isn't she great for making these! I'm going to work on putting up lots more charity links as well. We have a nice schedule of monthly prize draws where participants can sign up to win bookish items. Join in and let The Year of Reading be your first good deed for 2009.

Tuesday 29 December 2009

End of Year Totals

Hi everyone, it's 29th December which means there are just 3 official days left for 'The Year of Readers'. On 2nd of January I'll be sending out an email asking for your final book totals (1st Jan 2009 - 31st Dec 2009), total donations raised and a reminder of your charity again. I'm so excited to see how much we've all raised for charity!

However I'm not sure if I have everyone's email address (I certainly know one address has become invalid since the start of the year). So I'm popping this announcement up here as well. If you haven't received an email by end of 2nd January 2010 please comment on this post with your total number of books read, total donations gathered (base this on what people/you have pledged if you haven't yet collected all the money together), your charity and your email address, so I can keep track of you on my own list.

Remember that for every book read by anyone taking part I donate one British penny to Eco Libris and $1 (roughly 50p right now) plants one tree so if you all get your books totals in to me we should be able to plant quite a few trees between us.

If you're wondering how to donate your money I suggest collecting all the donations people have made to you during 'The Year of Readers' up, depositing it in your account and then sending a cheque, Paypal or credit card doantion for the whole amount to your chosen charity. Please make your donations as soon as possible in January and at the end of the month I'll email out completition certificates to everyone who submits their totals.

Any questions, just leave them in the comments and thanks again so, so, so much for taking part in this fund raising enterprise! Thanks also to your generous supporters and to those who self sponsored themselves. You're all brilliant people who go to the top of the nice list and I can't even begin to say how happy I've been that the internet has connected me with such generous people.

Thursday 26 November 2009

It's time for the last push guys! One final month of reading for charity approaches and then at the end of December I'll be asking you for your final totals so I know how much to donate to Eco Libris. I think I'm somewhere in the 60s, hoping to make 70 by the end of the year and also hope my sponsors don't freak out about that (said I'd probably read 50 - 60 books).

I have some free bookmarks and matching bookplates to hand out (6 I think) from one of our generous sponsors. So if you'd like a bookmark please comment below and the first 6 get one :)

Thursday 15 October 2009

Read-a-thon Time!

Just a quick reminder that Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon is coming up the weekend after next (starting at 1pm GMT 24th October). Great opportunity to increase your reading total and have super fun!

Thursday 20 August 2009

June Update (late)

Gah so yes I've been a little absent, but most importantly I've been reading! Just wanted to drop you a quick update:

I asked for totals in June and in that month I received responses that told me all active participants had read a cumulative total of 386 books (including me). I know the total's probably way bigger now (I'm up from 31 books to 51). Great going guys!

That means alongside your own charity activities you've all helped to raise almost £4 for Eco Libris, that's just over $4 which means next year we'll be helping to plant four new trees.

Unfortunately when I call for totals I'm getting about 12 - 15 responses. I don't know if everyone else is still reading for charity and gathering money. I hope so (give a little hey in the comments if you just haven't had time to return a total).

The next official total call will be the final total now but I'm always happy to receive news on how you're doing!

Thursday 2 July 2009

Sandra's Progress at Fresh Ink Books


The book that inspired my charity choice:
The author was kind enough to stop by my blog and thank me.

Books read to date: 70

Those reviewed:

Sponsors: none yet

Comments, questions, reading recommendations, or links to reviews of any of these book are always welcomed at Fresh Ink Books.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Year of Readers - Fundraising Drive

We’re entering the sixth month of ‘The Year of Readers’, our year long sponsored read-a-thon that’s designed to raising money for literacy charities around the world. If you haven’t heard about the event before
please read our
introductory post introductory post, which is full of information about what we’re doing and how we hope to benefit charities by reading in 2009.

Our readers are doing really well flipping pages and raising money offline, but as the sixth month of the year begins I think we could all use a little online fundraising boost. So if you’re passionate about reading please consider donating to one of our readers so they can advance the cause of reading related charities.

There’s a variety of causes for you to pledge your money to:

I’m reading for Room to Read. You can send me a flat rate donation at my
Justgiving page.

Peta is raising cash for Book Aid International which benefits all kind of literacy organizations. Why not contribute a few pounds to her cause at her
fundraising page.

Sylvia is reading for a couple of Canadian charities CODE and World Literacy of Canada which work to get children and adults in developing countries literacy training and a supply of useful books. Sylvia’s customized the challenge and you can read all about what she’s doing at her
Canada Helps fundraising page.

Melanie is reading for a travelling charity - The Public Library on Wheels. If you want to fund their travels pop by her Canada Gives page.

JC is one of several readers collecting money for First Book, which asks you to remember the joy you felt when you read your own first book. Her fundraising page could use some love.

You can also click through any of the links in the right hand side bar to leave a comment for one of our readers about sponsoring them.

You can help by donating money to one of our readers or by passing on information about ‘The Year of Readers’ to anyone who might be interested in donating. Tweet it, Facebook it or Blog it – however you choose to pass on the message it would be much appreciated.

Finally I’m looking to run a series of silent auctions to increase fundraising. If you have any really cool good quality book related things and would be willing to see them auctioned off for charity please contact me with a comment here. It could be signed copies, ARCs, boxed sets or fancy book paraphernalia. Also if you know anyone who might be interested in donating items please tell them to get in contact here.
 

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