Make It So: Keep The Books Going
I love books. Admittedly as I’m posting at a site called “Nerd Caliber” that’s not any surprise, and my last column was a paean to used book stores.
Of course we’re all like that. We love bookstores old and new. We have favorite books we read over and over. We didn’t laugh at the opening apartment scene in “Read or Die,” we instead became envious.
So I’d like to encourage you to keep circulating the books among we nerds, geeks, otaku, and fans in a few ways.
Bookcrossing
Bookcrossing has a long and honorable history. The basic idea is to leave books around specifically labeled for people to pick up, read, and even track online . Of course you can book cross many ways – and I’d like you to consider all the ways we geeks can keep circulating books this way.
The first thing I’d suggest is doing it at conventions. Imagine all the ways you can do it:
- Have book crossing areas for people to leave or pick up books.
- Have contests to see who can leave/pick up the most books.
- Unused/unwanted books could then be donated to libraries or other good causes (who might be awesome sponsors).
Secondly, any event is a good idea:
- Gaming meetups.
- Get-togethers (vanish, but leave behind some ideal books in public).
- Events like workshops and so forth. You might even get presenters or guests to participate!
Third, just imagine staging “nerd raids” on specific areas. Leave manga in that coffee shop. Leave the LOTR series in a bus station. Go on an promote the works important to you!
So go on, get those books out there! Or you can get more organized with . . .
Little Free Libraries
This has been a trend lately – small take-a-book-leave-a-book libraries popping up all over. They even have their own webpage and Facebook page.
As you can guess I love this idea. So I’m gonna suggest you go for it, my nerds. In fact, I’m going to make some suggestions . . .
- Do it at conventions. Duh, of course. But imagine a drop/take library at a con. Now imagine if that thing travelled to all the cons in your area, accumulating and giving away all sorts of works. You could combine it with Bookcrossing above.
- Have one for your club/group/etc. Especially awesome if you have an office or set location. Or someone can haul it around (maybe as part of #1).
- Suggest local nerd-friendly businesses have them, like coffee shops, gaming stores, etc. Sponsor one for them to promote your group.
- Run your own.
Think what a group of litheads like us can do with the little free library idea. Might not be so little after awhile . . .
So there you go, book-lovers. Two suggestions to run with to keep people reading cool and interesting stuff. What ideas do you have?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
