My bookish background is in book swaps. Some of you will know this and some won't, but way back just after I started book blogging my friend and I founded the Ninja Book Swap which we ran for several years before handing it on to new management last year. Because of running the book box and the bookshop crawl and everything else a regular, international book swap had just got too much for me, but book swapping is in my heart and it's rolling around to Christmas again and there really isn't much better than a bookish secret santa... unless it's a Persephone bookish secret santa!
Persephone Books are one of my favourite indie publishers and their books are definitely fantastic for feeling like a little bit of a special treat. If you don't know, they publish forgotten women writers from primarily the interwar period. Their books span a very vast range of genres, and they are different because most of them have the same grey cover, and they don't have blurbs, but merely a short extract from the book, so it's really guess work. But honestly it isn't, because I've read quite a few of their books now and although they're all vastly different I have yet to read one that was less than fantastic, so you're in safe hands.
Our idea for this festive season is that you all sign up through this super quick form, and give us a list of 5 or so Persephone titles that sound appealing to you. After the sign up cut off passes (30th November) we'll then email you with a person to buy and send a book to, and someone else will do the same for you, resulting in you getting a little parcel of Persephone joy during the festive season. Sound good? It's going to be!
Here are the rules:
Sign up by midnight GMT on November 30th.
The swap is open internationally but you can indicate on the sign up whether you'd prefer to send internationally or domestically. Please note that if you are outside of the UK you may have to send internationally, depending on participation.
Once you receive your person you need to buy them a book from their list. They will indicate if pre-loved is OK with them or not - please abide by their wishes. You can send the book direct from where you buy it, or you can send it yourself along with a card. If you send it directly please make sure you include a gift note so they know who to thank.
Email us when you've sent your book so we know everyone's playing nicely!
Once you've received your book please say thanks to your person.
Use #persephonebookswap to talk about the swap on twitter & share your excitement with your friends and followers.
That's it!
If you already love Persephone Books then this is the perfect swap for you, and if you don't then it really is because you don't know what you're missing! No matter what kind of books you like they have something for you and I promise you're missing out by not reading them...