105 Ways to Give a Book

Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge — Clarifications

First, a quick Public Service Announcement: School Library Journal has moved its blogs, including our beloved Fuse#8. Please take thirty seconds to mark the new address in your blogroll or blogreader, and check any other SLJ blogs that may have been affected. Thank you.

48 Hour Book ChallengeNow, here are a few questions that have come up for the Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge.



Do I need to have a blog to participate?
Pretty much. But if you set one up just for this challenge, you wouldn’t be the first to do so. Plus next week Maw Books is going to help get our blogs into shape with the mid-year Bloggiesta, so you might find that the 48HBC kicks off a new hobby for you.

Do you have to register with Mr. Linky before you can use it?
Not that I know of. You should only have to register with the Mr. Linky site if you are hosting this type of listing on your blog. Since you will simply be signing in on my blog with the Mr. Linky I’ve set up, you should be fine.

Can I count time reading to my child? Can my kids join in?
You can certainly count time reading aloud to your child — or to anyone, for that matter — as long as you’re using chapter books. Kids can always play along for the fun of it, but right now — off the top of my head — I’m thinking that I could make a few small prizes available to kid readers. They would have to keep track of their time (with adult help, perhaps), and write reviews/impressions/thoughts of their books on their sponsoring adult’s blog (you could do the actual posting). I’ll have a separate Finishing Line for kid readers and will select a few at random for prizes. We’ll give this a bit of a trial run.

How does this reading for charity thing work?
Any way you want. I’ve been reluctant to assign a specific method or charity, because I want to allow bloggers the freedom to choose — including whether they want to participate in this aspect of the 48HBC. You can donate a set amount per hour you read and even seek sponsors. You could donate based on the number of comments or books read or the total number of 48HBC finishers or something else I’m not thinking of. I’m supporting projects through Donors Choose, and specifically this DC school. You are welcome to help me meet their goal, pick another school local to your area, select something else entirely, or skip this portion of the 48HBC.

How can I contact you to donate prizes?
Write me at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com and let me know what you’d like to donate. I usually pull together a bunch of things — books, jewelry, notecards, T-shirts, etc. — to make prize packages for the winners. I also like to have a few authors who’d be willing to send a personalized, signed book to a blogger for a few randomly selected “door prizes.” I’ll also take critiques, illustrator art/sketches/doodles, an offer to name a character in a book after a winner, or an eReader. If you have contacted me and haven’t heard back, then I must extend my apologies — I’ve been a bit overwhelmed, and have not handled everything as smoothly as I would have liked. Assume I’m interested, and I’ll be checking back through my email this week.

Where are bloggers putting their small kids while doing all this reading?
One word: cages.

12 comments:

Iron Guy Carl said...

One more question regarding Mr. Linky--will there be a place on your blog Saturday morning that I can sign on?

MotherReader said...

Carl, I will have the Staring Line post with Mr. Linky up on my blog on Friday morning.

Karen said...

I need one clarification on the Mr. Linky Starting Line post. Do we post Friday but indicate what our starting time is going to be if we are starting Saturday morning, or do we post to Mr. Linky when we actually begin?

Amanda said...

Great visual of a cage of book bloggers' babies and toddlers all tearing it up and having a good time whilst surrounded on all sides of the cage by reading moms and dads.

Abby said...

Here's another question (maybe a silly one), but can we count e-galleys read during the 48 hours?

MotherReader said...

Karen, you sign-in whenever you begin the 48HBC yourself. The Starting Line post with Mr. Linky will be available Friday morning, but if you're starting Sat, sign-in then.

Abby, sure you can read egalleys or ebooks in general. It's reading.

Whoever asked about book clubs and book signings as part of your time. Oh, good question. I'd say either could count as your "social media" time, even though they are in-person events. So for every five hours reading, you can count one hour social media. For ten hours reading, you can count two hours and so on.

Also, writing reviews definitely counts as part of the reading/blogging time.

Stephanie said...

I'm liking the sound of this! Especially the cages.

Unknown said...

I literally LOLed when I read that last answer!!

Buffy said...

Just posted my preliminary stack of books!

http://situationswhereyoumayneedit.blogspot.com/2010/06/book-stack-for-48-hour-reading.html

Mystee said...

I'm all set. My kjids had told me they wanted to try this too {ages 6-12}, but I'm not holding my breath...I'm definitely still in though :)

Jodie said...

What timezone are we in for starting? Should I be working off my own timezone or off EST?

MotherReader said...

Mystee, I'm not sure how the kid participation thing will work myself, so we're kind giving it a soft open in the Challenge. We'll see how it goes.

Jodie, you can work within your timezone, but have to finish by 7:00 a.m EST Monday, June 7th. The weekend window is more than 48 hours to accommodate different time zones and work schedules.