Hashtag Shelfie: Sharing your library under the hashtag

We know that internet, blogs and social networks gave or maintained a general taste for writing and creation! It also  gave the world of books a second youth by putting self-publishing at everyone’s reach.

Books and writing are part of the daily life for many of us. And the internet pays them tribute!

@earthscorners

What the shelf?

On Instagram, we find under the hashtag #shelfie a whole lot of inspiring photos featuring shelves and libraries. The word “shelfie” itself sets the tone by combining the words “shelf” with the word “selfie” (the famous self-portraits photographed in the 21st century, for those sleeping at the bottom).

Many of the photos feature furnitures arranged like they’re almost taken straight out of an IKEA magazine. But, and this is what interests us here, we can also find books!

@culturetripbooks

#Shelfie indeed is the occasion to make your personal library a star while the hashtag lasts ! It’s also the moment to share your reading taste or your  storage foibles to your friends and followers… Or even to discover what composes the tastes of others and how people organizes and surrounds one’s readings!

@bluestockingbookhelf

@bluestockingbookshelf

No boasting of elitist readings or endless rows of books here (even if we recognize that a full library is always pretty to picture 😉 ), only the joy of seeing beautiful book-related photos and starting exchanging about your favorite books!

After all, the contents of a library are often indicative of the personality of its owner(s): It is with this idea that the newspaper The Guardian launched the concept of the Shelfie in December 2013.

@shelfjoy

More than 820 000 publications are now classified under the hashtag #shelfie and more are coming everyday, so it’s always time to get involved and show what you have and love!

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Article source (French) | Images:  @earthscorners, @culturetripbooks, @bluestockingbookshelf and @shelfjoy

Books portage, when reading comes at home!

In France, the media library of Poitiers (named “Médiathèque François Mitterrand” as an hommage to one of France’s former Presidents who is said to be fond of arts and culture) has found a great solution to bring company and entertainment to the elderly, handicapped or isolated people. Books portage!

Poitiers’ inhabitants are thus given the possibility of being delivered of their books for free ! With all the books directly coming from the collections of the media library.

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Dominique Delbor receives her new audio books from Carine Chollet and Isabelle Brillanceau’s hands, from the media library staff

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The delivery is “included” in the price of their annual subscription to the library (costing from €6 to €16) ! Thus offering an invaluable service without any extra cost. The people that are delivered are visited by the Media Library’s staff and can exchange a few words as well as their books! Which they give back (of course;)) while borrowing again.

Every 24 days, a new arrival of audiobooks arrives at the tables of the beneficiaries. It allows them, thanks to the quantity and diversity of content available, to find their happiness for several years!

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The multimedia library makes nearly 2,300 texts available to read and has also signed a partnership with the Valentin Haüy association (located in Paris). It allows visually impaired subscribers to obtain access to an additional fund of 200 texts engraved in “Daisy” format. Subscribers can also freely download 20,000 titles from the Éole online library.

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Source (French only) | Photos credits: Bm-poitiers.fr et Marie-Laure Aveline

Books and videos: Who are the Booktubers?

When it comes to reading, profiles and behaviors are very diverse! More or less assiduous readers, young or not so young, with three tons of books on their hands or without any idea of what to read next…

Whatever the situation, navigating on the ocean of books that is literature can quickly become a real challenge. What are the trends? A title teases you, but you’re not sure you want to buy it  because you’re afraid of being disappointed? Which genre will truly move you or are which book will get you out of your comfort zone?

Well, as usual, to answer those questions, you have to look up for information. You may go to the nearest library, bookshop or on an online store… Or on Youtube.

A trend that actually began a few years ago

Booktubers appeared in the United States and in Mexico around the years 2010-2011. PolandbananasBOOKS, the most famous channel in America created in 2010, has currently 361,000 subscribers while Raiza Revelles, the most famous channel in Mexico and created in 2011, has 1,196,000 subscribers!

By comparison, Les Lectures de NiNe, a French channel, counts only 58,000 subscribers!

Many articles have been devoted to Booktubers since 2011, many channels have been created and have disappeared. The phenomenon is now generally well-known and followed by the english-speaking and spanish-speaking countries.

A French “Ipsos” study of 2016 made for the National Book Center (Centre National du Livre) linked the omnipresence of Internet and screens with new reading habits, not with a disinterest in reading! Booktubers, which attracted only 5% of young people according to the study at the time, are the expression of these changes!

Young people talk to young people

Their profile? Mostly female Booktubers under 30, whose audience also includes young female readers. The books presented come from all genres and lovers of great classics or more specific styles can find what they want between two fantasy or science fiction novelties!

A variety of speeches and formats form the wide range of videos made by Booktubers, like “In my Mailbox” (IMM), “Bookhauls” and “Wrap-Up”. for example.

Some of these formats already existed on Youtube for a while, such as the unboxing, which consists of opening a package (sent by a brand) in front of the camera in order to discover its contents with the subscribers. Like other Youtubers, Booktubers often initially order objects themselves, privately: When the channel becomes more famous, publishing houses send them gifts for them to talk about.

The key here is to find a form of book club 2.0: Booktubers talk to people with whom they share the same love of reading (or sometimes convert those who were not interested!) and organize Challenges and Events in order to animate and unite them.

No wonder why publishers are trying to forge partnerships directly with these video makers who are now invited in trade shows and literary debates! But even when they are part of a network, very few Booktubers make book sharing their main activity. Each of them deserves to be viewed though, and of course to be followed!

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Article Source | Crédits Vidéos :A Clockwork Reader, jennaclarekPolandbananasBOOKS,Little Book Owljessethereader 

20 of abandoned books leading to open a free library in Bogota!

Twenty years ago in Bogota, a man decided to save as many abandoned books as he could. José Alberto Guitierrez, to call him by his full name, drives a Garbage truck around the columbian city and found out that people threw away their books so he decided to save them by taking them to his house, this initiative got him the title of “Lord of the books”.

José Alberto driving his truck in the streets of Bogota. Credits : Guillermo Legaria/AFP

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With the house slowly being filled with abandoned books, José Alberto, along with his wife Luz Mery and their three children turned the ground floor of their house into a free library they called “La Fuerza de las palabras” (The Power of words in English). The library became famous very quickly, to the point that volunteers from all around the country (and even from abroad) came to Bogota in order to help José Alberto and his family. In addition to this library, Luz Mery came up with the idea of opening a “Hospital” for old and damaged books that she would fix with her sewing skills.

José Alberto became so popular in South America that he was invited to the International Book Fairs in Bogota, Monterrey (Mexico) and Santiago (Chile). Shortly after, book donations came from all over the continent to the point that their library now contains more than 25 000 books. With space becoming an issue for the family (The surface of the library being 90m² or almost 108 square yards), the reading sessions they held for the kids of the neighborhood stopped and the library only opened when someone knocked at the door to get a book.

José Alberto reading to the children of the neighborhood. Credits : La Fuerza des las Palabras fundacion

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The news of the Guitierrez’ free library reached one of the disarmament zones of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), who recently signed a peace treaty with the government thus ending 50 years of conflicts. One of the rebels reached out to José Alberto and his family to ask them for books so that they could prepare for their reintegration into the society.

Through “The Power of words” José Alberto wanted to show the world that not only people waste food but also books, and that this loss of intellectual nourishment was almost as deplorable as Food wastage. He also stated: “Books transformed me. So I thought that in places like these, it would be a symbol of hope, a symbol of peace”

If you want to know more about José Alberto and his family’s work, we invite you to visit their website!

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Source

 

Bookcrossing: Let your old books go and make them travel the world!

We all love our good old books, however, it comes a time when you don’t want to read them anymore, so you put them on your bookshelf and never touch them again, which is pretty sad. Luckily for you, we at BlookUp are going to tell you about a nice way of getting rid of your dusty pile of books!

The name is BookCrossing, it is website that allows you to let go of your old books and make them travel! The process is pretty simple: You first need to label the book you want to “set free” and register it on the website using the BookCrossingID written on the said label. Afterwards, all you have to do is leaving it somewhere you know it will be picked up, it could be at your local café, a table or a bench outside at a park….be creative! Once you get back home, saddened by the loss of your old book, you can keep an eye on it by entering the book’s BCID.

What a lovely BookCrossing house! Photo by Leisha Camden on Pinterest.

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If you don’t feel like releasing your book into the wild you can join on of the BookCrossing’s forums, tweet using #bookcrossing or directly  @BookCrossing to let the fellow bookcrossers know about your book!

The person who will pick up your book can type this code on the website and mark your book as officially “picked up”. Your book’s journey starts here! If one day you stumble upon a book that shouldn’t be here for any reason whatsoever, keep it mind that it is probably traveling the world just like your old book is so watch out for the BookCrossing labels!

 

Don’t forget to join the BookCrossing community:

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Source and credits

Turn your blog into a book with BlookUp!

Are you part of the 250 million people who own a blog all around the world ? Whether you blog for fun or make a living out of it, BlookUp gives you the opportunity to turn your blog into an actual paper book.

Make your own blook and join the 12 000 other bloggers who did the same before you!

Printing your blog? But…why? There are a lot of reasons why you should print your blog, here are the main ones.

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1 – First and foremost, to protect your content

As seen in the news recently, nobody’s safe from a bug that would ultimately delete our blogs.

Unfortunately, we cannot predict what will become of our blogs in the next 5, 10 or 20 years. By then, it is likely that a lot of data will disappear.

2 – There is nothing like a book.

There is something exhilarating in holding the result of countless hours of writing, you should try!

 Once you will receive your blook, you will experience the feeling of flipping through the pages full of articles and pictures, feel the authenticity of the paper under your fingertips and you will ask yourself. “How come I didn’t make my blook earlier?”.

3 -It adds extra value to your work

Printing a blog allows its author to experience it on another perspective.

Very few are those who take the time to dive into their archives full of old pictures, stories and memories.

You will realize what a year, or even a lifetime worth of writing looks like. 

With a book, you see your content in a new light, rediscover your articles and relive your best moments in pictures!

You add something truly unique to your work when you make a book, something that makes you proud and arouses admiration of others. Because making the book of your blog is a unique experience, after all, you are making YOUR book.

Making your blook is a creative process, the bloggers who decide to make theirs customize the cover and page layout thus bringing to life what used to be a digital object and turning it into a  book everyone can share and enjoy. 

The result of this process is truly priceless ! Because blogs are often personal, they are about families and friends, they require a lot of time and dedication to put into them, whether it be for the writing, posting on social media, or even interact with the readers.

The more the authors put time into their blog, the more they want to keep a written record of it. In a world where everything tends to be over-digitized and the content ephemeral, there is something truly special and almost relieving in putting aside the internet for a while and immortalizing your blog in the form of a book.

4 – It is the best way to keep it close to you!

There is nothing like a book to read through your blog posts again and again, sharing anecdotes and remembering some events. All while being comfortably seated on your couch! Say what you want about tablets, kindles and laptops, but nothing matches the authentic experience of a book…plus it is waaay more convivial!

5 – You can share it with the people close to you!

Share your blook or offer a copy to your relatives and your friends and see how they experience your blog page after page. Everything is real and authentic, they will be holding in their bare hands the result of your work and it is more pleasant than having to read the articles on a computer screen.  Also, remember that not everyone in your family (take your parents or grand parents as an example) is comfortable with using devices like a tablet or a laptop, and for them what you call “blogging” is something they might not understand. Luckily for them, BlookUp has THE solution: offering them a printed copy of your blog!

6 – You can sell it!

Your book can have a real monetary value if the content you wrote interests other people. BlookUp, gives you the possibility to make your blook “public”, this way it will appear on the BlookshopYou can sell it at the price you want and tell you friend to check it out on BlookUp and order it online! Who knows, this might be the beginning of your career as a writer that just started!

What will my book look like?

Electric blue paper-wrapped bookWith BlookUp you can make all kinds of books. Here are some tips to help you getting started:

First you have to create your blook by choosing among all the platform the one you want to import your blog from and selecting your favorite articles, or by defining a time period (“Articles from 2016…”  or a theme. You can also choose to only keep the pictures and make an album or remove all of them. Here are all the different formats and platforms you can choose from:

  • 15×15 cm (Instagram only)
  • 15×21 cm and 20×27 cm (blog book formats)
  • 15×14,8 cm and 21×29,7 cm  (PDF only)
  • 19×26 cm (Facebook only)

You  can order a single book if you want to! You can print as many books as you want and benefit from an excellent manufacturing quality thanks to on-demand digital printing. 

Print the books of your Facebook and Instagram!

blook-facebook-first-pageIf you do not own a blog you can always print a book out of your Facebook page or Instagram. Nowadays people like to share everything they do on social media. And while we tend to create more and more content online, BlookUp  takes it the other way around by Immortalizing your digital content in form of paper books.

The Facebook book is available in an exclusive format (20×26 cm) and lets you choose between 2 different layouts (2 or 3 columns). You can choose a time period over which you want to import your content from. BlookUp automatically imports all the content you published on your Facebook page  automatiquement tout le contenu publié sur votre compte Facebook (statuses, photos videos, places you visited, comments…) then you can choose the types of content you want to appear on your blook as well as the number of comments.

That’s exactly the same with Instagram! You can choose the pictures you want to keep along with the time period. Your book will be printed in a 15×15 cm format.instagram-blook-opened-flowers

How can I create my book? Is it complicated?

You can start by importing your blog (Go ahead, you can do that for free!) by clicking on the platform you want to import content from. Then all you have to do is to register and go with the flow!

As we previously mentioned, you can customize your blook in a lot of different ways (Types of content, font, page layout, cover, etc…) Once you are happy with your book, you can order it and you will receive it within 15 business days.

They tried it and they loved it!

Grisélidis, founder of Yes We Blog.

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“You spend hours writing articles for your blog, taking pictures and editing them. But even though it is a thing in the digital world, you still can’t touch it. It’s not like a good old book you’d be reading at the parc. Having your blog on a book format adds another dimension to this little place of the internet that we love and take care of. I also think that it is a very cute and friendly way of sharing what we do with people who are not very familiar with web-related stuff. Believe it or not, but there are still quite a lot of people that are not so interested in the internet.”

Marion Legras, globetrotter and blogger

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“Our blog contains all the 367 articles about the 19 countries we visited and more than five times as many pictures we wanted to keep in the form of a series of books dedicated to this dream come true. It was very important for us to keep a written record of our memories abroad, that all our writings and pictures will not be forever imprisoned behind a computer screen or lost somewhere inside a folder. These books allow us to dive into these wonderful memories at any moment and there is nothing that can match this feeling!”

Pauline Savary, author of “Pauline savary’s daily

pauline-savary-daily“It is an interesting project with a lot of advantages. Whoever is looking for a job and wants to keep a tangible record of his/her blog (assuming that the said blog is relevant for the job), easily readable and enhanced by the paper format and/or with exclusive content, will certainly be intrigued. Blookup will prove interesting to professional bloggers, fashion bloggers and photographers who are very focused on design and visuals. It is also a good idea to offer it a gift. As for the commercial aspect of the books, that remains to be seen…”

Sandra, nerdy mom, author of “Le blog d’une maman geekette

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Blookup is a great way of keeping track and promoting your blog. It can be offered to your parents or grand parents and can also be an excellent memory for  wedding blogs.”