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London Book Fair 2016
Press Release (available as one-page PDF download for printing):
see Press kit for copy sources and images
London Book Fair, Olympia, London (12-14 April 2016)
The Icelanders Cometh
The Jolabokaflod Book Campaign and CrowdPatch launch a new way of raising funds for book promotion and reading projects
‘This is a wonderful idea. Good luck, and best wishes.’
Melvyn Bragg, novelist, broadcaster and Parliamentarian
The Jolabokaflod Book Campaign joins forces with CrowdPatch, the social enterprise crowdfunding platform, to launch a new way for the book trade to promote books and reading for social good.
The Jolabokaflod Book Campaign expands on over seventy years of the Icelandic cultural phenomenon known asJólabókaflóð (‘Christmas book flood’ in English) – the national tradition of buying books as gifts for friends and family for reading over Christmas – by encouraging book lovers around the world to make this ‘Buy, Give and Read’ custom an integral part of their way of celebrating anniversaries and marking festive and faith-based occasions.
Project leaders collect contributions through PayPal accounts in currencies of their choice, which means CrowdPatch is not involved in any financial transactions and that anyone in the world with a PayPal account can run crowdfunding projects on the platform.
The Jolabokaflod Book Campaign is now running The Icelanders Cometh, the first crowdfunding project to be incubated at CrowdPatch. The Icelanders Cometh is a crowdfunding project to mark World Book Night and UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day by raising funds for UK libraries to spend on books by Icelandic authors published in English. The campaign deadline, to raise at least £2304.16 by 23 April 2016, has been extended to 17 June 2016 – Icelandic National Day – to give everyone plenty of time to get involved with the campaign.
- Jolabokahug For £1.00 spare change or pocket money, enthusiastic contributors get a ‘virtual hug’, whatever their age or financial circumstances (2304 hugs available)
- Jolabokahola For the price of a glass of wine, £5.00 buys contributors a ‘hola’, an entry in a PDF list of supporters of The Icelanders Cometh, which will be included as a link in every blog posting and feature article about the project written and published online by Christopher Norris (250 holas available: includes the Jolabokahug reward)
- Jolabokafame For the price of an audio CD, £10.00 buys contributors an honoured place in The Icelanders Cometh‘Hall of Fame’, a dedicated web page at Jolabokaflod.com comprising the names of each donor, a logline for a project or company they wish to publicise, and a link to the corresponding website (100 Hall of Fame places available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokahola)
- Jolabokashout For the price of a hardback novel, £20.00 buys contributors a 24-hour burst of digital marketing and publicity on Jolabokaflod’s social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr – as well as mentions in The Icelanders Cometh news feed and at Jolabokaflod.com (50 digital shout outs places available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokafame)
- Jolabokaplate For the price of a round of drinks, £30.00 buys contributors a personalised bookplate PDF for inserting into the books they buy as gifts for friends, family and other people (25 bespoke bookplates available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokashout)
- Jolabokaplug For the price of a ticket to see a top show in London’s West End, £50.00 buys contributors and their projects/companies detailed mentions in feature articles and blog postings about The Icelanders Cometh, written and published online by Christopher Norris (10 plugs available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokaplate)
- Jolabokateach For the price of a night in a Bed & Breakfast guest house, £75.00 buys contributors a place on a one-day course on digital media and/or crowdfunding delivered by Christopher Norris (10 training places available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokaplug)
- Jolabokablog For the price of meal for two in a posh restaurant, £100.00 buys contributors a dedicated feature article, written and published by Christopher Norris, to publicise their projects and companies to be published at Jolabokaflod.com, at Jolabokaflod social media platforms and at third-party blogs (5 feature blog postings available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokateach)
- Jolabokalaunch For the price of a ticket to watch a Premiership football match, £150.00 buys contributors a place for dinner at a top Icelandic restaurant in London to celebrate The Icelanders Cometh project (5 dinner spaces available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokablog)
- Jolabokaflog For the price of a round of golf for two on an Open Championship course, £250.00 buys contributors an advertising image/link at the Jolabokaflod Book Campaign patch at CrowdPatch until 1 October 2016, the start of Q4, which will be seen every time someone visits the patch landing page. A link to the patch is included in every email sent by the Jolabokaflod Book Campaign (3 advertising slots available: includes all rewards up to Jolabokalaunch)
The Icelanders Cometh also encourages volunteers to help out by sharing their talents, skills, experience and contact to help the project achieve its target figure. There are also one-click opportunities for people to spread news of The Icelanders Cometh via social media
- Arnaldur Indriðason (Vintage): crime fiction
- Ragnar Jónasson (Orenda Books): crime fiction
- Halldór Laxness (Vintage): literary fiction
- Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (Hodder & Stoughton): crime fiction
- The medieval scribes who wrote Icelandic Sagas and Eddas (Penguin Classics; Oxford World Classics): Norse mythology, history, biography and poetry
Publicity contacts in the publishing houses for each of these writers are displayed on the authors’ respective landing pages.
Libraries wishing to benefit from The Icelanders Cometh will be put in touch with the library supplier engaged by the Jolabokaflod Book Campaign. The funds raised by The Icelanders Cometh will be split proportionately between participating libraries.
Quotes about The Icelanders Cometh
‘The Icelanders Cometh introduces great Icelandic writers to British readers and showcases how anyone in the world can run a Jolabokaflod crowdfunding project. Let’s make The Icelanders Cometh happen by World Book Night – get involved by contributing money for rewards, volunteering to help out and sharing news about the campaign.’ Christopher Norris, Founder and Curator, Jolabokaflod Book Campaign
‘The Icelanders Cometh is fabulous! We are approaching World Book Night when this amazing initiative kicks off! Support libraries & books by Icelandic authors by contributing to the crowdfunding campaign. Books are for giving.’ Karen Sullivan, Publisher, Orenda Books
‘The Jolabokaflod Book Campaign – and The Icelanders Cometh in particular – is a great idea to bring more books into more hands, which is what essentially we are all aiming for in publishing.’ Laura Summers, Co-founder, BookMachine
‘This crowdfunding campaign is looking very professional. I think it’s going to be a success.’ Simon Krystman, Founder, CrowdPatch
Contact
To arrange an interview with Christopher Norris, to find out more information about the Jolabokaflod Book Campaign, or to discuss running a Jolabokaflod crowdfunding project, here are the ways of getting in touch:
Christopher Norris
- email: [email protected]
- telephone: +44 (0)7976 256013;
- Twitter: @Jolabokaflod
Filed under: advertising books, Thoughts, Uncategorized Tagged: advertising books, Authors PR Madi Preda, Authors PR Madi Preda publicity campaigns, book fairs, book publicists, book publishers, British Lybraries, british writers, Christopher Norris, How to Promote and Market your Book, Icelandic authors published in English, Icelandic National Day, Jolabokaflod Book Campaign, Jolabokaflod.com, jolabokaflod.org, London Book Fair 2016, Melvyn Bragg, Publicity Campaings, publishing houses, The Icelanders Cometh, UK Lybraries, UNESCO, World Book and Copyright Day, World Book Night
