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Announcing MiniBookExpo: Business Edition!

Mbebelogo
Here at OneDegree.ca, we’re delighted to announce MiniBookExpo: Business Edition!

MiniBookExpo was started three years ago by publisher (and OneDegree contributor/correspondent) Alexa Clark.  Alexa’s MiniBookExpo (MBE) covers a range of books from fiction to poetry to children’s lit to history.  This year, she’s partnered with us and a number of fantastic business book publishers to hold two glorious weeks of MBE:BE.

So, what is MBE? And MBE:BE?
MBE started when Alexa brought home a stack of books from the Canadian Book Expo.  She couldn’t read and review all of them.  So she started sending them to bloggers who would read them and post reviews.  Three years later, she has 50 publishers and self-published authors participating to get over 600 books in the hands of bloggers to read and review.

MBE:BE is the same principle – just focused on business and marketing books.

How does it work?

  • Each business day, for the next two weeks, we’re going to post a selection of books (usually 3 different books, often with multiple copies).
  • If you see a book that strikes your fancy, you claim it in the comments of the post.
  • Once we confirm your claim, we’ll arrange to have the book sent to you.  This can take up to 4 weeks, depending on the publisher.
  • Once you get it, read it.
  • When you’re finished, write a review and send it to us (either the full review or the URL of your post).

How do I claim a book?
To claim a book, you leave a comment in the post that features the book that you want.  In the comments, you must specify WHICH book you want because there will be more than one book in a post. So, say something like "I want Seth Godin’s Tribes!" (yes, that will be one of the books we’re releasing). 

Make sure you check how many copies of a book are available.
Sometimes it’s one; sometimes it’s five.  We work on a first commented,
first claimed principle.  So if you look at the comments and see that
seven people are trying to claim a book that there is only one copy of,
chances are you won’t get that book.

Are there any restrictions on claiming books?
Good question!  Yes, there are three restrictions:

  1. Where you live.  Publishers have different rules about
    where they will ship.  Some ship Canada only.  Some ship to US and
    Canada.  And some ship worldwide.  Make sure you check the details on
    the post to see where the book ships to.  If you live in Texas, don’t
    choose the book that says "Canada only" on shipping.
  2. How many books you have claimed.  We think this is a great
    program and want to get books to as many different readers as
    possible.  So, you are limited to claiming 2 books.
  3. If you are currently reviewing books for MBE.  Some of you
    may have already claimed (non-business) books over at MBE.  Those books
    count against your limit.  So if you’re claimed 2 over there and
    haven’t written a review yet, well, no MBE:BE for you.

How much does this cost?
Nothing.  The publishers cover the cost of the books and shipping costs are covered by the publisher, Plethora Press or OneDegree.

What’s the catch?
Well, I guess the catch is that we’d
really like you to write a review.   If you have a blog, post it, track
it back and we’ll link to it.  If you don’t have a blog, we’ll post the
whole thing here.

How will I know if I have successfully claimed a book?
We’ll
contact you via email and confirm the claim.  You’ll then need to send
us your mailing address so we can get the book to you.  We’ll also be
updating the posts once all the copies of a particular book have been
claimed so that everyone else knows as well.

Can I help promote MBE:BE?
Absolutely!  We’d love it if
you blog it, tweet it, Facebook it, etc.  You can point people to this
post or to our MBE:BE category.  And you can use that cute little MBE:BE badge at the top of this post if you like.

I’m a publisher and would like to have my business titles in the MBE:BE!
Awesome,
we’d love to get your books in the hands of business and marketing
bloggers.  Just send an email to kate [at] onedegree [dot] ca and we’ll
talk.

~ | ~

Whew!  I think that’s everything!  So, stay tuned, we’ve got some AMAZING titles on the list. We’ll start posting the first set of books on Monday morning.  And we’re going to post at different times each day to try to give East and West coasters equal opportunity.  Oh, and I’ll probably send ’em out on Twitter too.  Follow @onedegreeideas.

Any questions, please leave ’em on this post.

Update: By request, there is now a feed for just the posts about the books.

2 Comments

  1. Sandy Kemsley
    Sandy Kemsley September 7, 2008

    Do you have a feed just for the posts about books?

Comments are closed.