Friday, 16 September 2016

Autumn Ninja Book Swap Sign Up is Open!


We're back again! It's officially time for the Autumn Ninja Book Swap. I've lost count of the number of these swaps we've done now but they are always awesome, joy filled things!

If you're new around these parts, or even if you're not let's take a second and recap the basics:


  • Sign up using the forms below. Please make sure you check which swap you're signing up for and sign up for the right one! This time we're running the Original Swap and the Trick or Treat Swap - you can sign up for two of one, two of the other or one of each just make sure you fill in the appropriate form the appropriate number of times.
  • You can sign up until midnight on Saturday October 2nd. I must be able to recognise you on the sign up form - this doesn't mean we have to be best friends, just that if you put your blog or twitter handle I will know that we've interacted before. 
  • Sometime around October 3rd or 4th you'll receive an email with details of the person you're making a parcel for. Go shopping!
  • Make them a parcel which should fit the criteria below depending on which swap you're doing as outlined below:
    • Original Swap - parcels must contain at least one book from your persons wishlist (you can put in more than one but one is the minimum), plus a gift or two based on their lists of likes and dislikes and a card/letter saying hi and giving a way to contact you to say thanks! Check out the photos on #ninjabookswap to see past parcels (do note that the last swap was a mini swap so please scroll back a bit to see the last full swap in February). 
    • Trick or Treat Swap - parcels must contain a 'trick' book (a book in the genre your person wants to read more of - please make an effort to check out their blog and/or goodreads to make sure they haven't obviously already read the book you choose), they must also contain a 'treat' which can either be a book from your person's wishlist, gift/s based on their likes or both, plus a card or letter saying hi & giving a way to contact you and say thanks. If you're confused about the Trick or Treat swap please read this post. If you're still confused email me
  • Post it by Monday October 17th and email ninjabookswap(at)gmail(dot)com with proof of postage or tracking info. 
  • Once you receive your parcel say thankyou. Really, I can't stress this enough, I spend so much time chasing up whether or not parcels have turned up so please take a second to tweet or email your sender and thank them for taking the time to make you a parcel. Alternatively if they've forgotten to include contact details you can email me and I'll pass along your thanks!
  • After you've said thanks please email me again to let me know you've got a parcel.
  • Tweet about the swap using #ninjabookswap 
  • Job done. 
Previously this swap has been Halloween themed. While this isn't the case this year, please mention in your sign up if you're particularly against Halloween as people may add Halloween treats to your parcel if not. 

The swap is open worldwide and you don't have to be a blogger, just have an online presence (twitter, instagram, youtube, wherever). Check out the FAQs or tweet me for more info!

Sign up for the Original Autumn Swap


Sign up for the Trick or Treat Swap

Happy swapping!

Wednesday, 7 September 2016

Save the Date for the Autumn Ninja Book Swap!


I posted about how we're running a Trick or Treat Swap as well as the Original Swap this autumn, but since then I've changed the date that sign up will open, so please note that sign up for the Autumn Ninja Book Swap will now open on Saturday September 17th and run until October 2nd.

If you've never taken part before but want to please make sure you've introduced yourself either here or on twitter. I promise I'm very friendly!

You don't have to be a blogger to participate, just have an active online presence (twitter, tumblr, youtube, whatever). Although the swap originated in blogging circles we've got beyond that now and all booklovers are welcome! The swap is international so wherever you live you can sign up. If you'd like to be added to the reminder list for an email when sign up officially opens please email me and I'll put you on it!

If you have questions please check out the How it Works and FAQ pages and make sure you check out how the Trick or Treat Swap will work!

Monday, 5 September 2016

Ninja Helpers Needed!

You all probably know me quite well by now - you know that I talk a lot on twitter and get overexcited easily and that I love love love this swap but that it's also been stressing me out beyond belief recently. This is, I will admit, primarily due to my own inability to be doing just one thing at once and that was fine back when all this began, but for the last couple of swaps I've been doing it on my own and it's getting to be too much. 

This is where you come in, my lovely band of Ninja book joy bringers! I need some help. Although I don't think I'll ever be able to delegate that actual nuts and bolts of the swap (I love it too much) I do need some extra eyes to help with various things including dealing with any issues that come up, checking over some admin type stuff and help with spreading the word via social media, blogs etc, plus it's always good to have and hear people's ideas about new things we could do. 

If you'd like to help I have only two criteria. Firstly you must be a past swapper and secondly although it won't be a big commitment it is a commitment so please don't say you can help if you have lots going on at the moment and are likely to have to drop out at the last moment. That isn't to say I don't understand if you say you can help and then something happens and you can't. In that instance please just let me know asap and all will be well! 

I really appreciate the help, and really do need it to keep the swap we love so much going!

Please fill in the form if you think you can help!


Sunday, 28 August 2016

Autumn Swap Prep: Trick or Treat Swap Rules


The Autumn/Halloween Ninja Book Swap is coming and this year we are going to once again run the Trick or Treat Swap as well as the Original Swap. We gave this one a miss last year since the year before it caused a lot of headache, but it is probably my favourite swap so I want to give it another chance because I know it can be excellent! If you plan to participate in this once sign up opens please make sure you read this post thoroughly

How it Works

  • The Trick or Treat Swap should probably more accurately be titled The Trick and Treat Swap. You sign up as normal but also include a list of three of your favourite books and the genres that they fall into, plus a genre you would like to read more from and we will then match you up with a person who has a favourite in the genre you'd like to read more of. 
  • The parcel you receive should then consist of - a 'trick' book from the genre you want to read more of. This doesn't have to be the book the person making your parcel listed as their favourite but should be one that they have read and enjoyed themselves. A 'treat' which can be a book from your wishlist and/or some little gift type items based on your list of likes. It could also include optional Halloween items/sweets etc as long as your person hasn't listed Halloween in their list of dislikes!
  • Please make sure you include a treat as well as a trick. This doesn't mean you have to include two books, although it's nice, but you must include the trick book and either a treat book or a gift items that you think the person you're buying for will love. 
It is important to note that genre is open to interpretation on the part of the person making your parcel. Therefore if you need to give us specifics (e.g I'd like to read more mystery or detective fiction but I don't like gory crime, I'd like to read more science fiction but I already read and loved The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, I'd like to read more romance but don't like love triangles etc) then please do that in the 'Additional Comments' box - that's what it's there for!

Please bear in mind that people's tastes differ and that the person creating your parcel will have put time and thought into the 'trick' recommendation that they include for you. If you think you're likely to be upset or disappointed if you receive a book that you feel isn't necessarily 'you' then please stick to signing up for the original swap, where the only books included will be from your wishlist!

There have been a few little rule changes over the past couple of swaps so please make sure you check out the full list of what you have to do to take part (don't worry it's not all that long!). We want the swaps to go as well as possible for everyone involved so please do make sure you've informed yourself fully before committing to taking part. 

If you haven't participated in the swap before we'd love to have you join us! Just make sure that I'll know who you are on the sign up sheet by chatting to me on twitter or my other blog. If I don't recognise you your sign up will be deleted, so come say hi, I'm friendly I promise! The swap is international and you can specify if you want to send internationally or domestic, although with some countries we don't have enough participants to always make domestic shipping possible but in that instance you will be contacted for the country that's easiest for you to ship to! In the past we've had participants from UK, USA, Canada, Oman, Australia, Spain, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, India and South Africa, so wherever you're from in the world please feel free to join us when sign up opens on September 24th (or slightly before if I get impatient) and spread the word so the chances of you being able to send within your own country are higher!

You can have a look at the How it Works and FAQ pages if you're unsure on anything, and if it's not covered there just give me a shout on twitter, I'm happy to explain!

Saturday, 28 May 2016

Summer Mini Swaps Sign up!

The day is upon us, sign up for the Persephone Summer Mini Swap is now open! 

Before we all start getting crazy at the thought of all the giving and receiving of beautiful books and making of awesome new friends which is to come, let's just get a few things out of the way shall we?

Firstly please take note of the new rule, which is that if you haven't taken part in a Ninja Book Swap before but want to take part in this one I must either know you (this can be just from chatting on twitter - @NinjaBookSwap) or you must have a past swapper who is willing to vouch for you. This doesn't mean that they will be responsible for whether or not you do the swap properly, but I would hope that if someone's willing to tell me they think you'll be a good swapper you would feel an obligation to live up to their expectation. If they're vouching for you they need to just send me a tweet saying 'hey, x is cool' or something similar so I know.

Now that's over, here's how the swap will work! As ever, please read all the rules first (there aren't many!) and if you are going to be unable to send by the deadline please miss this swap out, there'll be another one soon!

  • Sign up for the Persephone swap using this form from today until June 11th. Sign up for the original swap using this form. Or sign up for two of one, or one of each, just make sure to fill in the form enough times, and if you're entering twice please put 'second entry' in the additional comments box so I know you've not done it by accident! 
  • Sometime over the next couple of days after sign up closes I will email you with the details of the person you'll be buying for. As per usual with ninja swap, this will not be the same as the person you receive from!
  • Buy your person a book or two from their top four most wished for Persephone titles, or from their wishlist for the original swap. 
  • This is a mini swap so you do not make an entire parcel as you do with the spring and autumn swaps. All you have to do is send a book or two, which this time around must be a book published by Persephone Books (for the Persephone swap) or a book from their wishlist (for the original swap). You can find many of their titles on Amazon and Wordery (where they will also ship worldwide for free), and the entire catalogue is available from Persephone's own website, where they will gift wrap beautifully for you as well. 
  • Because it's a mini swap you may send directly from the place you purchase the books. Please include a gift note so they know who it's from and that it's a Ninja Swap gift. If there is no gift note option please send them an email or tweet to say hi and that the book was from you/is on its way!
  • You must have sent your book/s by June 25th. If life intervenes and you're unable to please let us know as soon as possible so we can keep your person informed (ninjabookswap@gmail.com). We do understand that things can happen, however if you know at the outset you're unlikely to be able to send during the allotted time period please don't sign up this time around!
  • Please email us to let us know when your book has been sent. If you send it yourself, please get proof of postage and attach a picture of it to the email, otherwise attach the order confirmation from wherever you've ordered the book from. 
  • Share your pictures of your Persephone loveliness using #ninjabookswap and #persephonebooks on twitter and Instagram, and enjoy discovering some hidden gems!
If you have any questions or issues please get in touch via email or twitter, I'm always happy to chat. 

***Once again, the sign up form is here***

Original Swap


In case people want to do an original swap as well, I've decided to run one at the same time! The rules are all the same except that you need to submit a wishlist link or a list of ten books you'd like to read, and you MUST buy from your persons list! I just thought this might be easier for international people and means nobody has to miss out!

***Sign up for the ordinary mini swap here***
Happy swapping!

Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Save the Date for the Persephone Summer Mini Swap!


I'm doing this a little earlier than usual because of the introduction of a new rule to the swap and because it's a mini swap with a slight difference.

First things first, sign up for the summer mini swap will open on May 28th and close on June 11th. If you're a past swapper you will receive a reminder email once sign up is open. If you haven't taken part before the new rule is that we must know you. This comprises either me knowing you in real life, or you having had conversations with me on twitter (@NinjaBookSwap), so get chatting, I'm friendly! Also if you are the best friend/sibling/coblogger of a past swapper and they're happy to send me a quick tweet saying 'hey this person's cool' you can take part that way too.

So for the details: as we started last year, this will be a mini swap, so just a book or two sent directly to your person. No gifts or extras. The difference with this swap is that the only books being swapped will be Persephone Books. I was inspired to do this after the London Bookshop Crawl (yes there will be another one next year, tweet me if you want emails when I'm organising the next one) when we visited and had a fantastic time at the Persephone Bookshop. There are so many of their titles that I want to read, and I recognise that by specialising the swap in this way probably fewer people will sign up, but if you've never read a Persephone book before I really strongly urge you to go and have a look at their website, or the post I wrote for my Make Mine an Indie series about them, because although the majority of their books are by forgotten women authors from a certain time period, they are a really diverse collection and you'll almost definitely find something you want to read! They also have the added perk of being absolutely beautiful, with each book having the same gorgeous grey cover, but with endpapers featuring a design from the year the book was originally published, and a matching bookmark.

The specifics of the swap will be forthcoming with the sign up post, but for now you should probably have a browse of the Persephone website and familiarise yourselves, as I'll be asking you to make a mini wishlist of their titles for the swap! Please note that Persephone do gift wrap their beautiful books and ship them worldwide (for slightly more postage), alternatively if you're an international participant you can get some of the titles on places like Wordery (with free worldwide shipping), which may save you a little bit of money!

Please feel free to share about the swap far and wide, and use #ninjabookswap if you do so on social media. Please let me know on twitter if you blog about the upcoming swap as I'd love to share your posts, and please note the introduction of the new rule is in no way aimed at deterring new swappers from signing up, but merely at eradicating the very small number of people taking advantage of the swap!

Friday, 11 March 2016

Valentine's Ninja Book Swap Link Up!


Today is the sending deadline for parcels for the Valentine's Ninja Book Swap, and as usual we've loved seeing the gorgeous parcels coming in and watching everyone's joy. If you've blogged, tweeted, Instagrammed, Tumblred or whatever (but mostly blogged, we are bloggers after all and we love a good lengthy nose through other people's book mail!) we'd love to see it. Please link up your blogs (etc) here so we can all share the fun! 

If you missed this swap and don't want to miss the next one, just email us at ninjabookswap(at)gmail(dot)com and we'll add you to the list for a reminder when sign up opens for the next swap. 

There will be another full Ninja Book Swap in the autumn/fall, and also a mini swap during the summer. Details to come!

Remember to use #ninjabookswap on social media too so we can spread the word about your blog!
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