We know how difficult it can be to find the time (and the means) to enjoy books and reading, so we invite you to celebrate with us this October. We’re here to enthuse and inspire you, to make you want to stop and enjoy your coffee and lunch break with a great read. And, we’ll offer you many opportunities to win NZ books through the whole Month. We’ve also come up with other cunning ways to explore NZ’s rich literary talent. Have a look…

Whether you're a library or school hoping to bring the high quality of NZ books to the attention of your readers, a bookseller looking for ways you can use NZ Book Month to your advantage, or simply a passionate reader who'd love to get the best out of the Month and would love a few pointers, we reckon we've got something here that'll make you light up.

How to get involved as a reader

Join your local library. Find your nearest bookseller. Swap books with friends and family. Then…

• download this poster, print it and put it in a public place, telling EVERYONE about NZ Book Month

• add an NZ Book Month logo to all your email correspondence – download logos here

• add a quote from your favourite NZ book to your email signature and run the NZ Book Month url (www.nzbookmonth.co.nz)

• catch up on some NZ classics you've been meaning to read for a long time but not got around to

• investigate a genre you don't usually read

• recommend your favourite NZ book to all your friends and see how many you can get to read it too

• ask your library or bookshop LOUDLY where the NZ book section is

• ask what they can recommend

• carry a NZ book around with you and see how many people ask you about it

• have a read-off – see how many of the books in our celebrities pick you can read – these will be published in the Sunday Star-Times and on the website in early October

• read a NZ book out loud to your family

• see what NZ Book Month has planned in your community

• give your favourite NZ book to a friend or family member

• support a literary organisation: NZ Society of Authors,  Books in Homes, Te Tai Tamariki, Christchurch School for Young Writers, Storylines Charitable Trust etc

• take a local literary walk or visit a local literary attraction (full listing here)

• cook a recipe from your favourite NZ cook book

• encourage your kids’ teachers and school to participate in the Month this year

• have a day out and visit one of New Zealand’s many writers’ historic homes

• stay in and read blogs by and about New Zealand authors

Above all, make sure you’re receiving our newsletters with information on events, new books and competitions. Celebrate NZ Book Month this October.


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How to get involved as a bookseller

• download a copy of this poster and order your Six Packs NOW!

• offer a special deal on NZ books

• have an event for your customers featuring a NZ author or illustrator

• put up staff reviews of NZ books to help customers choose

• make your NZ books into a colour-coordinated artwork

• dedicate your window display to NZ books only

• get your customers involved in New Zealand Book Bingo (upcoming NZBM event)

• put reviews beside bestselling international books saying, ‘If you liked this, then you’ll like…’ offering the suggestion of a NZ title

• make lamingtons from a few NZ cookbooks and treat your customers to a taste test

• encourage book groups and customers to read NZ books during the Month

• post a list of your staff’s top ten favourite NZ books on your noticeboard

• put the NZ Book Month url on your email signature for the Month

• find out who your local authors are and invite them to visit your store and sign copies of their books or to feature at an event

• create some pavement art outside your shop telling the passers-by it’s NZ Book Month

• tell your customers about local events and put up an events calendar of local events in-store during the Month

• add the NZ Book Month logo to your website (downloadable here) and customer newsletter

• email your customer database to tell them it’s NZ Book Month

• invite book groups to meet in your store

• hold a reading in your shop window – involve your local school, ask some local children to read one afternoon a week during the Month

• have authors, staff and/or customers reading out loud from favourite NZ titles or hold a continuous lunchtime read-a-thon on Fridays during NZ Book Month (ask your local NZSA branch to be involved)

• hold a vote in-store for the best-ever book cover design

• use the point of sale material inventively – design your own to complement ours

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How to get involved as a library or school

• make a display of NZ books and encourage everyone to try one

• ask a NZ writer or illustrator come and speak at your school/library

• encourage kids to write to their favourite author and put the letter in the ASB Wordbank

• get photographed with your favourite NZ book

• compile a list of great lines from NZ books

• pick a new Zealand theme to dress to during October

• download the NZ Book Month logos and help us to spread the word

• make sure your library visitors know where to find New Zealand books in your library – highlight NZ books with streamers, balloons, flags – make a fuss

• paint the library window with a NZ book theme and display books, book stacks or sculpture

• put the NZ Book Month logo on your school/library website and any newsletters that go out during the Month

• hold storytelling sessions at the library, a local park or on a bus

• design a crossword based on NZ book titles and offer a NZ book prize to the first to solve it

• start a Read-a–thon, continuous either on one day or one lunchtime a week or a marathon open mic session with people reading a NZ title

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