So about a week ago, I got the following email:
Hello,
I know, I’m supposed to follow your blog, comment regularly and build a relationship before sending you a note.
But I’m a high school student interning at a nonprofit, and I’m helping spread the word about a book giveaway for classrooms. So I hope that you will welcome a good message from a teen as much as you would a note from a regular reader. In any event, please forgive the lapse of blogger etiquette as I try to help get books into the hands of kids who need them.
Author & TV host Leon Logothetis is giving away books for classrooms (not his book – whatever books the teacher wants). Teachers and parents can enter to win, so I hope you will find this interesting and worth sharing with your readers.
There’s no purchase necessary. Just visit http://ClassWish.org/FreeBooks
Leon, author of Adventures of a Nobody, is driving the Kindness Cab from New York Times Square to Los Angeles for the start of World Kindness Week, November 14.
Upon his arrival, he will announce the winning classrooms that will receive free books.
Leon is working with http://ClassWish.org, which helps teachers and PTAs get the classroom resources they need, without spending their own money.
Again, I hope the chance for children to receive free books will win out over me not being a regular reader, and I hope that you will please share this opportunity with the teachers and parents at your child’s school and with your readers. Again, it’s: http://ClassWish.org/FreeBooks
Thank you very much!
Best wishes,
Marc
I was amused by his repetition of the fact he does not read my blog and has never read my blog. However, I checked out the site he was talking about and was so impressed I put a redirect on my Sleep Is for the Weak cover in the right rail of this site so if you click it now, you'll be buying it from this store and helping out educators.
And then I wrote Marc back:
Hi Marc-
I'm choosing to believe you are really a high school student and not a highly paid marketer in disguise. Either way, the site looks great and I just facebooked and tweeted it. Excellent job, you have a bright future in front of you because your voice is better than most of the eight gazillion professional pitches I get for this blog.
Best,
RJBA
Then I got an email from the co-founder:
Hi Rita,
Marc was so thrilled by your note that he passed it on to me (I am the co-founder of ClassWish.org). He is, indeed, a high school student – one of several interning with us from School of the Future, here in Manhattan.
These students understand why this cause is so urgent; they live with the need every day.
I’m copying him and his faculty advisor, Emily, in on this note.
Rita, thanks for your faith and your help in spreading the word.
Marc, take a bow!
Rita, Marc admitted that he didn’t read your blog, but I just took a look. Sleep is for the Weak, indeed!
You might also be interested in this – your book in a new bookstore that supports classrooms. The site offers a 10% discount plus a donation to classrooms (generally 10% on paperbacks and 20% on hardback trade books):
https://bookstorethatgives.mybooksandmore.com/MBM/actions/searchHandler.do?userType=MLB&tabID=GENERAL&itemNum=ITEM:2&key=0007678415&nextPage=booksDetails&parentNum=12865
Thank you again for your support.
Best wishes,
Robert
The email ended up going to Marc's faculty advisor. I am thrilled to have Sleep Is for the Weak in this store. Sometimes, it's totally worth it to open those emails, and this was one of those times.