I’ve recently started a service for a couple of my friends that I’m calling “The Jessica Hammer Book Club.” They tell me three books defining a zone in which they’d like to read, and I pick something delightful for them! I also take more specific requests, like “portal fantasies” or “Byzantine history.” When they’ve finished the recommendation, or if they decide they don’t like it, they get to send me new inspirations and I send back more lovely books!
Every time I bring this up, at least one person asks to join – but since the JHBC doesn’t scale well, I’m soon going to have to start turning people away. Instead of just having it be first-come first-served, I figure I can pull an “I Am Your Champion” and ask people to make donations to charity if they’d like to be added to the list.
Here’s the deal:
I can accept up to five more members. If you’d like to be one of them, you’ll be making a donation to Donors Choose. Projects that support literacy might be particularly appropriate, but you can choose any project that catches your fancy.
With basic membership, you get an email with your personal recommendation, plus info on all the books I’ve recently recommended to other members, plus you get access to my personal library for book-borrowing purposes*. Your recommendation turn-around time will be five days or less. Basic membership costs $30.
With premium membership, you get all the benefits of the basic membership, but with a turn-around time of three days max. Plus, each time you get a recommendation, I’ll send you a copy of the book in question – bound or digital, your choice. Premium membership costs $90.
All memberships last for three months** – that’s as long as I’m committing to the JHBC. If I choose to continue this, there’ll be a chance to renew in June.
Comment here or drop me an email if you’re interested. Memberships will be processed in the order in which they are received – so if you’re #6, you’ll have to try again next round!
* This may be less useful if you do not live in New York.
** The more you read, the better a deal the JHBC becomes!