#waterstones free shipping

[rosemaryhelenxo]

Discover End of Summer Reads and Special Deals at Waterstones | Press - Affiliate

I am thrilled to grow and evolve my exclusive influencer discounts, specially curated for my fellow beauty and lifestyle fans – with this, I am now an affiliate for Waterstones! With this new partnership it means I can bring you special content, a heads up on any amazing deals coming out and other exclusive goodies! As a bookworm myself, I am very very excited to begin this great partnership…

[what-eats-owls]

As promised, the FAQ for The Fallow Year! Text version below cut:

How does the math work?

For non-math girlies: the more people preorder at independent bookstores, the faster the stories will be released. For the fellow human spreadsheets: imagine two fundraising thermometers, one for preorders overall, and one for indie store preorders. Each one has a goal for first story, second, third, etc., and once one of them clears that goal, the story gets posted. So the first story will be released once we clear either 100 indie preorders, or 200 preorders overall. Fast forward a bit: the seventh story will be released when we clear either 700 cumulative indie preorders, OR 1400 preorders overall.

What qualifies as an independent bookstore?

No big nationwide chains/corporations like Amazon, B&N, Half-Price Books, Waterstones, Target, etc., Small local chains/stores will count. So will Bookshop dot org orders, but most indie stores can and will take online orders and ship to you.

What if we don’t clear all the goals?

That’ll sure be embarrassing for me! But really, if that happens, I’ll release whatever stories we have left…the day before Holy Terrors comes out.

Can you still read HT without reading these?

Yes. TFY previews a couple things that show up in HT, but you can skip them and be fine.

What if I’m waiting for a special edition/it’s not available in my country yet?

That’s okay! I suspect this campaign is going to slow down after the initial flurry, so later preorders will come in handy then.

Is this the only preorder campaign?

It’s too early to talk preorder campaigns with my publishers, but hold onto those receipts!

Is each story in multiple POVs?

One POV per story, and it alternates; about a month passes between each too. Emeric will start us off on the morning of May 1st, then the second story will shift to Vanja in June.

Why AO3?

Low barrier of entry plus ease of use. Anyone can read the posts with or without an account, there’s no character limit, and let’s be real: it’s kind of hilarious.

If you have any other questions, feel free to send them in, and I’ll get to them as I can!

[lincolnchristie]

PAPERBACKS ARE HERE

So, getting the paperbacks approved and in online stores took longer than expected, as did setting it up to purchase from me directly. I thank everyone for their patience, and I hope it is rewarded because, ta da!!! You can now buy paperbacks from various places:

Barnes and Noble. A widespread retailer and you get free shipping if you're a member.

Bookshop.org. This amazing site donates to support local and indie bookstores every time you make a purchase! And they do it themselves, they don't take it out of author royalties.

Mixam print-on-demand. This is how you can purchase the book from me directly and net me the most profit.

Amazon. Not my favorite but they are convenient and most importantly they ship internationally.

Blackwell's and Waterstones. If you're in the UK (and also I think possibly the EU) you can order from here!

When I created the paperbacks I altered the price through Draft2Digital so that it's proportionate to where you are and you shouldn't have to break the bank because of conversion fees.

This poetry collection was truly a labor of... something. Probably insanity. I'm very excited to share it with you all and especially in paperback form. I hope that you'll consider giving it a look! I will also be sharing a few of the poems on here so you can get a sneak peek, so keep an eye out for that!

It's poetry night at the asylum, and the inmates all have something to say…

A poetry collection on anger, gender, trauma, mental illness, prejudice, and rebellion spoken through the lens of characters who may or may not be familiar, Manifesto of a Blossoming Supervillain is raw, evocative, sometimes vicious, and possibly poised to take over the city.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Ian McDonald's "Hopeland"

Tonight (May 30) at 6:30PM, I’m at the NOTTINGHAM Waterstones with my novel Red Team Blues, hosted by Christian Reilly (MMT Podcast).

Tomorrow (May 31) at 6:30PM, I’m at the MANCHESTER Waterstones, hosted by Ian Forrester.

Then it’s London, Edinburgh, and Berlin!

Have you ever read a novel that was so good you almost felt angry at it? I mean, maybe that’s just me, but there is one author who consistently triggers my literary pleasure centers so hard that I get spillover into all my other senses, and that’s Ian McDonald, who has a new novel out: Hopeland:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765375551/hopeland

Seriously what the fuck is this amazing, uncategorizable, unsummarizable, weird, sprawling, hairball of a novel? How the hell do you research — much less write — a novel this ambitious and wide-ranging? Why did I find myself weeping uncontrollably on a train yesterday as I finished it, literally squeezing my chest over my heart as it broke and sang at the same moment?

Hopeland is a climate novel, and it’s not McDonald’s first. Hearts, Hands and Voices (published in the US as The Broken Land) is a climate novel (that also happens to be about the Irish Troubles). So is his stunning debut, Desolation Road, which I picked up at a mall bookstore in 1988 and lost my mind over:

https://memex.craphound.com/2009/07/02/ian-mcdonalds-brilliant-mars-book-desolation-road-finally-back-in-print/

But those were climate novels written in the early stages of the discussion of the gravity of the anthropocene, and so climate change was more setting than anything else. In Hopeland, the climate is more of a character — not a protagonist, but also not a minor character.

The true stars of Hopeland are members of two ancient, secret societies. There’s Raisa Hopeland, who belongs to a globe-spanning, mystical “family,” that’s one part mutual aid, one part dance music subculture, and one part sorcerer (some Hopelanders are electromancers, making strange, powerful magic with Tesla coils).

We meet Raisa as she is racing across London in a bid to win a rare, open electromancer title. She is on the brink of losing, but then a passerby pitches in to help: Amon Brightborne, part of another mystical family whose stately, odd manor in the English countryside can only be reached by people who can work the “gateway,” which makes the road disappear and reappear. Amon is a composer and DJ who specializes in making music for very small groups of people — preferably just one person — that is so perfect for them that they are transformed by hearing it.

Amon’s intervention in Raisa’s bid for electromancy unites these two formerly disjoint families, entwining their destinies just as the world is forever changing, thanks to the decidedly un-magical buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. They have a romance, a breakup, a child. They are scattered to opposite ends of the Earth — Iceland and a tiny Polynesian island.

Their lives are electrified. Literally. On her passage to Iceland, Raisa confronts a ship-destroying megastorm, speaks its true name, and sends it away before it can sink the container ship — captained by a Hopelander who gives her free passage — that she is sailing on. In Iceland, she falls in with more Hopelanders, tapping a thermal vent to create a greenhouse cannabis farm, which begets a luxury salad greens business, then an electricity plant that attracts cryptocurrency weirdos like shit draws flies.

Amon, meanwhile, is sinking into drunken ruin on his island paradise, where he becomes a kind of mascot for the locals, who respect his musical prowess. The island is sinking, both figuratively and literally, as its offshore king, hiding in a luxury mansion in Sydney, drains its aquifers for the luxury bottled water market and loots its treasuries to fund his own high lifestyle.

McDonald takes a long time getting to this point. This is a 500 page novel, and the build to this setup takes nearly 300 of them. Every word of that setup is gold. McDonald’s prose often veers into poetry, or at least poesie, and he has this knack for seemingly superfluous vignettes and detours that present as self-indulgences but then snap into place later as critical pieces of a superbly turned narrative. How the fuck does he do it?

How does he do it? How does he deliver a sense of such vastness, a world peopled by vastly different polities and populations, distinctly different without ever being exoticized, each clearly the hero of their own story, whether they live on a tiny island or captain an American battleship?

I mean, cyberpunk — the tradition McDonald most obviously belongs to — was always about a post-American future, but no one ever managed it the way McDonald did. He delivered a superb, complex, Indian future in 2004’s River of Gods:

https://memex.craphound.com/2004/06/12/ian-mcdonalds-brilliant-new-novel-river-of-gods-bollywoodpunk/

And then did the same in Brazil with 2007’s Brasyl:

https://memex.craphound.com/2007/04/30/ian-mcdonalds-brasyl-mind-altering-cyberpunk-carioca/

And Turkey in 2011’s Dervish House, a novel of mystical nanofuturism set in an Istanbul that is so vividly drawn that you feel like you can reach through the page and touch it:

https://memex.craphound.com/2010/07/12/ian-mcdonalds-dervish-house-superb-novel-of-the-mystical-nano-future-of-istanbul/

Those were ambitious books, but Hopeland puts them to shame. It draws on so many threads — music and art, climate justice, mysticism, electrical engineering, economics, gender politics — and has such a huge cast of finely drawn characters. By all rights, it should collapse under its own weight. I mean, seriously — who can write multi-page passages describing imaginary music and make it riveting?

McDonald is just so damned good at writing love-letters to places that turn them into characters in their own right. The first third of Hopeland treats London that way, bringing it to gritty life in the manner of Michael de Larrabeiti’s classic Borribles trilogy:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/01/16/the-borribles-are-back/

Or, for that matter, China Miéville’s debut novel King Rat, itself out in a fancy new Tor Essentials edition with an introduction by Tim Maughan, who absolutely bullseyes the appeal of Miéville’s novel of underground music, mystical societies and urbanism:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250862501/kingrat

(It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Miéville is a giant Borribles fan:)

https://www.tor.com/2014/03/13/the-borribles-excerpt-introduction-china-mieville/

I have loved Ian McDonald’s work since I picked up Desolation Road in that mall bookstore when I was 17. One of the absolute highlights of my writing career was writing an introduction for the 2014 reissue of Out On Blue Six, a book that mashes up David Byrne’s solo projects, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Huxley’s Brave New World, and Dick’s Do Androids Dream in a madcap dystopian comedy:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/01/20/out-on-blue-six-ian-mcdonalds-brilliant-novel-is-back/

I’ve read everything I could find about how he manages these giant, weird, intricately constructed novels, like this fascinating 2010 interview about his research process:

https://web.archive.org/web/20100726181934/http://www.cclapcenter.com/2010/07/an_interview_with_ian_mcdonald.html

But despite it all, I find myself continuously baffled by how manages it, but each book just stabs me. For one thing, he’s such a good remix artist. His three-volume, essential retelling of Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress starts with Luna: New Moon (2015):

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/09/22/ian-mcdonalds-luna-new-moon-the-moon-is-a-much-much-harsher-mistress/

Which substantially out-Heinleins Heinlein, adding thickness and rigor to the tropes Heinlein tossed in as throwaways. Then, he topped himself with the sequel, Luna: Wolf Moon (2017):

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/03/28/ian-mcdonald-returns-to-the-harshest-mistress-in-luna-wolf-moon/

Before bringing it all in for a screaming landing that tied up the hundreds of threads he pulled on in the course of the previous two volumes with the conclusion, Luna: Moon Rising (2019):

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/05/16/luna-moon-rising-in-which-ian-mcdonald-brings-the-trilogy-to-an-astounding-intricate-exciting-and-satisfying-climax/

In each volume, McDonald proved — over and over — that he understood precisely what Heinlein was trying to do, then outdid him, and, in so doing, shredded Heinlein’s solipsitic, simplistic, seductive argument about a libertarian utopia.

Perhaps this is McDonald’s greatest gift: his ability to rework others’ ideas, tropes and tales, without ever trying to hide his influences, and then vastly outdoing them. That’s certainly what was going on with his wild-ass, deiselpunk YA trilogy, which started with 2011’s Planesrunner:

https://memex.craphound.com/2011/12/06/planesrunner-ian-mcdonalds-ya-debut-is-full-of-action-packed-multidimensional-cool-airships-electropunk-and-quantum-physics/

One important McDonaldism: being deadly serious about his whimsy. The books are all very whimsical, but never frivolous. To get a sense of what I mean here, consider his 1992 graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, a deadly serious comic book about the Klu Klux Klan, told entirely through adorable teddybears in a noir cityscape, whose dialog is heavily salted with Tom Waits lyrics:

https://memex.craphound.com/2004/01/24/ian-mcdonalds-kling-klang-klatch/

No, really. And it’s fantastic.

Back to Hopeland. It’s a climate novel, because what else could you write in this time of polycrisis? The book is vast enough to convey the scale of the crisis. The storms that ravage the world are both personified and realized, a terror to compare to any literary monster or Cthuhoid entity. But it’s called Hopeland for a reason, because it’s a book about hope, not nihilism, a book about confronting the crisis, a book about solidarity and love, about overcoming difference, about challenging the way things “just are.”

That’s why I was crying and holding my heart yesterday on the train. The hope. What a ride.

One of the reasons I was in such a hurry to read this novel now is that I’m appearing on a panel with McDonald this coming Saturday, June 3, at Edinburgh’s Cymera festival, along with Nina Allen, author of the new novel Conquest:

https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/cymera23-events/2023/4/4/connection-interrupted-with-nina-allan-cory-doctorow-and-ian-mcdonald

I’m so looking forward to it. I’ve written a couple dozen books since I read my first McDonald novel as a teenager, and while I still have no idea how McDonald does it, there’s something of his work in every one of my books.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Nottingham, Manchester, London, and Berlin!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/30/electromancy/#the-grace

[Image ID: The cover for the Tor Books edition of 'Hopeland.']

[theladyofbloodshed]

what’s the best way to purchase your books to ensure that you get the most available profits from it?

sincerely, a girl that wants to buy it, but hates giving money to amazon

Thank you sweetheart.

I will be honest in that Amazon is the only way to purchase it :(

I will be super transparent under the cut about prices/amazon/self-publishing as I didn't realise a lot of these things when I signed up to KDP. If anybody is interested in self-publishing this way or wants to ask questions, feel free.

This is all for The Story of Old: End

These are the price breakdowns for the ebook

I selected the 70% royalty which means it costs me $0.09 to have the book delivered to somebody's e-reader but I make $2.74. If I selected the 35%, I wouldn't have to pay delivery costs but I make less money. This is typically selected by people who have lots of images/graphs etc and it would cost them a lot to pay for the delivery. Ebooks are the way I make the most money because the royalties are higher.

Now, for the paperback as this has to be listed as a different entity on KDP.

The book is priced at $13.00 and I make $1.78 from it. The minimum I can put it up for is $10.03 because it costs just over $5 to have it printed so I wouldn't make anything from it. Amazon gives you 60% royalties which is actually a lot higher than traditional publishing (but I think with traditional contracts, you do get a lump sum stipend for writing, you don't have the costs involved with artists, formatting, editing, promotion etc).

I can also select "Expanded Distribution" which means my book is available on B&N and Waterstones, but my royalty rates drop to 40% because the book still has to be printed by amazon and shipped to them, so Amazon is essentially a middleman and takes the money I would have earnt to ship it to that store. I haven't selected it because I would earn a sum of zero. I get that people don't want to give Amazon money, but they would still print the book and it earn money even if you purchased it from B&N.

Onto Kindle Unlimited...

Yesterday, somebody read the entire copy of The Witch and The Monster and I earned a whopping 59p. This figure is estimated because the actual amount depends on how many people subscribe to kindle unlimited and how many pages are read across the whole system. Each month, the amount "per page" varies.

Also, if you read the same book more than once, we only get a payment for the first time you read it (so if you really love a book on KU, please consider just buying it).

You have to meet certain thresholds on Amazon then you get a payment. On the US Amazon site, I think you need to earn around $100 before you get your payment - it's not like somebody buys my book and I get $2.74 straight into my bank. So, if somebody in Germany reads my book - that's amazing! - but I won't "have" that money until more people in Germany read it and I hit the threshold in that market, e.g. one person in France has a copy of my book, but I won't get that money until I earn €100 from the French Amazon site. (Bonjour if it's you).

Many people do go down the self-publishing route but there are many expenses involved:

I've paid the same artist to do the covers for The Witch and The Monster as well as The Healer and The Alpha (I did the Old ones, that's why they're bad lmao). I'm proud not to use AI. I've also commissioned two other artists to make fan art because we all have to support each other.

I also pay for a proof copy of the paperback to come so it can be checked for errors. I had the page/margin size wrong a couple of times, so I had to order more proofs.

I also then wanted a finished copy which doesn't have PROOF over it for my bookshelf but I only have to pay the raw printing costs.

I could order author copies because I just pay the price to print them and then sell them at local fairs etc, but I can't take them to local book shops due to the amazon isbn.

I've paid a little bit of money for marketing on facebook/instagram/amazon which I don't think really had any effect.

I've done giveaways which cost me money and didn't reach a massive audience.

I post a lot on facebook/reddit/instagram/twitter which is free but does it have much of an effect? Probably minimal.

I have also utilised the amazon book promotion where I can offer the book for free for a limited time and I had massive numbers of downloads but not really any reviews as a result so people must just like free things.

I also used Booksirens (which is similar to netgalley) and had a lot of clicks but I wouldn't use it again. 2 of the readers they found never posted a review so I'm owed credits (because I essentially had to pay every time somebody downloaded my book and they didn't fulfil their end of the deal) which I can't use unless I pay again for a book to be hosted.

All of this is to say that self-publishing isn't "easier" than traditional publishing. There is so much competition and you are fighting to be seen. Amazon is the only avenue that I have right now to have my books published, but I completely understand if you do not want to give your money to them. I love writing. I love creating. If I was doing this for money, I would have quit. Whatever you decide, thank you for wanting to read it <3

[a-kind-of-merry-war]

Hey babe, so unfortunately the company I ordered my copy of Hartswood from folded a few months later 😭😭😭

Do you know if there’s a free-shipping place Canucks can order from to get your book before the release over this way? 🌊 Last time I was able to order the UK version. Hope I’m being clear, my brain is fried eggs tonight 🍳

Ahhh nooo, that sucks D:

I'm not actually sure if there is anywhere that does free delivery... I think most of the UK bookstores (like Waterstones, Blackwells, Amazon etc) ship overseas, but not for free.

I'll do some digging and let you know if I find anything!

[sgtjohnnysoapmactavish]

Definitely am have my 32oz water bottle. And I'm almost done just have free weights left.

(poor dear. What about ordering from the team shops? Whenever I order something from Waterstones (don't @ me sometimes y'all have really cool book covers) the shipping is always killer. And I live in a port city! But on the west coast.)

Good girl. Get yer strength trainin’ in and take care o’ yerself

[elizmanderson]

UPDATE: just wanted to add to this bc I found out today that Blackwell's builds the cost of shipping into the books, so it seems books are priced differently by country

depending on what the pricing IS, that might be good

or it might make the books themselves so expensive for some countries that you might as well be buying the book elsewhere and paying international shipping

for U.S. shipping (Blackwell's is UK-based), I will say it was cheaper for me to preorder a book today through Blackwell's than through Amazon UK. like the book itself was listed cheaper on Amazon (11.18 USD compared to 18.67 USD), but with the shipping it would've been more expensive total (23 USD or so compared to 18.67 USD)

so just something to be aware of if you look into Blackwell's! I don't want folks going there and potentially getting a nasty surprise in the form of books that are priced much higher. if anyone neither U.S. nor UK-based has or wants to take a look and add to this post with a price compare, I'd appreciate it!

someone in the tags mentioned Wordery, so I also looked into that. they do claim to offer free worldwide shipping! it looks like they're owned by Waterstones, though, and I think someone told me Blackwell's is also owned by Waterstones, so it could be that "free worldwide shipping" works the same way. but it still might be something to look into.

I'm not sure of the overall book selection, but from a brief search I can say they do carry indie books, both small-press and self-pub, in addition to Big 5 books. however, it seems like they may not do preorders, so that's something to be aware of for them if you're looking to support authors by preordering books that aren't out yet.

here's the link to Wordery.

if anyone has additional suggestions for booksellers that ship free worldwide, please let us know! while Book Depository was owned by Amazon, losing free worldwide shipping is a huge blow to readers and authors everywhere. so if anyone knows of alternatives, I'd appreciate hearing about them.

head's up for all my international peeps: Book Depository announced on Twitter that they're closing on 26 April 2023.

per their tweet: "You can still place orders until midday (12pm BST) on 26 April and we will continue to deliver your purchases and provide support for any order issues until 23 June 2023."

preorders for books that come out before April 26 should be okay. preorders for books that come out after that - or whose dates are pushed back by their publishers - you may want to cancel, but they do say they'll refund you if they're unable to ship your order when the day comes.

for more details, see their FAQ page about the closure

the good news is, it looks like Blackwell's (UK) now offers free international shipping. here's their shipping page for details.

hopefully this means Book Depository closing won't hit as hard as it otherwise would have. free international shipping makes books so much more accessible to so many more readers.

here's the link to Blackwell's main site

[rosemaryhelenxo]

The Cat And The City by Nick Bradley Book Review + Other Book Recommendations | Press - Affiliate

I am thrilled to grow and evolve my exclusive influencer discounts, specially curated for my fellow beauty and lifestyle fans – with this, I am now an affiliate for Waterstones! With this new partnership it means I can bring you special content, a heads up on any amazing deals coming out and other exclusive goodies! As a bookworm myself, I am very very excited to begin this great…

[twelvegrimmyplace]

SOFT LAD BOOK CLUB

In celebration of the release of Nick’s memoir I thought it’d be nice to get the fandom together again for a sort of Soft Lad Book Club to collectively share our thoughts and many, many feelings about the book!

Where To Buy The Book:

Options from the publisher (audiobook, ebook, etc.)

Waterstones signed copy (note: I’m still waiting for this to ship to the US as of 30-Oct, not sure about other countries)

How To Participate:

Please use the tag #SoftLadBookClub on your post(s) so everything can be found in one place for easier commenting, reblogs etc.

I know we're all at different points in reading (or not yet reading it) so feel free to participate however and whenever you'd like. Share chapter by chapter reactions, one post of your overall thoughts or something in between.

Prompt Ideas:

Has your perception of Nick changed at all since reading the book?

Favorite chapter

Least favorite chapter

Funniest story or line

Favorite pop cultural reference in the book

Were you surprised by any of his pop culture touch points or references?

Which themes or stories in the book most resonated with you?

What did you think of the structure of the book? Did the use of ‘soft lad’ as an overarching theme work well to tie the different, non-linear stories together?

What do you think of his writing style/voice – does it differ in any way from the persona we got to know on the radio?

Are there any aspects of his life you wished he would have touched on or explored more?

If Nick were to tackle another writing project, what would you like to see him do? Book of essays, deep dive on a particular pop culture topic, interview series, etc.? 

Looking forward to reading everyone’s reactions!

[br-nz]

Oh these are the ones that got me started. The Beginners Guide to Bobbin Lace is excellent for teaching basic Torchon techniques via bookmarks. Some photos of mine at the bottom

Hi, I am starting on my journey to learn bobbin lace (I have all the materials already, cushions, bobbins, patterns etc.) I know how to do the basic stuff and even ventured out to do a VERY simple bookmark. I am planning on doing another one but I am quite lost on how to improve my lace making. All the lace makers I see are super advanced and almost unreachable. I want to be able to some day create those extremely beutiful designs you do but I don't know exactly how to progess withouth feeling so overwhelmed. Any advice on a route to improvement?

Kind regards, M.

A very simple bookmark is absolutely the place to start. That is where I started as well. If you have the basic stitches down, it sounds like you are well on your way. After practicing basic grounds until you are comfortable with them, one thing you can do is try working through a book of beginner patterns - there are many available, though without knowing what style of lace you want to get into and what you have already practiced, it's difficult to give a specific recommendation. In general though, I do recommend finding actual books on lacemaking, above relying on internet resources only. In my experience, most of what is available freely on the internet only advances to a certain point.

Here are some books from my library that I believe may be suitable for beginners (though by no means should these be taken as exclusive recommendations - there are certainly good lacemaking books in existence that I do not own! And these are also highly biased towards Bucks Point, the style I prefer.)

Torchon Lacemaking: A Manual of Techniques by Elizabeth Wade (my only torchon offering, sorry)

A Visual Introduction to Bucks Point Lace by Geraldine Stott (many of the patterns featured on my blog are from this book)

All about making - Geometrical Bucks Point Lace by Alexandra Stillwell (as well as numerous patterns entirely suitable for beginners, includes a great deal of technical instruction and theory - highly useful)

Bucks Point Lace Workbook by Louise West (also a book which introduces the beginner to important concepts in Bucks lace via example patterns accompanied by theory, though I would say it is a steeper learning curve, and less detailed, than Stillwell)

Finally, The Grammar of Point Ground by Ulrike Voelcker is a book that should be in the library of any serious point ground lace student who can get their hands on it, in my opinion. This book has been invaluable to me and I cannot recommend it enough. If you can't find or afford it, I highly recommend seeing if you can borrow it from a local lacemaking guild or even public library. Includes patterns you can work, but is mostly a book about theory and technique.

[imanes]

Hi Imane! Hope all is well! Do you by any chance know of any good monthly planners? I like being able to see an overview of the whole month instead of one day per page but I can't seem too find any good ones for a decent price/that ships in EU. ):

hi angel! here are a few i remembered off the top of my head:

flying tiger monthly calendar (desk)

kartotek (denmark - ships to all EU countries but shipping prices can vary a lot, check the terms and conditions)

this one from etsy is cute (don't hesitate to check more on etsy bc they have a lot of items)

shipping across europe can be quiet uneven so i tried to get a wide variety of geographical areas, hope it helps!

as an addendum bc my life needs to be regimented quite strictly i actually just print my own calendar for the month and stick it to the wall above my desk so that i have an overview of what should be taking up my time (how i divide my time between work and uni mostly) bc i too prefer to have a monthly overview. you can find free templates on canva and customise them as much as you want

also usually every daily planner comes with a monthly front page that is a monthly overview, i have a planner from designworks ink (bought at waterstones - they themselves don't ship to europe but are carried by a variety of stores) and it offers both weekly and monthly overviews :)

[what-yadoking-likes]

It is my birthday next month.

As I live in Hong Kong & my family are slowly realising its not feasible to ship me gifts from England themselves, I sent links to my sister for the things I want: everything from art supplies to cosmetics to books.

My sister forwarded the Book Depository links directly to my mother. 'Send these to Yado directly, its free shipping to HK,' she said.

So, what did my mother do?

She copied the book titles down, ordered them from the Waterstones website and got them sent to the store.

In England.

Now, I don't know if you know this, but Hong Kong is not in England. There are around 6000 miles between the two places.

And did you also know that books are rather heavy? And p&p is often calculated according to the weight of the package?

[xitty]

Wordery is great and has free worldwide shipping but I think they mainly sell UK editions too, being based there. Same for Blackwells. They are both part of Waterstones Booksellers.

Unfortunately other options I've used are even more Europe-centric, but I wanted to give a shoutout to Wordery.

Online book ordering people (who are not in North America), where are you buying your books from now that Book Depository is no more?

I can no longer put off finding a new online bookstore - it must deliver to New Zealand, sell US editions of books (NZ bookshops mostly only have the UK/Aus/NZ editions), and preferably have free shipping.

Please share your recommendations!

[sweetingseva]

Hi! :) I'm not sure if/how much you know about this but I'm really hoping for an answer maybe from one of your followers if you don't know? I pre-ordered the Hodder&Stoughton hardback edition of The Ballad of Never After from Bookdepository and I really hope I can finally get one of the hidden covers. Do you know if that's possible through Bookdepository? Or from Waterstones only? (I chose BD because international shipping would be free that way)

From what I know, and please if anyone knows more on this, the hidden covers are reserved for the Barnes and Noble edition and the UK editions.

However, this Thursday (May 19), Stephanie will post more about the secret covers. Someone has mentioned in the comments about Book Depository under this post.

I think you'll get your answer there! Of course I'll post it when more information comes out 😊

[khaleesiofalicante]

Hiiii daniiii

My friend ditched me so I’m getting my ears pierced tmrw 😔

Buttt a group of us are doing these challenges where you get points and then whoever has the most points gets a free meal and it’s actually kind of fun 😂

AND OH OH OH OH OH

THEON BLOODY GREYJOY HAD ME GOING FOR A SECOND THERE AHWOEOEKEKS

Honestly what even in the helliest of hells was he thinking?!?!? Dudes a maniac he’s gotta realise that bro that ain’t smart

Ngl tho I’m still confused cos it fit in with the green dream

This is how I covertly talked abt this with my dad

Theon bomped the small S’s but then he didn’t bomp then he bomped the mill instead

😂😂 my brother wants to watch it one day sooo no spoilers

Oh also I predicted Sansa’s first period. The first clue was the crying, then I looked back and it said something abt a tummy pain and I’m like yep girl just u wait 😂

And the last chapter I read was that crazy one that starts out not too bad but then you’re at the end and this has turned into a mega ship battle like waaaaa

Gendry is roberts right? He’s the boy ned visited?

Alsoooo I’m up to date with tlnd now and I’m very much enjoying this Rafael/max content and yeeeees the Selena thing had me going my gosh

Went to Waterstones today and managed not to buy a book! Yay me! Then I got given a student plus card so that’s always fun

Funny Donut story: every Wednesday me and my friend go to Dunkin Donuts (it’s in the Uk now) and they’re proper sized, decent topping, filling, dough, for like £1.85 rihjt

Then you go to Morrisons, and there’s Krispy Kreme donuts, and they’re tiny and sweaty and not that nice, for like £2:50

Like brooo who’s gonna get one of those ugly things when they can go get actually decent donuts for like a quarter of the price or smth?!?

I’m so near to the end of a clash of kings I’m so excited

Idk if I said this earlier but I’ll say it again, every time o think abt rereading lord of the rings I wanna cry it is EMOTIONAL 😭

Sorry for a long one today, I’ll read tlnd now and munch my salt and pepper chips - maube you’ll get a reaction ask 🤭

❤️ love ya dani ur the best, sending you Norman the pigeon as a present

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Your friend group is VERY COOL.

AHH THEON. I can't with him! And yes Gendry is Robert's illegitimate son.

Max/Rafe supremacy only. Also how you go to a bookshop and not buy books? Teach me your ways!

Thank you for the random donut story. You are the cutest ever,

Yas to almost finishing CoK. Also, you watched the ToLTR movies right? What did you think of the casting? Any faves?

Hope you have a great week, love.

Normal looks very chill. I love your boots btw!